Free SWU Event Highlights Family History

The public is invited to the Reunion of Upcountry Families April 25-27.

The free event will include cemetery tours, workshops devoted to family history and a large display of photos and other items from local families of the Old Pendleton District, which became present-day Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties.

The event kicks off April 25 at Captain Kimberly Hampton Memorial Library in Easley with a workshop on computer research. Also planned that day is an open house at Mary Oates Gregorie Genealogy Research Room, as well as a seminar about historic newspapers on the Internet.

On April 26, there will be a tour of the Zion and Pickens Chapel cemeteries, as well as Carmel Presbyterian Church in Liberty and the Pendleton District Commission.  At 6 p.m., there will be presentations about DNA research at Folger Fine Arts Auditorium on the campus of Southern Wesleyan University in Central and a presentation by Dr. Eric Emerson on History and Upcountry Research at South Carolina Dept. of Archives.

On April 27, Southern Wesleyan will host historic displays from area families as well as local genealogical and historical associations in The Founders, located on the lower level of the University Dining Commons. Also, historic Freedom’s Hill Church, located on the university campus, will be open for tours and a presentation, as will be the Faith Clayton Genealogical Collection at Rickman Library.

The reunion is being sponsored by the Birchwood Center for Arts and Folklife, along with Southern Wesleyan University, the Faith Clayton Genealogy Center, the Old Pendleton District Genealogical Society, the Pickens County Historical Society, the Pickens County Museum of Art and History, the Central Heritage Society and the Pendleton District Commission.

For details, contact the Birchwood Center at (864) 898-0840 or email claytonroom@swu.edu. Also, more information can be found online at www.100yearreunion.com or on the Reunion’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/ReunionOfUpcountryFamilies.