Evening star., 1946-03-24
Capital Sidelights
By Will p. Kennedy,

president CALVIN Coolidge, as was not
generally known, had Irish blood in his
veins, and, strange to narrate, he was
not an Anglo-Saxon. The Coolidges
came from Avaranche in Normandy
and settled in England after the Con-
quest. More than two decades ago
Prof. Guy Coolidge of Hobart College
traced the family back to Thomas de
Colynge, Norman, born IN 1472. One
descendant, John Coolidge, came to New
England In 1880 and settled in Water
town. Mass. Simon Coolidge, his son,
born in 1882, married Hannah. daughter
OF Ellis Barron Of Waterford, ireland,
November II, 1867, and 1t is from that
alliance that Calvin Coolidge descended.
Hannah Barron was of the Barron
family, whose home, Burnchurch Castle,
near Kilkenny, Ireland. is well pre-
served. This is curious instance of
the change which family names un-
dergo In the course Of centuries The
Barrons, originally Fitzgeralds, were de-
scended from Maurice Fitzgerald, one of
the first Norman invaders of ireland,
and this family has since been repre-
sented by the Dukes of Linster. It is
well authenticated that those Fitzgeralds
were originally Florentines Of the noble
house of Gherardini
Currency imitation, today such a leg
islative bugaboo, started soon after
Pieter Minuit got his colony started
and the white man began to manufac-
ture wampum in quantities. Previously
$24 worth Of the wampum which the
Indians made from certain parts of
seashells would have purchased the
whole Of Long Island. To offset the
white mans manufactured wampum,
beaver skins which could not be manu-
factured came into use for currency.
The first Mint House" in North America
was set UP in Boston in 1852, where sill
yer coins bearing the pine tree emblem
were struck oil, while other colonies
had their minting done in England and
Bermuda. When our Federal Govern
ment was established under the Con-
stitution, exclusive authority to coin
money and regulate its value was re-
served to Congress. The first copper
cents minted by the United States Gov
ernment in New York in 1887 bore the
admonition: Mind Your Business" on
one side and on the other: I'VE Are
One" The design was authorized by
Congress: Thirteen circles linked to-
aix Ia sv1 1n ID ~ xx,tkI
the words United States round 1t; and
in the center the words, We Are One;
and on the other side of the same piece
a dial with the hours expressed on the
face of 1t; meridian sun above, on the
one side of which is to be the word
'Fugio' Il fiy), and on the other the
year in figures, '1787', below the dial the
words Mind Your Business" In 1892
Federal law directed establishment of
the Mint in Philadelphia. The first coin
there struck of was silver half
disme," made in the presence Of George
Washington who handed it to Mrs.
Washington. This identical coin now is
in the Federal Hall Memorial Museum,
formerly the old Subtreasury, on the
very site where the first Mint was au-
thorized on October l6, 1887, as is attest.
ed by the custodian, Maj. Elizur Yale
Smith. executive secretary of the Bill
of Rights Commemorative Society.
X
The first Commander In Chief Of the
Army and Navy to conduct divine serv-
ice for Navy personnel was the late
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on
Easter Sunday, April |. 1884. In the
absence Of chaplain, President Roose-
velt stood on the quarterback OF the
Nourmahal and read the service from
the Episcopal Book Of Common Prayer.
The Presidents nag was flown from the
yacht, with officers and men Of the
y. S. s. Ellis in attendance.