The ARNER Family Reunion
13-15 August 2004
The focal point of the 2004 Arner
Reunion was the New Goshenhoppen Church at
This
is the first church that the Arner family is known to have belonged to after
they came to
The
baptism of the first Arner child born in
Hans Ulrich1 Arner was a contributor to the first church building here, which was built during or before 1739.
Maps of the New Goshenhoppen
area:
A regional map showing major highways (the 2004 reunion was held in the yellow-highlighted area)
A map of the local area showing all streets.
Driving Directions to the New
Take I-476 (Pennsylvania
Turnpike, North-East Extension) either south from
Exit the Turnpike at Exit 32 (Quakertown).
Turn right (west) onto State Route 663,
and go about seven miles to
Once in
Friday, 13 August 2004 :
Optional self-guided driving
tours through the Berks County, Pennsylvania countryside were offered for those
who came early for the reunion. There was a choice of three different rally
routes through
Everybody who wanted to then met Friday evening for dinner together at one of the Arner’s
Restaurants in
Photo
of the front of the restaurant (photo by Lorenz “Don” Arner).
Saturday, 14 August 2004 :
A welcome and
introduction to the New Goshenhoppen Church (photo by Lorenz “Don” Arner).
[Photos
of the church are on this
webpage.]
Gathering to watch a film about the
history of New Goschenhoppen church and the surrounding area (photo by Lorenz “Don”
Arner).
At
We spent the entire afternoon and early
evening at the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival, which at that time was also held in
A horse-powered threshing machine.
A
horse and buggy makes the rounds.
The hog butchering demonstration.
Kenneth
Lonewolf Long in full regalia (and me) at the
Festival [see also below].
Sunday, 15 August 2004 :
[NOTE: Except where notated otherwise, all of
the Sunday reunion photos are mine.]
We attended a morning church service at the
Meeting old and new friends after the service.
After the service, we drove to Huff’s Union Church,
an historical old church that is in far eastern
Many members of the church also belong to a
re-enactment group called the Huff’s Church Players, who performed a very nice
concert and a humorous presentation for us.
The
Huff’s Church Players preparing for their concert (photo by Lorenz “Don” Arner).
The Huff’s Church Players performing their concert.
Another photo from the concert.
A
third photo from the concert.
A
fourth photo from the concert.
A
fifth photo from the concert.
The Huff’s Church Players performing their “census” skit. [What might have happened when an English-speaking
stranger serving as a government census-taker tried to get family info from a
German-speaking hausfrau. It was very humorous (and
probably not all that far from the truth in at least some cases).]
Another photo from the census skit.
A
third photo from the census skit.
Our main speaker was Kenneth Lonewolf Long, a descendant of Peter Klingensmith who was a
member of an early German family of western
[A story about Peter Klingensmith,
published during an earlier Klingensmith family reunion (newspaper clipping
from Ed and Sue Schriver).]
Ken with
a depiction of his ancestor Peter Klingensmith.
Ken demonstrating a war tomahawk.
Ken
demonstrating another Native American artifact (the description of
which I can’t find in my notes).
The
official Reunion Group Photo (photo by Lorenz “Don” Arner).
Don
working hard to get everybody organized for the group photo.
Okay,
Don, you’re almost there.
Don
races to get into his own photo after setting the self-timer on his camera.
[NOTE: It took several tries. Who knew that family reunions could be such great
exercise. 
]
As usual, we also had family activities,
including old fashioned games for the children [thanks to Susan Livingston].
Marvin Davis is
awarded the “Arner ears” trophy (photo by Lorenz “Don” Arner).
Marvin posing with reunion
organizer Judy McElderry (photographer not
known).
Another contender for that award (photo
by Lorenz “Don” Arner).
Your webmaster (me)
is adopted into the Arner clan (photo by Lorenz “Don” Arner). [NOTE: Most
of the German Surname experts believe that “Erner” and “Arner” were variant
spellings of the same surname in medieval ) But
I’m honored; I’ve made so many great friends in your family that I always
wished I was related.]
We finished off the weekend with an old-style
Pennsylvania-Dutch picnic dinner, including Dutch-fry chicken, Amish macaroni
salad, German potato salad, red-beet eggs, home-made bread and butter pickles,
carrot salad, pepper hash, 4-bean salad, baked lima beans, and to top it all
off blackberry custard pie [thanks to Minerva Arner, who cooked
everything except the chicken].
Going through the chow line (photo by Lorenz “Don” Arner).
Stories and photos from the 2002 Arner Reunion and Memorial Dedication.
A story about the 2002 and 2004 reunions, written by Judy McElderry and posted on the Pennsylvania Tourism website.
Some photographs and stories from earlier Arner reunions.
The 2004 Arner Family
The *rner Genealogy Project (Arner, Erner, Orner, Urner
Families in
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Copyright © 2004-2009 by Joseph Erner
(see Copyright Notice)
IMPORTANT NOTE: All of the
photographs linked to from this page are copyrighted by the photographers.
However, unlimited reproduction rights for personal use only are hereby granted
to all attendees at the 13-15 August 2004 Arner Family
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