Hi, Debbie,

The Tow “reunion” I attend in Portland may be the one to which your refer in your message. A few years ago, It was changed from the first Sunday in August to the last Sunday in July. It is a family, pot-luck picnic for the descendants of Charles Gibson Tow, many of whom live in Oregon or Washington. It is not oriented toward genealogy, but is the sole opportunity for many of us to visit with relatives we have not seen since the last picnic.

Although we have invited guests who were descendants of CharlesÂ’ siblings, and we discussed genealogy with them, they were known to us in advance and we felt we shared strong feelings of close family ties with them. We usually limit attendance to invited guests because we have had some bad experiences with uninvited guests who had agendas that conflicted with our intent to have a pleasant conversation with close family members. I am therefore reluctant to announce the time and place of this picnic on the Internet.

I know of two other annual Tow reunions. One is in Fair Play or Stockton, MO, where many Tow(e)s meet to discuss their genealogy. Some of the attendees have yet to determine if they are actually related. These reunions are held in June and have received high praise.

The second reunion is held in North Dakota, but I am not familiar with its purpose, where or when it is held. One of my cousins informed me that this reunion primarily a reunion of the Tow(e)s who descended from the immigrants from Norway; whereas the Oregon and Missouri Tow(e)s believe we are descended from Scots who emigrated to North Carolina.

If you are still interested in meeting other Tows through reunions, I will be please to respond directly to e-mail messages you send to me. However, I do not want to post my e-mail address in this message because it can then be downloaded automatically by businesses who send junk mail. You can obtain my e-mail address by clicking on my name when reading the messages I have posted on the Genforum for TOW at: http://genforum.familytreemaker.com/tow/.

Please feel free to contact me and establish direct communications. I am always interested in communicating with descendants of the Tows, Stocktons, Becks, Davisons, and the many other lines I am researching. I am not a professional or expert genealogist. My limited research is a hobby.

Jim Tow