Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1928-04-13
UNCLE SAM BORN IN
WILMINGTON, 1878;
SERVED in 2 WARS
Nickname Initials OF Samuel VIII
son Made Him National Figures<
Lived To Be Over 100

The Wilmington Every Evening
carried an interesting article abou
the origin of Uncle SAM" as ap
piled to the United States, in it
issue of April 9Th 1t is well wortl
reading, and follows:
Virginia had its Washington, New
Jersey it's Woodrow Wilson, Wis
consin its Lindbergh, Delaware its
Caesar Rodney. Other states have
boosted of Lincoln, Nathan Hale
Harriet Beecher Stowe. According
to the latest news, Delaware may
add to it's list of notables the fam
Gus character, Uncle Sam.
1.-THE following story came to EV-
cry Evening through Mrs. Frank d.
Wilson of Hillcrest, having been
sent to her by her sister, Mrs. Will
liam H. Porter of MuskOgee, Ind.
Mrs. Wilson says that after some
research she is not able to find that
the Samuel Wilson mentioned in
: this story came from her husbands
family, but there may be some other
Delaware family who will be inter-
ested in filing a claim that Uncle
Sam, beloved for the part he has
long played in representing the
United States, is an ancestor.
1.-THE story, as printed in the In
dianapolis Sunday Star, follows,
under date of Kendallville, Ind:
GA woman's intuition and her
love of patriotic history has led to
the discovery of the last resting
place of the original Uncle SAM"
whom admiring millions of Ameri-
cans have held in worshipful es-
TEEN.
"'Our histories and encycloped-
las have given us a more or less
mythical account of the origin of
this character in our nations his
tory, but no authentic information
has heretofore been disclosed of the
identity of the man, where he lived
and died.
"A chance remark came to the
ears of Mrs. Louise B. Young, of
Kendallville, associated with your
correspondent in the publication of
the Noble Farmer, an agricultural
publication. Her nose for news
scented a story, and arming her
self with a camera she set out for
the facts and obtained a picture of
the tombstone erected at the grave
of Uncle Sam, buried in little, OBJ
scure graveyard near Merriam, No
BILE county, Indiana, on the route |
of the Lincoln Highway. he stone |
cutter made a mistake of 13 years |
in the date of his death, which has |
never been rectified, as the family |
hoped at some time to erect a mon
ument fitting the character it rep
resented.
Story Verified by Kin.
Visiting the son, John M. Will
son, SO years old, and his grand
daughter, Mrs. Claea Zumbaugh,
both living at Alboin, the following
facts were obtained and fully veri-
fed:
Samuel Wilson, one of triplets,
two boys and a girl, was born at
Wilmington, Del, March 4, 177S,
the son of Marmaduke and Mary
who came to America from
Scotland. There were no other
children in the family.
Growing to manhood there,
with his brother, Joined the
Lewis and Clark Northwest eXpedi- =
ton in 1904, accompanying them as
far as where Mandan, N. D., is now {
located. These young men spent
the winter there, returning to st. |
Louis, Mo-, in the spring. Later l
they returned to Troy-on-the-Hud L
son, N. Y, where they were Joined I
by their parents. Samuel secured
with one Gilbert Ander- q
son, who owned and operated a gem ?
eral store.
"'When war with Great Britain
vas declared in 1912, the Anderson a
tore was converted into govern V
nent supply headquarters, with
Anderson as cOmmissary and Sam Il
lei Wilson as his superintendent,
fterward a quartermaster. Among 4
Ir. Wilson's duties was that of eX- v
mining and marking all packages D!
or government use. The mark
laced on these containers was "E. p'
u. S."
Same Initials as Native Land
Wilson was known by his as
Ociates as Uncle SAM" and one pi
ay when a longshoreman was ask -,
1 the meaning of these initials, he III
eplied by saying: For Gilbert An III
erson, the commissary and Uncle =
am, his superintendent, for he and n
lie United States are all one. He
epresents the government, too"
cant as a joke, the idea took
Did, and Mr.. Wilson's nickname,
Uncle SAM" since that time has
assed current as a personification
the United States the world over.
Later Uncle Sam began to ap-
,ar in caricature, in many guises
fore the Civil War. Although tall
Id slender, as Mr.. Wilson was, it
thought the present conception
Uncle Sam which began to ap
ar in cartoon in the early SOS,
d it's inspiration in the tall, gaunt
.ure of Abraham Lincoln.
Uncle Sam" had a varied ex-
rience during the Civil War. He
is on board the Constitution in
at famous 25-minute battle with
2 Guerrierre when the latter was
nix off Cape Race. In this battle
lcle Sam was cited for gallantry III
Captain Isaac Hull, and when he
is honOrably discharged he re-
wed two land warrants from the
vernment. One of these war
ats he sold to his son, John NJ,
10 now lives at Alboin, Ind, while
, other went to a Jim Harrison
4 was also used in Indiana.
After the War of 1872 Uncle
N went to Pennsylvania, where
was united in marriage to a
IS Susan Anderson, of Cumber-
d county. To this union ten
ldren were born, seven boys and
ee girls, as follows: Noah, David,