85th Ingalls Family Reunion meeting minutes
The 85th Ingalls Reunion was held on Saturday, October 19, 2013, at the United Methodist Church of Greenville and Norton Hill. Eighty-two people were in attendance. The weather was sunny, with increasing clouds later on and passing showers in the evening and overnight. It was a warm day, with temperatures in the low to mid 60s.
The Ronald Carford and William Hohenstein Families hosted. Several historical photographs and other memorabilia, including an autograph quilt, from the John Ingalls branch were on display. A laptop computer showed a loop of old photographs of the branch’s ancestors, courtesy of Emmy Carford. Jeri and Ron Carford provided buttons with the family crest for all of the attendees. Another nice addition to this year’s reunion was a children’s table run by Jade Litchfield. The tables were decorated with flower pots that had the family crest on them which, later on, were donated to a lucky person at each table. Mickey and Vita Carford were the creative team behind the decorations.
The Historian, Krista Ingalls Haushalter, displayed the autograph quilt she is gathering signatures for. The family photograph albums and framed copies of family deeds were again on display, and copies of the 2003 Genealogy and History of the Jacob Ingalls Familywere available for twelve dollars each. Copies of the 2014 Greenville Local History Group calendar were for sale for seven dollars each, along with copies of the Greene County Historical Society Winter 2012 Journal for two dollars a piece. The Journal featured, on the front page, an article written by Maureen Ver Planck about her father-in-law “John I’s General Store,” which she presented at the 83rd Ingalls Reunion.
A little after 12:00 noon, President Deborah Mc Aneny Reeth rang the cowbell from the Jacob Ingalls’ homestead to gather everyone for the group photograph, taken by the “family photographer,” Kay Ingalls Sutton, with the very capable assistance of her son Walter.
Once everyone was seated, we were treated to a visit from our ancestor Jacob Ingalls, via a skit put on by Ron and Randy Carford. Jacob came down from heaven dressed as he would have been when he first came to Lambs Corners back in the late 1700s. He spoke a little about his life, then wished all in attendance a successful reunion before leaving to return to heaven. Everyone enjoyed his surprise visit!
Walter Ingalls then said grace, and a bountiful lunch was devoured by those present.
After lunch, Debbie rang the cowbell to call the meeting to order. She welcomed everyone to the 85thReunion and noted that it has already been ten years since our big 75thReunion. She then thanked The Rev. Dr. Bob Milsom for the use of the church hall, Janet Lockwood for helping out in the kitchen for her thirty-fifth year, and the host family. There was a hearty round of applause for the wonderful job done by the Carford and Hohenstein families, who were hosting for the first time. A special Happy Birthday was sung for Bill Hohenstein, who was celebrating his 75th birthday.
Once again this year, those who traveled the farthest to attend the reunion were Ronald and Jerrene (Jeri) Carford from Apollo Beach, Florida, and Kevin and Deborah (McAneny) Reeth from Reno, Nevada. Carol and Bruce Stevens also attended from Rhode Island. The youngest person present at the reunion was Sarah Haushalter, sixteen months old. She is the daughter of Lisa and Jason Haushalter. The oldest members present were Shirley Spad, 90, and Marjorie Dedie, 89. Douglas Haines and Emily and Jenna Litchfield attended a reunion for the first time.
The Secretary, Paige Ingalls, read the minutes from last year’s reunion, which were approved as written. She sent around the book for everyone to sign and a folder with “Ingallsiana.”
The new Treasurer, Alliene Applebee, gave her report:
There was $ 1507.48 in the savings account prior to the reunion.
Today’s Collection totaled $ 418.00.
Six Genealogies were sold, yielding $72.00.
Interest on the savings account equaled $ 0.16.
(The account is averaging $ 0.07 interest per month.)
Dispersals totaling $ 310.20 were made for--
Printing and postage for the invitations ($160.20)
Janet Lockwood’s services ($75.00)
Rental of the church hall ($75.00)
Host families’ expenses (food and supplies)--the host family graciously asked not to be reimbursed for these
This left a grand total of $ 1687.44 in the savings account.
It was moved and seconded to accept the Treasurer’s report.
Debbie inquired if there was any “old business” to be addressed, and Paige updated the group on the endeavor to get the video taken at last year’s reunion on Good Morning America’s “Your Three Words.” Although it was submitted successfully on November 24, 2012, she never heard back from them. Therefore, it appears the video was not accepted. GMA’s loss!!!
Paige also described a project Marjorie Dedie, Walt Ingalls, and she have begun working on, which arose out of a recommendation made at last year’s reunion, i.e. to ”map” the original Ingalls Homesteads. She showed a PowerPoint to demonstrate what they hope to accomplish. She also asked for anyone in attendance to share any old photographs they may have pertaining to these homesteads, “then” and “now.” Ryan Mc Aneny, the son of Diane and Danny Mc Aneny, plans to assist with taking photographs of what is currently where these homesteads used to stand.
Debbie then asked if there was any “new business?” Gary Elliott spoke of a mission he will be going on in Florida later in the month, to assist farmers. He related it to the mission work that our relative Pearl Palmer did for many years in India. He will be serving at ECHO with a group of farmers who are members of the New York State Chapter of Christian Farmers International. Gary, who grew up on a dairy farm, has been involved in many volunteer efforts helping others. He has worked for Lee Publications as an editor for a weekly newspaper for farmers for nearly twenty years.
James Marcello told about taking his grandchildren to visit the Saratoga Battlefield this past summer and discovering that Joseph Ingalls, Jr. is listed as having fought there as a member of the Massachusetts militia.
Debbie Reeth shared information about how we are related to Laura Ingalls Wilder, a famous Ingalls. She obtained the information on line at geni.com/people/Laura-Wilder/60000. Henry Ingalls begat Robert Ingalls, who had Edmund and Francis. Edmund married Ann Tripp, and they had four sons: Robert, John (our branch), Henry (Laura Ingalls Wilder’s branch), and Samuel. This information is contained in the first pages of our genealogy.
Krista asked for people’s e-mail addresses and sent around a sheet for this purpose. She requested they send updates for the genealogy to her via e-mail, if possible. She also noted that she plans to make placemats with the handprints provided by the children in the family.
Krista stated she plans to present information at next year’s reunion on how to preserve family history, e.g. by scanning it, keeping or donating family memorabilia, and/or displaying it. She noted that the host families did a great job with their branch’s and encouraged everyone to visit the displays. She also showed and described a “peanut family tree” as a creative way to encourage younger children to learn about their family history. She also mentioned ideas to add to the Ingalls Genealogy: family recipes, information about how we are related to Laura Ingalls Wilder, family songs, and anecdotes.
There was a discussion about creating and maintaining an Ingalls Reunion Web site. Scott Snowiss indicated he would be interested in working on this project with Krista.
The Warren and Clarence Ingalls Families volunteered to host next year’s reunion, to be held on Saturday, October 18, 2014.
The Officers elected for next year were:
President-- John Ingalls
Vice President-- Jason Haushalter
Secretary-- Paige Ingalls
Treasurer-- Alliene Applebee
Historian-- Krista Ingalls Haushalter
Krista led the Roll Call of Families, followed by the report of births, deaths, and marriages. The following numbers indicate how many people from each branch were present at the Reunion:
Enoch Ingalls Branch 0
Henry Ingalls Branch 0
John Ingalls Branch 25
Lucinda Ingalls Hunt Branch 5
Eleanor Ingalls Winegard Branch 6
Diantha Ingalls Smith Branch 0
Joseph Truman Ingalls Branch 23
Ransom Benjamin Ingalls Branch 39
William Henry Harrison Ingalls Branch 0
Thaddeus Warsaw Ingalls Branch 0
Cyrus Ingalls (Westerlo) Branch 0
This year's “entertainment” was a presentation by John Ingalls. Since he served in the US Navy, he decided to research another famous Ingalls, Robert Ingersoll Ingalls (1882-1951), who developed Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi. Through his PowerPoint presentation, those present learned about the history of this vast enterprise and that 70% of today’s Navy fleet is from the Ingalls Shipbuilders. The surface fleet is built in Mississippi, and the submarines are built in Bath, Maine. The Exchequer became the first all welded ship, which made it much lighter than the riveted ships. Many of the ships built for the Second World War came from the Ingalls shipyards. An interesting anecdote shared by John was that the “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffet’s mother was employed by Ingalls in 1941. Robert Ingersoll Ingalls, Jr., inherited 90% of Ingalls Shipbuilding when his father died, and, in 1961, it was sold to Litton Industries. In 2011, Northrup-Grumman took it over, and it is now known as Huntington Ingalls Industries. All present agreed this was a very interesting and informative presentation.
Debbie closed the meeting and invited everyone back next year, on October 18, 2014, for the 86th Ingalls Reunion.