USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > The Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the District of Columbia > Part 16
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Great-great-grandson of Colonel Thomas Lewis (1747- 1809) ; Burgess in the Augusta Assembly in 1765, repre- sentative from Augusta in the Virginia Legislature in 1775; Commissioned Second Lieutenant of the Fifteenth Virginia
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Admitted
Died
Regiment, November 21, 1776; First Lieutenant March 20, 1777. Retired as Colonel in February, 1781.
Great-great-grandson of Major Ezekiel Herrick (1728- 1798) ; was a member from Tyringham, of the famous Berkshire County Congress of July 6, 1774, which voted a solemn pledge to forego the use of any and all articles of British manufacture and to resist England's tyranny. Upon the breaking out of the war he entered the army as a sub- ordinate officer but was almost immediately made Captain, taking active part in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga.
THOMAS HYDE.
March 13, 1893. Banker. July 21, 1919.
Great-grandson of Thomas Hyde, of Severn (1725- 1795) ; Commissioner for the Emission of Bills of Credit and Notes for carrying on the war.
BUTLER DELAPLAINE PRICE.
May 26, 1914. August 29, 1919. Brigadier-General, U. S. Army (Retired).
Great-grandson of Isaac Senter (1753-1799) ; Surgeon of Rhode Island Troops in the Expedition to Canada, Nov- ember, 1775, to March, 1776; Hospital Surgeon, July 20, 1776, to April, 1779; Representative in General Assembly of Rhode Island, 1779-80; Surgeon-General State of Rhode Island, 1780-83; Original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and its President from 1789 to 1799.
AARON WARD WEAVER.
April 15, 1912. October 2, 1919. Rear-Admiral, U. S. Navy (Retired).
Great-grandson of Theodorus Van Wyck (3d) (1730- -) ; Member of New York Provincial Congress, 1776; Commissioner on Sequestration, Dutchess County, 1777. Great-grandson of Stephen Miller (1755-1834) ; Private Eighth Regiment, Colonel Robert Van Rensselaer, New York Militia.
RICHARD GRAY PARK.
February 16, 1897. December 1, 1919.
Great-grandson of William Anderson (1747-1820) ; Sergeant in Captain William Rippey's Company, Sixth Pennsylvania Battalion, Colonel William Irvine, January 18, 1776.
JOHN VAN RENSSELAER HOFF COLONEL (MEDICAL CORPS), U. S. ARMY (RETIRED) PAST VICE PRESIDENT (1915-1916)
BORN. APRIL 11, 1848-DIED, JANUARY 14. 1920
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Admitted
Died
ROBERT ATWATER SMITH.
December 31, 1919. December 13, 1915.
Clerk, Department of War.
Great-great-grandson of David Atwater (1723-1806) ; who with his son Cedad Atwater in company with their fellow-townsmen fought the British and Hessian soldiers commanded by General Tryon at the Invasion of New Haven, Connecticut, July 5, 1779.
ROBERT HOLLISTER CHAPMAN.
March 29, 1916.
January 11, 1920.
Major, Engineer Corps, U. S. A .- Topographical Engineer.
Great-great-grandson of Samuel Peck, Jr., (1750- 1834) ; commissioned Captain May 1, 1775, was discharged December, 1775; reentered the service June 14, 1776 in command of the Tenth Company of Colonel David Woos- ter's First Regiment, Connecticut Continental Troops.
JOHN VAN RENSSELAER HOFF.
March 31, 1913.
January 14, 1920.
(By transfer from New York Society). Colonel, Medical Corps, U. S. Army (Retired).
Great-great-grandson of Kilian Van Rensselaer (1717- 1781) ; Colonel, Fourth Regiment, Albany County, New York Militia; October 30, 1775, to close of the War ; Mem- ber of Albany County Committee of Correspondence, 1775; Member, New York Assembly, 1777-8.
Descended from ancestors who distinguished themselves in the wars of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods, John Van Rensselaer Hoff. the son of Colonel Alexander Hoff and Ann Eliza Van Rensselaer, was born in Mount Morris, N. Y., on April 11, 1848.
After preliminary studies at Union College, he entered its medical department, then known as the Albany Medical College, where he was graduated in 1871. Later he studied in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, and also in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia, where he was given the degree of M. D. in 1874, receiving his A. M. from Union in the same year, also he pursued special medical courses abroad, notably in Vienna in 1886.
It was but natural on the completion of his studies that he should turn to the Army in which his grandfather and father had served with honor, and accordingly he entered the permanent establishment as an
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assistant surgeon in November, 1874. From that time until his re- tirement in 1912 he continued in the active service of his country, attaining the rank of Colonel in his corps in 1904.
At first he saw duty at various posts in the Western States, but as he grew in knowledge his responsibilities were increased and he was given charge of important stations both in the East and also on the Pacific Coast. He saw active service in the Indian outbreak of the winter of 1890, gaining for himself the official citation "for conspicu- ous bravery and coolness under fire in caring for the wounded in action against hostile Sioux Indians, at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, and near the Catholic Missions, at White Clay Creek."
On the outbreak of the war with Spain he was called from Van- couver Barracks, Washington, where he was then stationed and with the rank of lieutenant-colonel of volunteers, assigned to various duties at Chickamauga Park, including that of chief surgeon of the Third Army Corps.
In 1898 he was sent to San Juan as chief surgeon of the Depart- ment of Porto Rico where his efficient service met with universal com- mendation and resulted in the eradication of smallpox and leprosy from that island. In other ways and especially as an organizer and an administrator, his exceptional ability made an impression on medi- cal conditions in that new possession that can never be forgotten.
From Porto Rico he was sent in 1900 to Pekin where he acted as chief surgeon on the staff of Gen. Adna R. Chaffee during the China Relief Expedition, and then after service as chief surgeon at various headquarters he was designated in 1895 by the Secretary of War as an observer with the Russians in the War with Japan, and in recogni- tion of his work the Russian Government conferred upon him the decoration of St. Anne.
Later he served as chief surgeon of the Department of the Missouri, whence in 1906 he was sent in a similar capacity to the Philippine Division of the Department of the Luzon, becoming chief surgeon of the Department. For a short time he held a like appointment in the Department of the Lakes, and finally also in the Department of the East, where in 1912, after thirty-eight years of active duty, he passed to the retired list.
Meanwhile however, he had served on many boards, notably in 1902 on that of the modification of uniform equipment of officers and men in general, and to him is due the credit for the adoption of the caduceus as the insignia of the army medical officer.
One of his colleagues writes of his career that "the many years he gave to his country were active years, filled with important duties and with a record of things well done;" for "it was due to the direc- tion of the efforts of his able mind that many changes, and always changes for the better, were made in respect to the organization of the Medical Corps which he saw grow up and develop from its more simple predecessor, the Medical Department."
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With his retirement came promise of leisure, and Washington be- came his home, but the call of the Service was irresistible and it was not long before he took up the pleasant task of editing "The Military Surgeon," the official organ of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, which he continued until the close of the World's War when he again retired from military duty.
The story of his official life, important as it was, fails to include the many incidental activities with which he ever busied himself; for at various times he served as instructor and lecturer at different schools and colleges, and he was the author of numerous articles on military, medical, and sanitary subjects.
His life-long attachment to the Episcopal Church led to faithful ยท service as vestryman, both in Manila and at the church of the Epiph- any in Washington, and he was the President of the Lenthall Home and of the Executive Committee of the Garfield Memorial Hospital.
In addition to the honors already mentioned, he was president of the Society of Military Surgeons in 1901-2, and in 1907 Bucknell Uni- versity gave him the degree of LL. D., and best of all, Union, his own Alma Mater, conferred upon him a similar recognition in 1913.
He testified to his pride of ancestry by membership in the Loyal Legion, the Society of the War of 1812, the Society of Colonial Wars, and the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, especially in the District of Columbia Society of which he was vice-president in 1915, and his own services were commemorated by his membership in the Society of the Dragon.
A loyal soldier, faithful to the interests of his beloved country, an able surgeon and physician, a splendid executive and organizer, a true Christian gentlemen, ever courteous and considerate, honored and respected by all who knew him, faithful to the end, he passed to his reward at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington City on January 14, 1920.
MARCUS BENJAMIN.
Admitted
Died
RICHARD DOUGLAS SIMMS.
January 10, 1917.
March 31, 1920.
Brigadier-General, Commanding District of Columbia National Guard.
Great-grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Simms (1755-1819) ; Lieutenant-Colonel of the Sixth Regiment of the Virginia Line; Delegate in the Convention of Vir- ginia in 1788 and member of Committee appointed to recom- mend amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
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Admitted
Died
CEPHAS HEMPSTONE SINCLAIR.
June 3, 1895.
May 16, 1920.
Civil Engineer.
Great great-grandson of Seneas Campbell; Captain in the Flying Camp of the First Maryland Battalion under Brigadier-General Regin Beall.
RANDOLPH HARRISON MCKIM.
January 26, 1891.
July 15, 1920.
Clergyman.
Great-great-grandson of Colonel Archibald Cary; Presi- dent of the Virginia Committee of Safety; reported to the Virginia Convention of 1776 the resolutions instructing the Virginia delegates in Congress to propose to that body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States.
"The greatest presbyter in the Protestant Episcopal Church in America" is dead. Rich with accumulated years of earnest and faithful work, richer with the knowledge that had ripened into wisdom and which he knew so well how to use; and richest of all in his splen- did faith in that Christianity, which he always so aggressively de- fended, he has gone to his well-deserved and well-earned reward.
Randolph Harrison McKim was a native of Maryland and was born on April 15, 1842, in Baltimore, in which city his boyhood studies were made. He came to early manhood in the strenuous days that preceded the Civil War, and when that crisis culminated into conflict he could not resist his convictions as to what was right and gladly left the University of Virginia to enlist on the Southern side, fighting valiantly for the Lost Cause and attaining the rank of Lieutenant.
The utter lack of religious opportunity in the Army led him to the Church, and he was ordained Deacon by Bishop Johns in Trinity Church, Staunton, Virginia, on May 11, 1864, and he was advanced to the Priesthood by the same Bishop on May 26, 1866.
His first service was as assistant in Emmanuel Church, Baltimore, in 1865, which was followed by a year's charge of St. John's in Ports- mouth, Virginia, and then he was called to the historic Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Eight years later he accepted the rectorship of Holy Trinity in Harlem, New York, whence, after eleven years of faithful service in the great metropolis, he went for two years as rector of Trinity Church in New Orleans, Louisiana. His vigorous ministry in these various parishes was valuable and important. His impress upon their development was most forceful and can never be forgotten. His mission was always an uplifting one.
RANDOLPH HARRISON MCKIM RECTOR OF EPIPHANY CHURCH PAST PRESIDENT (1912-13) CHAPLAIN (1913-20)
BORN APRIL 15, 1842-DIED JULY 15, 1920
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In 1889 he was called to Epiphany in Washington, and to its work the glorious days that remained of his life were given. The spiritual benefits conferred upon the members of his congregation are sacred and are safe between him and his God. Of the many material improvements during the last thirty-one years that are due to his superior judgment there may be mentioned the restoration of the Church with its splendid chancel in which beauty and dignity are so exquisitely blended, the creation of an endowment that will yield an ample income to preserve the sacred building as a down-town Church, and finally, the giving of God's service to the public by making the pews free. Few men have done as much or as well for their parishes as did the Rector of Epiphany.
He made his influence felt in no uncertain way in the affairs of the Diocese; for he was long a member of the Standing Committee and its honored Chairman for seventeen years, in which capacity he was the acting head of the Diocese during the interim between the death of Bishop Satterlee and the consecration of Bishop Harding.
To the National Cathedral he gave loyal support, being a member of the Chapter and its senior Canon. Likewise he served with fidelity on the boards of the various institutions of the Church, such as the Epiphany Church Home, the Lenthall Home for Widows, the Epis- copal Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital, and King Hall.
For forty years he served as a deputy in Triennial General Con- ventions and was elected three times President of the House of Deputies, presiding at the Conventions held in Boston in 1904, in Richmond in 1907, and in Cincinnati in 1910. Dioceses sought him for their bishop, but he was loyal to Washington and declined prefer- ment elsewhere. He was the leading candidate for the Bishopric of Washington at the conventions that elected its first and second Bishops, and failed of success in both Conventions by a very small number of votes.
The militant spirit of Doctor McKim was perhaps shown best by the courage he manifested in the expression of his opinions. Few topics of current importance ever escaped him and he was quick always to share his judgments with his friends. Those who listened to him in his own Church will recall his periodical sermons on the great questions in politics and those on patriotism which he delivered on Washington's Birthday and similar occasions. The readers of the Church papers will miss his pointed articles on such controversial subjects as the change of the name of the Church, the divorce evil, and the marriage question, which so frequently came from his ever- ready and trenchant pen; and his newspaper contributions on every- day affairs, such as the proper observance of the Sabbath, were preg- nant with wise counsel. Nor should his historical orations be for- gotten, conspicuous among which was one on the "Tercentenary of English Civilization in America," which he delivered at Jamestown in 1907.
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Descended from worthy Colonial and Revolutionary ancestors, he honored his forebears by membership in the Society of Colonial Wars and in the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, being almost con- tinuously Chaplain of the latter from 1892 until his death, and its president during 1912-13. He was also Chaplain-General of the General Society for three years, yielding that high office on the com- pletion of his term to Bishop Tuttle. The Church services of the District of Columbia Society were largely under his guidance, and in the details of their management he was an active and valued adviser. Doctor McKim was a member of the order of the Runnemede, and an honorary vice-president of the Navy League, at the meetings of which he officiated as Chaplain.
Honors came to him and were gladly received. Washington and Lee-names ever dear to him-conferred upon him the degree of D.D. in 1871; George Washington gave him her highest recognition, that of LL.D., in 1904; and the University of the South bestowed the laurel of her D.C.L. upon him in 1908. To these may be added the honor of an election as Dean of the Theological Seminary in Virginia in 1897.
His last important service to the Church was his whole-hearted activity in the Healing Mission conducted under the auspices of Mr. James M. Hickson. With characteristic promptness, Epiphany undertook to continue the work so satisfactorily begun by Mr. Hick- son, and to it Doctor McKim gave himself with his usual fervor, and his faith made the Mission a success. Those who were benefited by the laying on of healing hands will live to call him "Blessed."
He had gone for a much needed vacation to Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, where it was hoped he would soon regain his usual strength, but of a sudden, on July 15, the end came, and the peace that passeth all understanding was his.
Long silken purple streamers over the doorway of old Epiphany in the heart of the business section of Washington, told of the parish bereavement at the loss of its beloved rector, while within the Church arrangements were being made for the funeral.
Clergy of every creed, civic leaders, educators, and citizens generally joined in a last tribute of grief and sympathy with Epiphany Church on Monday, July 19.
In the early afternoon of Saturday the vestry of the Church and the two assistant ministers, the Rev. Messrs. Hall and Browning, went to the station to meet Mrs. McKim, the bereaved widow, and the clergyman's body which was taken to his residence on K street where it remained until Monday morning.
The service itself was held at two o'clock, but during the morning the body of Doctor McKim, robed in full Church vestments, rested in the chancel where more than a thousand persons passed by to do homage to his remains as they lay in state.
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At the appointed hour the clergy of the Diocese marched into the Church while the choir sang "The Strife is O'er," the opening sentences of the burial service were recited by the Rev. Dr. S. A. Wallis of the Virginia Theological Seminary, after which the Lesson was read by the Rev. Percy F. Hall who was assisted in the service by the Rev. Robert E. Browning. "Jerusalem, the Golden," also a favorite hymn of Doctor McKim's was sung and then the final Prayers and Benediction were said by the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Jett of the new Diocese of Southwestern Virginia. The Recessional was "Hark, Hark, My Soul."
The honorary pallbearers were members of the Standing Com- mittee of the Diocese and the Chapter of the National Cathedral of S.S. Peter and Paul, while the active pallbearers were the members of the vestry of Epiphany. At the end of the burial service the funeral cortege went to Baltimore by motor where the interment was made in Greenmount Cemetery. The Committal service was recited by Rev. E. H. Ingle, the assistant ministers, and the Rev. A. J. Torrey.
The funeral was impressive and dignified, and the triumphant character of the hymns sung by the choir tended to soften the sadness of the mourners, while the flags of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, with crepe streamers, added a touch of color to a most beautiful service.
A bereaved widow, Mrs. Annie M. C. McKim, and two daughters, Mrs. Katharine L. Rathbone, of Florence, Italy, and Miss Eleanor McKim, of Denver, Colorado, mourn their very great loss, but they will have comfort and consolation in the knowledge that his fellow churchmen and friends share their sorrow with them.
"After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well," while the light everlast- ing is shining on him.
MARCUS BENJAMIN.
1341
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