USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Celebration of the two hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the landing of William Penn in Pennsylvania held at the Washington house, Chester, Pa., Saturday, October 26th, 1912 by the Colonial society of Pennsylvania, in association with the Swedish colonial society > Part 3
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"To your consideration to-day is presented another herald of freedom-a man, great in his willingness to serve in a subordinate position, and great in his ability to fill with distinction the highest station of danger and responsibility, and by his strong personality, ardent patriotism and
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courageous example, to lead armies to battle and to victory.
"We offer him as a splendid type of American-the soldier-citizen, versed alike in the arts of war and of peace. We feel pardonable pride in the fact that this soldier-citizen was a native of the County of Chester, of which our own County originally was a part.
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" Anthony Wayne was born in Easttown Township, January 1, 1745. He died at Presquisle, Erie, December 15, 1796. The intervening period between birth and death covered one of the most momentous eras in the history of mankind. Its opening found us a group of dependent colonies. Its close left us a nation of free people.
" Wayne was born a subject, and died a citizen. In the great drama that marked the transition from colony to Commonwealth, this son of Pennsylvania, as an actor stood very near the bright center of the stage.
" Anthony Wayne was a soldier by heredity, by natural bent, and by reason of environment. His grandfather led a regiment of dragoons and fought under William, of Orange, in the Battle of the Boyne. His father repeatedly joined in expeditions against the Indians.
"Wayne, in his early school life, was more distin- guished as a leader in sports of a military character than by devotion to his books. This is not strange. He was reared in an atmosphere of strife. It was a time of wars and rumors of war. As he emerged from infancy his mind must have been filled and his imagination fired by stories of the French and Indian struggle. Children breathe the spirit of their sires. The child is father to the man; the pastime of youth not seldom merges into the lifework of maturity.
" For a time, however, it seemed as if such was not to prove the case with our hero. As he approached manhood he grew more studious, entered the Philadelphia Academy, an institution afterward developed into the University of Pennsylvania, and devoted himself to the science of mathe- matics. He adopted the calling of surveyor, in which art he became so proficient as to attract the friendly interest of Dr. Franklin, through whose influence he, not yet of legal age, was sent to Nova Scotia to ascertain the natural advantages of that Province and to act as agent for a pro-
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ject of colonization. A satisfactory report of his investiga- tions was followed by a grant to his company of some two hundred thousand acres of land. Lots were laid out and sold, a town plotted and a colony planted. He remained in charge of the settlement till 1767. Further development of the enterprise was arrested by the increasingly strained relations between the Mother Country and her American dependencies.
" Apparently drawing still further away from his des- tined life-work, he returned to his farm and tannery at Waynesborough, where he pursued the arts of peace until summoned to the military activities of the Revolution. Meanwhile his fellow citizens honored him by election to various county offices.
" As the great crisis grew more imminent, men of in- fluence gravitated to the control of affairs as inevitably as water seeks its level. As we to-day look upon the animated face and martial figure of the man, so well portrayed by the heroic equestrian statue at Valley Forge; as we think of his winning personality, his grace of manner, his force- fulness of speech, the depth and positiveness of his convictions and his uncalculating patriotism, we do not wonder that his neighbors heaped political favors upon him and that his soldiers gladly followed him, even to the deadly breach-all reckless of the truth that too often, paths of glory lead but to the grave.
"My theme is Anthony Wayne, soldier and citizen. My aim was to sever the two and treat them separately. But the aim has proved futile. Logically and chronologic- ally the two are inseparably interwoven. The soldier is the citizen, the citizen is the soldier, and the two are merged in the patriot.
"Take an inventory of the man's activities in those throbbing and eventful years of 1774-1775, and we see as opposed to oppressive measures the policy of resistance, constitutional, if adequate, by force of arms, if necessary. Chairman of the committee proposing resolutions condemn- ing the course of the ministry; chairman of the committee to carry out recommendations of the assembly in reference to a military organization; and non-importation agree- ment; member of the provincial convention to encourage
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domestic manufactures, in.anticipation of non-importation of English goods; author of the proposition that the free- men of the county should be organized for military purposes; member of the committee of safety; member of the committee of correspondence; member of the legis- lature. These employments by no means exhausted the energies of this man, destined for a yet more active field of operations. Prior to the clash of arms he was of those who hoped and worked for a peaceful solution of the burning questions that agitated the mother country and her Colonies. Even at that early date, as one of his biographers has shrewdly phrased it, he believed in conducting negotiations with sword in hand. Closely observing the progress of events, he soon became convinced that the controversy could only be settled by the arbitrament of battle. Prescient of the coming struggle, he devoted himself to the study of military tactics, his principal text books being Marshal Saxe's Campaigns and Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic Wars.
"Possessing all the ardor of a patriot, coupled with an inborn courage and capacity for heroism, he yet realized that raw recruits, led by inexperienced officers, however ardent their patriotism, however elevated their heroism, must fight an unequal battle with veteran soldiers com- manded by generals expert in all the arts of war. Com- bining in person and bearing all the elements of popularity, he found no difficulty in attracting large numbers of young men to his frequent drills. Into the minds of those young men he instilled the principles and the technicalities of mil- itary science. The news of Lexington and Bunker Hill intensified patriotic fervor and the drilling and military instruction became more assiduous and practical.
" In the exercise of a patriotic imagination let us revert to those epochal days of the summer of 1775, when history was in the making; when in front of, within and around the old Town Hall, were marshalled the yeomanry of Chester County ; when the fife and drum, the tread of armed men awoke the echoes in old Market street, and excited to new enthusiasm the aspirations of a liberty-loving people. The central figure, the dominant spirit of the animated scene is Anthony Wayne-of handsome face, flashing eyes,
noble physique-a man born to command; every inch a soldier. We can understand something of his mastery over men; something of his genius in the art and science of military evolutions, when we know that in a few weeks of training and instruction, he developed those volunteers into a body of soldiers, soon, on many a bloody field, to prove equal to the dread exigencies of war.
"Wayne was a strict disciplinarian. He brooked no insubordination. When, later in his career, he encountered the problem of disaffection and desertion, he met it with characteristic energy and meted out swift and condign punishment to all offenders. He believed firmly in the inspiring influence of well-appointed accoutrements, and of neatness in apparel and appearance. There is such a thing as the psychology of dress. Some wit has declared that the consciousness of being the most handsomely gowned woman at a social function will afford more solid comfort to the average woman than the assurance of her salvation.
"It is related of Dr. Joseph Parker, the great London preacher of a past generation, that he kept in his vestry a special suit of clothes and always donned this before entering the pulpit. His theory was that in a very true sense, clothes make the man, and that the public speaker enjoys the freest mental activity and power and is most effective and most impressive when suitably attired.
" Wayne shared this feeling, and in a letter to Washing- ton set forth his views on the subject and his preference for the bayonet as a weapon of warfare. He writes thus: 'I have an insuperable bias in favor of an elegant uniform and soldierly appearance. So much so that I would rather risk my life and reputation at the head of the same men, in an attack, clothed and appointed as I could wish, merely with bayonets and a single charge of ammunition, than to take them as they appear in common, with sixty rounds of cartridges.'
" Upon the eve of battle it was his order that his men be washed, shaved and with hair cut. Sometimes the close shave came in the midst of the conflict, but this did not affect the principle.
" The men drilled at Chester in 1775 were soon to figure in history as the Fourth Pennsylvania Battalion. On Janu-
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ary 3, 1776, the Committee of Safety unanimously elected Wayne colonel of this body. This was the opening of his distinctively military career-a career with some inter- missions coexistent with his remaining life; and covering operations extending from Canada to Georgia and from Ticonderoga to the great territory northwest of the Ohio River.
" In an after-dinner speech it is not expected that we shall enter into details of a story to which historians have devoted hundreds of pages. We can do little more than refer to salient points in the character and achievments of a soldier declared to have been the most picturesque figure of the Revolution.
" The Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment was not long to remain inactive. In the early Summer of 1776 it, with other regiments, was ordered to Canada to reinforce the army that had suffered defeat before Quebec. The battle of Three Rivers was fought on June 7. The attack was made by some fifteen hundred American troops, who thought to surprise a British force estimated at four hundred. It was, however, a surprise to the assailant ... as they encountered three thousand men under Burgoyne. The fighting was desperate, resulting in an American d. feat. Wayne received the first of many wounds, but he, with other officers, rallied their men, checked the advance of the enemy and saved the army in Canada. His superior officers having been captured and incapacitated by wounds, the command devolved upon Wayne, who warded off the attacks of the pursuing British and led his troops in safety to Ticonderoga.
"The nerve and poise that remained unbroken by defeat, and that enabled the young officer successfully to conduct a dignified retreat in the most trying circumstances attracted the favorable notice of General Schuyler, who, in November of 1776, placed Wayne in command of the fort at Ticonderoga. Here he remained until April of 1777, when having been commissioned a brigadier-general, he joined Washington at Morristown and took command of the Pennsylvania line.
"It was a critical time in our history. The English ministry had adopted a policy the successful execution of which might have meant the collapse of the Revolution.
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This was the proposed junction at Albany of the armies of Howe and Burgoyne: The plan involved the control of New York and the Hudson River, thus bisecting the colonies with a line of fleets and military posts extending from the St. Lawrence to the Chesapeake. Howe's army was in New Jersey near New York. Washington was at Morristown. Howe's manifest course was northward. But his eyes looked longingly at the capital. His idea was to dash across New Jersey, seize Philadelphia, then return to New York, meet Burgoyne and crush the Revolution.
" Washington's aim was to prevent the union of the British forces and if possible, protect the capital city. He was on high ground, whence he could watch the movements of the enemy. To harass that enemy, in which ever direction he might proceed, it was necessary to have at hand a body of well disciplined troops, in command of an of- ficer alert, resourceful, intelligent and able to move his men at a moment's notice and with celerity. The Commander-in- Chief did not hesitate in his choice. This difficult, delicate and perilous task he assigned to General Wayne and the Pennyslvania line. It was a campaign of successful stra- tegy. The menacing attitude of Washington, at each sign of activity on the part of Howe at last convinced that general that rushing across New Jersey would prove a hazardous enterprise. Hence he embarked at Sandy Hook and put out to sea. Washington divined his purpose, the reaching of Philadelphia through the Chesapeake, and sent Wayne to Chester county to organize the militia.
"Howe reached Elkton early in September and on the eleventh of that month the battle of the Brandywine was fought. Through misinformation as to the movements of the enemy, the American cause was betrayed and our army defeated. But Wayne rendered signal service to his country by repelling the advance of Knyphausen, and by checking the pursuit of the main army, covered the retreat of the Americans, who retired to Crum Lynne, near Chester.
" At Chadd's Ford the British were twenty-five miles from Philadelphia, yet were unable to enter that city until after fourteen days of almost constant skirmishing.
" In great measure, influenced by the advice of General Wayne, three weeks after the American reverse at Brandy-
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wine, General Washington electrified the world by that brilliant and audacious attack on the British at German- town, an attack which but for an unforeseen accident of war, would have annihilated the English army and brought the Revolution to a speedy and successful close.
" Brandywine and Germantown are chronicled in his- tory as American defeats, yet they were factors in the masterly strategy that held Howe in Pennsylvania; that thwarted the scheme of the English ministry and brought disaster and defeat to Burgoyne at Saratoga.
"The two most brilliant achievements in the military career of General Wayne were the victories at Monmouth and Stony Point. In point of time these engagements were a year apart. But they so well illustrate the differing qualities that go to make up the consummate soldier, that they may properly be considered in conjunction.
" At Monmouth the cowardice and treachery of Charles Lee had thrown the American army into confusion. What should have been easy victory was turned into disgraceful retreat. Washington arrived at the psychological moment ; halted the fleeing men and ordered Wayne to check the pursuit until new lines of defense and attack could be formed.
" Two assaults were successfully repulsed. Then came that awful test of nerve and courage-the bayonet charge at double quick. The flower of English soldiery, the Guards and Grenadiers, par excellence the fiercest warriors of the world, thundered across the plain with the ardor and fury of relentless fate. It seemed a resistless force; yet that force quailed and wavered and flew into fragments before the moveless mass. A murderous fire mowed down those serried columns as the scythe cuts the ripened grain. When the conflict was over fifteen hundred British lay dead or wounded on the field. Redcoat and Continental had met in mortal combat and victory smiled on the patriot. Wayne wrote joyfully to his wife: 'Pennsylvania showed the road to victory.' We may pardon his exultant letter to Mr. Richard Peters: 'Tell the Philadelphia ladies that the heavenly sweet, pretty Redcoats, the accomplished gen- tlemen of the Guards and Grenadiers have humbled them- selves on the plains of Monmouth.'
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"Stony Point presented an entirely different military problem. It is one thing, in the fervor and excitement of battle, to withstand and repulse and defeat an oncoming foe. It is quite another thing, in the dead and darkness of midnight, to advance noiselessly across a morass, realiz- ing that the faintest sound will arouse the pickets and precipitate a galling and fatal fire from vessels of war; that escaping this, the assailants must pass two lines of abattis, bristling with cannon, and after this must enter a presumably impenetrable stronghold, garrisoned by vali- ant soldiers under a capable officer. Not all of the course was to be pursued in silence, for, simultaneously with the bayonet charge, a warm fire of musketry was to be opened on the center, so as to secure the attention of the enemy. This, while a wise stratagem of war, greatly increased the peril of the attacking party.
"Wayne, who had full charge of the movement, was keenly conscious of the situation. He had little hope of surviving the onset. In a pathetic, hastily written letter to his friend Delany he said: 'This will not meet your eye until the writer is no more. I know that friendship will induce you to attend to the education of my little son and daughter. I fear that their mother will not survive this shock.' This is not the language of the reckless daredevil, seeking danger for danger's sake. It is the sublime utter- ance of a patriot, calmly counting the cost and placing country above wife and children.
" The time for action came. He met his problem and gloriously solved it. The world applauded, and history has crystallized the achievement.
"Wayne had good cause to look kindly upon the bay- onet as an implement of warfare. In the hands of the British at Monmouth it was ineffective. In the hands of the Americans at Stony Point it scaled the heights and seized the fortress.
" Over five hundred prisoners were taken, but not one unresisting man was put to death. When we recall the Massacre of Paoli and the outrages in Connecticut and Virginia, such clemency in an age when a captured garrison expected and received no quarter, will ever redound to the
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honor of him who never more must be called 'Mad' An- thony.
"The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown occurred October 19, 1781. Grandly significant as was this event, it did not mark the actual cessation of hostilities. To Wayne was assigned the task of dislodging the British in Georgia and South Carolina. So effectually did he accomplish his mission that by December, 1782, the enemy had evacuated Savannah and Charleston, and with their departure came rest and peace to the Southern colonies.
" After ten years of private life, in the course of which he was a member of the Council of Censors and also a mem- ber of the Pennsylvania Convention assembled to ratify the Constitution, he was once more summoned to military service.
"The Indians in the territory west of the Ohio River, instigated by the British in the garrisons on the lakes, were inflicting fiendish cruelties upon our frontier settlers. Fifteen hundred of these had been massacred in seven years. The aim of the British and Indians was to make the Ohio the permanent boundary of the United States. To prevent a recurrence of these atrocities; to defeat this aim, was the two-fold purpose and policy of our government. President Washington placed this burden on the shoulders of his old friend and companion in arms. He commissioned Wayne Major-General in command of the army of the United States. The veteran patriot accepted the trust and under- took the arduous task. Details are needless. The result is known to history. The murdered settlers were avenged. Savagery was crushed. The British posts at Detroit, Os- wego and Niagara were abandoned. More significant than all was the consecration of that 'magnificent national do- main of the West' to the purposes and employments of civilized life. We offer heartfelt response to the noble sentiment of Dr. Stille: 'The millions of freemen who now occupy the energetic and vigorous Commonwealths lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi should cherish the memory of Wayne as that of the man who by his sword made it possible for white men to live in peace and security in that garden spot of the world.'
" This achievement, brilliant in execution and far-
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reaching in effect, was the last and crowning service of this apostle of freedom.
" General Wayne died at Presquisle, Erie, December 15, 1796. His remains were removed to St. David's Church, Radnor, where they rest under a monument, on whose south front is this inscription :
"'In honor of the distinguished military services of Major-General Anthony Wayne, and as a tribute of respect to his memory, this stone was erected by his companions in arms, The Pennsylvania State Society of The Cincinnati, July 4, A. D. 1809, Thirty-fourth anniversary of the Inde- pendence of the United States, an event which constitutes the most appropriate eulogium of an American soldier and patriot." (Applause.)
Mr. Edward Stalker Sayers: "Mr. President, I move that the thanks of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania and that of the Swedish Colonial Society be tendered to the gentlemen of those Societies, residents of Chester, for all that we have enjoyed this afternoon, both physically and mentally."
There was a general seconding of the motion.
President Page: "It has been moved and seconded that the thanks of the two Societies represented here to-day be extended to the members of these Societies, residents of Chester, for this delightful occasion. Those in favor of the motion will signify by saying aye. The motion is carried unanimously."
On motion adjourned.
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Colonial Society of Pennsylvania
OFFICERS
President, Hon. Samuel Davis Page
First Vice-President. Abraham Lewis Smith
Second Vice-President, Col. Josiah Granville Leach
Registrar, Gregory Bernard Keen
Secretary, Henry Heston Belknap
Assistant Secretary, Aubrey Herbert Weightman
Treasurer, Harrold Edgar Gillingham
Councillors :
Gen. Louis Henry Carpenter, William Brooke Rawle,
Effingham Buckley Morris, Earl Bill Putnam,
Charles Smith Turnbull. M. D., Henry Pemberton, Jr.,
Stevenson Hockley Walsh, Hon. Harman Yerkes,
Ogden Dungan Wilkinson, William Penn-Gaskell Hall, John Woolf Jordan, Hon. Norris Stanley Barratt, William Supplee Lloyd, Clarence Sweet Bement,
Hon. Charles Barnsley McMichael, Charles Davis Clark,
James Emlen,
Henry Graham Ashmead.
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MEMBERS
Charles Yarnall Abbott,
Richard Jacobs Allen, Jr ..
William Charles Allen, Duffield Ashmead, Jr., Henry Graham Ashmead,
Edwin Greble Dreer, William Ashmead Dyer, George Howard Earle (Life Member),
Henry Howard Ellison,
James Emlen (Life Member),
Charles Weaver Bailey,
John Eyerman, Frederic N. Fell, Percy J. Fell,
Joseph Trowbridge Bailey, Westcott Bailey, Dr. George Fales Baker, Thomas Castor Foster, George W. Banks, Stephen Blakely Fotterall, Paul Henry Barnes, Howard Barclay French, Norris Stanley Barratt (Life Mem-Henry Jonathan Abbott Fry, ber), Lawrence Barnard Fuller, Charles Cyrus Gelder, William Warren Gibbs, Clarence Howard Batten, George Batten,
Frank Battles (Life Member),
Henry Heston Belknap,
Maurice Guy Belknap,
Clarence Sweet Bement,
Amos Bonsall,
Edward Horne Bonsall,
George Martin Booth,
Paul Augustine Hendry, George Anthony Heyl,
Newell Charles Bradley, Edward Tonkin Bradway (Life Mem- Edward Stratton Holloway, ber), Wilford Lawrence Hoopes, William Bradway (Life Member), Logan Howard-Smith,
Clarence Cresson Brinton,
Howard Futhey Brinton,
Francis Mark Brooke (Life Member), Abraham Bruner.
John Edgar Burnett Buckenham (Life Member),
Reuben Nelson Buckley,
Miers Busch (Life Member). Edward Tatnall Canby. Gen. Louis Henry Carpenter,
Samuel Castner, Jr., Charles Davis Clark,
John Browning Clement,
Samuel Mitchell Clement, Jr.,
Dr. James Harwood Closson, Louis Ashmead Clyde,
Col. Thomas Edward Clyde,
Major Joseph Ridgway Taylor Coates, George Henry Lea,
Samuel Poyntz Cochran, Charles Howard Colket (Life Mem-Horace Hoffman Lee, ber), Porter Farquharson Cope, Dr. John Welsh Croskey, Lewis Jones Levick, George Linden Cutler, Davis Levis Lewis, Ellis Smyser Lewis, Dr. John C. Da Costa, Jr., Walter Howard Dilks.
Murrell Dobbins. Francis Donaldson (Life Member),
Richmond Legh Jones,
Augustus Wolle Jordan,
Dr. Ewing Jordan,
John Woolf Jordan (Life Member),
Rev. Walter Jordan, Gregory Bernard Keen,
George de Benneville Keim,
Joseph Allison Kneass,
Thomas Hoff Knight,
Albert Ludlow Kramer,
Col. Josiah Granville Leach,
Dr. Joseph Leidy, Howard Thorndike Leland,
George Davis Lewis,
George Harrison Lewis, Henry Norton Lewis,
Harrold Edgar Gillingham,
Theodore Glenthworth,
Foster Conarroe Griffith,
Lorenzo Henry Cardwell Guerrero,
William Penn-Gaskell Hall,
Hiram Hathaway, Jr.,
Robert Spurrier Howard-Smith,
Edward Isaiah Hacker Howell,
Henry Douglas Hughes, Henry La Barre Jayne,
Charles Francis Jenkins (Life Mem- ber), John Story Jenks,
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(Honorary
Oborn Garrett Levis Lewis, Samuel Bunting Lewis, Jay Bucknell Lippincott, Walter Lippincott, William Supplee Lloyd, Charles Ramsay Long,
William Henry Lloyd, William MacLean, Jr.,
Charles Marshall, Samuel Marshall, William Mckinley Mervine, Hon. Charles Barnsley McMichael, Ulysses Mercur, Charles Warren Merrill,
Elihu Spencer Miller,
John Rulon- Miller,
Caleb Jones Milne, Jr. (Life Member), Joseph Allison Steinmetz,
Caleb Jones Milne, 3d (Life Member), Curwen Stoddart,
David Milne (Life Member),
Joseph Thompson,
Effingham Buckley Morris (Life Mem-Samuel Swayne Thompson, ber), Hon. Charlemagne Tower,
Henry Croskey Mustın,
John Burton Mustin,
Samuel Davis Page,
Charles Palmer,
Alvin Mercer Parker,
Joseph Brooks Bloodgood Parker,
Harold Pierce,
Henry Pemberton, Jr. ( Life Member), Garnett Pendleton,
Enos Eldridge Pennock,
Joseph Eldridge Pennock,
Hon. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker,
Charles Penrose Perkins,
Anthony Joseph Drexel Peterson,
Arthur Peterson, U. S. N.,
Frank Rodney Pleasanton,
Alfred Potter,
Thomas Harris Powers,
Earl Bill Putnam,
William Brooke Rawle,
Paul Rittenhouse,
Harry Alden Richardson,
Harry Rogers,
Wilbur Fisk Rose,
Julius Friedrich Member),
Edward Stalker Sayres, Frank Earle Schermerhorn,
John Loeser Schwartz, John Morris Scott (Life Member), Frank Rodman Shattuck, Herbert Davis Shivers, Charles John Shoemaker, John Henry Sinex, John Sinnott, Abraham Lewis Smith,
Alfred Percival Smith (Life Member), Benjamin Hayes Smith,
William Elwood Speakman, Warner Justice Steel,
David Cooper Townsend,
Dr. Charles Smith Turnbull,
Ernest Leigh Tustin,
Arthur Clements Twitchell,
Elwood Tyson,
Dr. James Tyson, Theodore Anthony Van Dyke, Jr.
(Life Member),
Joseph Bushnell Vandergrift,
Dr. Charles Harrod Vinton (Life Mem- ber), Stevenson Hockey Walsh,
Charles Spittall Walton,
Clement Weaver,
Aubrey Herbert Weightman,
Eben Boyd Weitzel,
Ashbel Welch,
William Caner Wiedersheim,
Ogden Dungan Wilkinson,
Charles Williams,
Ellis D. Williams,
William Currie Wilson,
Hon. William White Wiltbank,
Hon. Harman Yerkes (Life Member),
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