The Reunion was a success. Here is some stuff.
The host motel was The Super 8 Motel in Plattsburgh, NY.
Tim and Mary Bigelow of CT sent these pictures.
The Bigelow Society 2008 Reunion was held at Plattsburgh,
NY. Plattsburgh is in Clinton County along Lake Champlain. It has a lot
of history, both Revolutionary and the War of 1812 Naval battles were fought
there. The Super 8 Motel was our host motel and it proved to be a fairly
good choice. There were quite a few people that arrived on Friday and stayed
at the Motel. Dee Bigelow volunteered to handle registration and payments
for dinner, etc. Tim and Mary Bigelow, from CT were staying at the Cumberland
Bay State Park and I went down to see them on Thursday. They were great
to provide these pictures. Earlier in the week, I got in touch with the
local newspaper, who did an interview and article on the Reunion with a
picture of me standing by my 7th generation grandmother's headstone. My
sister Sheri Thompson and her husband David arrived on Thursday as well.
They helped me so much with the gifts (favors, bookmark, pens, mints, candle,
and adirondack chair), and so many other things they did like bringing up
from CT most of their children and grandchildren for the whole weekend.
And it was a full weekend, I think! I hate to try to
remember everybody in these notes, so I won't try. Everybody signed the
front cover of the "Forge", so that might help. Like I mentioned before,
Dee and Alan Bigelow from Michigan arrived on Friday, and really helped
a lot. Jean and David Bigelow from Utah made the trip with 2 of their granddaughters.
Their granddaughters offered to make a better and larger sign than the one
I made up for the Super 8, but I became distracted with other stuff. Jean
Bigelow, the Genealogist and Historian for the Bigelow Society, brought
me up to date on some of the information she has been collecting and we
did get some new family lines to work on. Jackie Woods from MI, our Vice-President,
arrived on Friday and we started working on her to be our next president.
More on that later! Ron Bigelow our President from Utah arrived Friday after
a tour of Fort Ticonderoga. He always is able to combine his reunions with
other activities. We held our board meeting that night, and I ended up being
nominated for President. I know, somebody has to do it!
We also learned of John Bigelow of Oregon, our Treasurer
suffering a stroke. John has made a remarkable recovery and he has done
such a wonderful job as Treasurer over many years. He wishes to step down
and we hope to have a new treasurer in 2009. Both John and his wife Lucille,
will still be active board members and I will call on them for advice and
help. We learned also of Guy Bigelow from AZ, being very ill, and can no
longer serve. He and his wife have also been on the board for more years
than I can remember. Guy served as Vice-President, Librarian, director, and
State/Province Representatives Chairman, and will be greatly missed. We did
get in some visiting that night, and that's always fun. Don Bigelow, Sr from
WI, and his wife were also there to reminisce about the 2006 Reunion they
hosted on their farm in Fort Atkinson, WI. We all hope to get back there
again in the future.
Saturday arrived!! Dee handled the registrations, etc.
We had two really great historical presentations by a couple of my friends
in the area. David Glenn gave a talk on the Revolutionary Naval Battle off
the shores of Plattsburgh in Lake Champlain. We got new insights on the
prowess of Benedict Arnold, who fought against the redcoats in that battle.
David also learned he was a Bigelow. Ruth (4) Bigelow (1719-1768), who married
Daniel Hemenway, was his 6th great grandmother. Don Papson next gave a talk
on the Underground Railroad in New York State area. I have worked with Don
in the past, and we have compared notes on some of the Bigelows that assisted
runaway slaves during the Civil War era. He brought us up to date on some
of his new research and presented a DVD presentation that was produced locally.
Both presentations were very well received.
We had tours of The Kent DeLord House and Ausable Chasm
in the afternoon. Everybody seemed to enjoy those too. The Kent DeLord House
was the British Troop HQ during the war and has many historical artifacts.
One of which is a Still Life painting done by Folger Bigelow. Folger Bigelow,
was the son of Daniel Folger Bigelow, a well known artist that grew up and
painted many scenes of the Plattsburgh area. Many went to Ausable Chasm
as well and enjoyed the nature walks through the Chasms and Cliffs of what
some call the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks. Not Really!! But there is
a nice boat ride at the end.
Everybody returned to the Motel for the Bar-B-Que.
The Great Adirondack Soup Company provided the meal of salads and Grilled
treats. I hope everybody enjoyed the food as much as I did. After the meal,
Ron Bigelow presided over the general meeting for the last time as he was
often heard repeating. Among other things voted on and discussed was me
as President, Ron as Director, Jackie as Vice-President, and the other directors
whose term expired. We heard the treasurer's report that John had sent, and
other business was taken care of. Then it was time for the Auction. Well,
Ron did another bang up job. When he gets rolling, really gets into it, and
really funny. He is a politician you know and I hope he will handle the auction
every year instead of me.
We had pretty good weather Friday and Saturday, so
I guess Sunday would be too much to ask for. And it was. It rained just
about all day, so we were not blessed by the floating band that is a tradition
on Chazy Lake. We did have a good time, mostly in the garage, visiting, drinking
and eating. For some, it was their first experience with Michigan Red Hots.
That is a local favorite with a hot dog with meat sauce, onions, and mustard.
Some know them as Chili dogs or Coney Islands, but we call them Michigans
and they are different and better than those others. We had a very nice
cake with the Bigelow Society Crest that was prepared here locally. In spite
of the rain we enjoyed each other's company and probably became closer because
of the close quarters of my garage. Thanks to all that attended any part
of the reunion and I hope to see you again soon.....ROD
Newspaper article in Local Paper
David Glenn on the Battle of Valcour
Don Papson on the Underground Railroad
Dee Bigelow Registering Billie (Bigelow)
Hayes and Sarah Moore
Jean Bigelow our
Genealogist/Historian
A tour of The Kent DeLord House Saturday Afternoon
Go to Page 2 ....
rodbigelow@netzero.net 
