The Engelhorn
     Family Gathering

        July 15-18, 2010

Route 66 Hotel & Conference Center
Springfield, Illinois

Past Reunions

The 2010 Engelhorn/Englehorn family was held in Springfield, Illinois -  The Land of Lincoln. With excellent hospitality, the Engelhorn descendants in the "Peter Line" hosted this year's reunion in Springfield. A hearty welcome to all the families that came east of the Mississippi River to visit our beautiful city.

Milton and Pat Wiggers were our most gracious hosts with much assistance from Debbie Billeux. The Route 66 Hotel is just on the outskirts of town and offered us a nice interior area and an outdoor swimming pool.

President Lincoln spent several years in Springfield and many of the sights involved his history. Various groups of us visited the Lincoln national monument - about 6 square blocks of preserved buildings including the one that Mary and Abraham lived in while he practiced law. On the guided tour we were able to walk up a set of stairs using the exact same handrail Lincoln has used - that sent chills up our spines! 2010 is the 100th anniversary of the death of Mary Todd Lincoln and the monument seemed filled with black costumed recreators. Several of us sat through an informative 45 minute talk on Victorian mourning practices. We note that a woman would remain out of public life for up to three years; a man, two months.

The Lincoln museum was completed just a few years ago and offers a wonderful multimedia walk through his life; a truly great museum of American history. Standing in front of the three minute recap of the civil war watching the number of dead steadily climb toward 3M souls, it is hard not to feel the enormity of the social change that was wrought. Many of us also went up to visit the very office where Lincoln worked.

Other sites included the Victorian home of Vachel Lindsey, and a guided tour of the  spectacular Dana Thomas Home - one of Frank Lloyd Wright's largest prairie homes.

One night out our hosts took many of us to a local eatery where several tried, with some trepidation, a "horseshoe." This famous local dish is a plate of French fries covered in cheese sauce and topped with a meat of your choice. We joked about it before we ate it, then we gave the dish new respect. The cheese topping was not some canned movie theater nachos orange liquid, but a true cheddar-beer sauce. Kind of like a personal cheese fondue with fries and meat.

Our most memorable night had to be the family bar-b-que put on by the Wiggers and all the other descendants of the Peter line in the area. At a local park several sets of coals were covered with chicken and ribs. Then came others with freshly picked and cooked corn on the cob. And the side dishes seemed to go on for miles. You can see from the photos just how many of our relatives showed up. It was a delight to spend time with everyone.

Overall this was a particularly fine reunion.

Update: We were very saddened to hear that Pat Wiggers passed on just a few months after the reunion. We all enjoyed sharing this time with her and her family. She lives on in our thoughts.

Photos from the BBQ (I'm sorry to say that I am sooo bad with names. Email me with updates, or more photos of your own.)

Angela and Kath  Darrell Russell and Gary Englehorn 
  Tom and Debbie 

 

Milt and Pat Wiggers - our gracious hosts Gary Englehorn and Meg Englehorn
Lynn Englehorn and Blu Englehorn  Elinor Meyer and Ruth Wiggers

  Patty Wiggers and Angela Mallett

  Sylvia Russell, Ruth Wiggers, Steve and Sandi Englehorn 


  The food line 

The Wiggers Family Jim and Angela

Milton receives the plaque from Elinor Close up, showing the Springfield reunion.

Around Town

Dana Thomas House by Frank Lloyd Wright Lincoln Presidential Museum



Lunch at a nice local restaurant.
  The local delicacy known as a "horseshoe"


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