Our Earliest Reunions
Click any image for a closer look
The only records we have of the pre-1937 Hartwell Reunions are shown below. What a crowd for the first Reunion in 1884! Are there any other surviving newsletters or photos from this period?
September 17, 1884
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord, Massachusetts
1884 Reunion Invitations
This remarkable set of four postcards was graciously donated in May 2024 by Walt Sobzak of Tuscon, AZ, from his late mother's estate. They are sequential notifications of the first Hartwell Family Reunion in 1884, and written by Lyman Densmore himself to a Hartwell cousin. Note that the September 10 postcard announces moving of the Reunion venue to the Fair Grounds.
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July 23
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August 8
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August 23
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September 10
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Genealogical notes. The addressee Mrs. P. W. Warner in Chicopee, MA was Emily M. Warner b. 1843, the wife of Pelatiah W. Warner, b. 1840. They were married in 1870. Emily was the daughter of Norman Warner and Elvira Hartwell (addressee for the July 23 invitation) of Cummington, MA. Elvira's Hartwell lineage is Elvira 7, William 6-5, Daniel 4, William 3, Samuel 2, William 1. Source:The Descendants of William Hartwell..., Generations 6 Through 12 (available as a .pdf in our Store), pp. 632-3.
1884 Membership Card
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Also from 1884, we have an official Hartwell Family Association membership card for a Chas. H. Hartwell, who paid his $1 dues at the gathering on September 17. |
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Early Newsletters
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September 17, 1885
Concord, Massachusetts 
Courtesy of Internet Archive
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August 27, 1891
Concord MA 
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Other Early Reunion Photographs
We don't know which years these were from, but the crowd is still impressive! It appears these are also taken at the Cattle Show Grounds.
We don't know which years these were from, but the crowd is still impressive! It appears these are also taken at the Cattle Show Grounds.
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