William Harry Lees of Boone, Iowa has passed away. Bill Lees served as Iowa SAR President in 1981.  He was active in leadership positions and membership recruitment and was presented with the Minuteman Medal from the National Society,  S.A. R.  That award is the highest award presented to a Compatrtiot for active and distinguished service rendered to the National Society.  Annually at the Spring Leadership Meeting, the Minuteman  Committee selects and announces no more than six recipients in the nation for the current year.  The President General presents the award during the Minuteman Ceremony at the National Congress.  It is not presented in abstentia.  A Compatriot can receive the Minuteman Award only once in his lifetime. William Harry Lees  Feb 9, 1921 –  June 19, 2018 He will be dearly [...]

The Iowa Compatriot Newsletter, June 2018   June 2018 [...]

May 2018 Newsletter [...]

From Wikipedia: On April 18, 1775, 700 troops were sent to confiscate militia ordnance stored at Concord. Fighting broke out, forcing the regulars to conduct a fighting withdrawal to Boston. Overnight, the local militia converged on and laid siege to Boston. On March 25, 4,500 British reinforcements arrived with generals William Howe, John Burgoyne, and Henry Clinton. The British seized the Charlestown peninsula on June 17 after a costly frontal assault, leading Howe to replace Gage. Many senior officers were dismayed at the attack, which had gained them little, while Gage wrote to London stressing the need for a large army to suppress the revolt. On July 3, George Washington took command of the Continental Army besieging Boston. Howe made no effort to attack, much to Washington’s surprise. A plan was rejected to assault the city, and the Americans instead fortified Dorchester Heights in early March 1776 with heavy artillery captured from a raid on Fort Ticonderoga. The British were permitted to withdraw unmolested on March 17, and they sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Washington then moved his army to New York. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War [...]

April 2018 Iowa Compatriot Newsletter   April 2018 newsletter [...]

I’ve been devoting considerable time of late to doing more extensive genealogical research into several lines of my own New England ancestors.   As a part of this process, I have gathered together some really exceptional reference materials for early settlers to the Massachusetts Bay Colony that may be of value to you or other of our Compatriot brothers and sisters in lineage societies like the SAR, DAR, CAR, and GWS1812.  I thought I would make you aware that I have purchased these reference books and maintain them here in my own library at home.   I would be more than willing to check through these works as our travel commitments and available research time allows for you; or,  any of our friends who may be looking for information on some of their own ancestral connections to era in the Colony of Massachusetts. (Some contain limited information on other colonies).   I have available:   Volumes I, II, and III of Robert Charles Anderson’s monumental study, “The Great Migration Begins”, covering the period between 1620 and 1633.  This seminal work contains historical sketches of many of the earliest arrivals to New England beginning with the Pilgrims. Publ’ by New England [...]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre The Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British,[2] was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed several people while under attack by a mob. The incident was heavily publicized by leading Patriots, such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, to encourage rebellion against the British authorities.[3][4][5] British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid ongoing tense relations between the population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was subjected to verbal abuse and harassment. He was eventually supported by eight additional soldiers, who were subjected to verbal threats and repeatedly hit by clubs, stones and snowballs. They fired into the crowd, without orders, instantly killing three people and wounding others. Two more people died later of wounds sustained in the incident. The crowd eventually dispersed after Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson promised an inquiry, but the crowd re-formed the next day, prompting the withdrawal of the troops to Castle Island. Eight soldiers, one officer, and four civilians were arrested and [...]

March 2018 Newsletter [...]

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month nearly 500 people from around the country joined near the Clarke County Iowa town of Murray for the dedication of the Clarke County, Iowa Freedom rock painted by artist Ray “Bubba” Sorenson II. Among the attendees were color guard members of the American Legion, the Veteran of Foreign Wars and the Iowa Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Governor Reynolds gave a passionate speech on the sacrifices of the veterans and their families to preserve and protect the liberties of all.  It was also noted that current members of the military account for only about 1% of the population. Mr. Sorenson shared with those in attendance his vision for this Freedom Rock in particular as well as the individualization of all 68 Freedom Rocks done to date in Iowa. Attached are several photos from the event today. Be sure to send any local events you may have been a part of to our Iowa SAR webmaster Patrick Lant and our Iowa SAR newsletter editor Doug Frazer. Respectfully, Mike Rowley [...]

On December 7th, 76 years ago today Pearl Harbor was attacked.  More than 2400 Americans were killed and another 1000 were wounded. Each year in Des Moines and many other locations around the country The Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors take time to remember and honor those service men and women and their families who gave some much on that day. Again these year members of the Iowa SAR, the Central Iowa Chapter and the  IASSAR Color Guard joined with them to remember. Attached are a few photos of today’s ceremony. Respectfully, Mike Rowley #166348 Iowa SAR [...]