Celebrating 50 years of love, legacy & family.
Gracious and loving God, we thank You for the gift of family — for the hands that came before us, and for the generations yet to come.
For fifty years You have brought us back together, across miles and across years. Tonight we gather once more, grateful for every face around this table — those present, those still traveling, and those we carry only in memory.
We remember our ancestors, whose faith and courage carried them through hardship we can scarcely imagine. May their strength live on in us, and may we never forget the road they walked so that we could stand here today.
Bless this food and the hands that prepared it. Bless this family — heal what is broken, soften what is hardened, and bind us together in love that no distance and no season can undo.
Keep us, O Lord, as one family under Your care, now and for all the years to come. Amen.
The earliest known recorded ancestor of our family was Pasty Kilgo, born around 1837 during slavery. She later married Edom Burford, who was born into slavery around 1822 in Virginia. Though the exact part of Virginia is unknown, Edom eventually settled in West Flat Rock Township, near what is now Stoneboro in Lancaster County, South Carolina, just off Highway 97.
Together, Pasty Kilgo Burford and Edom Burford built a large family during one of the most difficult periods in American history. According to the 1870 and 1880 Flat Rock census records, they had five sons and six daughters.
Pasty Kilgo Burford passed away in 1913 at approximately 70 years old. While records on all descendants have not been fully uncovered, extensive family history has been compiled on the descendants of Rebecca, Sam, and Joe, along with partial information on several others.
The oldest daughter, Rebecca "Becky" Burford, was born in 1854 in Flat Rock Township and spent approximately 13 years living in slavery. She later became one of the central matriarchs of the family legacy.
Rebecca had nine children — daughters Minnie, Ella, and Carrie, and sons Shelley, James, John, Rembert ("Raymond"), Loman, and Edom. Later in life, she married Allen Johnson.
Rebecca lived an extraordinary life and passed away in Kershaw, South Carolina, in 1957 at the age of 103. The home where she died still stands today at the end of East Richmond Street in Kershaw.
The Flat Rock community was home to many families, including the Jones family. Over time, the Jones and Burford families intermarried, creating the roots of what is now known as the J-B Family Reunion.
All families represented at the reunion are descendants of:
The reunion tradition officially began in 1974, started by the South Carolina Connection of the Jones family. Its purpose was simple but powerful — to make sure family members returned home at least once each year to reconnect, preserve history, and strengthen family bonds.
What began as a gathering of the "Descendants of Becky Burford" eventually expanded to include descendants of Becky's brothers and sisters, along with relatives from every connected branch of the family tree.
In 1991, the reunion became officially known as the "J-B Family Reunion" to honor and include all spellings and branches of the Jones-Burford family roots.
Throughout history, the Burford name has appeared in many different spellings, including:
The spelling "Birtha" has even been found on tombstones in the old family cemetery plots.
Because many of our ancestors were denied the opportunity to learn to read and write, names were often spelled according to how they sounded to census takers and record keepers.
No matter how the name is spelled — or whether your last name is McIlwain, McCain, Miller, Wright, Truesdale, Cauthen, Cunningham, Mobley, or another family name through marriage — we proudly recognize that we are all connected as one family.
As we celebrate 50 years of the J-B Family Reunion, we honor the strength, sacrifice, resilience, and love of the generations who came before us.
What started in 1974 as a small effort to bring family back home has grown into a lasting tradition that continues to unite generations from all over the country.
This reunion is more than a gathering — it is a celebration of our history, our roots, and the unbreakable bond that has carried our family forward for half a century.
For fifty years, this family has always found its way back to one another. As we look down the road, two cities are on the table — each one a chance to keep our family ties, our music, our fun, and our fellowship going strong.
Where three rivers meet, the family could gather again. Pittsburgh brings steel-town warmth and big-city fun — bridges to cross together, music and laughter in the air, and the kind of fellowship that keeps our family ties strong. A proposed homecoming worth every mile.
Then the family could turn south. Nashville opens its doors to Music City magic — gospel and good food on the Cumberland, songs that run late into the night, and fellowship that feels like one big family table. The kind of weekend that ties us closer and becomes next year's favorite story.
Two cities on the table. One family — bound by ties, music, fun, and fellowship.
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
Words by James Weldon Johnson · 1900