I asked some simple questions of the people I met who were board members. I figure that they have been to a number of these events and know things that might not be known to everyone.
The first question was where are Rice descendants buried. (Answer:everywhere) and the second question was which child of Edmund is the most "popular". That means who is the child that has the most descendants who belong to the family association. (Answer: Thomas).
Edmund's son Thomas is not my husband's ancestor. His ancestor was the son named Edward. This cuts back on the number of people in the room who are more related to him. However, one man (pictured here) opened his laptop and said, "Oh, Edward is my ancestor, too." That's cool. I made them pose for a photo.
Scott Rice, is a Maj. Gen. in the Air Force reserve in Massachusetts. As this was the reunion that covered "famous" military Rice men, Scott was watching that part of the presentation with interest. Here's the Summary Slide. [By the way: hubs tells me that Scott outranks them all!] My husband is distantly related to Edmund Rice who earned the Medal of Honor. He was excited by that since I have one in my family too.
Not being a food person, I don't usually mention the food. The lunch was $20 per person and it was well worth it. Chowder, soup, deli sandwiches, salads and chocolate chip cookies. Soda, water and coffee were also served. I ate so much I wasn't hungry at suppertime. It was delicious and I didn't have to sit and eat it outside. This is the advantage of the hotel setting. Oh, yes, and the bathroom was not a porta-pottie.
New England family reunions tend to be outdoor affairs. The food may be catered or homemade by members of the organizers. That is always fun but it can be stressful for the organizers.
The after lunch speaker, was Benjamin Carp who told us about fire fighting in Colonial Times. It was very good. Some of the things he talked about are on this Web page.
For me, I always like the "stuff" that a Society sells. In this case, it was all of the books about Edmund Rice and his descendants and to Society members ONLY, a DVD of 9 generations. This family offers several generations online for free. I bought all of what you see here for $40. That's an amazing bargain.
I thought this was a great family reunion. We will go again next year. The air conditioning, great food, easy to find setting and nice people made all the difference. They were welcoming to us but not over pushy. I learned a lot. Enough said.
Postscript: Having the books shown here has already helped me identify some gravestone photos. Yes!
2 comments:
Midge, my descent is from Edmund's daughter Lydia and his son Henry through my Drury line.
Bill...looks like we are cousins. I am also descended from Henry and Lydia. My Drury line hooks up with the Wheelock family.
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