The reunion of descendants of Reuben and Avis Rounds was held in Berlin Wisconsin on Aug. 4 & 5, 2000. All of the out of towners stayed at the same motel in Berlin, Wisc. Thus we found we could pick up a cousin or two to go out for a walk or for breakfast just by cruising the lounge. Our cousin Clark (the organizer) lives nearby but he also took a room at the motel in order to be available to his guests at any time. Our first event was a walk to the "little white schoolhouse" where the Republican party was founded. It is staffed by a member of the Ripon historical society and she lectured not only on the founding of the Republican Party but gave us a background of the commune (in which Horace Greeley also was an important factor). In the 1840's several sons of Reuben settled in the area as part of the Wisconsin Phalanx of the Fourierites. They bought land on the Fox river, and began to build a town which they named Ceresco, after the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres. They built several long houses, each of which would shelter 20 families. A number of private houses were built at the same time. Lester Rounds, who had been crippled as a boy and thus was given a longer education than his brothers, served the commune as secretary, postmaster and school teacher. The other members worked in the fields or as laborers in the village. Those in the long houses had communal kitchens and dining halls. The children lived and ate separate from their families.

Lester left the commune in 1843. Some say he was disgusted with the squabbling within the group, and, some say, the "free love". Another theory has it that many in the group were jealous of him because he had a house of his own, and did not do any physical labor. We made a motorcade and drove to the site of the commune. 3 of the original houses still stand, the second long house, and around corner, Lester's house (the postoffice was located in his front room). The third remaining structure was built a year or so later by one of the other founders of the commune and was down the street.

From Ceresco, our motorcade went on to Eureka, to the cemetery there. It certainly was an eerie feeling to be in a cemetery where half of the markers had "Rounds" on them. Clark gave the history of each of the deceased - or at least the men. In that era the women were just child-bearers.

	From there, Clark had arranged for us to visit the farm house that had formerly been the farm of Reuben's daughter, Mary Jane Bromley. The farmer's wife guided the 30 or so of us through the house which hasn't changed much since the mid 1800's. Oh, yes, there is electricity, and indoor plumbing, and the big stove in the kitchen is also electric, but the rest in antique. The present farmer and wife are not related to us, but had "inherited" many Rounds artifacts when they bought the house and these were pointed out to us as we made the tour.
	Then it was on to Eureka for a fish fry. What had been the first church in the town (spiritualist, Adventist, Baptist, and one other shared the building) was now a bar that is open several nights a week, and on Fridays includes a fish fry. We filled the space and spilled out into the yard and street. Many pitchers of beer and piles of fried fish were consumed by the group.
	Lester's second house, built after he left the commune and founded the city of Eureka, is across the street from the bar, and Clark announced that the man who lived there now would allow us to tour the house. We trouped over in 4's and 6's. New owner was most gracious. He is in the middle of repair/renovation, and the house has been expanded since Lester Rounds lived there, but the front rooms feature the wide, perfectly planked pine flooring (resanded and restored) and the walls covered with a reproduction of Victorian wall paper. The back hall had the original wallpaper!
	And then, down the side street from Lester's house is the house that was built by his brother, James Madison Rounds. The woman there invited us in and we had another house tour. Neither of these home-owners knew anything about our reunion until that evening when Clark walked over and asked if we could come. "A couple of Rounds descendants" he said, but the couple added up to 30! Not many of us live in historic houses, but would we be as gracious if 30 strangers appeared, unannounced, on our doorstep?
	The next day was the official reunion picnic and we were joined by another 30 or so local cousins, many of them the grown children of cousin Clark and his sister. It was held in a huge picnic shelter in Berlin, Wisc. and lucky it was so big, as it turned out to be glommy, rainy day. Our activities were limited to indoors. One of the long, most interior tables was covered with shelf paper and cousins put out their family memorabilia - mostly albums and individual pictures. One cousin, who is a real digger (and done most of her research on the internet!) had a huge tree printed out. We all had our family information going back to Reuben & Avis; she took it back from there for 8 or 10 generations -- to Great Britain of the 1500's, and included Ann Boleyn's aunt! And we ate - Clark provided a huge spread of ham and turkey and salads and the local cousins brought desserts and snacks. We ate and talked and looked at the family stuff, and then another cousin took official pictures in family groupings, which I'll also get later.We packed up our stuff in the late afternoon and returned to the motel for a rest after which we had a final family gathering at a nearby Mexican restaurant, showering Clark with appreciation for a reunion well planned and executed