Evening star., 1933-02-26
Capital Sidelights
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

By WILL p. KENNEDY.
One of the incoming new House mem
bers has Q distinctive background Of
patriotic family service to the Govern
ment. Not only was he himself an able
and outstanding United States sena-
tor for IL years. but James w. wads-
worth, jr., Of New York Is named for
his father, who served 20 very active
years in the House, and the family ira
ditions hark back to earliest Colonial
days.
william Wadsworth. the new men,
ber's neutrality-suspicious., was
a member Of that hardy band Of
pioneers who penetrated the wilder
ness and founded Hartford, Conn, In
reign of James II. when the royal Gov
ernor, Sir Edmund Andres. undertook
to seize the Connecticut charter, the
candles were suddenly snuffed out and
before they were relit, the charter had
been snatched away from under the
royal Governors hand, and Capt.
Joseph Wadsworth hid the document
in the hollow Of tree since famous
as Charter Oak" till in . freer time
the precious parchment was brought
out with honor as the constitution Of
the colony.
Gen. James Wadsworth served as
major general In the Connecticut line
in the American Revolution and as q
member Of the Continental Congress.
At the same time jeremiah Wadsworth
home In Hartford, In 1850, Washington
and Rochambeau worked out q joint
plan Of campaign. When the country
turned to peaceful pursuits after the
Revolution Jeremiah Wadsworth ad-
vsnced his young nephew, James Wads-
worth, funds to purchase lands at 81
an acre In then-distant Western New
York, and James induced his brother,
william, to make 1t joint venture.
With their axmen these two pioneers
Of a later generation set out in the
Spring Of 1880 from their old home in
Durham, Conn, to seek their fortune.
They went by boat up the Hudson
River to Albany, by portage to Schenec-
tady and thence up the Mohawk. Pur-
chasing live stock at outlying settle
ments, they made their ways-William
with the cattle through forest trails and
James through the primeval water
ways-until they met again on the
banks Of the Genesee River. There
they built their log house, cleared the
lands, planted crops and grazed their
cattle. William took over the clearing
Of the forest and the tilling Of the soil,
while James attended to the business
necessities Of their undertaking. They
maintained uninterrupted relations of
friendship with the Indians. Their
lands purchased from the Indians In
1790 are the ancestral acres Of the in
coming new member Of Congress.
President Washington in 1877 ap-
pointed Col. Jeremiah Wadsworth COM
missioner to represent the Government
in connection with a proposal by Robert
Morris to acquire the native right of
the Seneca Nation Of Indians In the
lands west Of the Genesee River, and at
a council called by Col. Wadsworth In
September Of that year the Senecas ac-
cepted the contract, commonly known
in history as the treaty Of Big Tree.
In the War Of 1912 william wads-
worth served as major general, COM
manding the militia Of the Genesee dis
trict, and participated in the expedition
across the Niagara River, though most
Of the militia refused to serve outside
the State
The Wadsworths, having taken root
In the soil, grew with the State. Mai.
WdoSWOItu-GlQcSv
son OF James Wedsworth, the pioneer
and grandfather Of the new HOUSE
member-was born in 1907, read law In
Daniel WebSter's offlce and completed
his course at Yale. He was a Free
sotler and followed the lead of Martin
Van Buren in seeding from the Demo-
cratic party, and was active In the
free democracy" precursor Of the Re-
publican party. In 1860 he supported
Lincoln for the presidency.
The new House member has an es-
pecial interest In our National Capital.
because in April. 1861, as soon as it was
learned that railroad communication
with Washington had been INTERRUPTED
because OF damage done by disloyaiists,
James s. Wadsworth, with the aid OF
Committee of the City of New York, "
got a ferryboat and sent her to An
napolis with supplies and materials and
100 laborers for the maintenance of the
railway between Annapolis and Wash
tngton. Commissioned and appointed
to the staff of Brig. Gen. Irwin Nc
Dowell. he exposed himself freely In an
endeavor to stem the tide Of battle at
Bull Run, and was made q brigadier
general, later military governor in
charge of the defense Of Washington.
In 1862, upon the news of Lincoln's
emancipation proclamation, James s.
Wadsworth was nominated by the Re-
publican party for Governor of the
State Of New York.
He returned to active service. took
part In the battle of Charlottesville
and at Gettysburg directed much of the
advance fighting. In 1864 he was given
command of the 4th Division of the
5th Corps, Army of the Potomac, and
in the confused fighting at the Battle
Of the Wilderness, due to disregard of
personal danger, WIS mortally wounded
Fort Wadsworth. Staten Island, at the
entrance to New York Harbor, was
named after this grandfather Of the
new House member. When he was
killed two of his sons were in the
Army, and his youngest son, father of
the incoming member of Congress. then
16 years Of age, sanctioned by the ante
mortem consent OF his heroic father.
joined the Union Army He took part
in the closing battles Of the Civil War,
became a captain and later q brevet
major.
This new member just after receiving
his degree at Yale, where he had been
an outstanding athlete, enlisted in the
Spanish American War His father
had previously been sent by President
Mckinley to Santiago with Gen. Shaf-
ter's army. The youngster had en-
listed in Light Battery A, Pennsylvania
Volunteers, then at Newport News, about
to sail for Porto Rico. When entering
the harbor their ship ran onto shoal.
and on account of his experience with
horses, "Jim' Wadsworth was ordered to
stay on board with Is men and take
care of the horses and mules. He had
enlisted as a private and came out a
private. As a member Of the Senate
Committee on Military Affairs during
the World War, and later as its chair
man. Wadsworth had dominant part
in the drafting of the national defense
act of June 4, 1920.
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