Jan 19th 2008

I hope everyone was able to enjoy the holidays and I hope all of you are looking forward to doing and sharing in great things in 2008.

Here is what some of your fellow members and I have been doing and been made aware of since Dec 15, 2007.

December

15th Received and responded to numerous e-mail comments on last President’s update

15th Sent our Chancellor E-mail request for advice.

15th Re-requested Treasurer to make sure Bob Bowen at National had received information requested.

15th Attended Wreaths across America program at the Iowa State Capital with fellow member Fran Keith,

who took photos of the event, which was also covered by the Des Moines Register and a local television channel.

15th Signed, mailed and e-mailed Chaplain form as requested by John Scarpino.

16th Notified by Fran Keith of page 1 article on the Wreaths across American Program. I sent

congratulations and thank you notes to Judy Mcnamara or DAR and Ken Fusion of the Des Moines Register.

17th Webmaster Scott Rowley notified me of updates he made to the IASSAR website.

17th I assisted potential new member with genealogy research.

17th Webmaster suggested that we purchase the domain http://www.iassar.org I agreed and it was done with

 

a member’s donation.

17th Member Steve Jenkins sent me an address change. I forwarded to Bill Lees and Fran Swallow and

 

asked them to notify National of change. No response if this was done.

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17th Received National SAR Magazine today. Very nice article on one of our fellow Iowa members. All

 

members please fill free to submit any articles to me, Fran Keith or directly to the SAR Magazine. I would

 

hope that Iowa is represented in every issue.

18th Received information from Fran Keith about my father.

19th Sent e-mail to registrar to determine the status of new members and supplemental.

19th Received a book recommendation from our historian Harold Meeker. Dream’s End Two Brothers in

 

the Civil War by Orr Kelly and Mary Davies Kelly. I read it & found connection to a battle my ancestor was

 

in. Pleasant Hill, La.

19th I suggested the purchase of http://www.ISSAR.org and http://www.iowasar.org ISSAR is already taken but

we did get the other.

20th Sent Christmas story to SAR-Talk

20th asked webmaster to add this link to the website, Gratitude Campaign – show the sign that says

thanks: http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/shortmovie.php

20th Received an e-mail from a fellow IASSAR member. It turns out we share the same 9th Great-Grandfather Moses Rowley

20th Received the following note…Mr. Rowley,

I want to thank you for placing a picture of the headstone of Cato Mead on your website.

I live in Montrose, Iowa where the headstone of Cato is located.

I’m a member of the DAR Jean Espy Chapter. So Revolutionary War soldiers are of great interest to me.

I have successfully documented 5 soldiers in my direct blood line.

I, as well as other members of my DAR chapter assisted the American Legion in placing

“Wreaths Across America” at the National Cemetery, Keokuk, Iowa last Saturday. It truly was an

impressive ceremony.

Linda Hayes

23rd Scanned and sent all essays to webmaster for posting on the website.

23rd Cemetery Project group continues research and documentation

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23rd Had a good suggestion from David Shannon that we might want to list all our Patriots ancestors

on the website. I have not been able to reach the secretary to get the book with the complete list.

23rd Found the following website and notified John Scarpino

23rd Sent 6 questions to Registrar

26th Received message from Michael Gallagher about recruiting young members.

27th Ordered “Revolutionary Characters” audio book. It is very good. If anyone wants to borrow it,

just let me know where to mail the CD’s.

28th Saw the following link on SAR-TALK, don’t let the title scare you away

http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2007/12/25/the-crossing-2/

29th Woodland Cemetery Project Group continued with research, documentation and photographing

of the G.A.R. north section.

29th Sent request for status of my SAR Guardsman subscription.

30th Followed up with Bob Bowen as he reported that he had not received Iowa report yet.

31st Response from Chancellor received

31st I requested on-line banking to review activity for IASSAR to assist members with questions.

31st Treasurer Confirmed sending report to Bob Bowen

31st Contacted National about renewals question

31st Volney Smith e-mail address change

January

1st Sent another e-mail request to Secretary

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3rd Sent on-line banking form to Treasurer

4th Read article by J Norman in the DM Register about Adrienne Thomas. Sent author a note and requested A.T. to consider speaking to our group if ever in Iowa.

4th Read comment by A Doss on attracting new and younger members to SAR. I sent him a note.

4th More genealogy research for potential new members.

5th Board of Managers meeting dates for 2008. The BOM Meeting dates set are as follows:

March 1, 2008

May – date to be set – will be a part of DAR Annual meeting June 14, 2008

Aug 23, 2008

Nov 1, 2008

No meeting sites were set. Discussed moving BOM around the state to attract local members to meetings.

5th Sent e-mail to Barbara McLeish of Montrose about possible GW Endowment funding for Cato Mead

plaque

5th I sent out notification about Iowa Patriot Newsletter expense and request for response.

As of Jan 18th 58 members responded.

I sent thank you notes to all that responded.

6th I sent SAR birthday cards to all members with birthdays Jan 1st-22nd

6th Responded to another member that sent renewal check in October and still has not had check

cashed or membership card sent or any other confirmation of renewal.

6th Spoke by phone with Registrar. Emailed request to Treasurer to send him check for new applications.

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7th I have had 2 people volunteer to serve as the audit committee. I am very grateful to them and will

follow up soon as needed.

7th Just learned that one member has signed applications for 10 family members. Wow!!!!!!!!!

7th I spoke with Joe Dooley about recruitment.

Black Revolutionary War Patriots to be Honored by Sons of the American Revolution at Monument

Dedication on January 27, 2008

The President General of the National Society Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), proudly

announced

today that a monument to honor the Patriots of Color from Charles City County, Virginia, will be

dedicated

on January 27, 2008.

It is not generally appreciated in scholarly circles, let alone by the general public, that perhaps 20,000

Black Americans served during the Revolution, and helped our Nation achieve its Independence

and Liberty. The SAR takes seriously its role to preserve the memory of all Revolutionary War Patriots,

and we are glad to honor these Patriots of Color from Charles City County.

Louisville, KY (PRWEB) January 7, 2008 — Bruce A. Wilcox, the President General of the

National Society Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), proudly announced today that a monument

to honor the Patriots of Color from Charles City County, Virginia, will be dedicated on January 27, 2008.

The dedication ceremony is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Old Elam Cemetery in Ruthville, Virginia.

Mr. Wilcox says, “It is not generally appreciated in scholarly circles, let alone by the general public,

that perhaps 20,000 Black Americans served during the Revolution, and helped our Nation achieve its

Independence and Liberty. The SAR takes seriously its role to preserve the memory of all

Revolutionary War Patriots, and we are glad to honor these Patriots of Color from Charles City County.”

He continues, “The SAR has had Black members for decades, and in recent years, we have happily

welcomed more Black men into our ranks. Many of these Black men are descended from white

Patriots of the Revolution, but many others are descended from Black Patriots. The SAR does not care

what color our members are, nor what color were the Patriots from whom we descend.

We focus on honoring the Patriots, regardless of race.”

Founded in 1889, and chartered by the U.S Congress in 1906, the SAR has over 27,000 members

around the world. One of its members is Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University. Dr. Gates

is the Director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute, and Chairman of Harvard’s African-American Studies

Department.

In addition to his scholarly publications, Dr. Gates is also the producer/host of several documentaries,

including the acclaimed “African American Lives.” The SAR and the DuBois Institute have jointly

undertaken to research the Black Patriots of the American Revolution. Dr. Gates is spearheading this

research.

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7th Received IRS form 990 from VPG. I forwarded to Treasurer Swearingen

8th Corresponded with the mother of one of our members that is currently serving in Iraq.

Does anyone have any suggestions about what we might do for the IASSAR members who are

currently serving abroad?

10th Sent in an op/ed story to the Des Moines Register for consideration of publication.

11th Received an e-mail that past member Gordon House died 2 years ago.

11th Received yet another e-mail from an IASSAR member that sent renewal check in October

and it has not been cashed and he has received no notification of any kind.

11th I ran into a fellow SAR member and his spouse at the gym. He loaned me ear phones

12th I mailed on-line banking form signed by Treasurer to IASSAR bank.

13th Sent Christopher Gorman information on applying for IASSAR membership. I asked for assistance

from Brenda Hare (DAR) and she responded immediately. THANKS Brenda.

15th Dave Shannon updated me on the Eagle Scout awards and essay contest.

15th Still another member asking about renewal checks from October not being cashed.

I am referring all to contact our secretary directly as I have not been successful in doing so.

15th VPG sent out e-mail to members asking direction on how they would like him to vote.

15th I attended The Des Moines Civil War Roundtable meeting, featuring a speaker that is a history

professor at Simpson College. A suggestion was made that interesting speakers can sometimes be

found by checking the National Parks Service website.

16th I sent a request to all board members to vote for or against the recommendations of Eagle Scout

and Essay contest coordinator Dave Shannon.

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16th I received the following request

Michael,

I have a play called Voices of the Civil War that is showing to 5th through 9th graders at the State

Historical Museum of Iowa from Feb. 11-15th.

From 11:30 to 1:30 students are in class groups and attend interactive workshops.

The workshops are approximately 40 minutes long.

I need Civil War Re-enactors and I am wondering if you ever do anything during the week?

Also, do you know anyone who might be interested in doing a presentation during the week?

I would love the kids to see something with a medical aspect.

18th I received the following link from Volney Smith

Click on the link, and turn your sound on.

http://patriotfiles.org/Pledge.htm

18th Ordered “Old Glory” DVD for future programs

19th Cemetery Project committee completes research, documentation and photographing 239

Civil War veteran’s graves in North G.A.R. section of Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Iowa.

Next step is to physically mark with flags those unmarked graves and fill out paper work to order

granite military stones for each. Then coordinate installation hopefully for spring 2008. Special thanks

to 2 of IASSAR’s youngest members TMR & DJR for the hours spent on this project.

19th I shared a breakfast meeting with one of Iowa’s newest members, Mr. Richard Lintner.

Thanks for braving sub-zero temperatures to join me.

19th Sent Member Dave Shimon information on possible step toward improved veteran benefits

20th Received response from Mr. Shimon on 2 million uninsured Vets.

20th Received and responded to e-mail from new applicant Dave Faybik. I also provided him the

contact information for Registrar Bill Lees.

20th I sent SAR birthday cards to all IASSAR members with birthdays Jan 24 to Feb 1

20th Watched Green Bay Packer’s Dream season end. RATS!!!!

END