COME JOIN US!
Our FARRAR FAMILY REUNION conducts its week-long, camp-out, GATHERING-OF-THE-CLAN on our brother Bob’s 200 wooded, rolling acres near Wirth, Arkansas commencing on Father’s Day each year. All FARRAR’S, FARRAR descendants, FAMILIES and FRIENDS most welcomed.
Enjoy a FANTABULOUS, safe, secure, fun-filled, exciting vacation in the adventurous state of Arkansas. Our FARRAR FAMILY REUNION is a unique experience that will reward you with memories you’ll cherish for a lifetime.
WHAT? THE FARRAR FAMILY 21st ANNUAL REUNION!
WHEN? 21 thru 27 June 1998. Officially starting on Father’s Day, which is also the first day of summer this year, and continuing for the full week. For those wishing to arrive early or stay longer the grounds will be available. Come and depart as your schedule permits. But Come!
WHERE? Bob’s place near Wirth, AR (See map )
A 2nd SPECIAL EVENT: FARRAR ISLAND RENDEZVOUS 1998! (See Insert).
CAMPGROUND PREP
Anyone available to come to our C/G one or two weekends prior to our Reunion to render help preparing our site, please do. Craig Dunbar, Hardy, AR, also, Brian and Nicole Gooch, Ash Flat, AR, have stated their firm commitments to assist. Your editor also plans to arrive early. With help, besides prepping, some advanced preparations for “Work Day” could also be accomplished. We need you!
PROCEDURES
New: After Meal Clean Up. Our Board will post a daily “Volunteer” Form for the week so our youth may schedule themselves. This task includes cleaning the cooking and dining areas; taking out the trash; washing and drying all flatware, cups and glasses, and all cooking utensils.
New: Icechests: Our Reunion provides an icechest with crushed ice for cold drinks located within our pavilion. To eliminate confusion, people not knowing which icechest to use, it has been requested by our Board that all private icechests be kept at your campsite or vehicle.
New: Genealogy and Archival Table: This year we have a newly donated table for the display of our Family and Historical information. We beseech you to help keep it neat, clean and orderly so the displays and information provided may be readily available for observation and perusal by the many so interested. Please do not place personal items upon it. Items such as: purses, butt-packs, outer clothing, shoes, towels, cameras, drink containers, games, playing cards, ad infinitum. There is an old table in the NW corner of the pavilion for such items.
New Last Year: Flag Raising and Lowering. Our National Emblem has flown over the Capitol Dome. To conform with protocol we no longer fly our flag around the clock. Therefore, two volunteers are needed each day for this ceremony.
Old: Trash and Garbage. All food remaining on your plate is to be scraped off at the treeline. All burnable trash, wet or dry, is to be put into the “Burnable” can. All else into the “Non-Burnable” can. The full non-burnable bags will be stacked near the lane. When you depart for home please take one bag with you and dispose of it in a dumpster along the way. Your help is appreciated.
Old: The Lake: All children going to or near the lake must be accompanied by an adult who can swim. All others, please adhere to the “Buddy System”. Don’t go it alone.
WORK DAY
IT’S NICE TO BE NEEDED
AND DO YOU KNOW WHY?
WE MUST ALL DEPEND
ON THE OTHER GUY.
YOU CAN WORK YOURSELF
RIGHT DOWN TO THE BONE
BUT YOU CERTAINLY CAN’T
GET THE JOB DONE ALONE.
IF EVERYONE REALIZED
THIS OBVIOUS FACT
AND ELECTED RIGHT THEN
TO GET INTO THE ACT
WHAT A WONDERFUL PLACE
THIS WORLD WOULD BE
WITH ME HELPING YOU
AND YOU HELPING ME!
In 1997 we celebrated our 20th Reunion. Part of our reward was: No Work Day! But this is 1998.... we have a lot of “catch-up” to do. So come prepared.
Our primary project: Pavilion Roof Repair. This will entail pulling nails, inserting screws, applying Kool-Seal over the entire roof. Also, rodent proofing the screening. Other projects:
1. Time Capsule Sarcophagus: Finalizing outer trim and the memorial top.
2. Fire Ring: Constructing a permanent ring of stone.
Bring nail pullers, hammers, screwdrivers, battery run screwdrivers, trowels, paint brushes (1, 2, & 3 inch), putty knives, carpenter aprons, etc.
RE-INTERMENT
As will be recalled from our last business meeting, Reunion 97, and our last N/L, Oct. 97, Linda (Farrar) Berry, Labadie, MO, with obvious emotion, suggested her grandparents, now buried in two different cemeteries, and grand step-mother be joined. With no negative comments our Board President requested Linda research requirements and costs. It must also be recalled that the Original- 10 (O-10) brothers and sisters, as a group, own six adjoining plots in Valhalla Cemetery, Belleville, IL, where our Mother lies in one. It must also be understood the O-10 are the final arbiters of this decision. Early in her research it was determined our Mother, long in her grave, cannot be moved. Our Father and Step-Mother, Pauline, interred in Baker Cemetery, Hardy, AR, can. Coordinating with and obtaining firm commitments from both cemeteries the cost, to include: permits, disinterment of Dad and Pauline, tombstone removal at Baker, vaults required for interstate shipment, transportation, re-burial, and two bronze markers, totals: $7,127.82.
A project such as this is a minor undertaking accomplished regularly by all cemeteries for interested and concerned relatives of the deceased. Should we move ahead with this we would gain: 1) Our Parents and Pauline interred in a more central location for a majority of our Family; 2) Side by side burial in this order: left to right: Dad, Mother, Pauline; 3) Utilizing plots already owned; 4) Having three unused plots that no family member has indicated a purchase interest in, these could be sold; 5) Easy access from major highways for those in passing interested in a visitation; 6) Near family, some of whom would be interested in regularly placing flowers; 7) Freeing those who donate from a commitment to the Baker Cemetery Maintenance Fund; 8) Other, more distant, relatives buried in Valhalla making remembering and visits by their living kin convenient; 9) Perpetual Care. Valhalla is a perpetual care cemetery.
The O-10, in a recent letter from Linda, have already been advised. For obvious reasons this cannot be a Reunion project. Too many good people give generously of their monies for the overhead expenses and continuance of our Reunion. This project rests primarily with the O-10. However, many of the next generation have already indicated their desire to help financially. Many others, when made aware, would donate extra funds also. Spread over the many this lightens the load for all. This is a do-able project.
If not already done, the O-10 should reply to their letters now. If approved this project could be accomplished this summer after our Reunion. Your editor can be in place at both cemeteries to insure proper and reverent handling by all parties involved.
QUANAH
Your editor has amassed a goodly amount of information pertaining to Quanah, the last great Chief of the Comanches, and his mother, Cynthia Ann Parker. It is known these Parkers had resided in Middle Tennessee prior to this part of their history. James Franklin Farrar, Flat Creek, TN (grandfather of Isaiah R. Farrar (Ike), Flat Creek, TN), married, 13 October 1859, second wife; Sarah Jane Parker, seventh child of Joseph and Faner (Howard) Parker to reach maturity.
Up to now your editor has been unable to prove or disprove a cousin relationship with Quanah. But he is still working on it. In the interim he has met and corresponded with numerous enthusiastic, greatly interested, and highly helpful, wonderful people. There is Henry Parker, grandson of Quanah, and his lovely wife Doris, Apache, OK, who provided much information and pointed me in the right direction; Ervy McGreger, Crowell, TX, Vice President of the Quanah Days Pow Wow, who provided much additional information and many souvenirs from the last Pow Wow, plus directing me to the Monument and the “Pease River Battle” site where Cynthia Ann was re-captured; Janell Manard, Crowell, TX, President of the Pow Wow and the Quanah historian. This ebullient Historian and fine Christian lady provided many names, both on the Indian and the white side, to ease and hasten my research. She also sent, as a gift to me, two beautiful sketches, one of Quanah, the other of Cynthia Ann, and extended a special invitation to the, now called: The Rolling Plains Heritage Festival, this year and in the future to be held in Childress, TX.
So you now know where your editor will be on 1, 2, & 3 May. Old Fort Parker, near Farrar, TX, 40 miles east of Waco, where this part of the Parker history began, is also on my agenda.
OUR CENTENARIAN!
LESTER HAGE... Born: 9 May 1898. Congratulations Les!! At this writing you are just about there. You’ve got a running start. You inspire us all.
Les is the Father of our loved-by-all, “Family-adopted” sister, Charlotte Dienst, Williford, AR. Les was a special friend of Dad and Pauline and, with his daughter, attended many of our Reunions.
In a typewritten note enclosed with his Christmas card 1997, he states, “JV: Many thanks for sending me the program and News Letter about the Reunion. I appreciate hearing about all of you. It brings back many memories of past days. I am still kicking along, not very steady on my feet, but feeling as well as can be expected for an old man. Best wishes to you and I hope you keep in touch.”
Why don’t you, too, reach out to touch? Les is a grand guy! LESTER HAGE, 211 East 2nd St. Sandwich, IL 60548-1653.
BY-LAWS
Please re-read the copy of the proposed By-Laws enclosed in your October 1997 N/L. Contact any Officer with your comments. Your Board wishes to finalize this business this year. So come prepared to voice and vote on any motions for alterations and/or changes during our Business Meeting.
DONATIONS
In the beginning the Original 10 brothers and sisters assessed themselves $100 per year towards our Reunion. This assessment is still in effect. With that money and the generous donations of many others we have built our outstanding facilities. This is a reminder that continuous enhancement, item replacement, and required maintenance is costly.Therefore, we solicit donations of any amount from all interested in this worthy effort for the enjoyment and camaraderie of all current and future Farrar’s and their descendants. As we grow older some of you may wish to leave an endowment in your will or trust.
Make your donation check to “Farrar Family Reunion Fund” and send to our Treasurer or your editor. Your generosity is needed and appreciated.
YOU SHOULD HAVE
A copy of our Farrar Family Tree. This 2’ x 6’, on good paper, in black non-fadable ink, readily readable “Tree” extends our direct line back three generations into England. Also, through Judith Jefferson, aunt of Thomas Jefferson, to the blue blooded Plantagenet’s, King Edward I and III. Plus additional historical information. Available at our Reunion: $15; by mail: $20.
The Farrar’s Island Family: An authentic history of the Farrar’s at Jamestown.
Some Farrar’s Island Descendants: Family genealogies & historical information. Both authored by: Miss Alvahn Holmes (deceased).
For copies contact: James S. Farrior, 1232 Harrison Point Trail, Fernandina Beach, FL 32034. 904-277-9623.
HOME PAGE
Randy Farrar, San Diego, has established our Home Page on the NET. Check it out at: http://home.pacbell.net/rfarrar/ He does an outstanding job maintaining, up-dating, and adding information. He now has a “Topic of the Month”. He’ll soon have us tied in with any other interested Web sites. We appreciate his effort and his expenditure of time and money. Visit us on the Net!
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