Reunions

The DELANO KINDRED Bylaws require that we hold one Annual Meeting between May 31st and October 31st each year. In keeping with our Mission Statement's desire that we "Facilitate camaraderie and family knowledge among the cousins via family reunions...", we also hold a Reunion Meeting in conjunction with our Annual Meeting. We try to select different parts of the country with ties to the DELANO name to host our meeting, although that is not a requirement. Even if you are not a member of the Delano Kindred, if you think you have a DELANO line of descent or are just interested in the DELANO name, you are cordially invited to attend.

Here is a look at our recent Reunion Meetings:

The 2024 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Maggie Valley, NC

The 2024 Annual Meeting and Reunion was held jointly with the Soule Kindred in America at the Living Waters Catholic Reflection Center in Maggie Valley, NC, September 13-15, 2024. Springboarding off the success of the joint meeting held with the Alden and Peter Brown societies the previous year, we arranged to join with the Soule members for this year's meeting. The Rev. Dr. W. Becket Soule, President of the Soule Kindred and Delano Kindred Board of Directors member, is the pastor at St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church in Maggie Valley and facilitated the meeting.

On Thursday, September 12, participants were able to ride the Tennessee Valley Railroad's Missionary Ridge Local train in Chattanooga to the Soule (Railroad Maintenance) Shops in East Chattanooga in the morning  and the Hiwassee River Gorge Loop train in Delano, TN, in the afternoon. Dinner was served at the Savannah Oaks Winery across the street from the Delano train depot.

Friday, September 13, found us visiting Biltmore, the Vanderbilt estate in Asheville, NC. Dinner in the evening was at J. Arthur's, an excellent local Maggie Valley restaurant. Caleb Johnson presented some of the difficulties he has encountered attempting to document the lineage of George Soule.

The business meeting was at 9:30am (Eastern time) on Saturday, September 14. A picnic lunch was enjoyed at the Collins Creek Picnic Area in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Many of us stopped to explore Mingus Mill, a water-powered grist mill in the Park. Dinner in the evening was a wonderful spread of local BBQ delights.

Many stayed to attend the Sunday morning Reunion Church Service at St. Margaret's to hear Rev. Soule's sermon before departing for home. 

The 2023 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Duxbury, MA

The 2023 Annual Meeting and Reunion was held jointly with the Alden Kindred of America and the Pilgrim Peter Brown Society at the Alden Historic Site in Duxbury, MA, August  4-6, 2023. This was a first for the Delano Kindred and all who attended thought we should combine meetings again with other lineage societies in the future. In fact, our 2024 meeting will be held jointly with the Soule Kindred in America in Maggie Valley, NC.

Friday, Aug. 4, kicked off with a tour of the Myles Standish Burying Ground in Duxbury. The Myles Standish Burying Ground is the oldest continually maintained cemetery in the U.S. Besides Myles Standish and other Mayflower passengers such as John and Pricilla Alden and George Soule being buried here, first-comers such as Philip Delano, both of his wives and many of his children are believed to be also buried there.

Friday evening featured the Alden's popular Chowder Fest at the Alden House Historic Site. It lived up to its reputation as an excellent meal and a great get-together.

On Saturday, Aug. 5, we held the Delano Kindred annual meeting at the Duxbury Senior Center, followed by the groundbreaking for the new Alden Barn project, then a group photo, a talk by the Rev. Dr. W. Becket Soule on Passengers of the Fortune, and a walk on part of the Duxburrow Path which our Delano ancestors once walked upon almost 400 years ago.

We rounded out the meeting on Sunday, Aug. 6, with a 9 AM church service at St. John’s in Duxbury with the guest sermon given by Rev. Becket Soule. Then it was over to the Maj. John Bradford House in Kingston, MA, for Sunday Brunch, and a house tour.

The 2022 Annual Meeting and Reunion was held in Delano, MN
The meeting dates for this year were September 16, 17, and 18. Historic Delano Minnesota is located about 35 miles or 40 minutes from Minneapolis.

Our hotel was the GrandStay Delano in Delano, Minnesota, located at 395 13th Street South. 27 members attended the meeting in person, and several more attended via ZOOM. All sessions with the exception of the Walking Tour of Delano and the dinner presentation by Becket Soule on Saturday evening were recorded and are available for viewing on this website.

• To view the Agenda and supporting documents for the 2022 Annual Meeting, click here.
• For a brief report on the Reunion and to watch the recorded videos, click here.

The 2021 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Plymouth, MA
This was held as both an in-person and a virtual (via ZOOM) meeting on September 17-19, 2021. Registration was via this website. Video recordings of the presentations and the Annual Meeting itself are available below to logged-in members; the video link won't be displayed if you're not logged in.

• For complete planning details about this Reunion Meeting, click here.

• To display the meeting agenda and documents for this Reunion Meeting, click here.

The 2020 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Manassas, VA
The in-person meeting was CANCELLED. A resurgence of the COVID-19 virus made holding an in-person meeting unwise. The 2020 Annual Meeting was a members-only virtual business meeting and was held on September 26 at noon (Eastern time) via ZOOM on the Internet. 

The 2019 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Hyde Park, NY
On Tuesday, September 10th, through Thursday, September 12th, the 2019 DELANO KINDRED Annual Meeting and Reunion was held at the Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Information Center at the FDR National Historic Site, in Hyde Park, New York. Co-located with the FDR Presidential Library, ithe site is eight miles north of Poughkeepsie and just south of Hyde Park, New York at 4097 Albany Post Road (U.S. 9). Our theme for this meeting was "The Delano Influence on FDR". Newsletter #91 contains a complete report on this meeting.

The 2018 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Fairhaven, MA
The 2018 Reunion and Annual Meeting was held in Fairhaven, MA, on Wednesday, June 13th and Thursday, June 14th. We focused on the old DELANO families of the Fairhaven area, the DELANO families living on Sconticut Neck and the West family for which West Island is named, Philippe's uncle John Cooke, and of course Warren Delano and his family. The Reunion was held in mid-week to take advantage of available facilities and to keep the cost down for everyone. The Annual Meeting was held at the beautiful Millicent Library on Center Street in Fairhaven, and the dinner was held on West Island. Newsletter #87 contains a complete report on this meeting.

The 2017 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Charleston, SC
Our 2017 Annual Meeting and Reunion was held at the DoubleTree Hotel in North Charleston, SC, September 14-17. Due to the threat of Hurricane Irma, attendance was sparse; however, Irma did not make her presence felt in Charleston, so those of us who attended had a great time. We focused on local history for this meeting. Complete details on the Charleston Reunion can be found in Newsletter #85.

The 2016 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Norwich, CT
We held our 2016 Reunion at the Holiday Inn on Thursday, September 15, to Sunday, September 18. There were at least 41 attendees including three Delanos who traveled all the way from Santiago, Chile. We were happy to greet cousins Cristian Cardemil Delano and his daughters Maria Alberta Delano and Ignacia Fernanda Delano and visit with them. During the Educational Symposium on Friday, there was a lengthy discussion about some Mystery DELANOs and the uses of Y-DNA to ferret out problems in solving a mysterious line of descent. Newsletter #82 contains a complete report on this meeting.

The 2015 Annual Meeting and Reunion: San Diego, CA
There were over 48 attendees at the September, 2015 Reunion at the Handlery Hotel in San Diego, California. The tropical plantings, including various palm trees, made one feel as if they were in the Hawaii or on a Caribbean Island. The Educational Symposium discussions included the proposed Y-DNA Upgrade Project as well as the proposed support of the Plymouth Colony Records Project. The Speaker at our evening dinner was Tyler Hackworth of the Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO) of San Diego, who gave a very entertaining talk about the history of the SOHO and its importance in saving many San Diego historical sites. Newsletter #79 contains a complete report on this meeting.

The 2014 Annual Meeting and Reunion: South Portland, ME
Our 2014 Reunion was held on June 12-15, at the Best Western Merry Manor Inn. Newsletter #75 contains a complete report on this meeting.

The 2013 Annual Meeting and Reunion: San Antonio, TX
Our 2013 Reunion was held on September 19-22 at the historic Crockett Hotel right next to the Alamo! Details can be found in Newsletter #73.

The 2012 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Fairhaven, MA
The 2012 DELANO KINDRED Reunion was held September 13-15 in historic Fairhaven, Massachusetts. We broke our all-time attendance record with almost 80 attendees at this reunion. Newsletter #70 contains a complete report on this meeting.

The 2011 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Stillwater, MN
The 2011 DELANO KINDRED Reunion was held at the Lowell Inn in the historic and picturesque river town of Stillwater, MN on Friday, June 17th and Saturday, June 18th. Thursday, June 16th was an optional "early day," on which the group enjoyed a dinner cruise on a paddlewheeler along the St. Croix river. Complete details can be found in Newsletter #67.

The 2010 Annual Meeting and Reunion: Lincoln, NH
Our 2010 Reunion Meeting found us at the Indian Head Resort in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire. There were about 60 of us there, enjoying a spectacular view of Shadow Lake and the mountains from the resort's Lakeview Room. We were privileged to enjoy the company of Sara Delano Roosevelt at dinner, as marvelously interpreted by our guest speaker, Natalie Hemingway. Newsletter #64 contains a complete report on this meeting.