September 22-24, 2023, we had an excellent annual meeting surrounded by the peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains in Pigeon Forge Tennessee!

On the evening of Friday the 22nd of September, we gathered on a large patio at the LeConte Hotel. It was delightful sitting out under the sky while the sun was setting behind the mountains, dining on a selection of food that Dana Speeks, our local host, had provided.

After the sunset, we moved to the rocking chairs that circled a large fire pit on the patio, each person with their preferred beverage—soft drinks, sweet tea or wine. It was a lovely time reconnecting with cousins under the stars. We shared stories, photos of family, and had a relaxing evening together.

On Saturday, we enjoyed breakfast provided by the hotel, and after a little negotiation with the hotel management, we settled into the hotel’s Board Room. Speak/e/s Family Association President John Payne welcomed everyone to the annual meeting and set the theme for this year’s meeting as “Beyond the Book.” Now that the Book publishing is behind us, how do we build on that success? What are the most important projects for us to take on as an Association?

We took a few minutes to review those lineages in the Book for which we have not been able by using genealogy to document connections to Thomas the Immigrant. We discussed the success that Roberta Estes had using “Big-Y” DNA testing to associate the unattached line of Aaron Luckey Speaks of North Carolina with the descendants of Bowling Speake of Charles County, Maryland. We talked about two new genealogies and some lines in the book that remain unattached. We decided as an Association to accept the challenge of better defining where to spend our genealogical research by using Big-Y DNA testing of strategic male Speake descendants. This challenge will be addressed by testing individuals of these unattached lines and other strategically selected individuals, in an effort to define the lines of genetic descent.