Hundreds of Horton relatives will gather this weekend for the start of a reunion honoring one of the first black families to settle in Limestone County.

According to Mike Bailey, chairman of the reunion committee, about 300 adults alone have registered to attend. Some are in their mid- to late 90s and mark one of about 10 generations participating.

“Most families don’t go back that deep,” Bailey said.

The reunion will kick off with a meet-and-greet Friday night and continue with activities Saturday and worship service Sunday at New Berea Missionary Baptist Church.

“We got a lot of stuff going on Friday night and Saturday,” Bailey said. “We’ve got contests, and on Saturday, we’re doing a horse and buggy ride.”

There will also be a tour of key locations in the family’s history. The Hortons first arrived in the mid-1800s in Gilbertsboro, in northern Limestone County, and Bailey said the group will visit where their ancestors “first got off the boat.”

The tour will also include family homes along Easter Ferry Road, where ancestors once went to church and creeks where they were baptized.

“We’re going back, and we’re going to one of the oldest cemeteries with our family members in it,” Bailey said. “That’s Smithfield Cemetery in Elkmont.”

He said the committee is asking for help in maintaining the cemetery. There will be opportunities donate throughout the weekend.

“The cemetery is kept great,” Bailey said, “but it costs so much now to keep it up.”

Those who wish to attend the reunion were encouraged to RSVP, but Bailey said anyone who wishes to join the party can still do so. All they ask is a $10 fee to handle reunion costs, and late attendees are warned they may not get a T-shirt to commemorate the event.

Bailey said it’s not uncommon for people who aren’t related to stop by or call because the Hortons worked for their families years ago. Bailey, who owns Bailey Tire Center on Jefferson Street in Athens, can be reached at 256-874-0565.

“We have a lot of older white members from the county that call and say, ‘I knew so-and-so, I wanna come by,'” Bailey said. “… Some of them may have known some of the kids. Several families that different (Horton) family members had worked for.”

In many cases, the employer and employee have died, but their children and grandchildren remember growing up together. One man called Bailey and said he had moved away from Athens but he remembered Laura Horton raising his children.

“He said, ‘Aunt Laura raised my kids,'” Bailey said. “… I bet you he stayed on the phone an hour.”

Tracing history

Bailey said he encourages committee members and the younger descendants to “write it down.”

“You’d be amazed,” Bailey said.

One thing that didn’t get written down was the Hortons’ original name. Like most slaves, the “Hortons” were brought to Virginia from Africa and given the last name of the man who bought them at auction.

“They were bought and inherited the Horton name through that, but we don’t have a clue what the name was from Africa,” Bailey said.

He said it’s one of the few missing pieces from the family’s history. Bailey said he’ll travel to Washington next year, and he hopes to find the family’s African heritage and name somewhere along the way.