Society Saturday - Planters and Lawyers and Quakers, Oh My!

The National Society Sons and Daughters of Antebellum Planters and the National Society Sons and Daughters of Colonial and Antebellum Bench and Bar have a joint dinner meeting during Lineage Week.  It is a formal occasion at the Army Navy Club and is always well attended.

Membership in Antebellum Planters requires lineage from a "Planter" which is defined as someone who owned 500 acres or more of land in what is now the continental US.  It is not strictly "southern" as many people initially think.  In fact, my Planter ancestor was in Massachusetts.  We have some ancestors in our society from Texas and Illinois as well.

Membership in Bench & Bar requires lineage from a judge or a lawyer in the continental US sometime prior to 1861.

Our speaker this year was Dr. George Hill.  His talk was titled "Quakers, Plantations and Lawyers in Seventeenth Century Pennsylvania".  He was very skillful at combining the two societies in his presentation.  He spoke of land owners who also served in the legal profession.  Many colonial and even antebellum "farmers" served their communities in other capacities and he gave good examples of this.  In fact, several of his examples were coincidentally of the quaker faith.

www.antebellumplanters.com

www.benchbar.us

Tombstone Tuesday - Honoring "The Woman in the Well"

Recently, the John Kinzie Chapter of the US Daughters of 1812 honored the grave of Julia Martin Lambert, the "Woman in the Well.".  We dedicated her marker this past fall, but had a formal grave marking ceremony last month.

In addition to members of our chapter, the State President of USD1812, a color guard provided by the Sons of 1812, and community members, there were 2 descendants of Julia present.  Both were great-great-great-grandchildren - one traveled from Washington state, the other traveled from Florida.

Descendants of Julia Lambert are flanked by members of John Kinzie chapter, USD1812, and our color guard.

The Yates City, IL cemetery commission had planned a catered meal at the community center to follow the ceremony.  Unfortunately, due to strong thunderstorms, we had to hold our ceremony there as well.  The wreath made its way to the ceremony a few days later, once things had dried up.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 40

For flag day...

Our Flag

We can’t fail to feel pride, when we think of “Old Glory”

And think of the trials and sacrifices that are back of her story.

When we think of the stripes, patterned after the morn,

And the stars on their field of blue, each added as a state was born.

The white stands for purity of purpose, for which we’ve always aimed,

The red for the blood of patriots as they fell, either dying or maimed.

The azure blue field studded with stars of pure white

Shows our undying aim to stand always for the right.

All taken together and given to the eagle to guard

Gives warning to beware of your actions if you come in our yard.

The eagle’s far-seeing eye and shrill piercing scream

Are warning enough to shatter a tyrant’s fondest dreams.

These, added to our brave boys of the Army, Navy and Air

Should frighten any pair of jackals back to their lair.

And our acts of mercy should make conquered nations to feel

They no longer need fear the grind of a mad tyrant’s heel.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Society Saturday - Anthony Benezet, the father of Atlantic Abolitionism

The Annual meeting of the National Society Descendants of Early Quakers was held as a tea during Lineage Week.  Our guest speaker was Dr. Maurice Jackson who spoke about Anthony Benezet, the father of Atlantic Abolitionism.

Dr. Jackson was an extremely knowledgeable gentleman who is an expert on this interesting man.  Mr. Benezet was a French Huguenot who converted to Quakerism and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1731.  While there, he started a school to educate former slaves, and founded the world's first Anti-Slavery society.  It was very interesting to learn about the abolitionist movement that was gaining ground a century before the civil war.

http://www.earlyquakers.org/

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 39

Just in time for D-day - a brief history of World War II...

World War

A few years ago three mad beasts broke loose on this earth:

Hiro, Adolph and Mussolini.

They thought to make civilization fit for no one,

But a shameless libertine.

The first to break loose was the brave Mussolini

And he fell with full force on little Ethiopia,

With his bare legs dangling, and no protection,

Only his umbrella.

He was the picture of a pitiful, helpless, half-cast little filla.

But Mussolini, from his balcony, showed his knighthood,

Soon had the country secure, to house his own brood.

Then Adolph thought it was quite time

To bring Austria and its resources into his line;

So he bluntly said, “Curt, dear, I’m coming into your land

You may not like it, but you can’t raise a hand.”

With no trouble at all he got away with all that

And it made his little pinhead too big for his hat.

Next, he sent his shameless dupes, to win the fair

Sudaneseland, knowing England and France were unprepared,

Soon Czechoslovakia, sold down the river by

Chamberlain the same sad fate had shared.

Then grumbling of unfair treatment by the treaty of Versailles.

The vision of a passage to the sea caught his evil eye.

So poor Poland, after a very short, but brave fight,

Soon fell, the first victim to his armed might.

This only whetted his taste for destruction and rape

And he decided the Scandinavians, to woo then to take.

He sent more of his shameless dupes to betray this

Fair northern gem

And show their gratitude by biting the hand that

had fed them.

On his way to the Peninsula, little Denmark had

had to  succumb

So now, ‘twas only to find a way through Holland

and Belgium.

Then into unprepared France, with her dissension

and strife

‘Twas a very short struggle, soon she gave up her life

Then Mussolini, who’d been on the fence, saw a chance

To strike in the back, this brave fallen France.

Now they were free to turn their might, on the poor

crippled John Bull,

But soon found out that he was going to make more

than a mouthful.

And not counting on the tenacity of the Bull of the

speed of the Yank,

They decided to take six weeks off, and get rid of

the Bear that hung on their flank.

At first, it seemed the Bear had not enough strength

to check the onrush of this savage beast

And had to keep backing up, taking his sustenance

with him, as he kept backing to the North and the East.

Then Hiro, and his apelike beasts, thought it time to

get their spoon in the gravy

So, on a calm Sunday morning, they made a sneak

attack on our then one ocean Navy.

This roused Uncle Sam to action, and he decided to

collect and throw in his great might

With the other loyal nations, who were fighting so

bravely for freedom, decency and right.

Thinking they were rid of our fleet, they began their

pillage and rape of our Island outpost,

And almost succeeded in reaching the fair cities that

lie on our West Coast.

But they soon found that our Uncle Sam was not so

dumb or so slow

And that when he got started, he really knew where

he wanted to go.

But meantime, the goose-stepping Adolph, was not

doing so well,

He soon found the Bear’s winter not nearly so warm

as that place they call Hell.

The Bear’s army was killing off his men by the

hundreds of dozens

And winter’s cold breath, left more thousands lying in

the snow stiffly frozen.

The Bear, now thoroughly maddened by their terrible

crimes, carnage and loot

With Uncle Sam’s aid, is giving Adolph’s rear, the iron

toe of his heavy boot.

And as troubles never come singly, the Beast soon found

with alarm

That the Bull had rallied and could now do him

real harm.

For the first time in his career, he was confronted with

an army in front and rear,

And his raving made the Balkan states cower and

tremble with fear.

They knew their civilization lay in his path,

And nothing would check his maniacal wrath.

So all they could do, was to bow down and be crushed

beneath his heel.

Be trampled, raped and looted ‘till they ceased to feel.

His fox he had sent to the desert was wily and smart,

And really worried the crippled Bull at the start

But when the Bull did break loose, with Uncle Sam’s aid

he sure went, Hell-bent,

And chased the now frightened fox clear across the

African continent.

There met by our own brave lads, modernly equipped

for the fray

The thoroughly beaten fox soon found that on that side of

 the sea, he had no place to stay.

So he kept backing up, and with no way to take his loot

He landed, much cripple, right on the toe of Italy’s boot.

But all the time, where was Uncle Sam?  Had he deserted

Winnie, Joe and Kai-shek?

Not so, he was busy forging weapons to help start the

savage beasts on their backward trek.

He had trained and equipped our brave boys, and sent

them everywhere to fight for the right

And show dictators, that the time had come, when they no

longer could rule by their might.

He had built huge boats to go on and under the seas, and

thousands of planes to fly in the air

Had bridged all oceans, with ugly ducks to keep troops

and weapons on their way over there.

At last, he’s sent a force that was second to none, and to

the great Ike they gave the job

To go into France, and stop for all time, the lootings and

murders of this bloodthirsty mob.

Having failed to get oil from the East, this Adolph with

the brain of a beast and the voice of a Jack mule

Found to his dismay, that for his tanks, planes and trucks,

he was running very short of fuel.

With the greatest Armada, that ever was known, moving

in ever closer from the West

The now frightened Adolph found that was a real

calamity, not a mere jest.

From North, South, East and West, Allied armies came

with a leap and a bound

Now that they had his vaunted Luftwaffe, securely pinned

fast to the ground.

Frantic, more frantic, he became, as they kept moving

ever closer in,

Until finally came his everlasting finish at his Capitol in Berlin.

With VE day over, our brave boys were being sent

quickly to the Pacific.

Where their brave brother Marines had found the

fighting quite terrific.

Mac’s army assisted by the Navy and the boys flying the planes

Had robbed the Nips of most of their plunder, and

closed their sea lanes.

They had gone from island to island, and were nearing

the Nip’s home coast,

Had destroyed the vaunted Navy of which they once were

proud to boast.

They had peppered their industrial cities,

with bombs, shot and shell

Then came the atomic bomb, and nothing more was left to tell.

So Hirohito, like Adolph, was forced to accept

the unconditional surrender,

And we hope they won’t find the terms to be too harsh,

yet not too tender.

That the big five will unite like a kind, friendly big brother,

To teach warring nations how to live at peace with the world

and each other.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Society Saturday - Touring the O Street Museum

The Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America always conclude their General Court meeting with a fun tour of a local site.  This year's tour was particularly novel.  We walked about 1/2 mile to the O Street Mansion.

Some of our ladies waiting to go in the mansion

This mansion is also a museum, bed & breakfast, meeting location and gift shop.  It consists of five row houses which were acquired over the years and combined into one unique building.  Several of the bedrooms have themes, such as the John Lennon bedroom, the Teddy Roosevelt bedroom, the Rosa Parks bedroom, and the Log Cabin bedroom.  The walls are covered with artwork and there are books, and knickknacks throughout the building.  Everything is for sale - if you see a painting on the wall that you want, you can purchase it.

Standing in the entry hall listening to a brief history of the mansion.

The most fun part of the building are the secret doors.  We were told that there were 72 secret doors and that over half were accesssible to the public.  Thus the hunt began.  We were able to spot about 10-15 of them.  Some were small, and simply opened up to storage areas, but some were full size and were the only way in or out of part of the building.

I am standing in the wine cellar, entered only by one of the secret doors

After touring the museum, we had a nice brunch in one of their dining rooms.  This is definitely someplace fun to visit when in DC.

http://www.omansion.com/

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 38

Decoration Day

Another Decoration Day, for our honored dead.

And again, we hear the martial tread.

Again we see our young men called to fight

The same vandals, who’d rule by might.

Again, they have challenged the rights of free men

To work and live decently with wives and children.

May our Armies strike them with tank and plane

‘Till never they’ll seek to wreck civilization again.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.