HMC Family Association

August 3, 2008

2008: Lesta Kneebone and Karston Kerr, the oldest and youngest attendees

President Barbara Kerr called the meeting of the Reunion to order, reminding us that this is the 89^th year reunion, and next year will be the 90^th.

Council members present were recognized, and Mike Layman was honored for his 35 years of service in reserving the park, setting up everything for the reunion, and cleaning up afterwards.  Thank you Mike, and WELL DONE!!

Jeannie Rose (Israel Rose, descendant of James Andrew Hewitt and Mary Jane Rose) explained the family relationships, and Doris White told the story of how James Andrew and Mary Jane met.

Attendees were counted: Hewitt’s – about 45, Matheny’s – about 14, Coopers – about 19.  However, an earlier count showed 95 in attendance.  I don’t know why the discrepancy.

Minutes of previous reunion were approved.

Treasurer, Louis, reported a balance of $3,797.32.

The possibility of using Willamette Mission State Park as an alternate site was mentioned.  No action was taken.

The upcoming newsletter on-line was discussed.  See hmcfamily.org for more.  Bryan Kerr was thanked for his work on the website.  Nancy Matheny Nasim will be the webmaster and edit the newsletter.  Don Rivara will do the family historian page.  The Children’s Corner is seeking a young editor. Please contact council@hmcfamily.org if you are interested.  Sylvia Fiscus is going to maintain the mailing list.

Melissa Clark and Brian Hewitt volunteered to help with 90^th year reunion publicity.  Barbara asked us to let her know if we are interested in participating in a van tour of family historical sites next spring.

Mark Fery was thanked for taking photos of everyone today.

Barbara asked for help to locate a missing gavel of black walnut.  Yvonne Heinrichs, a Henry Hewitt descendent will check the two she has to see if one of them is the missing one.

Elections:  Louis agreed to a second term, and Christine Cranmore (Charlotte Matheny descendent) was elected to fill the other vacant position.

Mel Moss agreed to help manage new entries into the family record books at the Yamhill Historical Museum.

Persons who traveled the farthest were from Kentucky, Kansas, and Louisiana.  The person who traveled farthest of all was Linda Kerr from Boston, Kentucky.

The oldest present was Lesta Kneebone, 89, a Jasper Matheny descendent.

Three persons were present who had attended a reunion between 1919 and 1929, the first 10 years.  They are Olive Merry Johnson, Julie Jones, and Jean Kerr.  They were asked to let Barbara know what they remember of those early reunions.

The youngest was Karson Kerr, 8½ months old.

Of attendees, 30 were from Oregon, 15 from Washington, and 2 from California.

Lorna Grauer, author, spoke about her book, “People of Hopewell Cemetery.” It is a listing of all names, including obituaries and other information she has been able to research, for each person who has been buried in the cemetery.  $10.00 of each $25.00 sale goes to the Hopewell Cemetery Association, and already, $1200.00 has been raised.

Dorothy Coombs (a Jasper Matheny descendent) gave a reading of two portions from “Into the Eye of the Setting Sun.”

The winner of the Daniel Matheny Hewitt “Two Hops and a Jump” competition was applauded for an outstanding performance – 28 feet, 8 inches – Tobias Williams, a James Andrew Hewitt descendent.

We sang “Home on the Range,” led by songleaders Elizabeth Malone and Karen Weaver (both James Andrew descendents), in memory of earlier reunions which often had singing.

Results of the raffle were announced.  The 35 items that were donated raised $155.00, thanks to many generous donors. The oral auction raised $332.00.  Thanks to Elma and all of her helpers, the registration and book and tote bag sales went smoothly.  Income was $205.00.  Income from donations totaled $460.00.

Respectfully submitted, Joanne Shipley

The first reunion I remember attending was the summer of 1922. My grand parents Adam and Cynthia Hewitt were married on the 21st of July 1872 and we celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, that year, at the reunion. The reunion was held at the old home place of Henry and Elizabeth Hewitt, underneath the walnut trees. The house was still there but no one was living in it. I remember us kids( I was 5 Years old at the time) going into the old house. Their anniversary cake had a bachelor button and a thimble hidden in it. If you got the button in your cake it meant you were going to be a bachelor or if you got the thimble you were going to be a old maid. I don’t remember all the details because of my young age.

Ruth Launer

[Henry and Elizabeth Hewitt > Adam Hewitt >                             > Ruth Launer]

(or — TNT Didn’t Used to Be a Cable Channel)

Grandpa Kerr had a big vegetable garden on the flats by the slough at the old Dorsey Place. He harvested a tremendous amount of root crops; enough to last all winter; probably two tons of potatoes, carrots, onions, rutabagas, parsnips, turnips, anything that grew in the ground. We had no way of storing them so dad dug a cave in the face of the cliff. It was deep enough that it did not freeze in the winter and it was dark enough that you could even store potatoes.

Hank decided that he wanted to dig a cave also. He was about twelve and I was about four. He got some dynamite somewhere. I don’t know where he got that dynamite and I didn’t ask him. So he and I dug a cave. That was back in the days when dynamite used a cap on the end of the fuse. We didn’t have a crimper so we crimped the caps in our mouths with our teeth. If it had gone off it would have blown our heads off.

The cave we dug wasn’t as deep nor as high as Dad’s. Ours was only about twelve feet deep and about four and a half feet high inside. The one that dad made was probably about six feet high. The ground was very firm, compressed clay, so we didn’t have to shore it up.

The cliff was probably eighty feet high. Our cave was about forty feet above the river, where the bank changed from a just a steep slope to a vertical slope. Dad had built wooden steps coming down from the house for the first forty feet and then a trail to go down the rest of the slope to get to the farm ground, what we called the sand patch. The cave was on this trail.

We moved away from the Dorsey place a couple of years later and the Tompkins family moved into the house. The Tompkins boys told people that there was a lot of gossip about the Tompkins making whiskey, but they found caves on the Kerr place! The talk about the Tompkins’, however, wasn’t just Prohibition-time gossip, as evidenced by their staggering hogs (but that’s another story).

Elma Hewitt remembers the cousins going to see the cave at one of the Hewitt family reunions in the mid 1930’s when they were held at LaDru Thornton’s grove, a couple hundred yards from the Dorsey place.]

[Henry & Elizabeth Hewitt>James Andrew Hewitt> Sylva Hewitt Kerr> William Henry (Hank) Kerr & Jean Kerr]