The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-04-27

trousers and wearing the
:" !. :. !: !: :: !: ::
N ST "a tall beaver hat who is
NHRESW universally accepted as
WVRMNyV the symbol of the United
yNWf14u States, just as John Bull
llENMI is the symbol of England.
VDKhW But who WAS Uncle
Sam? That is 20 say.
was there real person who was the
original of this figure. made so IA
miliar to all of us by the cartoonists?
The answer is: there was, but al
though Samuel Wilson, native of
New York and government contrac-
tor during the war of 1912, is said by
most historians TO have been this orig
inal, there are few inconsistencies
in the cOmmonly-accepted story of
Samuel Wilson's being the original
Uncle Sam which need TO be recon-
ciled and some account also needs to
be taken of a fictitious person, the
product of Canadian humorist, be-
fore the history of Uncle Sam" can
be declared complete.
Two states claim the honor of being
the burial place of the original Uncle
Sam. Recently the United Press sent
out the following dispatch which pre-
sents New York's claim to that honor:
Catskill, N. Y.-Few persons know
that this peaceful Hudson river village
is the birthplace of one of the most
famous nicknames and trademarks the
world has ever known.
Uncle Sam, who was largely respon-
sible for the feeding Of the American
forces during the War of 1912 was a
native of Catskill, according to Charles
A. Elliot, a granddaughter of the IA
nous "U. 81
According to Elliot, this is the story
of the origin of the nickname.
There were Samuel, Nathaniel ana
Edward Wilson, brothers, who were as
ISOLATED in the meat packing business
in the Hudson valley early in the Nine
teenth century. The countryside knew
them as Uncle Sam, Uncle Nat and
Uncle Ned
Samuel, who lived in Troy, came to
Catskill during the War of 1912 to take !
active part in the firm established by
Nathaniel They were under contract
to supply beef and pork to the United
States army, drawing their supply from
Greene, Delaware, and other centra,
New York counties.
Catskill dock bore the government
mark ~. S." upon them. The nation
was young then and the abbreviation
CT its name was not so common in that
day as in this.
So one day, when boatman asked
the man who was branding a pork
shipment what the two letters repre-
sented, the brander replied: why
that means Uncle Sam, the senior part
ner of the firm
The boatman thought 1t was a great
joke. He carried the jest down the
river, retellingNit whenever. opportunity
afforded.
Thus, Uncle Sam, the American, came
into being, a character Internationally
created by an unknown boatman but
destined to rank with the worlds
greatest figures of history and fiction.
After the war, Uncle Sam returned
to his business at Troy and his sons
Benjamin and Albert. He died in Troy
July 81, 1914, and is buried in that city,
but his namesake lives on, truly i'm
mortal being in the opinion of his mil
lions of patriotic nieces and nephews.
But Indiana also lays claim to
holding within her soil the dust of
this famous character and that claim
was put forth recently in the fol-
lowing article which appeared in the
Indianapolis Star:
Kendallville, Ind.-A woman's intui-
ton 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
Americans have held in worshipful es-
teem
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
herself with a camera, she set out for
the facts and obtained picture of the
tombstone erected at the grave of
Uncle Sam, buried in a little obscure
graveyard near Merriam, Noble county,
Indiana, on the route of the Lincoln
highway. The stonecutter made a mis-
take of thirteen years in the date of
his death, which has never been recti-
fed, as the family hoped at some time
TO erect a monument fitting the charac-
ter 1t represented.
Visiting the son, John M. Wilson,
ninety-three years old, and his grand