Genealogists find ways to get into more interesting “trouble”. For some years now I’ve been helping out with UL reunions, what a pleasure it is to help old friends reconnect! Now the entire college of Arts & Sciences at UL is having an enormous reunion - a 100th birthday celebration! The official start is just a few weeks away, Tuesday, November 14, beginning at 5:30 pm at the University Club, and we want everyone who graduated from A & S to attend. Dean Blaine Hudson and the A&S Alumni Council will be hosting. We’re also we’re searching for some very special people - the descendants of those first students, who enrolled in 1907. Are any of these pioneers, (of a different sort, admittedly), hiding somewhere in your family trees? Would you let me know?? Feel free to call - 895-8578. In the early days there were no Business, Music, nor Engineering schools, no Kent School, no DAE, so A& S was extremely important, after all without the Arts & Sciences, or Liberal Arts as it was first known - there is no University! Those first students had to be pretty proud.

“Memories, memories“, wonderful old song wasn’t it, equally suited for soloists, chorus, or barbershop quartets. Memories are one reason we pursue genealogy, so those family memories will not be lost to future generations. What are you doing with all those genealogical records, anyway?? Perhaps it’s time to think about writing a family memoir. Notice I didn’t say history, that’s a huge undertaking, but a memoir could be a small slice of your family’s life, perhaps two pages? Then, write another one. Little by little, you’d have an interesting family history. Just last week the ex editor of the CJ, Michael Gartner, published a charming one, “No Left Turns”, a charming anecdote about his parents. To help me in my quest, I got a copy of “Writing the Family Narrative”, don’t bother with it! If you follow that author’s advice you will end up with something that has no heart. Follow your own heart, write what you know or what you think you know! Your siblings or cousins may have entirely different memories of the same occasion, that doesn’t matter, this is your memoir and you are entitled to see and remember things your way. Of course, certain things, like dates do have to be accurate. If you’re writing about the first new car your dad ever bought, you should know which model year it was - not necessarily which model though. The house you grew up in? You should have some idea when it was first purchased by your family. But if you remember your first grade teacher as tall and formidable and your older cousin remembers her as average height and friendly, don’t fret! I started with my maternal grandmother, for she was at the heart of our small family, perhaps you have someone like her you could write about. Get started! Don’t let your family memories disappear!

Reunions - Breeding Family Reunion, October 14, Volunteer Fire Department, Breeding, KY. Contact 270/378-6307 or 812/969-3740. Breeding, KY is in Adair County, founded by descendants of English immigrants, who left relatives back in Russell Co., VA. who later became my ancestors.

Blackey Days, Blackey, Kentucky, October 14. Contact 270/384-5906. Blackey is a well known, small community in Letcher County, settled by very early and intrepid Kentucky pioneers - Caudill, Combs, Cornett, Frazier, Fugate, Adams, Branham-Smith are just a few of the settlers' names.

Dunn-Hamm Family Reunion - for descendants of Harrison Porter, Dora Hamm Dunn, Thomas Psalater and Mary Katherine Wallace Hamm, October 14, Country Blue Bldg., Nicholasville, KY, Jessamine Co. Contact 407/898-5503.

Combs Family Reunion, October 8, Natural Bridge State Park, Slade, KY, Contact Harold Dean Combs, 409/246-4532. This should be a huge reunion, almost every Kentuckian has some Combs ancestors.

Maggard Family Reunion, for descendants of Samuel D. and Sally Watts Maggard, October 14, Hindman Settlement School, Knott County. Contact 859/745-6871.

Queries: Annie McKinney Musick Bundy Hatfield, b. ca 1757 in Rutherford Co., NC., died 1853, Pike County KY. Daughter of John McKinney, but which one? Ancestors? Annie's first two husbands, David Musick and William Bundy were killed by Indians. Contact 502/895-8578.

Isaac Jones, b. ?, d prior to 1800 in East Tennessee, presumably during Rev. War. One son named Martin Jones, b. 1770, because Isaac supposedly fought in Captain Martin’s Company ? Could this have been Tyree Martin who married Mourning Jones? Contact 502/895-8578.

Fields, Mary “Polly”, Ozina Fields Eldridge, and related Fields lines from Letcher Co., KY. Contact Peggy M. Brock, 238 Shreveport Dr., Nicholasville, KY 40356