Hatcher Reunion

I drove up to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky on Saturday morning to attend a Hatcher family reunion that was held by some distant cousins I've never met. I had read about them on the Hatcher Family Resources Center and since I had the time I decided to drive up and introduce myself.

I pulled up to the picnic area and walked into the building that looked like it was having a reunion. I didn't know anyone, but I knew one of the people hosting the reunion was named Maxie Hatcher, so I walked up to two gentlemen and asked if they could introduce me to Maxie. Turns out one of them was Maxie Hatcher, and the other man was his brother Jackie.

After I explained who I was they quickly welcomed me and made sure I was going to stay for lunch. They had quite a spread laid out, so I didn't argue with them too much about that. I ended up staying for about three hours and met lots of Hatcher cousins. We're not exactly sure how I'm related to this Hatcher branch, although I've been told that through genetic testing we know we're not too far distant. There is some question about how my 3rd Great Grandfather William Hatcher fits into the full family tree of the descendants of William Hatcher who came to Jamestown, Virginia in the 1630's.

Here's a picture of me and Jackie Hatcher, taken by Maxie Hatcher. It turns out that Maxie used to live about 3 miles from where I do, and Jackie lives less than 10 miles from me.

Cool Cave Picture

I led another weeknight trip to Hardins Cave late last month. My friend John from work went along and snapped this cool picture of me about to climb up a mud bank. Say hello to my little friend. There were a lot of bats in the cave that night. More than I had seen on any other trips there. They were flying around a lot as well and we were ducking to avoid them a lot on the trip.