NOTE: CHANGE OF DATES
Saturday, August 9, 2008, 10am-4pm at the
Harry L. Coomes Recreation Center, 300 Stanley Street, Abingdon, Virginia.
Friday, August 8, 2008, 6-9 pm at the Harry L. Coomes Recreation Center, 300 Stanley Street, Abingdon, VA
A Welcome Reception for out-of-town Jessee cousins will be held on Friday evening at the Coomes Recreation Center in Abingdon, VA. There will be hot dogs, snacks, and soft drinks. Thanks to Robert Trigg Jessee, we are hoping to have a family band with area musicians, and welcome those with musical instruments to join the fun. This has proved to be a great success, so please take this opportunity to socialize and have fun getting acquainted with your out-of-town or out-of-state relatives while enjoying family musical entertainment. A place will be available for those cousins wishing to share family displays. The local cousins and particularly JHF Board Members are also encouraged to join in the fun and get a head-start on the weekend events. All cousins and guests are welcome.
For information contact:
Vernon Salyers at
vpsaly@naxs.net.
Will be held at the Annual Reunion & Picnic. See location above. All Jessee Historical Foundation Members are Welcome
Will be held Friday August 8, 2008 at the Russell Co. Library
All interested Jessee historians, genealogists, and related families as well as the general public are invited to attend the Annual Research Day. This is a time to share family histories, photos, stories, etc. Tables will be available for your family displays. Please bring items to share: Family Histories, Photos, Wills, Deeds, Bible Records, and Marriage Records. Come and meet your cousins from all over the world. Our research goal: "Connecting the Future by Remembering the Past."
Date: Friday August 8, 2008
Time: 9AM - 4:00 PM
Where:Russell County Public Library
203 NW Main St.
Lebanon, VA 24266
Members of the Jessee Historical Foundation, Russell County Genealogy Group and the Tabitha Adams Russell Chapter of the DAR, will be present to assist attendees. Russell County Public Library Staff members will also be available to introduce participants to the library resources.
Volunteers to help with the Research Day are needed. Please plan to join us as our success depends on your help. You can help welcome family members, sign-in attendees and pin on badges, keep the coffee pot going, and much more.
If you need further information, please contact:
Vernon Salyers at vpsaly@naxs.net.
or call 540-362-9385 or 540- 889-4199, your Jessee cousins in Lebanon, VA
Look no further than the Jessee Family Reunion Picnic in a hidden beauty spot in Abingdon, Virginia. A great way to spend a day or even a week! There is something for everyone at the center, inlcuding indoor and outdoor swimming ($1 fee) and many other recreational opportunities. Please see the Center Rules below.
Remember to Bring a Covered Dish, enough to feed your family and four additional "cousins." You may bring a folding chair. Bring your musical instruments for the Songfest . Please Participate in the Jessee Reunion Silent Auction to help raise needed funds. To make the auction a success, your contributions are needed. Use your imagination to think of items to be contributed. Start "Creating Heirlooms, One Piece at a Time."
Take exit 19 from Interstate 81, go north on Route 11-Main Street toward Abingdon, approximately 0.7 mile. Bear right (north) at the second light onto Thompson Street, beside the shopping center. Go about 100 yards, then go right on Stanley Street. Coomes will be around the big curve, over the hill on the right.
The Picnic Committee has made arrangements with the Quality Inn & Suites during the Jessee Family Reunion. Everyone who stayed at the hotel this year stated they would definitely return next year. I would say there were about twenty rooms occupied by the Jessee clan.
The Quality Inn & Suites is located in Abingdon , Virginia at exit 19 and I -81. That is just a short distance to the Harry L. Coomes Recreation Center were the Jessee Family Reunion will be held. It's only thirty minutes to Lebanon.
A block of rooms has been set aside for the "Jessee National Family Reunion." The phone number to register at the >Quality Inn & Suites is toll free 1-877-676-9090
The Quality Inn & Suites has a Deluxe Continental Breakfast, Exercise Room, Pool, Meeting Room (available to the Jessee Family) and choice of room styles. The Inn is two years old and very nice inside and out. There are many eating establishments located at exit 19, such as Cracker Barrel, etc.
There are other motels located in the area at exit 14 and exit 17. You can see a listing by going to the Abingdon Virginia web site www.abingdon.com/tourism. Here are some more:
If you have any questions and/or need information about this historic area, lodging, golf courses, etc., please call the Abingdon Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-435-3440; 276-676-2282; or Fax 276-676-3076, E-mail: acvb@abingdon.com or visit the Internet at www.abingdon.com/tourism.
The library is located inside the old train station, 306 Depot Square (just behind post office) in Abingdon, VA. The Society is 70 years old this year and has a library of 5000+ books, 1100 family files and 938, 000 cross-referenced names and resourses in their computer database. The database is available to library visitors as are the connections to genealogy websites, i.e. Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com, Heritage Quest, etc. Also, there is a collection of over 2600 pictures.The library is staffed by volunteers and is open Monday through Friday, 10 am to 4 pm as well as the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month, 11 am to 4 pm.
We will be open the 16th and 17th of June and we invite all of you to come by the library and see our facility and use the resources. Visit our website at www.rootsweb.com/~vawashin/historic.htm
The Jessee Historical Foundation membership voted to move the Jessee Picnic to the third Saturday in June, to be held at the air-conditioned Harry L. Coomes Recreation Center, located in Abingdon, Virginia. "A Cool Place" - The Recreation Center has a large air-conditioned meeting hall with a fully equipped kitchen suitable for the Jessee Reunion Picnic and outdoor picnic area with tables. The Center boasts two beautiful swimming pools, an outdoor olympic size pool with one and three meter diving boards and a 50 meter indoor pool with a one meter diving board. The fee for the use of swimming pools by any picnic attendee is only $1.00, to be paid at the Center counter (proper swimming attire is required).
A complete indoor cardiovascular exercise area and running track are available (must be over 16 years of age to use equipment) and there is an indoor gymnasium with regulation basketball courts with impact cushion surface, all at an additional fee of $1.50, paid at the Center counter. No street shoes, black-soled shoes, or track/cleated shoes are permitted in gym or on the track. Work off all those extra picnic calories!
There is no charge for use of the four tennis courts (on a first come basis), large outdoor 0.6 acre fully equipped children's play area, or roller blade and skateboard park. Planned picnic activities will adhere to all the Rules and Regulations of the Center. No pets allowed!
Harry L. Coomes Recreation Center General Rules
Copies of the complete policy will be available at the front desk. Contact Coomes Recreation Center, 276-623-5279.
Jessee Stories and Remembrances, Volume I of a series, See Below
Silent Auction (Bring your donations such as Arts & Crafts)-See More Below
Old Fashion Music Making and Sing-a-Long
Adult Games (Horse Shoes, Checkers, Softball, etc) Children Games (Face Painting, Ring-Toss, Checkers, Bubbles, yetc.) Children Contests (Hula Hoop, Coloring/Drawing, etc) Group Photos.
The first edition of your Jessee memories is finally in print! It contains 182 pages with 72 stories and 120 black & white pictures & drawings with comb-binding. The front & back cover features original colored artwork of Carl B. Jessee (this alone makes it worth owning). Below is an excerpt from the book's introduction by Janice Jessee Tiller.
"This book has resulted from the dedication, cooperation and enthusiasm of many people. These include everyone who wrote a Jessee family story and those that ordered a book. Working on this book has brought all of us closer to our own ancestors and to early life in Southwest Virginia. In addition, it is a description of this area as it is in present time, prepared for our grandchildren. It is a tribute to our Jessee forefathers and a legacy to our descendants. Our ancestors were as tough and supple as the hickory out of which they fashioned the handles of their axes.
I think you will find that reading this book is like coming home again, to find everything just as you remembered: worn quilts on the brass bed, Grandpa dozing in the rocking chair by the fire, and Grandma’s peach cobbler baking in the oven. These stories are just the sort of friend we want to find waiting for us. Woven into these stories are many of the fabled characters of Southwest Virginia, independent, hardworking people whose pride transcends poverty. Above all, it reminds us of the everlasting pull of the Virginia mountains and hollows themselves.
This is dedicated to anyone who has ever carried a coffin to a family plot high up on a ridge, because mountain folk know it is best to lie where breezes from the hills whisper, “You’re home”. Although scattered far and wide, Jessee families will always call these Virginia mountains home."
The books will be available at the Annual Picnic or may be ordered now. They are $25 plus $5 per book if mailed. Please make check payable to JHF & mail to:
Pauline Salyers
5074 Green Valley Road
Lebanon, VA 24266-6553
If you have any questions contact me 276-889-0055 or through e-mail or mail.
Pauline Salyers
We already know that there are a lot of good cooks in the Jessee Family and now, thanks to the efforts of Mary Akers, everyone is going to have the opportunity to learn their secrets. Mary requested and received an assortment of recipes from Foundation members scattered across the United States. Thanks to all those contributors, we have been able to put together the first Recipes of Jessee Descendants. It has a total of 150 pages with 250 recipes. It will sell for $10 and will be available at the Family Research Day and Picnic. We could only accommodate a certain number of recipes, so for all those whose recipes didn't make it into the book, don't despair, we could always have a second book sometime in the future if there is enough interest.
With Joy's permission, the committee chose to dedicate the cookbook to her husband, Mike Malone, who did so much for the JHF and whose memory will be with us always. Although Mike wasn't a Jessee, he considered us his family and enjoyed the time he spent with us.
Sorry. The Jessee Cookbook is currently sold out. Continue looking for new editions.
If anyone would like to volunteer or contribute to this project please contact:
Mary AkersPlease participate in this year's silent and non-so-silent auctions to help raise funds for the Jessee Historical Foundation, Inc. The Silent Auction has been part of each of the last four reunions, and proven to be an excellent way to share Jessee family talent, imagination, and memories, while raising funds for the Foundation. The auction proceeds will provide monetary support for Foundation projects. To make the auctions a success, your contributions are needed. Use your imagination to think of items to be contributed. The items for the auctions can be brought to the reunion picnic to be held at the Harry L. Coomes Recreation Center & Park Grounds, Abingdon, VA. If you have any questions about what to contribute to the auctions, please contact: Mary H. Akers 276-628-9239; mydante@earthlink.net.
The future success of our Foundation projects depends upon your continued support.
There will be Music by Jessee and other Family Musicians Please Plan to Bring your Instruments and VoiceOne of the best ways to bring people together (besides serving food) is to start playing and singing. We know that there are many talented Jessee musicians and singers, and we encourage you to bring your instruments and favorite music to share. This is a special event planned by Robert Trigg Jessee, and if you have any questions about what music to bring or prepare, please call him at 540-638-8467; gr8fulrtjj@hotmail.com.
Song, KEY, chords
Amazing Grace, C, c, f, g
Arkansas Traveler, C
Beauty Be You, G, g, c, d
Blue Moon of Kentucky, D, d, a, g
Carry Me Back to Old Virginia, G, g, c, d, c
Deep Elam Blues Black Bottom, C
Dixi,e D, d, g, a. Chorus d, Bm, a
Find the Best Woman, D, d, g, d, a, g
Freight Train, C, c, g, c, Em, f
Going Down This Road, G, g, c, d, (Em?)
Guitar Town, G, g, c, d
Hideaway, E, e, a, b, a
I Saw the Light, C, c, f, g
I'll Fly Away, G, g, c, d
I've Been Around This World, C
John Henry, D, d, a
Man of Constant Sorrow, D, d, g, a
Mountain Dew, D, d, g, a
New River Train, D, d, g, a
Red River Valley, D, d, a, d, g
Rocky Top, C, c, f, c, Am,g
Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms, G, g, d, g, d, g, c, g, d, g
She Thinks I Still Care, C, c, f, c, g Intro c, Bbm, f, c, g
Shortnin' Bread, D, d, a
Soldier's Joy, D, d, a
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, G, g, c, g, d
Turkey in the Straw, A, a, e
When the Saints Go Mrch'n, G, g, d, g, c, g, d
When My Brown Eyes Blue, G
Will The Circle Be Unbroken, G, g, c, g, d
Will You Love Me 1 More Time, D, d, g, d, Bm, a
Worried Man Blues, D
Prepared by: Robert Trigg Jessee and Joseph Jessee, July 24, 2002
will be held Friday August 8, 2008 at the Russell County Public Library in Lebanon, VA. The activities begin at 9am.
Check out our Past Reunions. We have photos, accounts, and more.