To our knowledge , it was the first time the various branches of the Goodhind family had been assembled in possibly one hundred years. Even within our own families, many of us had not met in nearly a generation.
There was a large printed genealogical family tree that stretched across several tables (including the youngest family members), all the way back to William and Ann in England. It was fun to find your own name and then to find the name of the person beside you, trying to figure out how you were related. Each person who attended the reunion received a name tag that traced his or her ancestral line directly back to William and Ann.
We had directions available to visit the resting places of the five Goodhind brothers who first came to America. We had a brief newsletter highlighting the preparations for the day. There were also a number of old family photos.
Who came from farthest away? A young cousin visiting all the way from Hawaii!! But we also had with us a descendant of one of William and Ann's children (Tom) who had remained in England so many years ago: Martin Goodhind. By luck, he had been stationed by the company he worked for in Pennsylvania at the time of the reunion. Martin's brother David has done quite a bit of work assembling information on the English side of the Goodhind family. You can find out more about Martin and David by choosing this link.
Above is a reunion photo of Martin Goodhind (center) and Reunion organizers Alan Goodhind, Cindy Palmer, Liz Banas and Tim (Masloski) Goodhind.
About papermaking
Do you know where he's buried? Yes, we do!
Arthur Goodhind Sr., Dorothy Goodhind, Virginia Goodhind Facto , "Bucky" Goodhind
All in all, we had beautiful weather, fine food, and wonderful companionship. It was a day to catch up on old family matters and to meet "new" family members for the first time. In these busy days, too often family is set aside in the pursuit of other things. We hope for another reunion soon!