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929.1331 IdIr
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY Lincoln, Nebraska
ROSTER AND YEAR BOOK
SONS OF
REVOLUTION
THE AMERICAN
Draho Øpriety
- of - SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1918
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014
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Roster and Dear JBOOR
Idaho Society
-OF -
Sons of the American Revolution
Instituted April 8, 1909
1918
OFFICERS
1918-1919
President: COL. M. W. WOOD, U. S. A.
Vice-Presidents: HARRY KEYSER M. H. BROWNELL D. W. CHURCH BOWEN CURLEY STANLY A. EASTON WILLIAM H. ELDRIDGE ASHER A. GETCHELL WILL H. GIBSON REV. W. S. HAWKES SAMUEL H. HAYS MILES S. JOHNSON
Secretary-Treasurer-Registrar: FRANK G. ENSIGN
Historian: FRED R. REED
Chaplain: REV. R. B. WRIGHT, D. D.
Board of Managers: J. L. DENMAN ALLEN B. EATON A. A. JESSUP FREDERICK B. JONES EUGENE B. SHERMAN
OFFICERS 1909-1919
President:
.1909-1919 M. W. Wood.
Vice-Presidents:
Nelson F. Kimball. 1909-1911, 1912-1919
G. H. Shellenberger .1910-1911
D. W. Church. 1911-1912, 1914-1919
F. S. Harding. .1911-1912, 1914-1918
C. A. Hastings
.1912-1917
Judson Spofford
1913-1919
Harry Keyser
.1913-1919
Wm. H. Eldridge
1913-1919
Bowen Curley
A. A. Getchell. 1913-1919
Stanly A. Easton .1914 1919
1914-1919
W. S. Hawkes. 1915-1919
M. H. Brownell.
Miles S. Johnson 1915-1919
1917-1918
Fred R. Reed.
.1917-1919
Will H. Gibson.
.1918-1919
Samuel H. Hays.
Secretary-Treasurer
F. S. Appelman. 1909-1910
1910-1913
Harry Keyser
1913-1916
E. L. Wells.
1917-1919
Frank G. Ensign
Registrar:
F. S. Harding .1909-1911
W. H. Gibson 1911-1913
W. J. Tate.
1913-1914
Frank G. Ensign .1914-1919
.1911-1915
General Officers of the National Society 1918-1919
President-General: LOUIS ANNIN AMES 99 Fulton Street, New York City
Vice-Presidents General: CHARLES FRENCH READ Oid State House, Boston, Mass.
THOMAS W. WILLIAMS 78 N. Arlington Ave., East Orange. N. J.
ALBERT M. HENRY 1201 Penobscot Bldg., Detroit, Mich.
C. ROBERT CHURCHILL 408 Canal Street, New Orleans, La.
THOMAS A. PERKINS Mills Building, San Francisco, Cal.
Secretary General-Registrar General: A. HOWARD CLARK Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.
Treasurer General: JOHN H. BURROUGHS 15 William St., New York City
Historian General: GEORGE CARPENTER ARNOLD Providence, R. I.
Chaplain General: REV. LEE S. McCOLLESTER, D. D. Tufts College, Mass.
Roll of Honor
Idaho Society, S. A. R.
Gustavus B. Appelman Chester C. Baymiller Richard E. Beall Rev. Shelton Bissell Warren R. Bruce Albert H. Conner Jay L. Downing
Homer H. Hall Samuel D. Hays Charles H. Hudelson
Riley H. Joy Walter W. Lynch Allen C. Lyon
Abram M. Newton
Norman C. Nourse
Robert L. Nourse, Jr.
DeWitt P. Olson George N. Osborne, Jr. Leroy V. Patch Fred A. Pittenger
Harry B. Pursell Calvin A. Rockwell Loren G. Rockwell Eugene P. Sherman Thomas C. Sparks Ewing W. Stephens James L. S. Stewart Prentice H. Stowell Walter E. Wood Marshall W. Wood
Idaho Society, Sons of the American Revolution
PURPOSE OF THE SOCIETY.
"To perpetuate the memory of the patriotic men and women from whom we are descended, who, by their services and sacrifices, achieved American Independence; to promote fellowship among their descend- ants; to promote and assist the proper celebration of patriotic anniver- saries; to encourage historical research in relation to the American Revolution; to collect and secure for preservation books, records, docu- ments, relics and memorials of that war; and by these and other means to impress upon the present and future generations the patriotic spirit which actuated our ancestors, to the end that 'Government of the peo- ple, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."
The Society preserves for future generations the ancestry of its members back to the period of the Revolution.
The Society is non-secret, non-political, non-partisan, non-sectarian. "The man who feels no sentiment of veneration for the memory of his forefathers: who has no natural regard for his ancestors. or his kindred. is himself unworthy of kindred regard or remembrance."- Daniel Webster.
MEMBERSHIP.
Any man shall be eligible to membership in the Society who, being of the age of twenty-one years or over, and a citizen of good repute in the community, is the lineal descendant of an ancestor who was at all times unfailing in his loyalty to, and rendered active service in, the cause of American Independence, either as an officer, soldier, seaman, marine, militiaman or minute man, in the armed forces of the Conti- nental Congress, or of any one of the several Colonies or States, or as a signer of the Declaration of Independence; or as a member of a Committee of Safety or Correspondence; or as a member of any Con- tinental, Provincial, or Colonial Congress or Legislature; or as a rec- ognized patriot who performed actual service by overt acts of resistance to the authority of Great Britain.
INFORMATION.
Individual membership is through one of the State Societies. Every member of a State Society is, ipso facto, a member of the National Society.
Application for membership is made on blanks furnished by the Society. These blanks call for the place and date of the birth and death of the Revolutionary ancestor, and the year of the birth, mar- riage and death of the ancestors in the intervening generations.
Membership is based on one original claim.
When an applicant claims descent from more than one Revolution- ary ancestor, additional claims are filed on supplemental papers. The application and supplementais are made in duplicate. Application blanks may be obtained from the Secretary of the Society and, when filled out, should be forwarded to him.
The Executive Committee of the National Society, at their recent meeting, recommended that State Societies secure, as far as practicable, the names and dates of birth of the children of the applicants. Appli- cations for membership should, therefore, bear this information, in addition to that provided for by the blanks.
A Certificate of Membership, issued by the National Society and signed by its officers, handsomely engraved and engrossed, costs $1.50.
The Admission Fee. which should accompany the Application, is $5.00, and this includes the dues for the current year. The Annual Dues are $1.50.
To establish your eligibility trace your lineage back to the period of the Revolution through both paternal and maternal lines and ascer- tain the names and residences of all male ancestors of proper age for active participation in the Revolution. This search may be guided by
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SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
family papers and traditions, by published and original probate and land records of towns and counties. Search printed and manuscript records of military and naval service. Where two or more men of the same name are recorded from the same locality, identify as your own ancestor the one upon whom claim is based. Family records and the majority of town histories are not accepted by the Society for anything more than the line of descent. The military or naval services of an ancestor must invariably be certified to by the proper officials either of the State in which the ancestor served, or of the general govern- ment, except in cases where the record of service can be found in such publications as will hereafter be mentioned. Occasionally original war- rants, commissions, discharges, muster rolls, etc., are available. Such papers, or duly certified copies thereof, are accepted as proof of service. If the ancestor were a civil officer, Member of Legislature, Congress, State Council, Committees of Safety, Correspondence, Inspection, etc., during the war, consult authentic histories or address the Secretary of State of the State in which the ancestor resided.
There is no complete roll of soldiers and sailors and civil patriots of the Revolution.
The following are some of the principal sources of information:
Men whose mothers or sisters are members of the Daughters of the American Revolution are eligible to membership in the Society of Sons of the American Revolution, and in such cases the application papers of the "Daughters" become sources of information by applying, with the written permission of the "Daughter" to the Register General of that Society at Memorial Continental Hall, Washington, D. C.
The Bureau of Pensions has the claim papers of about 70,000 Revo- lutionary soldiers and their widows. The U. S. Commissioner of Pen- sions, Washington, D. C., will furnish abstracts of service from the records, without charge.
The Record and Pension Division of the War Department is in charge of the muster and pay rolls in possession of the government and the Chief of this Division will furnish abstracts of service, without charge, to applicants who give valid reasons for desiring the infor- mation.
The Navy Department is collecting material relative to service in the Navy.
In most of the older States there are large libraries where may be found much material relating to this period of our country's history.
For information from nearly all of the States a small fee is charged for search or for certificate or for both, and as this is expected in ad- vance, it would be well to make inquiry in regard to it.
FOR INFORMATION FROM:
Connecticut-Apply to Adjutant General, Hartford.
Delaware-Secretary of State, Dover.
Georgia-Secretary, Georgia Historical Society, Savannah.
Maine-Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics, Augusta.
Massachusetts-Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.
Maryland-Commissioner of the Land Office, Annapolis.
New Hampshire-Secretary of State, Concord.
New Jersey-Adjutant General, Trenton.
New York-Secretary of our Society.
North Carolina-State Auditor, Raleigh.
Pennsylvania-Custodian of Public Records, Harrisburg.
Rhode Island-Secretary of State, Providence.
South Carolina-Secretary State Historical Commission, Columbia. Vermont-Adjutant General, Montpelier.
Virginia-State Librarian, Richmond, or Mr. W. G. Stanard, Rich- mond.
The Secretary of this Society will gladly aid you to the extent of his ability to do so, but you should remember that not all of the records of service in the Revolution are available, though great efforts and a large sum of money has been expended in trying to obtain them.
The Secretary has access to the Registers of the National Society of the S. A. R., the D. A. R. Lineage Books, Vol. 1 and Vols. 3 to 42, to "New York in the Revolution," and to "Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolution."
Patriotic Essay Contest
The Idaho Society annually offers medals for the best essays writ- ten by High School students of Idaho, on subjects relating to the Colonial and Revolutionary periods.
During many years we have, in the United States, carelessly and unthinkingly allowed the spread of German propaganda, the German language and Hun kultur. We know now that this was and is the deliberate plan of the kaiser to destroy our nationality, and that the plan has not been abandoned.
In order for Americans to think and feel alike they must have one language and that language must be ENGLISH.
Real Americanism can only be based on knowledge of our coun- try's history, love of American ideals, and pride in our Nation's history and heroes.
We believe that every student who devotes the time and study required in the preparation and writing of an essay in one of these contests will gain an insight into the struggles and triumphs of the United States that will make him a more intelligently loyal citizen.
AWARD OF MEDALS
1915.
First-Dean A. Wilson, Nampa. Second-Leslie K. Pollard. Salmon. Third-Neta L. Crater, Twin Falls.
1916.
First-Lloyd A. Young. Nampa. Second-August Schmidt, Dubois. Third-Helen Ervin, Mullan.
1917.
First-James Glass, Nampa. Second-Ruth Bliese. Boise. Third-Gladys Miller, Bovill.
1918.
First-Ora Lewellen, Nampa. Second-Mary Schroll, Ashton. Third-Clifford Reem, Hope.
Also this year for the first time bronze medals were awarded to the best essays from each of the High Schools in the contest, other than the first three. These medals were awarded to:
Irvin Dunegan, St. Maries. Josephine Par Dunn, Fruitland.
Alda Hyde, Downey. Ruby Smith, Post Falls. Harlan T. Williams, Lewiston. Frances Wright, Bellevue.
Gold, silver and - bronze medals were awarded for the three best essays. The best essay froin each High School is selected by its prin- cipal and teacher of English and is forwarded to this Society with the statement that it is the original work of a student of that High School. The subjects of essays and conditions of the next contest will be announced later.
1918 Gold Medal Essay Ora Lewellen, Nampa High School
British-American Relations
The United States of America is now involved in a great war for democracy and human liberty. The country entered this stupendous struggle because it was simply unavoidable. Our nation had been repeatedly insulted, its property destroyed, and the lives of its citi- zens constantly endangered by an autocratic nation devoid of respect for the rights of any people, who openly avowed that international treaties were mere scraps of paper, only made to be broken. The strife was not begun because of love of contention or desire for con- quest. Our people are peace-loving individuals, and as a result of this characteristic no country was ever more poorly prepared to wage war than we, immediately following the declaration on April 6, 1917. That the American nation is not a nation of conquest its history proves. In very few instances, indeed, has it subjected alien territory to its rule without the understanding that as soon as this territory proved capable of self-government, home ruie would be granted.
America embarked in the present war because it was her plain duty to preserve the principles upon which her government is based, namely, democracy and human liberty.
It is the popular opinion that the United States engaged in the war to pay her debt to France, a lifelong friend, and that the aid which we are rendering England is merely incidental. This is a very warped and vague conception of our relations to these two great European powers, both in the present and the past. True the United States has never actually warred with France, but has conducted two successful struggies against Britain; yet if the two countries are weighed accurately in the scales of true good fellowship, England will far outweigh France. In the American Revolution, France did render
aid to the Colonists. Her help was the salvation of the Colonies; therefore she must be given full credit for her timely assistance. The French monarchy lent the struggling Colonists a great deal of money on very unstable credit; she sent troops, vessels and war munitions. But she did none of these things because of any particular love for the revolutionists or the principles for which they fought. France had a method in her seeming madness of backing up a poor little in- significant commonwealth, in a struggle against one of the most pow- erful of European countries. In short, France was still smarting un- der the humiliation she had suffered at the hands of Great Britain in 1763, and here was a chance for revenge. Prior to the Revolution, there had been a great antipathy between France and the North American Colonies; hence the sudden friendliness shown by this na- tion was rather startiing, but the old tradition that friendship which comes quickly goes quickly, proved true in this case. At the close of the Revolutionary War the friendship of France vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
Several individual Frenchmen deserve a great deal of gratitude from the Stars and Stripes, Lafayette in particular.
At the outbreak of the Revolution in America, the Marquis de La- fayette was a youth of twenty, but in spite of his youth, he had some rather definite ideas on government. Believing firmly in the princi- ples for which the Colonists were warring, Lafayette decided to come to America and offer his personal services to the new government. He knew that the aid he could give would be very valuable, for he was thoroughly trained in military tactics and naturally would be of immense worth as a training officer. The Marquis did not propose coming to the Colonies empty handed; instead he chartered a ship, collected and equipped a number of daring friends for military duty. Alas! Just as the party was about to sail, Lafayette was arrested by
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IDAHO SOCIETY
mandate of his king. Louis ordered this to be done because he was afraid that England would think that Lafayette was sent by the French government to aid America, due to the fact that Lafayette was a great military genius and a court favorite. To openly avow herself a champion of the British colonies would mean ruin to France in her weakened state. Louis XVI readily saw this and he intended to play a seeming waiting game until the scales inclined one way or the other. But fortune smiled on the youthful Lafayette; he eluded his captors and set sail.
On arriving in America and tendering his services, the young en- thusiast was received rather coldly by the new government. How- ever, he soon overcame these prejudices and rendered wonderful help to the cause by assisting in the training of the raw recruits who com- posed the new nation's army.
In 1779-80, Lafayette returned to France to entreat the royal gov- ernment to aid this country, which at that time was almost spent. As the result of his touching and powerful entreaties, a force of 75,000 Frenchmen, headed by Rochambeau, a great French military genius, set sail for North America.
Owing to the hitherto unknown conditions with which the foreign army was forced to cope during the first few months on American soil, it accomplished absolutely nothing for the cause of freedom. As a result, in 1781, the Colonists were in despair. Their cause looked almost hopeless.
For months the British general, Cornwallis, had been chasing a small half-fed army under the command of Lafayette, from one side of the state of Virginia to the other. Eventually, tiring of the seem- ingly fruitless chase, and acting on the advice of Clinton, Cornwallis retired to Yorktown and commenced fortifying that place. Imagine the joy of the people when Washington received word that the French commander, De Grasse, with his fleet, would arrive shortly at the mouth of the Chesapeake. Immediately following his longed-for appearance, De Grasse engaged in battle with the combined naval forces of the English commanders, Hood and Graves. The British were routed. As a result, Cornwallis was bottled up in Yorktown with no chance of escape, and consequently, he was forced to sur- render to the American forces, which were aided by some of Ro chambeau's troops in conducting the siege, in October 19, 1781. Two years later the English government acknowledged the independence of her American colonies, and ceded to the new nation all English territory in the Mississippi Valley.
With the signing of the peace between America and Great Britain, the friendship of the French nation ceased, although our country always retained the friendship of Lafayette and his adherents.
France not only ceased to be a friend, but actually became a sly, insidious enemy. This is proved by the fact that immediately fol- lowing the declaration of peace in 1783 the French and Spanish governments proposed to England that the thirteen states should remain such, with no increase in territory, and that Great Britain should keep the territory between the Ohio river and the Great Lakes, and Spain take the remaining territory extending to the Gulf of Mexico. Fortunately for us, the English government abso- lutely refused to consider the proposal, and as a result the United States received a great deal of territory that she otherwise would not receive.
As a matter of fact, if the ideas of George III had been univer- sally held in his own country, or even held by all British statesmen, the American Revolution could never have succeeded. George not only failed to maintain autocracy in his western colonies, but in his own kingdom as well, for his subjects did not share his belief in absolute monarchy, therefore did not stand back of him when he endeavored to establish his theory as a fact in the British colonies. During the entire period of the Revolution, the autocratic king was bitterly opposed by many influential members of Parliament. When the Americans resisted the Stamp Act in 1765, Pitt, a strong member
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SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
of the House of Commons, rose and said, "I rejoice, the Americans have resisted." Burke, another member of the English legislative body, also sympathized very deeply with the colonies.
The Revolutionary War on behalf of England was not carried on by British soldiers, but by hired German mercenaries and a few members of the regular standing army of Britain. Mercenaries were employed to carry on the war because the English soldiers refused to fight. The king's call for volunteers was ignored by the public, and he dared not attempt conscription. The refusal of the British public to take up arms against America showed very plainly that they held no animosity towards the people against whom their gov- ernment was waging war.
Immediately following the surrender of Yorktown, a group of English statesmen took over the government of Britain. The Duke of Rockingham, an important member of this group, believed in the ideals for which the United States had struggled. It was partially due to his influence and that of others like him, that a private gen- tleman, Richard Oswald, was sent to Paris as the British peace com- missioner. This man was an intimate friend of Franklin, and dur- ing the course of the Revolution had placed his entire fortune at the disposal of the American government. Therefore, it is not surpris- ing to note that the Americans received a "square deal" in the peace terms.
Within twenty years after the close of the Revolutionary War, England proved herself a true friend of America. In 1800 Napoleon, the very acme of autocracy, forced Spain to cede Louisiana to France, in order to secure a foot-hold in this country. Having done this, Napoleon decided to take the Mississippi Valley from Uncle Sam and establish a French province in the western hemisphere. This dream of a North American province would in all probability have been realized but for the timely interference of England, who informed this nation that in case of war with France, England would take and hold for the American nation, New Orleans, the key to the French possessions in America. Fearing the British navy, which he felt rea- sonably sure would assist the United States in case of war, Napoleon relinquished his dream of a North American dominion, and sold Louisiana to the contemplated victim of his scheme.
In the war of 1812, as in the struggle for independence in 1775, England again proved herself a magnanimous enemy. This con- test was the result of Britain's war against Napoleon and autocracy. Both belligerents endeavored to blockade the other. England's ef- forts proved the more effective by merit of her superior fleet. As a result she infringed more on our rights as a commercial nation than did France, not because of her despotic nature but simply because she was willing to employ any means to rid the world of the menace which Napoleon represented, that of world autocracy. Consequently it is not surprising to note that when the treaty of Ghent was drawn up between Britain and America at the conclusion of the war, the treaty did not mention a single one of the items for which the United States had declared war on Britain.
The great British general, Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, was urged by many of his friends to take his powerful army to North America and take from our nation its Northwest ter- ritory. Wellington declined to do this. Again England had ignored an opportunity to destroy the American Nation.
When the United States issued the Monroe Doctrine the only powerful European country not to display hostility towards it was Great Britain. In fact, a coalition was formed to combat it, Prussia, Russia, and Austria, were the prime leaders of this alliance, which became known as the "Holy Alliance." But the alliance came to naught when the British representative, Wellington, at the Congress of Verona, showed Britain's hostility to the scheme by getting up and leaving the council which was discussing the means of making our doctrine ineffective. In the face of this move by England, who was then as now, mistress of the seas, the Holy Alliance dared not execute
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IDAHO SOCIETY
its plan. Thus the Monroe Doctrine became effective only through the support of England.
In 1898, the United States declared war on Spain, that country having shamefully mistreated her Cuban subjects, as well as many American citizens who resided in Cuba. The climax came when the American battleship Maine was blown up while lying in the Havana harbor, supposedlly at the instigation of the Spanish government. Negotiations were carried on between the American and the Spanish governments. but these negotiations were unsatisfactory and war was declared by our nation.
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