NATCHEZ — At one point in history, the Jersey settlers had to hide in a canebrake to have church services.

Fortunately, their descendents won’t have to do that this weekend when they gather at the Kingston United Methodist Church to celebrate their shared history and genealogy.

The annual reunion of the Descendents of the Jersey Settlers of Adams County began Friday when they met at the Natchez Visitor’s Reception Center to watch the film “The Natchez Story.” When the film was over, the group proceeded to Kingston for dinner and a tour of the area.

“The reunions are great fun, because we get to meet people we are actually related to in some very distant way from across the country,” Reunion Social Vice President Ann Severance said.

“It is really neat that we all know we have this heritage of being the descendents of the founders of the first Protestant church in the Mississippi territory.”

The Jersey Settlers originally located to the area in the 1770s and organized a Congregationalist church that met in houses and — the community’s tradition says — occasionally had to hide from the Spanish authorities, who only officially allowed the practice of Catholicism.

Later, the Kingston Methodist Church was organized in 1800 and became the first Protestant church in Mississippi to have deeded property.

In 1940, the Descendents of the Jersey Settlers had a reunion at the church, and it has become an annual tradition. Past attendees have come from as far away as Alaska and Germany, Severance said.

“We like to share our heritage, exchange stories, find out how close a cousin we are to somebody else,” she said. “We learn a little bit more every year about how to keep our heritage going.”

One of the main objectives of the organization is the maintenance of several cemeteries in the Kingston area, and every year participants work on the publication of genealogy books, Severance said.

So far, three volumes of genealogical work has been completed.

“(The books) are very important to the people in the Natchez area, because many of them are in these books, or are descendents of the people who are,” she said.

The Descendents of the Jersey Settlers has a constitution that mandates it meets once a year during the last weekend of April, but Severance said the organization does not charge dues.

“We consider anybody — even if they are not a Jersey settler descendent — who just wants to be our friend, to be members,” she said.

The public is welcome to attend the gathering. For more information, contact Karen O’Neal at 601-446-5742.

More information can be found online at www.djs.org.

Today, events will include:

• 9 to 11 a.m., executive board meeting at the Natchez Grand Hotel.

• 1 to 3 p.m., genealogical workshop at the Armstrong Library.

• 6-8 p.m., Saturday Night Social at the Natchez Grand Hotel.

Sunday, events will include:

• 10 to 11:30 a.m., annual memorial service and general assembly at Kingston United Methodist Church.

• 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., covered dish lunch at Kingston United Methodist Church.

• 2 p.m. — tours of Kingston.