[or-roots] Smith River Reunion

[Leslie Chapman]

I guess I should tell a couple of stories on myself, one of the first
reunions I attended was what was then known as the Dailey family picnic,
about 1957 and in the mid 1990's my wife and I took her grandma (may aunt,
don't ask) to another one of those annual events which are now usually
called Smith River reunion or some such, ironically that year they held it
at Scottsburg Park on the Umpqua.

We were in the chow line and after the two guys in front of me sorted out
where they fit in the family tree (Dailey-Abbot-Smiley-I don't know who all:
every family that has been on Smith River more than 50 years are related)
and they turned to ask me how I or my wife fit into the family.
My response? "Oh, we aren't part of the family, we were just passing by on
the highway and getting hungry when we saw you folks lining up for food so
thought we'd get in line."

My wife wanted to kill me, but they just laughed and said I was welcome. Of
course I then had to tell them how we actually fit in since it turns out she
has an Aunt that married into that tribe as well as one of my great Uncles
being distantly related.

The corralary story to that is when I was 21 I asked my Dad how we were
related to Everett Abbott, (see above families) and he gave me a blank look,
so I asked him if Everett was related to our side or maybe he was related to
my mother's cousin Lester whose ranch we were all working on at the time. He
informed me that Everett wasn't family at all and where did I get the idea
he was.

We treated him like family, took advantage of his carpentry skills whenever
we could and he and his family were always welcome to sit up to the dinner
table, how the heck was I supposed to know he was just a friend of the
family??


Les C