The 97th Gathering
of
The Descendents of
Bethania
Hauser Williams Russell
Family and Friends Reunion
July 20-22, 2012
Looking Into the Past to Enrich Our Future
The Hauser Williams Russell Family Reunion
Comes Home to North Carolina
Yadkinville, NC
High Point and Yadkinville, NC
Reunion Activities
Friday July 20, 2012
6:00- 8:00 pm
Family Social -Hospitality Room, Suite #119
9:00 pm
Card party at the Pinckney’s
Saturday July 21, 2012
Breakfast
On your own
9:00 am
Leave for Yadkinville, NC
10:00 am
Memorial Service and Pleasant Grove Cemetery,
Tennessee Street, Yadkinville, NC
3:00-7:00 pm
Later
Dixie R. Moore Fellowship Picnic,
High Point City Lake Park Picnic Shelter #2,
602 W. Main Street, Jamestown, NC
Jazz Club
Sunday July 22, 2012
11:00 am
Church Service Pleasant Grove Baptist Church,
Yadkinville, NC
The HWR Family Beginnings
We are the descendents of Bethania Hauser
Williams Russell born between 1840 and 1848
on a plantation in Bethania, NC. She was
purchased for $850, sometime in the 1850’s
(We think around 1858), by TC Hauser,
merchant and planter in Yadkinville.
The HWR Family Reunion Beginnings
The reunions began when Bethania’s second
son, Martin began inviting family to celebrate
his mother’s birthday.
Bethania had three sons while on the TC Hauser
Plantation in Yadkinville, NC –
Alexander Hauser, Martin Hauser and
Sanford Hauser.
All three where born while she was a slave.
After slavery she married Lewis Williams and
had four more children – William Taylor
Williams, Louis Williams, J. Crawley Williams
and Sarah (Sallie) Williams.
Sarah (Sallie) Williams
Taylor and wife Mary
• When he died she married David C. Russell
and had four more children- Lucy Russell,
Joseph Commodore (Commie) Russell, Henry
Lee Russell and Dixie J. Russell.
Joseph C.
Henry
Dixie
In the early 1990’s the family decided to
rotate reunion locations. The reunions are
held in North Carolina every other year.
Yadkinville, Winston-Salem, Clemmons, High Point
Cleveland, OH
College Park, MD
Northridge, CA,
Williamsburg, VA
Las Vegas, NV,
Atlanta, GA,
Washington, DC
Myrtle Beach, SC,
Harrisburg, PA
The 2012 reunion began in High Point, NC at the
Best Western Plus Hotel.
Friday Social
A quilt made by me Jannis Floyd, my mom Doris
Hauser Floyd Elliott and my sister Lisa Floyd
Gaw, from squares decorated at the 2011
reunion was displayed.
Family members later convened at the home of
Donna and John Pinckney in High Point for
cards and further reconnecting.
Saturday Morning
Family members met at the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church
cemetery in Yadkinville, NC to remember and honor Bethania,
and all other family members buried there with prayers and a
reading of the Black Family Pledge. Flowers were placed on
Bethania’s and all HWR family member grave sites.
THE BLACK FAMILY PLEDGE
Written by Maya Angelou
BECAUSE we have forgotten our ancestors,
our children no longer give us honor.
BECAUSE we have lost the path our ancestors cleared
kneeling in perilous undergrowth,
our children cannot find their way.
BECAUSE we have banished the God of our ancestors,
our children cannot pray.
BECAUSE the old wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing,
our children cannot hear us crying.
BECAUSE we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering,
our befuddled children give birth to children
they neither want nor understand.
BECAUSE we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our
gates, an holds us up to the mirror of the world shouting,
"Regard the loveless"
Therefore we pledge to bind ourselves to one another, to embrace our
lowliest, to keep company with our loneliest, to educate our illiterate,
to feed our starving, to clothe our ragged, to do all good things,
knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters.
We ARE our brothers and sisters.
IN HONOR of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues,
and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation, we
make this pledge.
Saturday Picnic at the City Lake
Park in High Point, NC
Family members had a great time
-swimming, nature walks, boats
rides, train rides, craft activities
and just catching up.
Saturday evening
Local Jazz Club in High Point.
Family Participants
Over 60 family members travelled from
Los Angeles, CA; Boston, MA; Louisville, KY;
Mansfield, PA; Washington, DC; Herndon and
Sterling, VA;, Laurel and Hyattsville, MD;
Atlanta, GA; Cleveland and Shaker Heights,
OH; Columbia and York, SC, as well as Winston
Salem and Mocksville, NC.
Family Meeting
2013 Reunion: Atlanta, Georgia.
Elections
Vice -President: Sherrie Hauser Simmons
Atlanta, GA.
Secretary: Maria Hauser
W-S, NC
Treasurer: Sterling Hauser
Shaker Heights, OH
Family News
• Graduation
Daniel Jackson, son of Curtis Jackson and grandson of Velma
Hauser Jackson, graduated from Univ. of CA- Sacramento.
• Business Ventures
Sentsy –Fragrances Lisa F. Gaw, Louisville, KY
Lisagaw.com
GoFoods Global -Gourmet Foods –No GMO, MSG or
Additives Donald Gaw, Louisville, KY
http://www.trysomefor free.com
Family News
• Business Ventures
DME digital images Graphic Designs
Daniel M. Elliott, Silver Spring, MD RealSweetShirts.com
• Military
Captain Talgin L. Cannon, son of LaTrice Callaway Cannon
and grandson of Dora Hauser Callaway Wallace,
completed his command of Bravo Battery 5th Air Defense
Artillery Battalion on August 9th. He received a new
command assignment.
Family News
• Military
Daniel Jackson, (son of Curtis Jackson and grandson of Velma
Hauser Jackson) is an Officer Training Candidate, Marine Corp,
Quantico, VA
• School
Louis Bell and Lawrence Bell sons of Karen Hauser Bell and
grandsons of Lawrence R. Hauser, are beginning college in
Charlotte, NC in the Fall.
Karen Hauser Bell has started a Master program.
Family News
• July Wedding Anniversaries
Justin and Diayle Pinckney Davis - 2nd
Lee and Olena H. Paige - 54th
• July Birthdays
Lois B. Hauser July 17th
Yvonne and Yvette Floyd July 22nd
Diayle P. Davis July 23rd
Olena Hauser Paige July 26th
Family News
• Community Service
Donna C. Pinckney and John Pinckney coached a tiny tots
(ages 6-8) basketball team this spring.
Doris Hauser Floyd-Elliott, daughter of Daniel and Callie
Hauser, is an active volunteer and the Crescent Cities Senior
Center in Hyattsville, MD.
We Are Family
The Descendants of Bethania Hauser Williams Russell
Thank You
Donna C. Pinckney
Reunion Chairperson
Sterling Hauser
Treasurer
And
Committee Members
Pictures
Very Special Thanks
to all the family members who posted their
pictures on Facebook.
My camera broke on Friday.