One of Moultrie’s oldest families tries to reunite

April 22, 2015

by Joash Tiarks
Bethany Reporter

A picture can be worth a thousand words, but what about a thousand relatives? And what if many of the faces in that picture are without names, waiting to be identified? A complex puzzle to be sure, especially when that photo was taken nearly 100 years ago.
Yet, this is just what Janie Ball of Estes Park, Colo., Doris Hubner of Onarga, Ill., and Connie Cerdena of LaCenter, Wash. have undertaken to do in planning and preparing for their family’s reunion set for the May 9 and 10 in Sullivan.
However, this is not your typical family get together.
Ball, Hubner and Cerdena each trace their lineage back to one of the first families to arrive in Moultrie County, who were actually the first white settlers to take up permanent residence here: the Isaac Waggoner family.

Submitted
Pictured is a photo from 1928 in what was then called Freeland’s Grove (near present day Wyman Park) of the Waggoner family reunion. The family goes back as far as 1828, making it one of the first to settle in Moultrie County. After more than 80 years after their last, the family plans to reunite in Sullivan next month, but is still trying to get the word out to family members.

Having sold his 500 acre farm and packed up his household goods into a four-horse covered wagon and a two-horse surrey, Waggoner set out in November of 1827 with his wife, Emsey, four of his sons and two of his daughters, their spouses and their children for the unknown frontier, 21 souls in all. After many arduous and adventurous miles they arrived at what is now Whitley Township in March of 1828 as pioneers in this wild prairie they thought “would never be settled,” to make a life for their close knit family. More of Isaac’s children followed in the coming years, and the transplanted family grew and flourished.
As more settlers arrived and the community grew around them, Isaac’s descendants would serve as county sheriffs, judges, treasurers, clerks, and township supervisors. Eden Martin, a curator of local history, said that “they helped found the county and the city (of Sullivan). If there was a more influential family, I don’t know of one.”
The family continued to grow and branch out in the following years so they established a pattern of reunions to keep up with the changes. Newspaper clippings from that time corroborate family history of numbers swelling into the hundreds, at one time even reaching into the 1500 range at a gathering.
The family elected officers to preside over the reunions and to preserve the details of the family’s lineage and genealogy. But all was not strictly business; those with musical talent, both vocal and instrumental, performed favorite hymns and songs for the listening pleasure of their relatives and friends in the community. Others showcased family quilts or composed and recited poetry or essays, many of which pieces survive as heirlooms to this day.
With the family’s growth, the challenge to stay together and stay in touch grew. The reunion tradition inevitably tapered off around the turn of the century, according to family records, until two significant gatherings were held at what is now Wyman Park. The first occurred in 1922, producing a comprehensive book of family history and records, while the second, in 1928, produced an extensive family photo as well as updates to the 1922 book. The Sullivan Progress reported that ‘about 500 relatives and friends gathered’ for the centennial celebration of Isaac’s arrival and settlement in the county. An earlier article had enunciated several reasons for the prominence of the Waggoner family; “First they were intelligent and industrious. Also they were interested in progress of the community. And, also, there were so many of them.”
It was this 1928 photo that united the efforts of Janie, Doris and Connie and around which this coming reunion centers. As far anyone knows, that 1928 reunion was the last great gathering of the Waggoner family in Moultrie County.
“There were over 190 people in the original photo with around 30 having been identified so far,” Doris said. “It is a huge feat to take on. But my interest in (our) genealogy is like an addiction, to try to find another piece to the puzzle. Each uncle or aunt or cousin makes the picture better.”
During individual research spanning the last several decades, Janie, Doris, and Connie became aware of each other and were excited to collaborate efforts.
“I have been working on this (family history) for over 30 years, and since retiring a few years ago, I have probably put in from six to 10 hours a day,” Janie shared. A large group of Waggoners was discovered in Washington, unaware of the group in Illinois. Other relatives across the country were identified, contacted and visited.
With the bicentennial looming on the horizon, an idea started to crystalize around the 1928 photo. Could the various groups of Waggoners, each descended from Isaac, reunite to identify those unknown faces in the original photo and recreate it with the current generations? Well, the call has gone out. The 12 page email invitation has been sent and things are in motion for the Waggoner clan to again make the trek to Moultrie County this May.
“We are hoping to have a couple hundred, it could be 500, we really don’t know,” Janie said.  “We are going to spend two good days visiting as many ancestors as we possibly can and get as much information from them as we can and hopefully get this book caught up from 1929.  We want to get our families back together,” she continued.
“Years ago,” Doris shared, “the struggles bound them together.  Friends come and go, but building that bond( with family), that’s what I want.”
Anyone with ancestral information about the Waggoner family or desiring additional information about the family or the reunion is welcome to call Jane Ball at 970-586-4557.  Also, there is information about the reunion posted at the Moultrie County Historical & Genealogical Society on Harrison St. in Sullivan or call 217-728-0588. [/s2If]