It’s unfortunate that Family Reunions are not as common as they once were; our busy lives and far-flung residences preclude the annual event that extended families used to enjoy. Three or more generations would gather at the “old home place,” happy to see new babies born since last year’s reunion and missing those family members who had passed away in the interim.
Reunions were mostly held in the warm months, and chairs or benches were set up under a big shade tree out in the yard. Long tables – maybe just boards on sawhorses with tablecloths spread over them – would be groaning under the weight of dishes and platters of the best home-cooked food ever! A reunion wouldn’t be complete without Aunt Violet’s chicken and dumplings and her apple stack cake! All the kids would be running around underfoot as the banquet was set up, but they weren’t the only ones eying the dessert table. Menfolk would “shoot the breeze” while the ladies brought out their prized dishes.
When the feast was ready to be blessed and consumed, all those present would gather for a photograph to preserve memories of the occasion. This photo from the collection of Faye Ellis Griffith shows four generations of the family of Reuben Edgar Ellis (1865-1947) and Savannah Wilson Ellis (1867-1961). Daughter Lillie Etta Ellis (1890-1978) married Hut McKinney, son Edward H. Ellis (1900-1986) married Pansy Cordelia Jones, and son Stokes Burgess Ellis (1910-1998) married Anna May Young.
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