The 100th anniversary of the Woody/Roberts family reunion was held Aug. 3, 2003, at the park in Jameson, with 42 in attendance
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by Damon L. Roberts, great-grandson of Janie Woody
The 100th anniversary of the Woody/Roberts family reunion was held Aug. 3, 2003, at the park in Jameson, with 42 in attendance, including a great-great-great-grandchild of the woman who started it all back in 1903.
This reunion is held every year on the first Sunday of August. It has been celebrated in a variety of places, but Jameson has primarily been its home throughout the years.
The woman at the historical center of this reunion is Cynthia Jane “Janie” Woody, born to Nathan and Cynthia Woody of Gentry County.
With her mother passing away only four days after she was born, her father put her in the care of a relative in Oklahoma. It was there that she spent all of her early life, working on the Miller Brothers’ 101 Ranch in northeast Oklahoma.
Eventually she met and married Harlow Johnston in 1901. In 1903, after living only two years in Oklahoma, Harlow became ill. The young couple, including their infant daughter, Elzada, desired to return to Missouri, so they sold out and began their trip.
En route Harlow suddenly died, leaving Janie with a young daughter. Returning to live with her foster family was her only choice then in June of 1903.
It was later that same summer that Janie’s older brother, Cephus Woody, came down from Missouri to bring back the young Janie and daughter.
Back in Missouri she wanted desperately to meet her relatives, especially those she had been separated from since birth. Thus the first true reunion was born.
It is said that over 50 people came that summer Sunday in early August to meet the young mother and child. There was a definite reunion of extended family.
Jane would remarry, add a son to the family, and live out her life in Daviess and DeKalb counties.
The reunions continued until Janie’s death in 1974, at which time that young daughter, Elzada Roberts of Jameson, continued the tradition.
Upon her death in 1984, her children and their families continued the tradition.
Of her eight children, four are surviving today: John C. Roberts of Pattonsburg, Norma J. Kenney of Higginsville, George Roberts of Phoenix, Ariz., and Colleen Hightree of Jameson.