I am a Greenlee

I'm also a Cannon, Campbell, and Stowell.  At least those are the names of my 4 grandparents.  Earlier this month, we traveled up to Iowa for the Greenlee family reunion.  I believe our last reunion was 1995.  I was about to enter my senior year of high school.  That is the last time I saw some of these people.

I enjoy family reunions.  I love geneology.  I love figuring out how I'm related to people.  There were several pictures of my grandma and her siblings along with their parents sitting around on tables for people to look at.  There were also a couple of family trees.  I wish I had the time and money to really get into geneology.  Someday, I might.  I want to pass on my knowledge of my ancestors to my children so they can pass it on to theirs.

We have a Cannon reunion every other summer around the 4th of July weekend.  There's a Campbell reunion every year in June.  I haven't attended that since K was born and I don't know that family very well.  We don't have a Stowell reunion but I wish we did.  This year, the Greenlee family decided to get together every 3 years.  The next reunion will be held in Wyoming, where they always used to be held, in 2014.  I sure hope we can make it.

Of all the siblings in my grandma's family, only her brother still lives.  Both he and his wife are doing well.  The wife of another of my grandma's brothers was also at the reunion.  There were several people missing, however.  Some of my 2nd cousins I remember hanging out with as a kid at our other reunions in Wyoming were unable to come.  And the only 3rd cousin generation were my dad's grandkids.  Maybe we'll get more to attend in 3 years.

Here's the whole gang.  All of the Greenlees who were able to attend are here.  There's 4 generations represented here.

We are the descendants of my grandma, Esther.  All of us were able to be there except my sister's younger soon-to-be step son.  Her fiance and his older son came.

These 3 couples all celebrated their anniversaries on August 13th.  This is my parents (on the right), with my dad's brother (on the left) and sister (in the middle) and their spouses.

This is quite the crew.  These are the 1st cousins and they are so fun to be around.  I think they're all 25 years old on the inside (some even younger - lol).

This is the last of my grandma's siblings.  Her brother, his wife, and another sister-in-law (sitting) who moved to Iowa from Seattle just in time for the reunion.

We are the 2nd cousins.  There are many more of us out there who were unable to come.

And this is the 3rd cousin generation.  However, these all happen to be 1st cousins because no other 3rd cousins came.  These are my grandma's great grandkids.



I don't know much about my grandma's history.  I believe while she was in her late teens or early 20s, her mother passed away.  Her aunts came to take care of her father and the little children and some of them moved with their father to Wyoming.  My grandma stayed in Iowa where she eventually met my grandpa.  They had 3 children, my dad was the baby.  My dad was about my age when he lost his mom.  She became very sick with a rare disease.  I remember her laying on the hospital bed in their living room.  She passed away just before I turned 4, I think.

There is a rumor that it is through the Greenlees that we are related to the Wright brothers.  One theory is that the Wright brother's mother's sister is my grandma's grandmother.  So I believe this means that the Wright brothers are my 1st cousins 3 times removed.  But there is some dispute with that as it seems too closely related.  Ah well.  It's just fun to say I'm related to the Wright brothers.  :)

So, there it is.  I am a Greenlee and proud of it.