Cooper-Cummings 2016 Family Reunion in Photos

My first cousin once removed (aka, my mom's first cousin) and several generations of his family. Courtesy of L. Whaley.

This time last week, I was in a car somewhere between North Carolina and Philly, on my way home from the Cooper-Cummings Family Reunion in Augusta, Georgia. (Why North Carolina, then? It's a long drive - we did it in two days. We're not road warriors, lol!)

I have to say, I love going to family reunions, and I am especially impressed by how committed my mom's maternal family is to making this one happen.  

• Example 1: My grandparents, Louis and Elnora (Cooper) Shepherd, had 5 children. All of them came, driving from Texas, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania to get there.
  
• Example 2: My great-grandparents, Noah and Nancy (Thomas) Cooper, also had 5 children. Descendants of 3 of them came. Given that 1 of them had no children, this is pretty darn good.  
• Example 3: Last I heard, there had been over 200 people total in attendance, descendants (and friends) of my 3x great-grandparents July and Harriet Cooper.*

There were big meals, a river cruise, line dancing, church services, a barbecue, and lots of time for mingling. And a lucky (or particularly driven) few - of which I was thankfully a part - got to visit the family cemetery, located on the family's ancestral land. I'll write about that in a later post.

For this one, I'd just like to share some photos - some taken by me, others shared with me from other family members from across the different branches.**

If YOU have great pictures from the family reunion, please send them my way! (Bonus points if you include a key with people's names and relationships!)



New Pics, courtesy of Cousin Daisy!

*I haven't researched July and Harriet personally yet - family elders and other family historians have compiled the family tree. While I work backwards from the present to build my own paper trail - "trust but verify" being key in family history research - I'm standing on their shoulders for the research I haven't yet done.

**I threw in one photo that was taken prior to the reunion, of the Davis siblings, because a group photo was not taken of them at the reunion.