#1 Family letter 16 June 2008.
#2 Letter-to-all.
History is not only the distant past, our ancestors. We make history minute by minute, and as my interest in family history diversified to include the present and indeed the future, I set out to capture the present and record it. Several years ago I started, in addition to the family letter another letter, sent twice a year to all the first cousins and the few remaining elders of the next generation on my mother's side. This letter-to-all reports the status of the family letter, provides information about the next reunion, reminds the cousins about submitting stories for the Rempel Cousins book, reports on the status of other family history books and reminds the cousins about the family data base and my interest in the details about changes in their family constellations. It may also include reports of the latest reunions which many of the cousins may not have attended - such as the Niebuhr reunion in Abbotsford in 2006. Sadly, it may also include obituaries. And with it twice a year I send out the Master Contact List, which often prompts corrections in addresses, postal or email.
While no reply to this mass mailing is expected, often there are references to it in personal letters and emails from the cousins. I know it meets a need for me; I think it may also meet a need, or at least an interest, for others of the cousins.
My sister Mary Crane assists with the preparation and mailing of this letter-to-all. This is one of the many family history projects on which we work together.
Status: ongoing.