For many years, our reunion has centered around lunch together and then a formal program in the nave of the church, ending around 3:00 PM. The exception was the 275th anniversary reunion in 2003 when a concert, a bus tour, and other group dinners were included. These extra activities were very well received, especially by those coming from some distance, because they provided a more memorable experience and helped to justify the travel time.  The local committee is unable to mount such an ambitious program every year, but we believe that some expansion might make the reunion more memorable for “out-of-towners” as well as attract more “locals” to participate by involving them as more than spectators (see below) and making each year a little different.

Those who come to our reunions from some distance often arrive the afternoon before – and then have nothing to do in the evening.  Our plan now includes Friday evening dinner at a local restaurant for these “travelers” together with members of the Reunion Committee, the principal presenter(s) for the Saturday program, and others who wish to join us.

The main reunion program ...

When J. Allan Ranck gathered the information from which he published The Ranks of the Rancks, he recorded his data on “Family Group Sheets.” The use of Family Group Sheets (FGS), on which all the information pertaining to one couple and their children (i.e., one family) is common genealogical practice.  Allan organized his FGSs by generation of descent and within each generation, numbered the sheets sequentially as he created them. Persons with no descendants (i.e., no family) were recorded only as part of their parents’ family and were not recorded on a separate FGS nor assigned a family number. Allan began with his own family, descended from John Philip, and used the generational numbers 1, 2, 3, etc.  To distinguish descendants of John Michael, he used the generational numbers 01, 02, 03, etc. Thus, the number 6.30 designated the 30th recorded family in the 6th generation descended from John Philip and the number 04.27 designated the 27th recorded family in the 4th generation descended from John Michael. These are the numbers printed in The Ranks of the Rancks for each family.

Well, times have changed

In 1928, in observance of the 200th anniversary of John Michael Ranck’s arrival in America, the Ranck Family began the tradition of annual reunions to draw together all Ranck descendants, no matter where they might live. In 1978, in connection with the 250th anniversary, J. Allan Ranck published the family genealogy under the title The Ranks of the Rancks. Also in 1978,  J. Allan and Harriet Ranck began publishing this semi-annual newsletter, The Ranck Reporter, which is now received by more than 1100 families in 42 states. To keep Ranck family history vital and alive for coming generations, we have