The Henry Hendricks Family reunion was held over two days in Farmington Utah, Friday, July 31st and Saturday, August 1st. The theme was “Cousins on Coasters” and discounted admission to the nearby Lagoon amusement park provided activities and thrilling rides to the families of those who attended.
Friday began with registration and a chance to visit with those arriving at the Farmington North Stake Center, 729 Shepard Lane. For LDS members, a temple session was organized at the Ogden Temple.
Beginning at 1:00 pm a series of classes were conducted to acquaint family members with the history and genealogical activity of the HHFO. The first class discussed the various family history tools available, such as Ancestry.com and Ancestral Quest, which is the software the HHFO uses to maintain a private database of all descendants of Henry Hendricks and the allied lines.
In a concurrent class, LDS FamilySearch and FamilyTree were presented. As the afternoon progressed presentations on the pioneer trek west by the James and Druscilla Hendricks family and a travel guide (PDF) to Hendricks family historical sites in the United States and The Netherlands were made. The final presentation of the day was the most important as the Research Director, DelLynn Leavitt gave an interesting and fact-filled presentation on how DNA testing and his recent research have confirmed that our ancestry is from Hendrick Willemsz and his three sons, Willem, Hendrick, and Daniel, as well as a daughter, Francyntje. This ancestry replaces the previously published information that erroneously linked us to Jacob Hendricks Hafte as the original Dutch immigrant.
Evening activities began with an ice cream social, where families could mingle with cousins while enjoying as much ice cream and toppings one could desire. it was full of fun and laughter, conversations and getting acquainted.
This ancestry, and what little information we have on the family of Hendrick Willemsz, was creatively presented Friday evening in a readers theater presentation after an ice cream social that brought about 90 people together to greet their cousins, both known and unknown. This reading was written by Karla Hendricks Hunstman and featured John Hendrix, Harold Hendricks, DelLynn Leavitt and Lucy Peterson portraying our “Original American Siblings” in costume, describing their lives in the early Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.

Saturday morning, August 1st was reserved for family time at the Lagoon amusement park, after which a wonderful BBQ lunch was provided at Shepard Park. The food was very good and plentiful. Following the lunch, the HHFO business meeting was held where John Hendrix, the vice president who organized the reunion, took his place as our new President. An election for new officers was then held with Mellanee Kilpack and Anne Bingham being elected as the new Vice President and our new Secretary. The business meeting also included a presentation and discussion on the future of the HHFO, the feasibility of continuing our five-year reunions, and a proposal to create a national organization dedicated to research and disseminating information on the descendants of Hendrick Willemsz in collaboration with the research done by Dr. Andrew Hendricks of North Carolina. A committee was formed to investigate this possibility. Suggestions on both the future activities of the HHFO and how to reach a national family descendancy were discussed by this committee later that day.

Following the lunch, both LeAnn Hord and DelLynn Leavitt repeated their presentations for those who were not able to attend Friday.

We who attended offer thanks to John Hendrix, LeAnn Hord, DelLynn Leavitt, Karla Huntsman, and all the rest of the board and family members that put so much effort into this memorable reunion. Anyone who would like to post photos or comments about the reunion are welcome to do so at the Henry Hendricks Family Facebook Group below:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/henryhendricksfamilyorg/

Saturday Lunch

Research Report

Future Directions

Elections

Our Ancestors

(Click once to play the video, then click the lower right corner to enlarge.)