Bio: Elsinger, John/Anna Family Reunion (Aug 2018)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Elsinger, Reuter

Source: Tribune/Record/Gleaner (Abbotsford, WI) 15 Aug 2018

A 3-day family reunion was held for the family of John and Anna Elsinger in Loyal on July 27-29, at the Loyal Sportsman’s Club. The reunion was hosted by John (Hans) and Marian Elsinger’s children/grandchildren along with Francis (Buster) and Rose Elsinger’s children.

After five years of farming in Hartford, John and Anna Elsinger moved to Loyal in 1906, where they farmed on 26th Road for another 37 years, raising 12 children, before they moved into the city of Loyal.

In attendance was their last surviving child, MaryAnn (Elsinger) Reuter from Michigan, who will be celebrating her 100th birthday on Oct. 28. She was accompanied by three of her four children, who drove from Indiana and Michigan. We celebrated her with a cake and a birthday song, sung by all, as she smiled and sang Hallelujah!

Approximately 195 attendees participated in this family event, down to the sixth generation. Elsinger descendants came from all over the United States, including Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, Washington and many from all over Wisconsin.

A meet and greet was held Friday night. On Saturday, all throughout the day into the evening, activities were held and ended with a farewell brunch on Sunday. The families socialized, ate and drank like Wisconsinites while wearing their family color-coded shirts, group pictures were taken, a 25-team bean bag tournament was played, and there were hay rides past the family farm and country school.