August 3, 2008 found the Snell-Zimmerman-Timmerman families gathering at our historic Snells Bush Church. We had a very busy day and were worried that the rain which has been coming down daily would spoil the day. The sun came out and made a beautiful day even though it did sprinkle a little in the morning.

Our day started with a re-dedication of two Revolutionary grave sites---- John Dockey and Peter Woolever. Their cemetery stones were unreadable and we filled out applications and sent them to the Veteran's Administration, Washington, DC. The new stone was placed next to the original stone so that everyone coming to the cemetery would be able to find those graves. We are very proud of the 17 Revolutionary and War of 1812 soldiers that are buried in Snells Bush Cemetery. They fought for our country's freedom and independence from England so many years ago. We held the ceremony at 10:30 just before the annual church service. We were pleasantly surprised by newspaper coverage from the Utica Observer Dispatch. They sent a reporter and photographer. We had about 30-50 members at the re-dedication of the stones.

The following is the service that was conducted.

Invocation:
Eternal God, with heart filled with love and gratitude, we gather to ask thy blessing of this marker placed in honor of---- Peter Woolever and John Dockey-------, American Revolutionary war patriots.

The unequalled liberties enjoyed in America today are thy legacy of brave, strong patriots. Their deep faith and belief in Thy guidance, together with the hope of living in freedom, fortified them throughout the war for independence.

We give thee thanks: O Lord for thy many blessings and ask that thy Holy Spirit be with us always. May we never forget those who fought for the freedom of their new country.
Amen

Honor Guard
The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
Biographies

John Dockey who fought at Stone Arabia was a Hessian soldier who was brought over to America by the British and fought under General Burgoyne at the Battle of Bennington against the American Patriots. The American militia captured him and General Washington let him escape. John Dockey traveled to the Mohawk Valley and discovered that the Palatines living there were from Germany and spoke German. These were the Palatines that had settled the Mohawk Valley since the 1700's and developed the land and defended their families on the frontier. He married a widow whose husband had died in the Battle of Oriskany and joined the militia forces to defend their homes and country.

Peter Woolever served his country well as he was in the militia under Colonel Klock and in the regiment of Captain House as a drummer. Peter was engaged in two skirmishes- one at General Nicholas Herkimer's home and another at East Canada Creek in which he was wounded. Peter also fought valiantly at the Battle of Klock's Field.

Re-dedication of marker

We are laying a wreath on the new re-dedicated cemetery stones of Peter Woolever and John Dockey. These two stones were received from the Veterans Administration office in Washington DC. They will replace damaged stones of veteran soldiers that fought in any war to preserve our freedom and liberty of the United States. We were pleased to receive two stones to mark these graves because the stones there were unable to be read. We will keep the old stone on the grave and placed the new marker next to it so that anyone visiting this cemetery will be able to know who is buried there. We feel that it is important to honor these soldiers for their dedication to their country. We are very proud of our ancestors who defended the United States against our enemies. We will continue to replace cemetery stones of our soldiers buried at Snell Bush Church in the future years.
Remarks--- Sue Snell Williams------ Vice-President
Nancy Timmerman Cioch ---President
Therefore, we the members of Snell-Zimmerman-Timmerman Family Reunion and Daughters of the American Revolution members and honored guests now re dedicate this marker in grateful recognition of the service of---- Peter Woolever and John Dockey------ patriots of the American Revolution

Laying wreaths
In honoring---- Peter Woolever and John Dockey------ we also pay tribute to all men and women who have served our country with integrity and devotion. We also honor all the soldiers buried at Snells Bush that fought in the American Revolution, War of 1812, and other wars. These men fought for freedom, liberty and defended our nation against all enemies. We are very proud to be descended from these heroic patriots.

List of Soldiers buried at Snells Bush
William Altenburgh died January 19, 1821 age 64 years, a Hessian soldier who became a patriot
John Dockey died September 28 1832 age 76 years Revolutionary Soldier and
a Hessian soldier
John Adam Garlock,-called Adam,-died December 5, 1832 age 89 years
Revolutionary soldier and soldier of War of 1812
Henry Hose - died June 27 1832 age 75, Hessian soldier and Revolutionary soldier --- stone missing
Adam House- died August 26, 1835 age 75, Revolutionary Soldier
Adam Klock- died August 12, 1823 age 7, Revolutionary Soldier
Jesse Lewis- died May 2 1861 age 65, War of 1812 Soldier
Honyost Snell-died July 13, 1833 in his 77th year Revolutionary soldier
Jacob I Snell-died May 10 1827 age 59, Captain War of 1812
Peter Snell -died July 24, 1804 age 74- Revolutionary soldier earliest cemetery
grave
John G Staring- died June 16, 1883 age 87, private in War of 1812
Rev J Harold Thomson-died- 1973, World War I veteran
Adam H Timmerman-died September 29, 1844 age 74, soldier War of 1812
Conrad C Timmerman-died April 23, 1827 age 79, Revolutionary soldier
Peter A Timmerman-- died June 13, 1871 age 77, soldier in War of 1812
Henry Zimmerman(Timmerman) - died May 18, 1807 age 69, Revolutionary soldier Lieutenant
William Zimmerman- died April 21, 1830 age 76, Revolutionary soldier

We dedicate ourselves anew to a faithful stewardship of blessings we enjoy today.
Now may grace, mercy and love abide with us all now and ever more. Amen

Honor guard

Taps

(Format for the program is taken from the NSDAR Ritual Manual)

We would like to thank the American Legion from St. Johnsville for providing an honor guard for the event and playing taps.

Our annual church service was held at 11 AM at our historic Church. Our guest speaker was Donald R. Williams Methodist lay minister who has been our guest minister in the past. We are always thrilled to have Mr. Williams speak to us as a lay minister. Donald R Williams has been a Methodist lay minister for over 40 years and is a retired schoolteacher and administrator. He has published works that include nine books on the Adirondacks and local history. He also writes a weekly column in newspapers and magazine articles.

Nancy Schuyler our organist and pianist played "More than Worth You Are" as the organ prelude. Other hymns were "Open My Eyes that I may See", Traditional Hymn-"Faith of our Fathers", and closing hymn "God Bless America".
Alice Fake accompanied by Millie Walrath sang special music, "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked" and also sang "Something Beautiful" as the solo for the offering. Thank you Alice and Millie for a beautiful presentation.

Mr. Williams' sermon was entitled "The Wisdom of our Forefathers" where he went on to explain various items and how they are still important even if they are old and how these items refer to our ancestors and scripture in the Bible.

After the church service a short business meeting was held. We're getting the church painted and it is almost completed. We have cut the cost by getting the local inmates to paint the church-all we had to do is supply the paint items-and clean up afterward. The church looks beautiful. We had to hire professional painters to paint the bell tower, which had not been painted in many years. Last year we had the steeple repaired and it was too late in the season to get the rest painted. We also voted to change the by-laws. Cathy Ossenfort will review the by-laws and work on getting them up to date for next year. They have not been reviewed in many years. The change we made to the by-laws was to delete that a director cannot succeed himself or herself. We have been having a hard time to find directors to help out and we felt that if we have someone close by that takes care of the day-to-day problems it is better to let them continue the job. The motion passed unanimously. Therefore, David Haughton and William Timmerman will follow themselves as directors Brandt Rostohar has replaced the lights in the steeple and now the steeple is lit at night again. Cemetery stones will be worked on and straightened. We hope to replace the gravestones of our soldiers that are unreadable. This is an ongoing project. Unfortunately the Veterans Administration will only replace soldier's gravestones. We have many other grave stones that also need replacement. If anyone wants to donate money for this project please contact us. The grave marker that we received from the VA usually costs about $400. This is a rectangular stone with the name and dates on it.

Wendy Marchese our wedding coordinator reported that we are still having weddings at our historic church about 9 this year. The fees have been increased to cover the costs and the contract has been revised to protect to the church. The monies received go to cover the cost of mowing the grounds. Members were reminded of our other items for raising funds: photo t-shirts of the church, pewter pins, note cards, and Christmas balls of the church. The meeting was adjoined.

Everyone was invited to stay for the luncheon catered by Mrs. Petosevek and her staff. A donation of $7.00 per meal was appreciated. The book room was open to sell our genealogy books and a history & memorabilia of photos were displayed at the church. We often receive old photos of family members, which we are very pleased to add to the collection.

After lunch we had the pleasure of having a presentation of a new novel about a young boy in the Revolution by Mrs. Doris Weible. Mrs. Weible conducted a book-signing event and donated 10 copies of her novel for the benefit of the Reunion.

We were pleased to have James Maracle, historian of the Mohawk Indian Nation from Canada give us a presentation. Along with Mr. Maracle was his wife Patricia and Augusta Cecconi-Bates. We were very pleased that they could join us at our family reunion. Mr. Maracle presented a poem to Mr. Williams our lay minister, and a poem to Alice Fake our soloist. He also presented a coffee mug to Adrian Gray, a past president of the Reunion and to Sarah Timmerman Israel for inviting him and his wife and Augusta Bates Conti to the reunion. They had never been in the Mohawk Valley and enjoyed "getting lost" and viewing the valley. Mr. Maracle spoke on the new organization he developed called Oriskany Alliance Inc. This is an organization to promote strong support of the site of Battle of Oriskany for historical values. Augusta Cecconi-Bates wrote an opera called "Molly Brant of the Mohawks". This opera will be presented the first week in September in various places in New York State- Earlville-Sept 4, Turning Stone Vernon, -Sept5, Watertown-Sept 6, Lowville--, Oneonta Sept 12, and Rome Sept 13 For more information please contact Augusta Cecconi-Bates at 33014 Mason Rd Cape Vincent NY 13618.

An ice cream social was also held the evening of Saturday August 2, 2008 before the reunion at the church at 6pm. We were all surprised to note that the rain had stopped to enjoy the ice cream social and the view of the Mohawk Valley. We wish to thank Stewarts Ice Cream store for donating the ice cream for the social. While eating ice cream a beautiful rainbow was seen by all. Our mailing address is PO Box 623 Little Falls New York or e-mail sarahtisrael@hotmail.com or ncioch@yahoo.com for more information. Please visit our web site at www.szt-genealogy.org.