My Grandpa Charles Thomas Burgus and his wife Grace Elizabeth Turner Burgus, built this house north of Murray. They had ten kids pictured below when they were grown up. Five girls and five boys, One boy and girl in the picture are twins. They all lived in this house and as time went by as older children left, my grandpa sold this house and farm and from the sale, bought two different farms, one near Murray so some of his kids could go to high school. He eventually lost that farm near Murray because of the depression and they lived on the second farm farther south of Murray.
The reason I am sharing all of this is that I am going to the Burgus reunion tomorrow. My good wife is going too and we will represent my Dad's family. Two of my brothers are out of state and my mom and dad and one brother are gone.The original Burgus reunion was a very large gathering. As my Grandfather Charles was one of 13 children, and that set of 13 would bring all of their familes to the reunion. When I was attending the large picnic, the above group was all married with kids and so they all were there. The other 12 brothers and sisters of my Grandfather Charles were also there with all of their families. It was a large group, and it was back when most people didn't move very far away from their home area.
Times have changed. Everyone in the above picture is gone. Just from the families, children of the people above, there are only four children, me and three cousins that still live in the state of Iowa. All the rest of my first cousins and two brothers live out of state, all over the United States. Jobs are out of state, job transfers, and some just don't want to live in Iowa. Everyone has scattered.
The group that meets now will be 20 to 30 strong. There could be more but the rest of the familes are about the same, most are out of the state. As I attend this group now, I try to get to know what group or branch of the 13 that they represent. There will be good food, good conversations, and some of us will remember what we can. Thanks for reading......
7 comments:
I hope the reunion goes well. Such things must be getting much more difficult to organise now that families seem to spread far and wide.
Still a reasonable sized group to get together, but it must be rather poignant to know that there are others who could be present. It's so rare now that people do stay clustered in family groups in one place.
BTW, there is a family in my home village with the name of Burgess - not sure if there's any connection with your family name. I looked it up, and it seems to be of Germanic origin, but it does sound similar to the 'freeman of a fortified town' of Burgess.
Wish you a happy and cheerful reunion with your relatives!
Have a good time.
FlowerLady
At least you are taking the time to get together..I hope you had a wonderful time! I love the old photos, that is one impressive house! :)
I'm sure you will have a great time. I think you will have a flood of memories once you start visiting everyone. One thing will lead to another, and another.....etc.
It is a fantastic idea to keep these family reunions going. One one side of my family we have stopped having them and on the other side we are starting to have them less and less. What happens is that when all the old "guard" (aunts and uncles) pass away, the cousins are far and spread across the country and don't keep in touch as much...you begin losing addresses and contacts and drift apart. It is sad, really.
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