The fourth biennial Ware Family Association meeting and reunion in Montgomery County, Illinois, kicked off on Thursday, September 13, 2007, with a dinner at the Ariston restaurant in Litchfield, Illinois. On Friday, September 14, cousins filled display tables with genealogy collections, photographs, documents, and family heirlooms, some of which are now held as part of our WFA archives.

Here is a sampling of some of the information and material shared at the 2007 meeting:

• Items from the Rev. Jeremiah Livengood family, including a period dress that originally belonged to Jennie Livengood, plus Jennie's autograph book, signed by many Wares who were her contemporaries, and a book with writing and the signature or Rev. Jeremiah Livengood.
• An entire table with information about the Pilgrim's ship, the Mayflower.
• New materials from the Wallis, Burris, Kendrick, Solomon Mack, and Enoch Ware families.
• Photographs of the ongoing renovation of the Frank and Nina Ware home, shared by their granddaughter, Mary Jean Riley and her husband.
• A dress worn by honorary board members, Mary Ware Mullins and Jessie Ware Hewitt, as small girls.
• A copy of the memoirs of Rev. Henry Ware and his wife, Mary (members of a prominent New England branch of the Wares), as well as material cousin Ann Mullins Tindall has collected about the famous Ware Collection of Glass Flowers at Harvard University.
• The collection of Civil War letters written by three Montgomery County "Ware" boys, and the Ware Genealogy by Emma Forbes Ware.
• A large collection of material relevant to the Osborn branch of the Montgomery County Wares, shared by new member, Jim Osborne. His ancestor, Levi Osborn, who came to Illinois from Kentucky, settled about two miles from Ware's Grove and their son, Samuel Combest Osborn married a Ware descendant, Lydia Kendrick. Their marriage was the first of many intermarriages between Ware and Osborn descendants in the area.
• A new book compiled by two Ware/Osborn descendants, Elizabeth Osborn and Susan Osborn Jones, composed of copies of letters written by their father, Harold Osborn, to his young sweetheart, Margaret Bordner, as he competed in a track and field tour of Europe in 1925 with several other Olympic athletes.

On Friday, September 14, WFA members toured of the Harkey House, the oldest wood frame house constructed in the city of Hillsboro. The house is maintained and preserved by the Montgomery County Historical Society. Their volunteers conducted the tour. In the afternoon, WFA members visited the new research center recently established and staffed by the Montgomery County Genealogical Society in the city of Litchfield. There is a computer with Internet access at the center. If you have Montgomery County roots, this is a good place to visit!

On Saturday morning, September 15, two members of the Christina Tillson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) met with WFA members at the Butler Community Center to share information about the DAR organization today. All WFA members descended from Captain Benjamin Ware are eligible for DAR, if they are prepared to complete on an application and submit documentation. WFA members learned about the many genealogical resources that are available through the DAR library in Washington, D.C.

Saturday afternoon, Emily Osborn, Cindy Joy, Pat Olmstead, and Carla Barrett led a roundtable discussion about the Mayflower and the Pilgrims who made the treacherous journey to the new world. Cindy Joy prepared information about each of the Pilgrims that are direct ancestors of the descendants of Benjamin Ware and his wife, Huldah Hurd Ware. One of the most interesting stories of the sea voyage happened to our ancestor John Howland, who fell overboard during the voyage, but was pulled out of the sea. Howland married another Mayflower passenger, Elizabeth Tilley. This couple has more living descendants than any other Mayflower passengers, including those of us who descendant from Benjamin and Huldah Hurd Ware. Howland-Tilley descendants are not an elite group. Many of us also descend from Edward Fuller and his wife, who died during the first bitterly cold winter in which an influenza type illness killed so many of the passengers. Luckily for us both Edward's brother, Dr. Samuel Fuller, and Edward's son Samuel survived to carry on the family line.

Sunday, September 16 was reunion day and a total of 52 persons attended the WFA membership meeting, the delicious noon dinner, and time to visit with cousins. There is never sufficient time to visit with everyone in that brief time. A big thank you to our "reunion planner," Marilyn Maccanelli, and to the many cousins who assisted her with the planning, set up and clean up. It was another superb effort and appreciated by all who attended.

Upcoming WFA Meeting and Reunion: June 26-28, 2009

The next WFA meeting and reunion weekend will be held June 26, 27, and 28, 2009, in Montgomery County, Illinois. The Board is planning special events for the young folk and reenactments of family history. We encourage members and their families to make it a "weekend" event so that there is time to enjoy and discuss the family history displays that cousins bring to share and to visit museums, libraries, cemeteries, and recreational sites in the county.