"Oates Family Reunion Golf Classic"
Jerry Oates will Chair the first ever Oates family golf classic.  Jerry will be forming a committee to help organize this event.  A golf course will be selected from courses located in the Duplin, Sampson, and Wayne County area. Jerry has considerable experience as a golfer and with such events and promises a fun event for all.  For more details on registering for this event and evolving details, click on "Golf Classic".

Tours of "Oates Landmarks" (upon request).
It is anticipated that some family members that attend the reunion may want to see where their ancestors lived and other landmarks of particular relevance in the area. Several years ago, visitors from Texas came to Sampson County to see where their "roots" began. At least, on one occasion, Callie and J.D. Oates gave short tours to several visitors from Texas. These descendants of the "Oates Pioneers" recently communicated to me (Ron Oates) how appreciative they were and how much they enjoyed the hospitality extended to them by J.D. and Callie. Other landmarks of interest would, of course, include the Oates Family Cemetery where David Cogdell Oates and wife, Melinda Pennington and their sons, Jethro William Oates and David Jethro Oates and their wives, "Mittie Martin Oates" and "Minnie Martin Oates, respectively.  The Oates Plantation Bell is located in the cemetery and still makes the same sound that called the Oates children to dinner from working in the back fields. Other landmarks will be listed later.

An on-line, "virtual tour" of these landmarks is under development at www.OatesFamily.com and hopefully will be completed prior to the reunion.

"Oates Pioneers Reception".
This informal get together will be for socializing the night before the Reunion Dinner on Saturday, June 29. This event is to provide something extra for out-of-town relatives who have traveled a long distance and are arriving early. "Oates Pioneers Reception" is so named to honor attendees that are descendants of the "Oates Pioneers" that might attend the reunion and/or more recent descendants who grew up away from the Sampson County area or even North Carolina. For example, J. William Oates moved to Michigan in the 1940s. His children, Bill, John, Carol, Ron, and Gary grew up outside of North Carolina and their childhood memories were of coming to North Carolina to visit grandma and granddad. Another example, are the children of Herbert Oates who grew up in Virginia. Travel to North Carolina was to visit aunts and uncles, since both of their grandparents on their fathers side had passed away by 1938. It is hoped that descendants from the actual Oates Pioneers who left North Carolina in the 1800s to settle in Alabama, Texas. Kentucky, Missouri, and other states may return to the County of their "roots" for the reunion.

This event will be held at the Holiday Inn Express at the Hwy 24 exit off I40.  Click on "Pioneers Reception" for more details as they evolve.
 

Tours of "Oates Landmarks" (tentative, since there may not be ample time, depending on the time selected for the reunion dinner).  See the above description.


2002 Oates Family Reunion - Dinner
Location: Sampson County Agri-Exposition Center, Clinton, N.C.
The details for the reunion dinner will be left to the Planning Committees for this event. The reunion will be held in the main hall of the Agri-Expo Center which has an elevated stage and sound and video projection system. Click on "Reunion Dinner" for more details and updates.

Piney Grove Baptist Church  (founded in early 1800's)
will hold church service on this Sunday and are welcoming Oates Family descendants who will be in the area on Sunday morning. This church has historical significance, since this was the only church in the area during the early 1800s and was where Oates ancestors would have attended. The original church existed as early as the 1820s, as a Free Will Baptist Church. The current church was formed in 1844 as a Missionary Baptist Church. Many of the Oates Pioneers who settled in Alabama and Texas were from the Piney Grove Community. In the 1880s, Steven Oates granted additional lands to the church. A small cemetery is adjacent to the church. Bob and Margaret Oates have been members for more than 50 years and will serve as "host" and "hostess" for anyone who may wish to attend this landmark church. (upon request)