April 17, 2000

 

 

Hello,

 

It has been many years, for many of us, since there has been any contact. It’s a little scary that I am one of the youngest of our generation and am well into my fifties.

 

I don’t know about everyone else, but I am saddened by the fact that my childhood family is as faded a memory as those left behind by Abe & Lottie when they came to America. And even worse my children (your children?) and future generations will know nothing of the extended family of Barkan’s that grew from the offspring of Abe & Lottie.

 

We live in a time that affords us a unique opportunity to salvage, if not on going relationships amongst the second and third generation Barkan’s of Williamsburg, at least the collective early memories of our grandparents, parents & family gatherings to be shared with our children and future generations.

 

I’ve setup a web site, http://www.barkan.net. I would like to devote the site to the above goal. A message board, photographs, events, milestones or heartaches you would like to share can be incorporated into the site. In fact a message board is already setup (http://www.barkan.net/discus). Real-time chat rooms can also be setup if desired.

 

At this point the site is public access, anyone can view and leave messages on the message board. I would think that it would be desirable to make some areas private and accessible by user name/password.

 

Please pass this information on to your children and grandchildren. Visit the site and encourage them to visit. If there is no interest, the site will fade away with the rest of the Barkan story(s). A shame that would be.

 

If there is interest and participation, the site can become a living testament to the Barkan’s of Williamsburg history and future.

 

Hope you are well and share the desire to assemble a visual and written history of and for our families.

 

Best regards,

Alan, son of Ruben and Rose