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2024 52 Ancestors: Family Gathering - Dean And Millhouse Family Reunions

Summers were known to be the time of year when the extended Dean and Millhouse families (my maternal branch) could all come together in West Virginia for their respective reunions. The tradition began at least by 1949 for the Deans in Wheeling Park, but likely much earlier.

For as often as these gatherings probably took place over the years, I have very few photographs to document them. I, myself, only recall attending one "reunion" at Oglebay Park in 1999, but it was really a 50th anniversary celebration for my great aunt Thelma and Melvin Mays. It feels a tad awkward showing up to these events and really only recognizing a handful of people out of the throngs who attend. Having to strike up that initial conversation with a "stranger" is never easy as you blurt out, "So how do you fit in to the tree? Who are you? How should I know you?" So that's just one of the excuses my introverted self makes for not going.

Gary and Kira Foltz being anti-social, Oglebay Park, Wheeling, West Virginia, 1999.

But as the genealogist in the family, I'm always left staring at the group picture taken at these functions and pondering who each individual is. Because, of course they're never labeled! Everyone makes that mistake of saying, "Well, I was there. I know who was in attendance. They were related to me through so and so...Why would I need to label it?" It only takes a few years for that person's fickle memory to fade or for a few precious souls to pass away before others are left wondering, "Who the heck is in that photo?"

So the oldest reunion photo I inherited in my grandparents' albums was of the Dean reunion in 1949. There are, of course, several faces I'm well familiar with in the frame, like my grandparents, great grandparents, and great aunts, but so many others were unidentifiable to me. And there were also some that I knew I had seen other photos of in the albums, but would need to track down and play the comparison game with.

Rather than going down that rabbit hole, I brought a copy with me to Owasso, Oklahoma in 2009 when a branch of the family was holding a mini reunion in celebration of two of my great aunts' birthdays (Frances and Thelma). I asked the both of them, as well as their younger sister, Sheila, to point out and name every single person they could recognize in the photograph. This was the result:

Marked-up photocopy of Dean family reunion, Wheeling Park, Wheeling, West Virginia, 14 Aug 1949.

As you can see, I still had many gaps to fill in after that! But at least it was a start. I took their input and then went back to the family tree and went through the other albums to complete a compare and contrast. I managed to identify a few more folks. I also emailed the photo to other Dean cousins for further insight.

I recently tracked down the daughter-in-law of my 1st cousin 2x removed, Anna Lou Metzger, online. I've never met Anna Lou, and although the connection sounds rather close, our branches of the family haven't kept in good contact (at least not down to my generation). Her son and daughter-in-law did me the favor of sitting down with her to capture more names in the above photograph. She, herself, was missing from the photo, funny enough. But she remembers attending the reunion and believes she must have skipped off to the playground while the photo was being taken, as she was only a young girl at the time. I got a handful of more names from her, including her mother and one of the young boys squatting in front, as well as several confirmed! 

At present, I have 39 individuals identified in the reunion photo out of the 67 pictured:

Digital image with individuals identified in red at the Dean family reunion, Wheeling Park, Wheeling, West Virginia, 14 Aug 1949.

Annoyingly, there are also some folks who were cropped out of the original. Unless I find other copies, we'll never know who they might have been either. And where each person stands and who was missing can give great clues. I'm fairly certain a slew of the boys in the back are all related to William Ralph Dean.

One of my biggest gripes is identifying the woman seated in the front row 3rd from left, next to my 2nd great grandmother, Elizabeth (Rockwell) Dixon. Her surname was Burns according to another photo I have with her in it, but I do not have a clue on how she ties into the family or whether Burns is a maiden or married name. She may just be a friend of Elizabeth's (whom, might I add, was a non-Dean featured in this Dean family photo, so you really just never know who's in these things! Elizabeth's daughter, Beatrice Dixon, married a Dean). But more than likely she was born a Dean or married a Dean. I also suspect her first name was Mary, as I'm in possession of a young girl's photo labeled "? Mary Dean". But you just never know!

The oldest Millhouse family reunion photo I have in my possession is not truly a reunion photo at all. But I'll use creative license to call it so. Here are the Millhouse and Williams kids playing in the creek at Jim's Run in McMechen, West Virginia on the 4th of July, 1919:

(Left to right) Alma Williams, Harold Millhouse, Ruth Millhouse, Bertha May Millhouse, Eugene Raphael Williams in dark suit in front, Lucinda Millhouse, Nellie Williams, Jessie Williams, Raymond Millhouse, and Grace Millhouse in back of footbridge, Jims Run, McMechen, West Virginia, 4 Jul 1919.

Now, the official Millhouse reunion photos I have don't come anywhere close to dating that far back in time, and yet, this picture above has every single person identified. The more modern Millhouse reunion photos, like the below, do not!

Above is the 2010 Millhouse reunion. My mom attended that one with her cousins Eileen and Kim (all grouped together in the picture kind of center right). Again, I recognize a few faces here and there (mostly due to social media), but a directory of who's who in this photo could sure help!

Most of the time it's just hard to get the whole gang back together. So little family functions make for important photographs. Here's my grandpa Ray with his parents, Harry and Anna Millhouse, and, miraculously, all of his siblings.

(Left to right) Ben Millhouse, Bill Millhouse, Harry Samuel Millhouse, Anna Diamond (Williams) Millhouse, Anna Virginia (Millhouse) Sole, Ed Millhouse, and Raymond Millhouse, undated.

The photograph must have been taken prior to 1983 when his father Harry passed away. Interestingly, Ray shows up in more Dean family reunion photos than I have of him in Millhouse family reunion photos. 

Here are the other two Dean gatherings I have pictures of:

Dean family reunion, Wheeling Park, Wheeling, West Virginia, 16 Aug 1953.

Once again the Burns lady makes an appearance at the Dean reunion (5th from left seated in front row), and this time, there is no Elizabeth Dixon as far as I can tell, so it still begs the question of how she's related in the Dean tree.

(Top Row Left to Right) Eloise (Hickle) Dean, John Wise, Charles Marsh, Raymond Millhouse, Melvin Mays, Jewell (Straub) Dean. (Middle Row Left to Right) Raymond Dean w/ son Larry Dean in lap, Frances (Dean) Wise, Mary Ruth (Dean) Marsh w/ daughter Arlene (Marsh) Kuschmider on right knee, Edna (Dean) Millhouse w/ daughter Frannie (Millhouse) Kaiser in lap, Beatrice (Dixon) Dean Cole, Thelma (Dean) Mays w/ daughter Cindy (Mays) Bippus in lap, Lloyd Dean w/ niece Paula (Mays) McClearn in lap. (Front Row Left to Right) Charles Marsh, Sheila (Dean) Pendleton, Emory Marsh, and Eddie Dean. Dean gathering, West Virginia, circa 1954.

I also have stumbled upon this family picnic below. At least I think it's my family! I can only assume as much because it was in our family photo album, but was not labeled, nor do I recognize any person or place within it. My suspicions are on them being Deans, Dixons, Rockwells, or Steinmans. That doesn't really narrow it down much, does it? The barn looks like it could be the Dean barn, but I'll need to wait for my great aunt to take a gander and confirm.



Plus, here's a great example in my photo albums of these reunion photographs going unlabeled:



Mamoo and Pap Pap would be Beatrice (Dixon) Dean Cole and William Cole, by the way! "Everybody" is positively the wrong way to identify these! OMG.

Now, because my branch of the family moved out to the west coast, our gatherings included much smaller numbers. In turn, it's much easier for me to identify everyone in the photos! Here's a Millhouse / Dean / Foltz get-to-gether in my grandparents' backyard in Hawthorne, California:

Father Gary Foltz, grandparents Edna and Ray Millhouse with aunt Frannie (Millhouse) Kaiser in back, great aunt Mary Ruth (Dean) Marsh Bush Smith Rife, mother Beann (Millhouse) Foltz, sisters Brittany and Kira Foltz in front, 14903 Yukon Ave., Hawthorne, California, 31 May 1993.

The above can stand as photo evidence I was once taller than my younger sister. I was really dragging my feet on publishing this article, as I'd love to first identify all of the individuals in these reunion photos. But more than likely, that may never happen, so best to get this out in the world and (cross my fingers) make updates at a later date! 

Please reach out if you can name any of these folks. Thank you!





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