Family

I have a very small family. I have one brother and on one side of the family I can easily locate only two cousins. I have only three cousins on the other side and we all stay in touch. I think that the fact that the family is small and pretty much disconnected made me interested in genealogy and, over the years, I've discovered a number of distant relatives.

We used to have Hartke/Knoke family reunions but once the older generation passed we no longer have much contact. That's why I'm happy to attend the Ackermann reunion held every two years in St, Charles. The Ackermanns are Joanne's mom's family...Jill's maternal grandmother's family. There are bunches of them... all shapes and sizes... and they all seem to get along and enjoy being together in   95-degree heat on the July 4th weekend. Jill was enthusiastic at the thought at first but the heat gave her 2nd thoughts. Once we were there it was shady and tolerable. It was good seeing everyone again...even though I know only about a third of them.

I'd like to be able to put names with all of these people but I'd be wrong most of the time.

 Don and Annette

               Some Davidsons

Don and Jill





Vince, Booie, Don, Jill & Skip

Don & Dot

Dot and Jill