"This was a very productive and enjoyable meeting. We had family come from as far away as Oregon, Texas, and the Mid-west. There were a few things of importance that occurred.

First, Terry McLean came up with the first rendition of the HS data base on CD. This was not a complete version but was handed out as a freebee to those who attended as a thank you. The "finished" version should be ready in a few months. Our format is to have all the materials from the original HS volumes as written. Then add our updates and corrections separately, like the data base. There is much in the 3 volumes that is not on the data base. Also we are adding photos of ancestors and documents to the CD, which are far too expensive to put into book form. Sherri Hadley Rice is collecting the photos for this and also to upload to a new family album online. A key feature of the CD is that it will also contain the family members born after 1905. The data base does not do this for privacy reasons. If you do not wish to have your family on the CD, please let us know. This will be an ongoing process. We expect to do updated versions every few years to add newly found information and keep a record of our growing family. If you want to buy one of the CDs when they are ready, do not worry about the price. It will be very cheap, as they do not cost much to produce and all of the labor is volunteer.

Al and Betty Dobbins joined us this year and Al gave a talk about the collateral lines in the early generations of the Quaker communities. Al was informative and entertaining and I know everyone enjoyed his insights. These families stayed together for many generations, so there is much to be learned from the collateral lines. It was a real pleasure to have Al and Betty there as they are a lot of fun and added their joy of the hunt to our little group. Al called me last night. They just made it back home to Oregon!! They traveled to Kentucky and Indiana and all over the country doing some genealogical research. Al has the largest collection of materials I have ever seen, and as we both live in Portland, OR, I enjoy collaborating with him and Betty.

Sherri Hadley Rice, Terry McLean and myself got there a day early and spent the time going through the massive amount of materials in the HS archives. This has built up over the years and Terry has just not had the time to go through it all. We split up the materials, and will be going through them over the next year. We found one piece of historical significance while sorting through the materials. The marriage record of Robert Johnson to Katherine Hadley in 1732. What makes this document significant is that it was signed by all present. This included Symon the Immigrant and his wife Ruth and also their son Joshua, from whom most all of us descend. I have never seen Ruth's signature, and to my knowledge the only existing signatures of Symon and Joshua are on their wills. So this is a biggy. I'm going to try to scan it into my machine and get it to darken up a bit. This is a copy sent to the HS in 1980 by Bob Byrnes. Fortunately, Bob also sent the location of the original document in Philadelphia, PA. There are mountains of materials in these archives and as we go through them, they will add to our knowledge as the voices of the past speak to us today.

Sherri Hadley Rice has taken on some of the web site duties to help Terry with the overload she has been struggling with for years now. Sherri will be collecting and uploading family photos and documents to a new feature of our online efforts, a photo gallery. While you are visiting with family over these upcoming holidays, take the time to look for old family photos and documents. Contact myself, Sherri or Terry and share them with us so we can get your line on the CD and in the photo gallery. Also, please take the time to talk to the older generation in your family. Ask them to tell you stories about their lives and their memories of their ancestors. Ask about special holiday trips and their childhood memories. Make sure to write this all down. Then let's all add a few stories and items to the data base. I call this "fleshing it out". Not just born, married, children, died. Let's add some details. What did they look like? Hair and eye color. height, weight etc. What did they do for a living? Especially the family stories that really make these older generations come alive. When your great great great grandchildren are looking at these CDs a hundred years from now, they will really appreciate our efforts today.

This reunion marked the end of my first year as president of this fine group of relatives. I do not take credit for our accomplishments during this last year, but I have certainly taken a lot of pleasure from working with you all. Thank you for all that we have accomplished. I have one more year in my term and I only hope we can continue to make strides in completing some of these worthwhile tasks and goals.
Happy Holidays and God Bless you.
God is my Help.

John Hadley

Photos courtesy of Sherri Hadley Rice and Jean Hadley