Lael Famnily Reunion

As everyone knows due to the Covid 19 virus we had to cancell the 66th Annual Lael Family Reunion.   Brenda Lael Esslinger stepped forward and aggreed to organize the Reunion for 2020.  We just wished the times would have allowed her & us to have a great Reunion.

Hopefully we can start looking forward to the Spring (2021) and have our Postponed 66th or shall we call it our 67th Reunion?.

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In the past few weeks I have been contacted by a JD Lail from Kentucky concerning the Lael/Lail/Lole/Lagle/etc family tree.  In doing my research and with information provided by JD Lail, I find we have a common ancestor in Hans George Lole, who is the person that brought our family line to this country from Germany in the mid 1770's.   JD's family line can be traced back to George Jr., a son of Hans Georg and our family line can be traced back thru John Jacob, also a son of Hans Georg.  George Jr. moved with his family to Kentucky and was at Ruddles Fort when it was attacked by the British and Indians in 1780.   John Jacob had remained in North Carolina where he raised his family.

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This web site has over the years has brought questions to me about our Lael Tree and history.  In the Spring of 2018 I received an e-mail from a Bruce Lael, who lived in New Jersey.  He had a Grandfather named Glen P. Lael who he said was born in Illinois in 1902.  Glen P had married Thelma Marie Hall and had a son named Glen P. Jr., who is the father of Bruce.  I have not been able to track down this family.  Does any one know of a Glen P. Lael Sr. or Jr.?

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In the Fall of 2018 I received an e-mail from a Daniel Lael who lives in Hickory, North Carolina and was the grandson of Edgar Jones Lail, who is in our Family Tree.

Web Site for the ancestors and descendants of John Henry Lael

This Web site is for the ancestors and descendants of John Henry Lael who migrated to Illinois in the early 1900's.  John Henry & Dona Emma and their family moved to Illinois from North Carolina on March 5, 1909 (this was taken from a note in the family Bible of John & Dona).  They lost two of their children in North Carolina, a baby boy and Hattie in her first few months of life.  They brought to Illinois with them Ross, Everett, and Owen.  Born in Illinois were Skiles, Rena, R.V., and Homer.

Please be aware that I have not been able to update this web site in a timely manner recently.  I have been experiencing problems with my internet service provider and I have changed my software package thanks to Microsoft.

2020 Lael Reunion

2020 Newsletter

*Click on the above Newspaper to view

The 66th Lael Reunion was to be held on May 2, 2020 in Springfield, Illinois.  The Pandemic drastically changed those plans.    We had high expectations for 2020, Dale Lael had handed over the coordination of the Annual Reunion to Brenda Lael Esslinger who had reserved a great location in the Village of Southern View at the Park Cmmunity Building in Southern Springfield and all was a go.   Then the full impact of the virus hit and it was decided to postpone the Reunion.

The Lael Family got a lot smaller recently

I probably took the loss of Gaylen as hard as anyone of our Lael Family.    Even though Gaylen was 10 years older then me, I do recall, and especially thru old photographs of Gaylen as a young boy and I was a few years old we seemed like brothers.   At recent Reunions Gaylen always brought old never before seen family photographs and all kinds of infomation I never knew.   He was one of my main sources of Family history.    I recall Gaylen had a pet Fox on a chain at Grandpa/Grandma house somewhere in Virginia before they lived in Grand Villa.

Gaylen Lael

Other Laels

A number of years ago I received information on another Lael family tree.  There was an Otis Lael, Washington State, who recently passed away.  In his memory there is a very interesting web site that talks about Otis and his life.  The Lael family member that we (Lael's in Illinois) have in common with Otis is John (Jacob) Lale.  John Lale is a second generation Lael, born in 1750 in York County, Pennsylvania.  John (Jacob) Lale is the Great, Great, Great Grandfather of Otis.  John (Jacob) Lale is also the Great, Great, Great Grandfather of Ross Council Lael.

Please take a look at the web site of Otis Lael at www.otislael.com.

Our tree just grew a bit larger

I just received an e-mail from a Connie Lael Wood, who happens to be related to the above mentioned "Otis" Lael, who is her father's older brother.  I have copied the e-mail so you can see that as our trees branches grow larger our Family history gets smaller and we meet people we never dreamed of.

Hello, I'm Connie Lael Wood;   I'm an English teacher for the Department of Defense in Daegu, South Korea.  I'll be moving to Japan this summer.   You are a branch of the Lael family I've not met yet, but the "Otis" on your website was my uncle Wes, my father's older brother, and son of Dan Lael originally of North Carolina.   Dans seem to be pretty thick on the ground under our family tree.
A friend of mine, an amateur genealogist, found your website and shared it with me.  A few years ago my Dad (Larry Lael of Rochester, WA) and his sister (Donna Lael Sly of Spokane, WA) went to Scotland for fun.   They stumbled upon a town called Inverlael, Lael forest and, if I remember correctly, a river Lael.   Turns out, peasants were cleared out of that area to make way for sheep and sent to the same place in North Carolina from which we all hale.  This calls into question the Lole German research. I haven't had a minute to dig further.   I believe that research was from a Margaret Lail in Virginia, whom all the genealogy sites now quote.  One day, perhaps in retirement, I'd like to retrace the family steps.   Now doubt we have both Lole/Lael ancestors.
For now, it is fun to meet another branch of the family.   I've never met anyone with our surname who did not come by way of North Carolina, and I'm curious to know if you have. Look forward to chatting with you, and I hope you find somebody to spearhead your reunion.  Ours has suffered the same fate.

Connie Lael Wood
Camp Walker
Daegu, South Korea