LETT DESCENDANTS VISIT CHARLESTON

CHARLESTON -- More than 200 members of the Lett families across the nation gathered here recently, but this was no ordinary family reunion.

"Most of the people don't know each other," said Lucille Lett Jackson.

In her research of her family's history, she learned many of the people she corresponded with had been engaged in seeking their own family roots.

She decided last fall to bring them together to share their findings.

After sending a flyer with a date and place for a reunion, Lett Jackson asked if anyone was interested.

In April, she sent a second flyer with motel names, phone numbers and other information. It seemed about 75 people were interested in the reunion.

Lett descendatns from Viriginia, Colorado, California, Texas, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Kansas, Oklahoma and Georgia replied with intentions to come to the reunion.

Lett Jackson had traced the Lett family to James Lett who married Lucy Hubbard in 1780 in Virginia. She further learned that James' brother Joseph had married Lucy's sister Faith.

"That made all the descendants of both couples double cousins," she said.

In the late 1700s some of the Lett families left Virginia, heading west. Some came through West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.

Lett Jackson's great-grandfather came to Missouri in 1843, first going to Springfield, then to Cape Girardeau County before settling in Bertrand.

Her grandfather, John Lett, started the first Methodist church in Bertrand, and the present church, built in 1919, has two stained-glass windows dedicated in memory to the John Lett family.

The families arrived Friday and were treated to a barbecue at the Charleston Methodist Church. On Saturday, they had coffee and doughnuts at the Knights of Columbus Hall, where James Bayou Cookers prepared fish.

Then on Sunday, more than 50 descendants attended services at the Bertrand Methodist Church. Lunch at Lambert's Cafe followed the church service.

Lett Jackson said the Letts had traced their family to a common ancestor in the late 1600s, Frances Lett.

"There was so much family history from so many family lines," she said.