The annual Kendrick/Blackerby family reunion will be held this year in the community named for the Kendrick family.

One hundred, thirty-six years ago, in 1873, Elmira Gilbert Kendrick purchased the K-Springs property at a public tax sale

Her husband Isham had died in 1866, leaving her with at least six minor children and another on the way. Three years after his death, she had to mortgage the property she then lived on to have money to make a crop. But she and her family worked to pay off the mortgage and buy the property, first called Kendrick Springs, and now known as K-Springs.

Several springs were located on the property, down the hill from where the little, white church building now stands. One of these was a large spring of clear water, and for many years this is where people in the community met to do the family wash and take home buckets of water for other household uses.

It was around 1815 that a little band of pioneers, among them the family of Able Kendrick, a Revolutionary War veteran, set out from South Carolina for Alabama country. This was land newly cleared of Indian title after Andrew Jackson and his army defeated the Creeks at the battle of Horseshoe Bend, and hordes of people from the Carolinas were rushing in to settle on it.

Also in the group was the family of Lewis Turner, another Revolutionary War soldier, who’s daughter Frances had married Able’s son James Lewis Kendrick. Elmira’s husband Isham was a son of James and Frances.

The Blackerby family inner-married with the Kendrick family several times through the years, giving both families much of the same history and heritage. As a matter of fact, many families who have been in the area for a number of years are descendants of the Kendrick family.

This year’s reunion will be held June 6 at the Chelsea Community Church, beginning at 11 a.m. Everyone is asked to bring a carry-in lunch and old pictures or other memorabilia to share. For more information, contact Elaine Blackerby at 669-4526.