(Submitted by D. Howard Doster to Webmaster and Newspaper at the same time.)

     300 persons from 20 states, including at least 10 first-timers, signed the traditional Registration Book at the 150th Picnic. Cousins started this Picnic in 1866, partly to see who returned from the Civil War. We met again at the 4-acre Family Picnic Site at 5353 Gurneyville Road, NW of Wilmington, Ohio.
     Someone has said we get to enjoy events three times. We anticipate them; we experience them; we remember them. We, including several new leaders and many new attendees, did all three for this 150th Picnic on August 8, 2015. Now, they're getting ready for the next Picnic, again on the second Saturday in August. That will be on August 13, 2016.
     The 2015 Picnic marked a huge increase in attendance, compared to the167 persons from 11 states who signed the book at the 2014 Picnic. As the Family Photo shows, it was a big group.
     Everyone, including new committee members, can feel good about the turnout, and the response to their efforts in creating new things to do, while meeting new cousins. Whereas I, and most others, had left the 2014 picnic by 3 pm, I left the 2015 picnic at 5:27 PM. And, I was host for our Annual Doster Dinner. I think other cousins also enjoyed other family dinners that evening.
     At noon, Susan Doster called the Picnic group to order, and made a few announcements, encouraging cousins to support efforts to plant more trees. Rosalie McKay Beers led the prayer. The cousins mostly started eating from food on "their" table, before perhaps, checking out food on other tables for a second course.
     Thanks to cousins Steven Pidgeon (who missed because he and wife, Sandy, were in St Petersburg, Russia), Doug Pidgeon, John Mothersole, Christian Collett, Steve Collett, Allen and Allen Inwood, the neatly mowed grass was beautiful, and the bathrooms had water. Several cousins came early and set up the 1878 tables, again in three rows. For the second time in 60 years, we had coffee brewed over a wood fire, in the traditional wrought iron kettle, again by the Steve and Karla Collett family.
     Fortunately, persons coming into the grounds by the new entrance were guided to park their cars around the outside fence. Therefore, we could make good use of the interior space, and we did.
     Barbara Doster and others collected $305, from "selling" commemorative picnic pins. The money will go toward planting new trees.
     We again had an inflatable rubber slide. One little cousin missed the carry-in dinner, for fear of losing his place in the slide line. Little kids also competed for ribbons in sack races and egg races. Five 6-person young adult cousin teams also competed for ribbons on the newly created volleyball court on the NW edge of the grounds. Four horse shoe pits were nearby.
     I will always remember watching the volleyball players, many of them wearing our family's orange shirts. They reminded me of picnics when I was growing up. I then looked forward to playing softball with older men, a few of whom hit the ball all the way to the main gate.
     Kathryn Luby distributed copies of her new "McKay" book, which includes stories of how the McKay Family got here. I displayed maps of two townships in each of Warren, Greene, and Clinton County, along with the wills of Moses McKay and Daniel Collett, our ancestors who bought land here, starting in 1805.
     I invited persons to mark the place on one of the maps where their ancestor first lived. If there is expressed interest, perhaps we could conduct a "Farm Tour" of some of these sites on Friday evening before the next Picnic. Email me at Howard@dhdoster.com , if you want to do this.
     We did a test run of the Farm Tour this year. Brenda Stephens and her three adult sons drove into the picnic site on Friday afternoon from Maryland. Thinking they were descended from Moses and Rebecca Haines Collett, I took them to the 300+ acres that Moses bought in 1806 on the east side of the Little Miami River in Warren and Greene Counties. On the south side of the Roxanna-New Burlington Road, in the yard of the Spring Valley Wildlife Headquarters, I pointed out the likely Moses Collett house. Then, we drove SE to the Caesar Creek Quaker Meeting cemetery, where I showed them the grave marker for Pvt. Daniel Collett.
     Though I've not found their graves, Howard Collett said Mary, who died in 1826; Moses, who died in 1823, and Rebecca, who died in 1847, were buried at Caesar Creek. Howard was then speaking at the 1914 100th Anniversary of Daniel and Mary Haines Collett buying their 2358 acres on the south side of, now, Jonah's Run Baptist Church.
     Next, we came to, Moses McKay's 1818 house-now, our home. While here, Brenda made me copies of several pages of her genealogy records that I did not have. And, she showed me a picture of little Daniel McKay Collett XI. What fun!
     Late in the Picnic day, several young adults took over the rubber slide; some did flips as they tumbled down the inflated incline. Before they left, these "older kids" dug up the volleyball net poles, and put them in the bathrooms so they can be used for volleyball at the 2016 Picnic.
     Dr. Maxine Keiter Hamilton, now age 95, was again the oldest person present. Several first-timers competed for being the youngest, and Laci Billingsley, born March 2, may have won, although I heard there might have been a younger McKay.
     We miss the late McKay Collett. Mary Keppler Dudley, McKay's granddaughter, brought her new daughter, Candice. She also baked McKay's favorite Hickory-Walnut cake recipe, and placed a little "150th" flag on the top of each piece of cake.
     Cousins attending the Picnic from other states included; Luella and Robert Rowsey, Opalika, Alabama; Nicholas Kelly, Ft Wainwrite, Alaska; Virginia Sell, Boulder, Colorado; Barbara Doster Depner, Indianatlantic, Nancy Collett Del Pian, Port Charlotte, and Sandra Ames, Arcadia, Florida; Ben McKay and Rob McKay Rowsey, plus Steve and Lisa Bellesteros, Columbus, Georgia; Robin, Fred, Evan, and Cory Maker, Elk Grove, and Karen, Chad, and Charles Fabian, Del Plaines, plus Ashlee and Dan Wainright, Chicago, Illinois;
     Susan Doster, West Lafayette, and Christy Kelly, Avon, plus Pierpaolo, Lena, Stella, and Max Polzonelli, South Bend, Indiana; Allison, Sallie, and Dave Sell, Richmond, and Charles Arneson, Louisville, Kentucky; Brenda Collett Stephens and Bradley Stephens from Linticum, Gregory Stephens from Glen Burnie and Todd Stephens from Baltimore, Maryland; Dave, Cindi, and Adam Doster, plus Sarah Rybicki from Novi, Michigan;
     Dan, Melody, William, Jimmy, and Lizzie Doster, plus Emily Keogh of Raleigh, Graham Bargaron of Charlotte, and Grace Williamson of Waynesville, North Carolina; Tonya Davis and Natasha Inwood, of Minot, North Dakota; Brian Magee of Dryden, New York; Marilyn Talmage of Nashville, Tennessee; Nancy Crow and Aimee, Bailey, and Cooper Lawson, Houston, plus James Graham, Rhome, Texas;
     Elizabeth Luby, Gary, Megan, Charlie, Ben, and Mollie Schow of Taylorsville, and Emma, Caleb, Joshua, Zoe, Seth, Delwyn, and Kimberly Price of Midvale, Utah; Michael McKay of Winchester, and Ellen and Robert Corrie, Fairfax Station, Virginia; Roger Magee of Sagrim, Washington; and Ellen Magee, of Madison, Wisconsin.