Proceedings of the Annual Meeting OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF SONS OF THE REVOLUTION April 3, 1918 The thirtieth annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution was held in the assembly room of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, on Wednesday, April 3, 1918, at 8.30 P. M. In the absence of the President, on account of illness, the meeting was called to order by the Senior Vice President, Colonel J. Granville Leach. Prayer was offered by the Chaplain, Rev. G. Woolsey Hodge, S. T. D. The ceremony of assembling the colors was performed and the color guard dismissed. On motion the reading of the minutes of the last annual meeting was dispensed with. The following report of the Board of Managers was presented: To the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution: Your Board of Managers beg to submit its report for the thirtieth year, ending April 3rd, 1918: During the past year the Board has held nine stated meetings. At a meeting held April 12, 1917, the officers and managers elected at the annual meeting, April 3rd, 1917, convened, and the Hon. Norris Stanley Barratt was re-elected Chairman of the Board. The President, Richard McCall Cadwalader, announced the appointment of the Standing Committees for the year. Agreeable to a resolution offered by Judge Barratt at the annual meeting, held April 3rd, 1917, appropriating the sum of $2,500 as a Memorial to the Soldiers of the Revolution, to be placed in the Chapel at Valley Forge, it was decided by your Board that this Memorial should take the form of a Stall of elaborate design, to be carved in oak, which will be one of a number of others that it is hoped will be given by patriotic societies for this Chapel. The copy of the flag of the First Pennsylvania (Continental) Line Regiment was ordered to be made and hung above the Stall. It is expected that the Stall will be completed and placed in position in time for the visit of the General Society and their guests at Valley Forge on April 20, 1918. It was decided by the Board, on account of this country being at war, not to hold the usual annual outing to an historic point commemorative of the Evacuation of Philadelphia by the British and the simultaneous retirement of the American Army from the winter entrenchment at Valley Forge, on June 19th, 1778. In place of the outing, the members were invited to attend the ceremonies in connection with the transfer of the Memorial Arch at Valley Forge to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, June 19th, 1917, on which occasion interesting addresses were delivered by the Hon. Champ Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, and other prominent men in official life. Many of the members were present and the occasion was very impressive. Mr. William Currie Wilson, member of the Board, invited the Color Guard and Board of Managers to partake of a luncheon at his summer residence, near Valley Forge, on this occasion. The twenty-ninth church service to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the going into winter quarters of the American Army at Valley Forge, in 1777, was held at 3:30 in the afternoon of Sunday, December 16, 1917, in the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge. The services were in charge of the Chaplain of the Society, Rev. G. Woolsey Hodge, S. T. D., and the Rev. W. Herbert Burk, Rector of the Washington Memorial Chapel, the latter of whom preached the sermon. A special train took the members from the Reading Station, Philadelphia. The music was rendered by the choir of St. James Church, Philadelphia, led by the organist, Mr. S. Wesley Sears, who kindly volun teered his services. The music was especially good and the service was the most impressive, dignified and interesting of any church service held by this Society; the Color Guard, with the flags of the Society, being an important feature of the occasion. The reading by our Chaplain of the names of the deceased members of the Society which had been reported to the Secretary during the previous twelve months was a solemn feature of the service, after which taps were sounded. On this occasion the names of the members of the Society who had engaged in Government service in connection with the present war were read. The Chairman of the Committee on Church Service, Mr. Stanley Griswold Flagg, Jr., was in charge. year. The usual Washington's Birthday reception was omitted this The vacancy caused by the death of the Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden was filled by the election of Colonel Harry C. Trexler, of Allentown, Pa., for the unexpired term. The following deaths have been reported to the Secretary during the past twelve months, and in reading their names it is requested that the members rise out of respect to their memory: Frederick Tyler Agard Joseph Beale Horace Brock Charles E. Clark Murrell Dobbins Hon. Edw. deV. Morrell Park Painter Davis Pearson Dr. Louis P. Posey William F. Potter Harry Sayres Rev. Samuel A. G. Stopp March 13, 1918 August 4, 1917 April 1, 1917 April 7, 1917 March 19, 1918 January 20, 1918 June 13, 1917 Albert Lee Tasker Hon. Charles B. Staples November 4, 1917 July 9, 1917 The obituaries of the deceased members will appear in the forthcoming Book of Proceedings. Your Board feels much gratified by the increased interest that seems to be taken in the Society by the members in the larger attendance at various meetings and celebrations that have been held during the past year. The Secretary has received a number of publications, historical and statistical, of various societies, all of which he has acknowledged and reciprocated by sending copies of our Book of Proceedings. During the past year the Board approved fifty proposals for membership. There were admitted to membership during the year fortyone new members, as follows: EUGENE M. NICHOLS (Life), April 12, 1917. Great-great-grandson of Nathaniel Johnson (1737-1777), enlisted EUGENE HENRY DICKENSHIED, M.D., May 10, 1917. Great-great-grandson of Dr. Frederick Martin (1727-1812), Surgeon of the First Battalion of Northampton County, Pennsylvania Militia, commanded by Lieut. Col. Stephen Balliet. Muster roll dated November 1, 1781, to January 1, 1782. |