We gathered in Muncie, IN for the first ever Conger Cousins Reunion. My dad had 9 brothers and sisters, and I had 26 first-cousins. There was 21 years difference between the oldest and the youngest Conger child so several of the cousins are deceased.
When we met, 14 first cousins (many with spouses) showed up (many of these had not seen each other in 50 years!) Additionally, there were 2nd and even 3rd cousins who attended. We all learned that we have some very interesting, vibrant cousins and the consensus was that we continue the reunion on some regular basis.
One of the most eye-opening events of the weekend was the result of genealogy work that one of the cousins had done on their grandfather, Charles Everett Conger. It turns out that his lineage can be traced to 14th century when the name was Belcombre. Years passed and the name became Belkunger; more time passes and the name become Belconger. When his ancestor came to the US in the 17th century, the name became Conger.
We spent part of one day touring Muncie seeing homes where various family members lived.
On Sunday we attended Hazelwood Christian Church where Granddad and Grandmother attended. When looking through the church directory, we found a picture of Emma Conger. Nobody at the reunion knew her as a relative, but it seemed possible since Grandmother's name was Emma. Carl Googled her and found that she had attended Ball State University in Muncie and attended church at Hazelwood while in school. Subsequently, she move to Indianapolis. Karen, Carl's sister, contacted Emma and found that she is Uncle Joe's great-granddaughter (Joe is my dad's oldest brother.).
