Evening star., 1944-04-09
Capital Sidelights
By Will P. Kennedy.

Ihe controversy among House men,
aforementioned in this column last
Sundays to which town was the
first named after George Washington
now has been joined by Representative
A. Willis Robertson of Virginia. He
quotes Henry p. Alden to the effect
that the town of Washington, in the
County of Rappahannock, in the 7th
congressional district, represented by
Mr.. Robertson, should be accorded the
distinction. Allegedly, it was surveyed
and plated by George Washington,
July "a, 1749, under the old calendar, or
| August 4, 1749, under the new calendar,
and SO antedates any other town named
Washington by more than 27 years.
In fact" Mr.. Robertson says, there is
OF record town lots in Washington, Va,
which were conveyed and decided by lot
number, name of street and name of
| Washington, Va as far back as Sep
tember, 1852. There were land war
rants issued and of record in the Fair
fax surveys covering lots in the town
Of Washington, Va, by lot numbers as
| lar back as 1751."
Representative Robertson has inserted
in the Congressional Record a list of
The 20 Washingtons-In the Order of
Having Been Laid Out, Founded or
Renamed as Washington" taken from
the American Philatelist for September,
1882, at the time of the celebration of the
| George Washington bicentennial. as
| follows:
Virginia, 1749
North Carolina, October, 1776.
New Hampshire, December l776.
Massachusetts,, April IL, 1777.
Connecticut, January II, 1779.
Georgia, January %, 178O. {
Pennsylvania, March, 1881.
Vermont, April g. 1881.
West Virginia, 1785.
Kentucky, 1786.
District of Columbia, 1871.
Mississippi, 1897.
Rhode Island, 1809
Indiana, March 18, 1917
Maine, January 81, 1928.
Arkansas, 1924.
Illinois, 1925.
Michigan, April, 1927.
Louisiana, March, 1885.
Texas, july 1885.
Missouri, May 20, 1899.
Iowa, 1882
California, February, 1850.
New Jersey, 1851.
Utah, 1857.
Kansas, 1858.
Nebraska, 1888.
Oklahoma, 1907.
y * X
Andrew Allen of PENNSYLVANIA, who
was member of the Committee of
Safety and of the Continental Congress,
disapproved of American independence
and withdrew in June, 1776 He was
then 36 years of age. When the Royal
1st Army entered New York he went
within the British lines, took the oath
OF allegiance to the King, renounced
the oath he had taken as a member of
the Continental Congress and went to
London. He was attainted of treason
and his estates confscated, and the
British government compensated him
with pension of 400 pounds per annum.
He died in London in 1925.
X X X
Sydenham Elnathan Ancona of Penn
sylVanla was rendered a reception on
the floor of the House in 1912 when he
returned after an absence of As years.
he was then in his 88th year, the last
surviving member of the Thirty seventh
Congress which assembled at the eX-
traordlnary session called by Abraham
Lincoln on June 4, 1861. He died at
Reading, Pa, June 20, 1918.
Xxx
Another James A. Tawney of Mime
sofa has come to serve Congress. This is
the son of the late Representative
James A. TaWney, a prominent figure in
the House for l8 years from 1893 until
1911, later serving for more than a dec
ace on the joint commission on boun-
dary waters between the United States
and Canada. The elder Tawney was
porn near Gettysburg Battlefield and
worked as blacksmith with his father.
Then he was a blacksmith and machin-
lSt IN Minnesota for six years until he
won his law degree. The son, now in
his 43d year, comes to the Capitol on
invitation of Representative Harold
Knutson to be clerk to the Republican
members of the Ways and Means Com
mittee,