Sons of the American Revolution

316 Pages·2017·8.09 MB·English

Son s of t he
Am erican Revolu t io
n .
N ew York S ta te Socie t
y
—
I S
9 3 94
Prepared b
y
E DWARD HAGAMAN HALL
Historian and Registrar
Copyri hted and Printed by
g
THE REPUBLIC PRESS
Tue New YORK Pamrmc COMPANY
( )
-
6 8 Pearl Street New York
5 3 5 3 ,
in the 1 1 8th year of the
Inde endence of the United States
p
TO
TH E H E ROE S O F
TH E AM E R I CAN RE VOLUT I ON
WHOS E PATR I OTIC D E E DS ARE H E R E I N
COM M E MORATE D
TH E LABOR P E RFORM E D ON
TH I S VOLUM E
I S
REVE RE NTLY D E D I CATE D
Con ten ts
ORIG IN OF T H E SONS OF T H E AME RICA N RE VOLUT ION
—
OFFICE RS OF TH E NAT I ON A L SOCI E TY FOR 1 8 I 8
4
93 9
OFFICE RS OF T H E NE W YORK SOCI E TY P AST AND P RE SE N T
,
—
CON STIT U TION AN D BY LAWS OF TH E NE W YORK SOCI E TY
-
MAON A CH ARTA I N E NG LIS H WITH F AC S I MI LE S
, ,
-
TH E DECLA RATION OF I ND E P E NDE NCE WITH F AC SIMI LE
,
ME CKLE N BU RG RE SOLVE S As ORIG IN ALLY ADOP TE D
,
ME MBE RSHI P GE N E A LOG IE S AN D RE VOLU T ION A RY SE RVICE S :
, 5
I NDE X OF RE VOLUTION A RY ANCE STORS
I N DE x OF I LLU STRAT IONS
S ons of the Am erican Revolu tion
H E AME RI CAN REVOLUTI ON con
(erred be nefits upon the descendants of
those who won our national independence
,
exact ed duti es from them and gave to
them a dist inct ion the reco n it ion of
,
g
which led to the formation of the SOCI ETY OF THE SONS
—
OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION . Of these three the
—
benefits the duties and the dist inct ion the fi rst mentioned
.
least exclusively belong to the immediate descendan ts oi the
founders of the Republic. They have been so universa l in
-
their operation and so far reaching in their
Benefits Con
influence that no one country could i f it
.
“m “ by "W
would monopolize them . So great has been
, ,
American Rev
thei r ma n i tude that the mind I s unable
g
alum “.
fully to rasp them and the historian and
,
g
’
’
student are overwhelmed in the contemplat ion of them .
The American Revolution was a prod igious event in human
annals . I t seems l ike the burn ing focus of all precedin
g
and the radiant point of all succeeding history. I t m arked
8 SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
the beginning of a new pe riod in higher civil ization as defi
nite lv as the star which led the wise men on the plains of
J udea gave the luminous point from which the Christ ian era
is measured. I t s fert il i zing and quickening power is felt to
day by ever nat ion of the earth in its hi her civil ization
, ,
y g
its pol it ical advancement and its material progress already
,
achieved and in its hopes for and faith in greater fru its in the
,
fu ture. The progress in the d irection of popular government
alone has been marvelous during the century since the achieve
ment of American autonomy. The Republ ic of Switzerland
secured her first Const itu t ion free from foreign influence some
sixty years after the adoption of the Constitut ion of the
U nited States which she stud ied . F rance our own ally now
, , ,
has a stable popular form of government . England closely
approximates a democracy. I reland ethnolo ical ly a dis
,
g
tinct nat ion though pol it ical ly a part of the U nited Kingdom
, ,
-
is apparently on the threshold of self government . And in a
greater or lesser degree every other civil i zed nation of the Old
,
World feels the influence of the American Revolut ion in a
more liberal consti tu tional government and other modifications
of pol i t ical l i fe . I n the New World the operation of the
,
d ist inctively American idea embodied in the Monroe Doctrine
-
extends the principle of sel f government to every country of
the Western Hemisphere except Canada.
With the promotion of popular government which in its
,
essence is a government for the happiness of the people there
,
has been a long stride away from the perpetual mi li tan t idea
of the old civil izat ion toward the more humane and fraternal
idea of the new that peace is the rightfu l normal condi tion of
,
the people. The principles which were embodied in the cov
enant known as the Armed Neutrality. which were establ ished
during the war of American I ndependence restricting the field
,
of hosti l it ies to the nations actual ly at war in themselves con
,
st itu ted one of the most rad ical and beneficent changes in the
ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY
9
his tor of human warfare and fol lowed as might have been
, ,
y
expe cted by the sti ll more advanced principle of international
,
arbitration between poss ible bell igerents establ ished between
,
ou rselves and the m other country with in the last quarter of a
centu r through the efforts o f American statesmen has done
,
y
more than any one thing to circumscribe the area of war
,
practical ly promote peace and fratern ity among the nations of
the eart h and recogn ize the interests of peace as paramount to
,
those of war.
I n these and other d irect ions it is impossible to estimate
the powerfu l inspirat ion which the accomplished fact of the
American Revolution has been to men of lofty aims and the
,
strong
. sustain ing moral support it has given to every great
effort at popu lar advancement in the world during the past
centur . The contemplat ion of these things by any inte lli
y
gent man in any part of the world is enough to sti r up the
, ,
profoundest sense of gratitude toward those stem and hardy
men who fort ified with a righteous purpose and strengthened
,
with an unwavering faith struggled in the m idst of indescrib
,
able hardships and offered the greatest sacrifices which are in
human power to give in order to establish their inal ienable
,
rights . And i f this be so how much deeper a sense of
,
obli at ion ought the American cit izen in general and the
g
descendant of Revolutionar ancestr in part i cular to feel
y y
when he considers the inestimable special blessings which he
en oys within his own national boundaries in consequence of
j
these sacrifices and sufferings of the fathers of the nation
.
In the continu ity of the race ever genera
,
y
t ion is inseparably connected with that which
preceded it and that which wi l l fol low it . F rom
Z?it s zx
the one i t receives al l that the genius of the
m Sim ,
y
pas t has accumulated to the other it gives this
;
with whatever additions i t may be able to make. I f this were
not so
, and i f every enerat ion had to be in afresh to form its
g g