WS Chronicle

In the photo above: The 2012 Hauser Williams Russell Reunion in High Point. (Submitted photo)

Special to The Chronicle

The seventh generation descendants of Bethania Hauser Williams Russell will hold their 100th Family Reunion, Friday, July 24 – Sunday, July 26, 2015 in North Carolina. All family and friends are invited.

As a prelude to this 100th event, several Hauser relatives spent the Father’s Day weekend, June 19-21, at the H4 Reunion of descendants on the Caucasian side of the family as it convenes in Clemmons, Winston-Salem, and Bethania. These descendants were among the founding families of Bethania, NC – Moravians who came from Pennsylvania in the 1700s.
Winston-Salem native and former resident, Actor/ Director/Writer Fay Hauser-Price will attend from Los Angeles, CA as well as Mocksville resident Raphael Hauser.

The Hauser family anchors it’s reunion on Bethania Hauser Williams Russell who was born in Bethania, N.C. She began her life as an enslaved person who was head housekeeper on the plantation of Theophilus Hauser, a local North Carolina farmer and landowner who fathered three of her 11 children. Through two marriages, many children and grandchildren, Bethania managed to lay the foundation for a productive multi-racial American family that thrives today across the country and the world. It is with great pride that we announce that our family will celebrate its 100th family reunion. It is a reunion started by her second son Martin Hauser in 1915 on her 75th birthday and the 50th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment making American slavery illegal.

Family members include the late Dr. Charlie Brady Hauser, Sherman Hauser and Moyer Hauser families of Winston-Salem, which include area residents Pam Bradsher, Steven Floyd, Maria Hauser, Dianne Caesar and Donald Benson. The reunion weekend will include great food, music, fashion, drama, and shared stories. A scenic bus tour of sites related to the family will include Bethania, NC; Winston-Salem State University and the Hauser Building; the Old Safe Bus Co of Winston-Salem which was owned and operated by Mary Miller Green, a family member; the Yadkinville, NC area where Bethania was head housekeeper of the Hauser plantation.

The exciting planned weekend will include a commemorative libration ceremony, a fish fry, an elegant banquet, church services and family stories and videos. Highlights will include a family song lead by former lead singer of The Temptations, in-law Louis Price; dynamic Fashion Show lead by national model and social advocate Mertine Moore Brown; performance by Emmy awarded actor, Producer/Director Fay Hauser; and memorabilia shared by English High Sheriff, Peaches Golding, both former residents of Winston-Salem. Family will be converging from points North, South, East, West and across the Atlantic.

Reunion headquarters is The Village Inn Event Center, Clemmons, N.C. For reunion information, please TheSpiritOfBethania@yahoo.com or call 818-453-2053.