The History of The SFAA Formation

On the weekend of August 10th, 1975, seventy five Strongs, those related to a Strong or some just interested in Strong genealogy, met at the historic First Parish Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts to form the Strong Family Association of America.

The above meeting came about as a result of the close working relationship between Jarvis A. Strong, Jr., then of Reston, Virginia, and Dwight S. Strong of Boston, Massachusetts. In 1974 Jarvis decided to reprint his copy of Benjamin W. Dwight’s (1871)... “The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong of Northampton, Massachusetts”, also known as The History of The Strong Family, which he had inherited from his grandfather, Benjamin T. Strong.

Pictured below are the Strong Family Association of America's founding fathers, Dwight S. Strong (left) and Jarvis A. Strong (right). They were present for the 25th Annual Reunion of the SFAA held in August - 2000 at Northampton, Massachusetts.  

“The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong of Northampton, Massachusetts”, also known as "The History of the Strong Family", is available in two volumes with over 1600 pages listing information on the descendants of Elder John Strong. The two hard bound collector volumes also include other lines of Strongs that Dwight could not connect to Elder John Strong, listings of graduates of colleges, authors and artists, missionaries to foreign lands, members of state and federal legislatures, judges of courts, soldiers of the Army and Navy, and other notables, as well as a short history of Northampton, MA and Elder John Strong.

Jarvis sent out about 7,000 promotional letters to Strongs, (most addresses obtained from the Library of Congress telephone books), libraries and genealogical organizations. From this he obtained more than 300 advance orders, and more importantly, a list of other Strongs interested in their heritage. One of the recipients was Dwight S. Strong of Boston, Massachusetts. With much correspondence and countless telephone calls between Jarvis and Dwight, it was decided to have a meeting of Strongs in Dorchester, Massachusetts to form a Strong family organization.

The above information was taken from the Forward found in each of the Strong Family History update books.
A much more detailed history of the SFAA is written in each volume.