Olmste(a)d Family Association

In 1970, William “Big Bill” Olmstead of Halifax, NS (and later of Fredericton, NB) at a family gathering of Maritime Olmsteads first discussed the possibility of creating a new organization to foster family unity and share genealogy information as had the previous Olmsted Family, Inc.

In the next two year, Bill contacted many more family members in the Maritime Provinces for a larger gathering at which time those present formed a new organization, The Olmstead Family Association. At the reunion in 1978 the name was changed to include the ( )s around the “a” to indicate both primary spellings of the family surname. Since the 1970s the family has held reunions in various parts of both the US and Canada; in recent years leadership and workers needed to handle such an event has not been forthcoming. The by-laws of the organization were written and updated twice in the past thirty years. The current statement set starts off:

“The purpose of this Association shall be to collect, preserve and document genealogical, biographical and historical material relating to the Olmste(a)d families.
“Establish and maintain for the use of members and others interested, a library of biographical and historical materials in whatever form; support by financial or other means of education and activities of those interested in recording and preserving family history and heritage and promote an awareness and pride in the accomplishments and contributions by our ancestors, pioneer families and descendants of Olmste(a)d and related families.”

After five years of little activity, in the fall of 2008, Walt & Mary Steesy took on the challenge of rebuilding the association with a major effort to be made to: (1) recruit new members, with emphasis on younger generations, (2) encourage genealogical activity, (3) create interesting programs for the members, (4) redefine the newsletter with appropriate content, and (5) hold a national reunion in 2010.

The 2010 reunion was a fun and educational time for those that attended. A new leadership group was formed and for the next two years struggled to accomplish much including planning for a future reunion. The newsletter was to be edited by a new person who found that there was little input from others and did not have the time to find information or articles to be published; the last issue was in 2012.

Since then a core group has attempted to keep the OFA in existence. As one of the primary purposes of the OFA was communication to and about Olmste(a)es, this website started by Walt in 2008 and discontinued, because of lack of funds to pay for the hosting, was transferred to the OFA in 2017.

Go to
OFA Past Reunions
OFA Officers and Executive Board (none at this time)
OFA application for membership (none at this time)

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