Smyrna times., 1931-04-01
j. A. VAN ORSDEL TO SPEAK
Meeting of Sons of American Rev
olution to be Held in Wilmington


The most outstanding individual
of the National Society, Sons of
the American Revolution, will be
the guest speaker at the annual
dinner meeting of the Delaware
Society, Sons of the American
Revolution, to be held at the Will
mington Country Club on Saturday
evening, April Is, at seven o'clock.
The speaker is none other than the
President General of the National
Society, Sons of the American
Revolution, Josiah a. Van Orsdel
of Washington. Judge Hugh NJ.
Morris, president Of the Delaware
Society, will act as POSTMASTER,
and another important event dur
ing the evening will be the presen-
tation of a magnificent emblem,
the state flag of Delaware, to the
National Society. 1t will be placed
among the other objects in the
museum of the National Society,
and the gift will be received by
Frank Bartlett Steele, general sec
retary of the National Society.
Hon. Josiah A. Van Orsdel, associ-
ate justice of the Court of Appeals
of the District of Columbia, elected
vice president general for the mid
die states district at the congress
at Swampscott, Mass, May 20,
1925, is a native of Pennsylvania,
was graduated in 1885 from West
minister College, with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. After complet-
ing his law studies he went to the
west where for three years he en-
gagged in business in the state OF
Nebraska. in 1891 he settled in
the practice of law at Cheyenne
Wyoming; in 1892 he was elected
county and prosecuting attorney
at Laramie county, Wyoming; and
on completion of his term of office
in 1894 was elected a member OF
the Wyoming House of Represen-
tatives, where he took prominent
standing as the acknowledged
floor leader. In 1905 ne was ap-
pointed by the Governor chairman
of a commission to compile, revise
and codify the laws of Wyoming
The work of this commission re.
suited in the Revised Statutes ol
1899. Justice Van Orsdel held the
office of attorney general of Wy
oming from 1897 to 1905, when ht
was appointed by the Governor al
associate justice of the Supreme
Court of the state to fill the va
cancy caused by the death of Chic
Justice Knight. His career on tht
Supreme Court was terminated il
1906, when President Roosevelt ap
pointed him assistant attorney
general of the United States. Thi!
was followed in December, 1907, BY
the appointment to his present posi-
tion on the Federal bench, which
of course, is for life, or during
good behavior. Justice Van Orsde
is member Of the American Bal
Association, from which body il
1903 he was appointed the Wyom
ing delegate to the Universal Con
gress of Lawyers and Jurists helC
in ST. Louis, Missouri. He is alsC
an active member of the American
Law Institute; a member of &
number of clubs, and has been fol
many years a ruling elder in the
Presbyterian church. The justice
is jurist of the old school-a con-
servative from principle. He is 8
firm believer in the principles upon
which this Republic was originally
founded, and that only strict adj
herence to the letter and spirit OF
the Constitution can a strong gov
eminent be maintained, and the Sc
curity of our free institutions as
sured. The President General has
for many years taken great inter
est in the work of the S. A. r. He
completed, in 1924-25, most sue