Though the parlor where they lounged had changed in recent decades, and the view through the front windows, too, was no longer the same, the nine women who gathered at the Baer House this past weekend brought enough family feeling to remind them of the way things used to be.

On Friday evening, Nancy Williams Mumper and Frances “Koot” Williams, the two surviving daughters of David Henderson Williams, who owned the home at 1117 Grove St. for 50 years before he died in 1975, were joined by eight of their nieces in renting all of the rooms in what is now a bed and breakfast to remember the past and catch up on the present.

“This was something I’ve wanted to do for so long,” said Nancy Williams Mumper, 87. She lives in Madison and was the organizer of the reunion.

Family members traveled from various Mississippi locations to reunite, but one came from out-of-state, about 700 miles, from Harlingen, Texas. It was the first time since the home was sold 33 years ago that it had been solely occupied by members of the family.

The nine women sat in the front parlor room of the home Friday night, drinking champagne and eating tamales, a favorite of the women while growing up. There was pizza, too. While reminiscing, popular topics included Christmas gatherings; the flower garden of Susan Williams, who was Nancy and Frances’ mother; Annie, the family cook; and a little of the adolescent mischief that occurred over the years.

Members of the David Henderson and Susan Williams family who reunited in the former family home, The Baer House, are, from left, Nancy WIlliams Mumper of Madison, Brenda Wilkerson Koestler of Vicksburg, Gayle Biedenharn Walker of Jackson, Sarah Williams Barber of Brandon, Nancy Williams Fines of Harlingen, Texas, Ann Williams Palermo of Ocean Springs, Pat Williams Hartley of Vicksburg and Betty Williams Mangum of Nesbit. Frances Williams joined the group later. Suzanne Feliciano * The Vicksburg Post)”It was absolutely wonderful,” Frances Williams said Sunday afternoon. Frances, 83, is a Vicksburg resident. “We had so much fun; we stayed up talking past 12. And it’s been a long time since I’ve been up that late.”

Following the late night, Frances said the women woke up to have a breakfast of French toast and creme brulee and talked some more. Then late in the morning, the family gathered to sing “Blessed be the Ties that Bind,” and parted ways.

Nancy said her father bought the home in 1925 when she was 5 years old. Nancy was the fifth of David and Susan Williams’ nine children. The two surviving sons are John Williams, who lives in New York, and James Williams of Brandon. David Henderson Williams owned a lumber company in Vicksburg.

The first home on the Grove Street site was built before 1850 and the owners also had a large family. In 1870, not long after the Civil War razed much of the city, Lazrus and Leona Baer constructed the Victorian home, complete with elaborate woodwork and a grand ballroom. It’s in what’s known as the Eastlake style and had nine fireplaces, four cisterns, a well house, a carriage house. Baer was a Jewish immigrant from Germany who opened a dry goods store, Baer and Brothers, in 1865.

Looking out the window Friday night, Nancy gazed across the street, talking about all the homes that used to sit where the parking lot of the Warren County Youth Court is now. She remembered skating and playing hopscotch and hide and seek on that street, and also having a dinner table that seemed open to everyone in the neighborhood.

“This was such a wonderful place to grow up,” Nancy said. “I’m truly grateful that I was raised in Vicksburg, on this street.”

Since Williams died in 1975, the home has had a variety of owners, even being a legal office at one point.

But Friday night, it belonged to the Williams family once again, if for only one night.

“I am just so grateful that we did this,” said Pat Hartley of Vicksburg, the daughter of David Turner Williams and niece of Nancy and Frances. “The home means so much to all of us. This is something I’ll never forget and will always cherish, and it’s definitely something I want to happen again.”