The Quality Inn has extended our reservation deadline to August 25! So if you still need a hotel reservation for our September 10-12 Annual Meeting and Reunion, you have until August 25 to call the Quality Inn at (845) 229-0088 and make a room reservation at the $90 Delano Kindred rate.

Below is a copy of an EMAIL Flash sent to our members for whom we have an email address. If you are a Delano Kindred member and did not receive this Flash, please go to the "Contact Us" section of this website and provide your name and email address; select "Membership Question" for the Subject. Please include your postal mailing address so we can be sure we're updating the right member profile. And did you know, you do NOT have to be a Delano Kindred member to attend this event, but you do need to register as an attendee. If you would like to become a member, click on the MEMBERSHIP tab above.

Are you ready (and registered) for a VIP experience?

Short of rolling out the red carpet, the National Park Service and the Director of the FDR Library/Museum are going to great lengths to welcome the Delano Kindred 2019 Reunion to Hyde Park, September 10 - 12.

The 75th anniversary special D-Day exhibit opened on Memorial Day weekend and is available only until the end of this year. It has met with huge crowds and much acclaim. We are indeed fortunate to have this opportunity to experience it as a private group. Usually self-led, we will have the privilege of a docent-led tour where we will be able to glean insights from scholars, see unclassified documents, and converse easily sharing our impressions.

We’ll experience the real life and death drama of Operation Overlord: the planning, day-by-day countdown, execution, and aftermath of the liberation that changed the course of history. We’ll see, up close, the actual documents from the correspondence between FDR and Churchill (on loan from Cambridge University in the UK) with notations in their own hands.

This exhibit comes alive with the latest in museum techniques including a mini-theater documentary, interactive kiosks, headsets for audio of speeches, gigantic maps of Allied and Axis strongholds and movements. All told, it will capture all your senses and engage your strategic mind. It will leave you even more profoundly grateful to the Greatest Generation.

Of course, the permanent exhibits (the Great Depression and the New Deal, FDR’s model ship collection, his specially designed car with hand controls, and much more) are always available.

Our visit has been tailored just for the Delano Kindred:
We will be treated to a specially-curated tour of items usually not displayed but of keen interest to the Delano membership:

• Delano artifacts - are being pulled especially for us
• Delano archives - text documents and photographs will be selected for our inspection
• Important oil portraits of Delanos - are being cleaned for our viewing

In addition, we’ll have a private tour of Springwood, the home where FDR was born, where his character was formed, and where he returned on numerous occasions throughout his presidency.

Our Tuesday evening dinner speaker, historian Shannon Butler, has done extensive research on the Delano Family and maintains an online blog called the “Delano Papers Project.” Her talk, “Defending Sara” presents a clear-eyed, research-based profile of FDR’s mother. Myths about Sara, perpetuated by books and movies seeking sales via sensationalism, will be discussed and clarified. Documentation will illuminate how much Sara was, in fact, highly regarded and revered during her lifetime.

Stay tuned for more details . . . but don’t wait to get your registration in, this is one reunion you won’t want to miss!
Click here to view or download complete reunion planning information,
and click here to view or download the Reunion Registration Form.

We hope to see you there!

We are delighted to announce that some of the most knowledgeable local historians will address the people, places and protocols of the early settlement here on the South Coast. They will be presenting some new material and significant insights into the uniqueness of the vast land settlement of “Old Dartmouth” which, as you know, comprised the land mass of Westport, Dartmouth, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Acushnet and parts of Tiverton and Little Compton. Our first three speakers are highly respected contributing members of the Dartmouth Historical and Arts Society (DHAS):

• Sally M. Aldrich, Historian, will present an overview of the Dartmouth Propriety established in 1652 and the little-known history that unfolded over the following century that made this area unique among New England towns.
• Robert E. Harding, Ph.D, president of DHAS, will discuss “Delanos” and a Few Surprises in the Old Dartmouth Town Meeting Records 1680-1786. Included will be a variety of excerpts from the records which give insight into the way of life of Old Dartmouth as well as special actions prior to and during the Revolutionary War.
• Richard Gifford, Esq., will reveal some of the early homesteads, farms and land transactions of some of the very old family names: Delano, Church, Cooke, Spooner. His research of deeds may help to pinpoint the exact location of Lt. Jonathan Delano home which has remained a mystery.
• George B. DeLano, Delano Kindred Newsletter Editor and Past President, will update us on his efforts to determine the acreage and relative location of Lt. Jonathan Delano’s parcels of land contained in his Will and mentioned in the Deed of Apportionment Surveys of 1714 to 1763.

We have themed the event, “Connections: Old and New” as it is our desire to link the old family names with the families of today and encourage a better understanding of the wonderful heritage we all share in the South Coast.

Toward that end, our Delano Kindred genealogist and Mayflower historian, Muriel Curtis Cushing, will be on hand to overview her works in progress. She is the author of the multi-volume “Mayflower Families in Progress” series published by the Mayflower Society titled Philip Delano of the “Fortune” 1621 and His Descendants for Four Generations. As part of the research for her books, Muriel compiled an impressive Family Tree Maker database which includes many South Coast families in addition to the Delano family. She is currently working with the Mayflower Society to complete her work as a Mayflower “Silver Book.” Mayflower Society Silver Books are based upon meticulously investigated primary records and accepted as the “gold standard” by genealogists everywhere.

We are pleased to make this new on-line Registration Form available for our upcoming Annual Meeting and Reunion in Fairhaven, MA, June 13 and 14, 2018. The preliminary meeting agenda is as follows:

Wednesday, June 13, 2018, at the Millicent Library in Fairhaven:

• Noon to 6:00 PM: Attendee Registration
• 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM: Genealogy Q&A with Muriel Cushing
• 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM: Speakers
  1. Sally Aldrich
  2. Bob Harding
  3. Richard Gifford
  4. George DeLano
• 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM: Delano Kindred Board of Directors meeting

Thursday, June 14, 2018, at the Fairhaven Town Hall

• 9:30 AM to 9:45 AM: Group picture on Town Hall Steps
• 10:00 AM to 11:45 AM: Highlights walking tour with Chris Richard

Thursday, June 14, 2018, at the West Island Improvement Association Hall

• 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM: Attendee Registration (continued)
• 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM: DELANO KINDRED Annual Business Meeting
• 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM: Socializing / cash bar / Group Picture
• 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM: Buffet dinner
• 8:45 PM to 9:30 PM: Delano Kindred Board of Directors meeting

USE THE FORM BELOW TO REGISTER for the 2018 Delano Kindred Reunion meeting in Fairhaven, MA, June 13 at the Millicent Library and June 14 at the West Island Improvement Assocation hall. The registration fee is $15/guest and includes admission to events on both days. The buffet dinner at West Island is optional at $25/guest. Attendees may also use this form to register as new members of the Delano Kindred without paying the "New Member" registration fee. Please note that meeting space at the Millicent Library is limited to 100 attendees by local fire codes, so get your registrations in early.

(The Registration Form has been deleted, as this meeting has already taken place.)

Annual Meeting documents are now available on the web site for reference. These documents include a letter from the Delano Kindred President, the tentative agenda for the Wednesday presentations, the tentative Annual Meeting agenda, the list of candidates for Board of Director positions, and the proposed 2018-2019 operating budget. You must be logged in to the web site to view the candidates for Board positions and the proposed Annual Budget. If you are a Delano Kindred member and you cannot view the members-only documents, please log in with your userid and password and try again.

We have started to send out flash emails to highlight our plans for the upcoming Delano Kindred Reunion meeting in Fairhaven, MA, June 13 and 14, 2018. If you are a member and didn't receive one, we might not have your correct email address. If that's the case, please go to the "CONTACT US" tab and send us a note so we can update our records. Here is the first flash email:

Plans are shaping up and this year’s reunion promises to be the best one yet! Stay tuned for the wonderful slate of speakers we have lined up which will be detailed in upcoming flash emails.

Because there is tremendous interest in Old Dartmouth (Fairhaven, Acushnet, New Bedford, Westport and present-day Dartmouth) and the family names that pioneered this area (Delano, Cooke, West, Nye, Spooner, Hathaway, Taber, etc.) we will be inviting the Cooke Society, south coast historical societies, and the Fairhaven local community as well.

However, we want to make sure that our membership is given first consideration. If you are planning on attending, please send in your registration ASAP. Our meeting room accommodates 100 people and after May 1st we will be encouraging other interested parties to attend. To quickly view or download the Reunion Registration Form, click here.

• Speakers will be delivering their talks on Wednesday, June 13 at the Millicent Library.
• A group picture will be taken in front of the Town Hall at 9:30 AM on Thursday, June 14.
• Immediately after the picture, at 10:00 AM, Chris Richard, Fairhaven’s Tourism Director, will conduct a 90 minute walking tour. Although the tour is primarily about Henry Huttleston Rogers’ monumental gifts to the town, Chris will highlight HHR’s Delano ancestor, the Delano art gallery in the town hall, the gifts of Laura Delano Astor to the Millicent Library and much more. There will be sit-down breaks along the way, but comfortable shoes are always a good idea. This tour has been highly acclaimed. Huff Post called it one of the best immersive tours in New England and a recent article in the Boston Globe titled “Is it Europe, No, it’s Fairhaven” is pasted below (without the pictures, and included here with permission). To see the original article, click here.

Is it Europe? No, it’s Fairhaven.
By Ellen Albanese GLOBE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 06, 2018

FAIRHAVEN — The soaring granite Italian Renaissance library draws the eye upward, past ornate terra cotta wreaths and garlands to the deep red tiled roof edged with copper. Across the street, the brick and granite French Gothic town hall with its four-faced clock tower conceals an interior decorated with quartered oak paneling, solid brass fixtures, and stained glass windows. Is it Europe? No, it’s Fairhaven, as this town’s Office of Tourism proudly proclaims in its visitors’ guide.

Fairhaven’s stunning public buildings were a gift of Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840-1909), a local boy who made a fortune with Standard Oil. All but one of the buildings Rogers gave the town between 1885 and 1908 are still in use today, and visitors can see many of them on the Henry H. Rogers Walking Tour, offered Tuesday and Thursday mornings from the beginning of June to the end of September.

Chris Richard, the town’s tourism director and another Fairhaven native, likes to joke that “Rogers was building an early Epcot,” with the Italian Renaissance Millicent Library, the French Gothic town hall, the English Perpendicular Gothic Unitarian Memorial Church, and the Elizabethan-style high school, all designed by noted New England architect Charles Brigham. The tour, which Richard developed in 1998, includes visits inside the Town Hall and the Millicent Library, as well as a walk by the Unitarian Memorial Church, the George H. Taber Masonic Lodge, and Rogers’s boyhood home. Clad in typical late 19th- to early 20th-century menswear — white shirt, black vest, black bowler hat, and a walking stick — Richard spices up the 90-minute walk with historical perspective and anecdotes from the benefactor’s life.

In addition to the beautiful buildings, Rogers made other, less visible contributions to Fairhaven, Richard says. He put in a municipal water system and drained and filled a boggy pond in the center of town to create Cushman Park. His munificence extended well beyond town borders: Rogers helped finance Helen Keller’s college education and gave Booker T. Washington money to help found Tuskegee Institute. While the high school is not on the tour because it’s not in the downtown, Richard says, that building offers a few tours during the summer. And the Unitarian Memorial Church conducts tours on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in July and August.

Richard’s recommendation for a perfect day in Fairhaven is to take the Rogers walking tour in the morning; have lunch at one of the town’s popular restaurants, such as Elisabeth’s or Margaret’s; catch an afternoon tour of the church; visit Revolutionary-era Fort Phoenix, from which you can walk along the Fairhaven-New Bedford hurricane barrier out into the harbor; and finish up at the parklike Riverside Cemetery, where visitors can pay their respects at Rogers’s Greek-inspired mausoleum, modeled after a temple of Minerva.

The Henry H. Rogers Walking Tour steps off from the Town Hall, 40 Center St., Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m., weather permitting, from early June through the end of September. Free. Tours can also be downloaded from fairhaventours.com.

Ellen Albanese can be reached at ellen.albanese@gmail.com.