Lampert Family Reunion

Did you know that in 2006, 40 million Americans moved?  We are a nation in transit.  Few people live in the communities in which they grew up, and for many families, seeing grandparents may be an annual event, rather than sharing dinner together every Sunday.  We’re lucky these days if we even know our first cousins, let alone stay in touch.  Impermanence and fragmentation pervade our culture, and a sense of rootlessness is replacing an awareness of identity and community.

But for a few days next summer in the legendary Black Hills of South Dakota, we are going to challenge those trends and embrace the discovery and meaning – and FUN! --  of extended family, celebrating our shared lineage that began with the 1846 journey of Jacob and Anna Katharina Lampert from Flasch, Switzerland to their new home in Wisconsin.  Their son, Jacob R. Lampert, came west to the Black Hills, where he prospected for gold and founded the lucrative JR Mine.  After the mine played out, Jacob and his wife, Helena, moved to Rapid City where he was involved with flour milling, cattle  ranching, and the Rapid City Lumber and Machinery Company.  We are all descendants of these Swiss-American Lamperts, tracing our heritage in the Hills back six generations. That’s something to explore and celebrate, for sure!  If you’ve never come to a reunion, or if you haven’t been back since you were a kid, we want to extend an especially warm invitation to you – come discover the rare riches of knowing your family heritage.