Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-07-16
A PATRIOTIC ORDER
oTTuMWA BRANCH OF SONS OF
REVOLUTION PROSPEROUS.
+. B. CLARK is STATE TREASURER
History of Society Organized to Per-
petuate the Memory of the RevoIu-
tionary Heroes = Thriving socie-
ties Now in State.

The Ottumwa chapter of the "Sons
of the American Revolution" is COM
prised OF nine active members and
there are three deceased members. In
the local chapter there is one state Of
ficer, F. B. Clark, who is state treasur-
err. Although this organization has,
compared to many other societies, but
small number of members, it is new
ertheless exceptionally strong and
prosperous In this state this is par
ticularly the case. Des Moines orig
mated the Iowa contingent of Sons"
in the year 1893, and many other cities
in the state promptly followed suit. In
the majority of the larger cities of the
state there can be found no chapters of
the "Sons of the American Revolu.
tion." The members of the Ottumwa
chapter are: ]. H. Merrill, j. B. Den
mis-, l.. E. Stevens, j. G. Mitchell, w. C.
Wyman, w. H. H. Asbury, G. F. Trot.
ter. Frank Simonds, DR.. e. T. Edgerly,
J. T.. Emerson, F. B. Clark and G. H
Wheelock, of Denver, Colo. The de.
ceased members are: S. B. Evans,
Levi Hills and ]. G. Manchester.
Origin of Order.
There is nothing new about this bus.
mess Of standing pat" Men who be
lieved themselves right have had the
courage Of their convictions from time
immemorial. The men who We're in the
the Sons of the Revolution" in New
York state in 1883 and after, thought
they had the right to require all orga-
nizations having the same purposes to
become auxiliary to Their society.
There was quite controversy about
it and the New Workers stood pat for
years and years and even after the
present national society known rs the
"Sons of the American Revolution
was formed, New York held aloof.
When ninety descendants of soldiers
who fought in the revolution discover.
ed themselves in the line of the parade
at the centennial celebration OF Ameri.
can independence at San Francisco
in 1876, they little imagined that
within thirty years more than forty
states would have organizations based
on the fundamental qualification for
membership that the member be the
adult, male descendant of those who
participated in the war of 17TG, wheth-
er soldiers, sailors or civilian officials
OF those dark days.
But it is true. The Sons of the
American Revolution" the consolidate
ed and poA arful organization Of these
qualified 10 belong to such society
form one O. rho strongest forces in
American political and historical life
In Iowa, one of the strongest of all the
state orgaE;zations-quali being Civ
en- due promilence-has its being.
Formed in San Francisco.
But to the story of how New York
ers stood pat. The primary organiza-
ton from which the present powerful
society has grown was formed in San
Francisco, as stated, by the ninety men
who were there for the centennial eel
ebration, August 2, 1876. They formed
a society and named it Sons Of ReyO-
lutionary Sires," and their pledge Of
honor that they were such was their
sufficient proof of their descent.
The organization waned during 1878
81, but one of it's members seeking to
keep the fame alive. In 1883 the idea
was taken up in New York City, where
a few men organized patriotic soci-
ETY. based on similar qualifications for
membership and called it Sons of the
Revolution" This was purely local
to begin with, but the ideas of the pro.
motors expanded and they adopted a
constitution providing for societies in
other states to be auxiliary to their
parent" society.
The term auxiliary" proved so OBJ.
noxious, as it conveyed the idea of in.
feriority, that no "auxiliaries" were or.
ganized, though an independent socie+y
of the "Sons of the Revolution" was
formed in Pennsylvania in 1883.
Society Grows.
Upon the refusal in 1883 of the New
York Sons" to allow their fellow
"Sons" in New Jersey to organize a
New Jersey society without consider
ing them auxiliary to the New York
society, these New Jersey "Sons"