Patton Family Reunion

The last year has been very challenging on a personal level and that’s contributed to the resurgence of my activities in my family history research.

I don’t know what it is but there’s a sense of continuity, life goes on, and a realisation that those who have been before have gone through much worse and “survived”.

Most of the time that the family got together, like most families I suppose, was at weddings, births or funerals, the most contrasting emotional events that most people experience in their lives. They are also times when you are focusing either on the married couple, the baby & parents or the deceased and their family. We didn’t have the chance just to be together and catch up, have a chat.

If I had a dollar for every time that I heard, “We’re going to have to get together when it’s not a wedding, birth or funeral, have a proper family reunion”, I’d be a very rich man.

In 1980, two “cousins”, Christine Somerville (née Daffy) & Doug Hutchinson organized a reunion in Wandong. 37 years ago.

Sadly, now both Christine & Doug have passed, including many family members. But their memories live on, as does the “spirit” of the Patton Family.

My renewed interest had me speaking with a number of my cousins who suggested we have a reunion, to bring the family back together and introduce the history of the Patton family to the next generation.

We are all influenced by the past, whether we realize it or not.

The way we look, the way we behave, the way that we form “our” attitudes (which by the way, are they really “our” attitudes?)

To know ourselves is to know our past, and to know our past we must learn about it.

So on the 27th of January, 2018 we are going to have the opportunity to do exactly that.

I look forward to meeting “old” relatives and getting to know some of my “new” cousins.

If you would like more information send me an email or better still click on the link to our Patton Family Group and join us.