On the occasion of the wedding of Hedwig Luyken and Dipl. Ing. Ernst Meyer on November 22nd in Hamburg (Germany) the participating guests, mostly descendants of Johann Arnold Luyken (1766-1807), the founder of the Arnsberger branch, expressed the wish to tighten up the bounds between the now widely branched descendants of the forebears Hendrich Luyken and Anna von der Knippenburg in the form of family meetings.

The family meeting on May 17th and 18th in Arnsberg can thus be regarded as the foundation date of the Luyken/Leuken Family Association.

Unfortunately the First World War hampered the planned continuation in 1915. In March 1921 though the first issue of the quarterly "Chronikblätter für die Familie Luyken und ihre Anverwandten" ("Bulletin for the Luyken Family and its Relatives") appeared under the auspices of Karl Luyken, Berlin.

The second family meeting was held in Wesel in 1926. Here for the first time a family board was elected which was given the task to work out a family charter for the next family meeting in Düsseldorf which was passed then by the family council and published in the family bulletin of September 1930.

In order to adapt to changing circumstances the charter was modernized in 1963 and 1981. New aspects showed again in the family meeting 1990 in Überlingen which required a revision of the charter. The family council in the family meeting 1993 in Ingolstadt ratified the new charter.

Family meetings have as a goal that family members get to know each other in order to strengthen family bonds and to provide an opportunity for an intensive interexchange. They intend as well to introduce youths to the idea of an extended family. The family council is also held during the family meetings.

Family meetings take place normally every three years. While they first were always held in Wesel (Germany), the residence place of the family, since the 1950's they are organized by changing family members at their residence locations. This provides an extra incentive for the participation because always an interesting visit program is offered (besides the opportunity of communicating with other family members). Also the burden of the organization is distributed on several shoulders.