For those of you who do not know the way to Carl and Ruth Swart's farm, where we meet Saturday morning, here is a map. Their home is at 1494 Q Road. Q Road is also known as the Goff-Oneida Road, and is 6 miles east of Seneca. Their home is just over 5 miles south of US 36, and is on the left. Expect to see a flag flying at their driveway.

The map also shows the route of the driving tour Saturday. We expect to constitute quite a caravan with more than 70 people. Please consider carpooling 4 to a car. If you have a car or van that accommodates more than that, try to fill it up with your fellow attendees. We will all have more fun and fellowship that way.

Make your reservations now for the 2010 Zeisset Reunion.

The August 6-8, 2010, Zeisset Reunion promises to be a exciting event of learning and sharing about our heritage. Our agenda is linked here and at the top of zeissetgenealogy.n3.net. With less than 4 weeks to go, it is high time to make your commitments.

First, you have just a few more days to make hotel reservations.
For Friday night, August 6, rooms are available at motels in Seneca:
• The Starlite Motel, 10 North Street, Seneca, KS, 66508, (785) 336-2191
($45 for one bed or $55 for two)
• The Settle Inn and Suites, 1615 North Street, Seneca, KS, 66508, (877) 786-2494 ($80.99)

For Saturday night, August 7, there are no rooms left in Seneca. We have reserved a block of rooms in Marysville, 30 miles west of Seneca, on the way to Leonardville.
• Marysville Surf Motel, 2105 Center Street, Marysville, KS 66508, (785) 562-2354
($54.99 for one bed or $62.99 for two)
To get these rates, you MUST make your reservation by Friday, July 16, 21 days in advance of the reunion, and must mention "Zeisset Reunion". Rooms reserved after that date, if available, will be at their normal rates, which are somewhat higher.

Second, we need you to return the registration form and a check by Friday, July 16. Why? We need to tell our hosts or caterers how many meals to prepare, and we need to make enough copies of handout materials. Those of us organizing the event will have our hands full during the reunion, and we don’t want to have to deal with any more money than we have to during the event. If paying in advance is simply not possible for you, at least send us the form now. The form can be folded into a self-mailer or put in an envelope. Send your form and your check to--
Ray Zeisset, 2600 Woodleigh, Lincoln, NE 68502

Don’t overlook the opportunities to volunteer shown on the form. Please bring stories to tell (of your ancestors or of your travels in search of them), music to share, old photos we can scan (especially farm sites), etc.

You can also place your order on the form for the new 120-page Zeisset Family Cookbook, which you can either pick up at the reunion or have mailed to you if you can’t attend.

Time has been set aside for visiting within family groups Saturday afternoon, after the tour. Now is a good time to contact other members of your family to make sure they will be there.

Be sure to check out http://zeissetgenealogy.n3.net. Any additions to the schedule will be noted there, along with links to maps and handout materials as they are developed. Read Loretta’s additions to our family story.

Feel free to write us with your ideas at any time. Email can be sent to pzeisset@earthlink.net, regular mail to the address above.

So make those hotel reservations, send in your registration form, and we will see you in August!

2010 Zeisset Reunion

This summer, we have something slightly different planned for the Leonardville Zeisset reunion. This time we will explore more deeply the roots of one of our branches, the Swart family. Louise and John Swart met and married in Leonardville in 1886, but moved on to Nemaha County within ten years.

This email tells about our tentative plans for the reunion, but most important, solicits your input on the reunion date and a few other program ideas. We are proposing three alternatives, July 17-18, July 24-25, and August 7-8.

Which ever weekend we select, our plan is to spend Saturday talking and touring near Seneca, KS, then Sunday sharing fellowship in Leonardville, 75 miles away, at the cemetery and at the church. In Seneca, our hosts will be Carl and Ruth Swart. We will have a chance to tour the farmstead built by Louise and John Swart (Carl's grandparents), see the cemetery where Louise and John are buried, and visit a toy museum created by a Swart relative. We will talk about the Swart family and compare their experiences with those of the other branches of the family, including yours.

Early Sunday morning, we will drive to Leonardville for a visit and memorial moment at the Leonardville cemetery, attend church together, and share a pot luck/catered dinner in Zeisset Hall at the Leonardville United Methodist Church Sunday noon. In the afternoon, Loretta will review our family story and tell us about her most recent research. We will fit in some singing and storytelling as well, so come prepared to contribute.

So now we need to hear from you. Just click on the link below, or copy and paste this address into your browser. Be sure to forward this message to additional people whose addresses you don't find above, or just give us their emails in Question 8. And if you have relatives without computers, why not call them and fill out a form for them. (Multiple responses from any one computer are allowed.)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PPHCSQQ

Please respond right now--it will only take a few minutes. If you need to check with someone else, try to get back to this in the next week or so, before you forget, so that we can start analyzing the results.

Once we pick a date, we will send announcements to everyone by mail, but for right now, we are conducting this query only by computer.