Mt. Vernon IL Register (Weekly) - August 4, 1886

Attention is called to the notice of the reunion of the GASTON family in another 
column of the paper. This reunion is to take place in August and will be one of 
the largest ever held by one family connection in this part of the country. The 
ancestry of this family can be definitely traced back to Wm. GASTON, an old 
Revolutionary War Soldier. From him the entire line of families included in the 
reunion are descended, and number among the hundreds. Very many of the principal 
families of the county are connected with the GASTON family, for instance the entire 
KELL connections, Seymour ANDREWS and others, of Centralia and vicinity. Descendants 
are to be found in nearly every State in the Union. Notices have been sent from South 
Carolina already of attendance from that State. The same can also be said of Missouri 
and other States. Prominent speakers have been procured for the occasion, and every 
preparation necessary to the comfort and convenience of guests has been made.  
The reunion will be held at the Covenanter Church for the reason that grandfather, 
father and four sisters lie buried there, while an aunt of the elder living GASTONs 
located that burying ground, and was the first person buried there.



Mt. Vernon IL Register (Weekly) - August 18, 1886

On Wednesday and Thursday of last week occurred the reunion of the 
GASTON - BOGGS - TELFORD - ANDREWS - CUNNINGHAM, and family at the Old Covenanter Church, 
northwest of Rome. It was a remarkable gathering - about 900 persons, and at least 600 of 
these kin folks. The record shows that there are alive 9 children, 55 grandchildren, 330 
great-grandchildren, 670 great-great-grandchildren and 159 great-great-great-grandchildren 
-- total, 882.

The above named families and some others not mentioned, all early settlers, have so intermarried 
that the family relationship is perhaps the largest to be found in Southern Illinois. By common 
consent the head of this family was Wm. GASTON, Sr., who was a soldier under WASHINGTON in the 
Revolutionary War. He and his sons and grandsons and great-grandsons and great-great-grandsons 
have since then answered to roll-call in every war in which the honor of the country had to be 
defended -- the War of 1812, the Blackhawk War, the Mexican War, and the late war against rebellion.  
He had six sons in the Mexican War, and only four of them returned. In the late war he had nine 
grandsons and thirty-six great-grandsons. Not only have these worthy descendants of an illustrious 
sire been patriotic, but they have in every respect been good citizens. None of them have ever 
been convicted of crime or charged with drunkenness or immorality. The greater number of them 
have been tillers of the soil, while a few have been preachers, and a few physicians, but none 
lawyers. The female part have been the salt of the earth in the circles in which they have moved.

The reunion was one of the most enjoyable occasions it has been the writer's good fortune to attend.  
Everybody present was entertained with genuine old-fashioned hospitality. On the first day by 
invitation, Ge. PAVEY addressed the gathering. His talk was of the home-made kind and just sited 
the occasion. He had some manuscript in his pocket, but forgot all about it until he had finished 
his speech, and it was a good thing that he did, for his talk was from the heart, and that is always 
worth more than paper talk. Many camped out that night and remained on the ground the next day, when 
the crowd was still larger. Rev. J. M. GREEN was the speaker for the second day, and he never fails 
to interest his hearers. Others also made appropriate remarks beside what was said by the family.  
In addition to this there was music, amusements, refreshments, and everything calculated to make 
all forget the drouth and difficulties of life, and make them feel that they were resting at the 
half way place between heaven and earth - Paradise. It was the largest family fathering we ever 
attended, and at the same time the most enjoyable one - a miniature type of the grand assembling of 
the hosts of Israel on the other shore - where death, weariness, parting, and the burden and heat 
of the day will never again disturb the enjoyment of this remarkable family. An interesting scene 
was enacted when, upon the request of Mr. BREEZE, upward of a dozen gray-haired persons stood up in 
the audience representing the remnant of scholars who together had gone to school near the old church, 
when the country was a wilderness and they had the bare ground for a floor, in the middle of which 
a fire was built, the smoke finding its way out of the chink holes and other apertures.

An old arithmetic, all of which was written, and the book made one hundred and forty years ago, 
was exhibited. It was made by Robert GASTON, and the matter it contained as well as the quaint hand 
in which it was written, attracted great curiosity. To make one think of the olden time a fife and 
drum corps was present and played the old tunes which over a hundred years ago made the heart of 
the colonial settler stir with patriotism.

The reunion was a grand success, a commingling together of the children of the children whose 
fathers and grandfathers fought and bled for the country in the early days they had sought as a 
refuge from oppression, an asylum of freedom, in the perpetuation of which they at all times and 
stages contributed by their deeds of daring and their deeds of patriotism. The inscriptions on 
the monuments in the cemetery close by shows that a large part of the relationship have already 
crossed the flood. And part are crossing now. May they all have a safe anchorage.