A five-month family project actually was rooted back decades.

Four cousins from the Kattner family in Jim Thorpe are creating a family tree spanning seven generations … so far. Tom Kattner, Mike Kattner, Liz Kattner Kilcup and Anne Martino, whose grandmother was a Kattner, have tracked their lineage back to when Paul Kattner, born in 1845, jumped ship in Baltimore in 1872, eventually setting up the homestead atop a hill above Jim Thorpe.

Anne Martino has had an interest in her lineage since an early age. About three years ago she and her cousins started to take that interest even further, delving into their family history by every means possible. They’ve used the internet, scoured old newspapers, court records and searched cemeteries for grave markers bearing the name Kattner.

Last year the Kattners held a family reunion at Mike’s home in Jim Thorpe. It was the first family reunion in about a quarter of a century. Expecting about 75 guests, they were surprised when about double the number showed up.

On display at the reunion was a family tree painted on plywood, containing 462 names. Several of the guests were able to fill in some holes and make other additions to the tree.

Between the information gained at the reunion and further digging, the group has been able to add over 200 more names to the tree, requiring the rendering to grow.

This year’s family tree is made up of five sheets of plywood: four for the field the tree is painted on, and a title board featuring the family crest, military insignia and a fitting quote: “Family is like branches on a tree; we all grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one.”

The cousins started meeting at Tom’s house in May to plan the undertaking. The sketches started small, but quickly grew to a 5-by-12-foot diagram plotted off into a grid pattern taped to the basement wall. Once they were happy with the layout, an overhead projector was used to trace the basic design onto the plywood pieces.

Since that happened, the four met in Tom’s garage almost every evening for three weeks. Liz and Anne have done most of the painting, with Tom at the ready with white paint to cover any mistakes.

The main trunk of the tree represents Paul and Mary Kattner, splintering off to their children. The couple had five sons: Fred, Paul, Tony, Frank and John. Their daughter was named Mary, and there was a set of twin daughters who died at a young age that the family doesn’t know much about. From there it branches off further to their children, and their children, and so forth.

The tree was recently transported to Memorial Park in Jim Thorpe for this year’s reunion with 175 family members in attendance. Tom said that there must have been 1,000 pictures taken in front of the tree, which had 691 separate names on it.

Eleven more were added at the reunion, bringing the total to 702.

The tree goes back to the first of their clan to come to the United States, and there are still some limbs and leaves to fill in, but that hasn’t stopped Mike from trying to go back even further. Through Facebook he has contacted distant relations in Germany in an attempt to add some roots to the tree.