Family Reunion Friday - Cayemberg Family 1953

I've been having fun with this year's Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and I hope you've enjoyed reading what I've shared as much as I enjoyed sharing it. It's time to get back to another Family Reunion Friday though. Family reunions are so important to genealogists and I don't want to lose focus on that so today I'm transcribing the next clipping for our Cayemberg reunion. It was the 16th and while attendance was down to 83 from the previous year's 131 the Cayembergs continued on.

I love the fact that the clippings not only acknowledged who won prizes, but they also marked the births of the newest members of the family. Do you mention the new births in your reunion articles?  Even if they aren't in newspapers (which they should be in my humble opinion), do you put them in a newsletter so everyone is kept abreast of the latest additions to their family? Do you list who was lost since the last reunion? I'd bet the immediate family of those that lost someone would appreciate the touching tribute.

Ensuring that new family members or new losses are mentioned in writing is important. Just saying something before dinner or before adjourning simply isn't enough. What if someone isn't in the room? What if a family had to leave early or arrived late? What if some people couldn't attend? Publishing it in a newspaper or a newsletter if your paper doesn't include such things lets everyone know about these significant changes. It is a record for the ages. Isn't that one of the reasons we do it?

"Mrs. Eli Cayemberg Is Guest of Honor At Family Reunion

(Handwritten '16th' and '1953')

Special to Press-Gazette

PULASKI, Wis. - Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, 83, of Pulaski, route 2, was guest of honor at the 16th family reunion at Pamperin park Sunday.  A total of 146 persons attended.

Prizes in games were won by Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Cayemberg, Mrs. Joseph Corrigan, Menasha; Mrs. Harold Christenson, Sturgeon Bay; and Mrs. Lloyd Dravillion (sic), Luxemburg.

Harvey Houreau (sic), Mrs. Cyril Blohowiak and Mrs. Donald Nellis were in charge of the arrangements.

It was noted that five babies were born since the last gathering.  They included Dale, son of the Roland Cayembergs, Green Bay; Linda, daughter of the Lloyd Cravillions, New Franken; Michael, son of the Joseph Lorrigans, Menasha; Sharon, daughter of the Walter Cayembergs, Pulaski, and Roland Edward, son of the Albert Govins (sic), Green Bay.

Mrs. Harvey Moureau was elected treasurer and Pat Cayemberg trustee.  The next reunion will be held June 6, 1954, again at Pamperin park.  Mr. and Mrs. Felix Cayemberg of Ensign, Mich., and Mrs. Moureau will make the arrangements.

Guests came from Sturgeon Bay, Casco, Algoma, Tonet, New Franken, Rio Creek, Luxemburg, Two Rivers, Manitowoc, Menasha, Pulaski, Anston, Kunesh, Ensign and Iron River, Mich.; San Francisco, Calif., and Bark River Falls, Mich."

The clipping was taken from a scrapbook handed down to me by my mother in law.  No newspaper name was given, but other reunion articles were from the Green Bay Press Gazette.

Family Reunion Friday - Cayemberg Family 1952

So my Cayemberg family reunion clippings had a gap between the 1947 and 1952 reunion. The reunion in 1952 was the 15th. Perhaps that was the reason for the gap. Perhaps the missing years were placed somewhere else or lost. Hard to tell, but I'll be looking for those years in the newspapers when I go home this December.

As you can read from the two clippings transcribed below, the Cayemberg reunions were in honor of Eli and Florence Cayemberg nee Villers and after they passed the reunions were for their descendants. Are your family reunions held in honor of someone in particular or of a family event?

"(Handwritten '1952')

Dinner was served to 132 members of the Cayemberg family at Pamperin Park, Green Bay, Sunday, Chairmen of the reunion were Patrick Cayemberg, Green Bay; Mrs. Wilfred Cayemberg and Mrs. Henry Cayemberg, Manitowoc.

A corsage and gift was presented to Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski, who is 82 years old.  Her youngest sister, Mrs. Agnes Tardiff, Duluth, Minn., attended the reunion.  Mrs. Tardiff whose last visit to Green Bay was 38 years ago is a guest at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Cayemberg, Green Bay.

Mrs. Eli Cayemberg is the mother of 10 children, three daughters and seven sons.  She has 44 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren.  Two sons, Wilfred and Henry Cayemberg reside in Manitowoc.

One grandchild and five great grandchildren were added to the family during the past year.  Members attended from Algoma, Rio Creek, Casco, Luxemburg, Martinville, Dyckesville, Tonet, Manitowoc, Pulaski, Kunish, Anston, Two Rivers, Duluth, Minn., and Esign, Mich.  Next year's reunion will be held at Pamperin Park, June 7, 1953.  Chairmen of the coming event will be Harvey Mourlau (sic) and Mrs. Cyril Blohowiak, Green Bay, and Mrs. Donald Nellis, Dyckesville."

And another clipping for the same reunion.  Almost verbatim with the only notable change being the address for Martin Cayemberg:

"132 Members of Cayemberg Family Hold Reunion (handwritten '1952')

An 11:30 dinner was served to 132 members of the Cayemberg family at Pamperin park Sunday.  Patrick Cayemberg and Mrs. Henry Cayemberg, Green Bay, and Mrs. Wilfred Cayemberg, Manitowoc, were chairmen of this year's event.

A corsage and gift was presented to Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski, who is 82 years olf.  Her youngest sister, Mrs. Agnes Tardiff, came from Duluth, Minn., for the reunion.  Mrs. Tardiff, whose last visit to Green Bay was 38 years ago, is a house guest at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Cayemberg, 875 Shawano avenue.

One grandchild and five great-grandchildren were added to the family during the past year.  Members attended from Algoma, Rio Creek, Casco, Luxemburg, Martinville, Dyckesville, Tonet, Manitowoc, Pulaski, Kunesh, Anston, Two Rivers, Duluth, Minn., and Ensign, Mich., for the annual event.  Next year's reunion will be held at Pamperin park June 7.  Chairmen will be the Mmes. Harvey Moureau and Cyril Blohowiak, Green Bay, and Mrs. Donald Nellis, Dyckesville."

The clipping was taken from a scrapbook handed down to me by my mother in law.  No newspaper name was given, but other reunion articles were from the Green Bay Press Gazette.  One of these clippings was probably from a different paper since it is unlikely that the Press Gazette would have published the same article twice, even on different days.

Family Reunion Friday - Cayemberg Family 1947

The Cayemberg reunion in its 10th year reached 114 people in attendance. Not too shabby if you ask me and by the looks of it they had a pretty good time. I talked previously about the need to have games at the reunion. Here you can see that they played baseball and tennis, but they could have played almost anything as long as it appealed to the family. It's important to know what your group enjoys to do!

There are plenty of free tools online that you can use to take a survey. Just do a search and see which one you find most user friendly. If you don't want to deal with creating an online survey just ask people! Does your committee use social media? Put the question out there! If you aren't using social media, why aren't you using social media?!?!?!

If your reunion hasn't made it into the 21st century with technology, that's OK. You can always ask for input at planning meetings or even at the current reunion. What better place to corner a group and ask what they'd like to do to keep them coming back. Just remember that asking and not following through with any of the suggestions is more likely to frustrate than invigorate.

Don't be afraid to ask for input and don't be too big for your britches to use ideas that don't appeal to you. I know that I'm not a tennis player....come to think of it, I'm fairly pathetic at any sport...but if people told me they wanted tennis, or baseball, or arm wrestling for that matter, I'd want to make them happy. Heck, as long as I'm physically able I'd get in there and participate. They'd probably go home with some comical memories of their relative that smacked herself in the face with a tennis racquet! Just make memories and keep them coming back!

"Cayemberg Family Has 10th Reunion

(Handwritten '1947')

Four generations of the Cayemberg family, totaling 114 persons, met at Pemperin park Sunday for the family's tenth family reunion.

The reunion began at noon with a dinner for the family and baseball and tennis were played in the afternoon.  Races were won by Wally Cayemberg, Shelley Jean Guillette, Anston; Ben Matuszak, Algoma; Florence and Cy Blohowiak, Denmark; Bob Fellows, Shirley Cayemberg, Manitowoc, and Marie Cayemberg, Ensign, Mich.

Mrs. Frank Motquin won the door prize which was made by Mrs. Florence Cayemberg, who is the grandmother of the family and spoke at the dinner.  Mrs. Harvey Moureau and Mrs. Russell Anderson were chairmen of this year's reunion.

Mrs. Joseph Wattawa, Reedsville, and Mrs. Rose Christianson, Casco, have been named chairmen of the June, 1948, reunion.

Members of the family from Ensign, Mich., Milwaukee, Reedsville, Casco, New Franken, Luxemberg, Algoma, Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Rosiere, Sawyer, Anston, Pulask, Kunesh and Rio Creek attended the family celebratino (sic)."

The clipping was taken from a scrapbook handed down to me by my mother in law.  No newspaper name was given, but other reunion articles were from the Green Bay Press Gazette.

Family Reunion Friday - Cayemberg Family 1945

As promised I'm continuing my Family Reunion Friday series this week.  The descendants of Eli and Florence Cayemberg nee Villers have been having reunions for about 77 years now and I have many clippings documenting them in an old scrapbook.  This one from 1945 is the earliest I have although I have a mind to go back through old newspapers this winter and see if I can find them all!

Remember that if you're going through the trouble of having a family reunion you should see about getting it into the local newspaper.  If you're having a reunion then you apparently care about your family's history.  Getting it into a newspaper will be a record for generations to come.  Have one person each year in charge of the sign in sheet and doing the write up for the paper.

I'm a Scout leader and one thing they teach us about recruiting new volunteers is to give them something small and easy to accomplish.  If they can see how easy helping out can be they may be more likely to take on other tasks that need to be done.  You can do this with more than just newspaper article submissions.  Remember that "many hands make light work!"  You don't have to do it all yourself!

Finally, if you're having a special reunion (the 25th, 50th, 75th, etc) contact the newspaper before and let them know about it.  They might just send someone out to take pictures and report on it!

"Cayemberg Family Has Large Reunion

(Handwritten '1945')

Pamperin park lodge was the setting for the eighth reunion of the family of Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski, Sunday when 73 members gathered for dinner and supper.

As 'mother' of the group, Mrs. Cayemberg was presented with a corsage and prayerbook by the chairman, Mrs. Patrick Cayemberg, during the dinner.  Mrs. Cyril Blohowiak, Tonet, co-chairman, was unable to attend.  M.J. Cayemberg took charge of the pop stand.

Youngest member present was Merten James, two-weeks-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cayemberg, Pulaski, who was christened that morning in Flintville.

Mrs. Henry Cayemberg, Manitowoc, won the gift given by the elder Mrs. Cayemberg.

The family will again get together next June in Pamperin park with Mmes. Jerry Tilken and Edward VanBenden as chairmen and Jerome Tilkens in charge of the refreshment stand."

The clipping was taken from a scrapbook handed down to me by my mother in law.  No newspaper name was given, but other reunion articles were from the Green Bay Press Gazette.

Funeral Card Friday - Praying for the Dead

Today, I'm not sharing one particular Funeral Card, but sharing/explaining something that many will see on Memorial and Funeral Cards, but may not understand. Indulgences.

Now, this isn't an "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Indulgences, But Were Afraid to Ask" post.  I'm not an expert on all the intricacies of indulgences nor do I feel that it is important to explain how the praying of an indulgence doesn't help every sin.  That's besides the point.  If you'd like to know more than what I'm presenting on indulgences you can check out more on "Catholic Answers".  What I want to do is explain why they are on these cards and why the living pray for the dead.

Catholics are taught that there is a Purgatory.  That when we die a soul goes to Purgatory until their sins are atoned for.  Purgatory is like jail for the soul.  If you are in Purgatory, you will eventually go to Heaven.  If you go to Hell, well, you go to Hell.  Sorry about your luck (but that really doesn't stop Catholics from praying for those either...forever hopeful).  We naturally like the thought of our loved ones getting to Heaven sooner, so we pray for them.  Does it help?  God only knows, but it couldn't hurt, right?

Card & indulgences in German

Catholics aren't the only ones to pray for the dead.  Other faiths have this practice as well, but Catholics may be the best known for it, because indulgences have been abused in the past as well as misunderstood by Catholics and non-Catholics alike.  The bottom line on the abuse of indulgences, or the "selling" of indulgences is that we don't really know that God will accept them.  A corrupt clergyman "selling" an indulgence...well, I could sell you a bridge in New York too and that would be about as worthless.

Indulgences went out of practice in the 1960s, but I'm told that the Catholic Church was bringing them back to some extent.  So you may notice them on cards up to and including the 1960s and then not in more recent cards, but don't be surprised if they start appearing again!

So on the back of many of the cards, when you see a certain number of "days of indulgence" are granted for praying the card's prayer or for saying so many "Hail Marys" or "Our Fathers" we are talking about a period of time lessened for the person that died.

Why does/did the Catholic Church encourage the praying of indulgences?  "...To spur them to works of devotion, penance and charity...", and that doesn't sound like a bad thing to me.

A "quarantine" is equal to 40 days

*Some interesting information in the comments below from someone a lot more familiar with the intricacies of Catholicism than this old Catholic! Check it out!