Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1883-01-17
THE FAVILLE FAMILY.
T To the Editor of the Sentinel

To the Editor Of the Sentinel
Not far from the year 1880, near Brock
etts Bridge i'll the Tswn of Mannheim,
H erkimer, County, n. Y, there settled
family whose head signed his name John
Favill. He had the scriptural number Of
children. In order of age they were Bet
sy, Polly, John, William, Thomas, James,
Cornelius, Nancy, Harriet, Rueben, Asa
and Elijah All but Elijah grew up,
married and had children-many follow
ing the father so closely that the poet of
the family, one of the sons of Thomas,
once wrote poem, never published, |
believe, verse Of which ran:
The Favill tribe are an honest race.
And soon will fill an extended place.
FoI the command. 'be faithful, multiply"
With tenderest conscience they all obey.
Seventy-six children were born to these
brJthers and sisters, and as eight of them
settled near the old homestead almoss
within mailing distance of each other,
over fifty cousins were born in tie same
naighb0rhOod. Some of the older ones
tsil of Christmas gathering when they
placed in the row on the floor seven b..Dy
cousins, all born since the Christmas be-
fore. They were singing race and in
their yearly gatherings "Turner," Eek
hortation,' "Schene ctady," the Chnst-
mas Anthem" We sung with v,gor
and volume few families can command
to day.
The past forty years have rot gone
without making great changes in thai
C Dony of Favilles. Of the original Il
but two are living -Rueben aged 81, OF
Brockett's Bridge, n Y, and Asa, aged
50, of Lake Mills, Wisconsin. The grow
ing tribe of cousins found they must be
gin to climb over the hills of Mannheim
aud find the EXTENDED place." of which
their poet sang. In the spring of 1913,
Elbridge and Harriet Gray (Mrs. Gray d
daughter Of John FaviIIe, Jr,) came to
Wisconsin, settling in the Town of Wa
terloo, near the Village of Lake Mills
In the tall of 1S43, John +. Johnston aud
A. d. Faville, cousin aud brother OF Mrs
Gray joined them. Others soon follow
ed, and today the county of Jefferson,
in this State has more descendants of
the family than the County of Herkimer,
and the State of Wisconsin (and proba
bly, the State of Iowa. more than the
State of New York, while nearly every
state and territory has some branch. But
lew reunions of the family have ever
been attempted, and those, mostly in
Wisconsin, where there are at least $50
of the tribe The last but one was
held sixteen years ago at Minnesota
Junction. John F. Johnston being then
tie proprietor of the minnesota juno
ton House" Those present at that time
will never forget the presence of the two
aged sisters, Polly ahd Harriet, the hearty
good cheer, the songs of "reminiscences,
the beds under and on and around the
piano, ETC., the heroic attempts of the
younger generations to 90 straigh through
the magnificent bill OF fare, and finally
the record of names in which it was de-
cided to write the family name with or
without an ''e,'' according to taste.
The last reunion was Jan. l, 1888, at
Lake Mills, Wisconsin, at the residence
of the Rev. and Mrs. (nee Faville) Up
dixie. The relatives of Lake Mills and
Faville Grove had prepared feast in the
yestrv of the M. E. Church, and at 3 o.
m. seventy-fve of the family, represent
ing four generations, sat down to the
''war with the knife" A day long to be
remembered was spent in reviving the
old times anG places and people The
older generation of cousins sang with
good deal of vigor still, "While Shep-
herds Watch Their Flocks by Night" to
Turner" and then the christmas An
them,'' which has been sung by the fam
lily at least seyenty.five years. Prof. AL
den Faville was present with his unequal
ed "Annie Laurie, 'Grandfather's Coat"
"Battle of Murfreesboro," ETC., etc, and
then came the songs of the third and
fourth generations and the declamations
from "Mother Goose by Little Aft"
aged 4, grandson of A. D. Faville. Re
representatives. from Appleton, Milwaukee,
Delaven, Fort Atkinson, hartford, Evans
vile, Milford and Waupun were present.
Letters from number of the absent
were read. The reunion was continued
Tuesday, and closed with concert, in
the NJ. E. Chulch by Profs. Faville and
Faville and Currie, of Milwaukee,, as
sisted in the 'Swanee River" and &c GUS
in Jedediah'' by Mrs Ida Drew Hunter
ard Miss Genevieve Faville, and by the
tribe" with the Anthem The gath
ering WAS unanimously voted success.
and the wish frequently expressed that it
might be repeated more often than in the
past, with larger delegations from our
j -.