Some of my reading of late on Ancestry.com includes, "Genealogy of the Reese family in Wales and America: from their arrival to the present time" written in 1903 by Mary Eleanor Reese, Whittet and Shepperson, Richmond, VA. It has interesting information on my 5th great grandmother, Mary Alexander Story. She is said to have raised, spun and woven silk so thin and fine that it could be pulled through her tiny wedding ring. She was known as a godly mother who raised her children in the Lord. I love this letter she wrote to her daughter, Anna Story Reese. (I have copied it with no changes from the 214 year old letter. I love her focus on eternity and on Christ.)
“Jenewary 3, 1794, Fryday night.
Dear daughter,
Having an opportunity I now set down to write a few lines by Mr. James Hall he come sence night. my dear may assured I have not for got you but as providence ordard it so that we are to be parted I desire to be content and wish you to be resigned to the will of a wise god that will make all things to work for good if we but love him. The old year has gone and if we look back what a nothing it appears departed
as a tale that is told thus will our whole life appear when our end approachs and eternity opens. but eternity will never expire but will last world with out end, when millions of ages are past away eternity we may say only will be a beginning and this short life this little span is the seed time of long, long eternity and do my dear indeavor to improve time and make the best provision for an eternity of happiness. Should we not be careful to get faith in our lord Jesus Christ to get the love of god shed abroad in our hearts. and our souls renewed according to the amiable example of our blessed redeemer this and nothing but this is trew religion. fix dear daughter this truth in your memory a true faith in Christ an unfeigned love of god and a real holiness of hart are the greatest blessings you can desire without them we can not be happy and this is the wish of you poor frail mother. that you will incessantly and earnestly mind the one thing needful though the whole advancing year. if you do so you will have god for your friend and he is able to supply all your wants and make you good friends to strangers it was my intend to come up in febweary but (saturday morning) their is so menny things to hender me. I am week and this could sesen of the year might be hard for me at this time Charls has a bad cof. and fever and is much redust, Susannah has hard fevers yestrday they got medeson from the doctour and Charls thinks he is som better this is Susannah best day and I cant tell if the medesom has hope her or no. I hope Charls is gettin better of his other complant I hope god in his own good time sent him comfort and speak peas to his consunse I convarsed with him on the subject yestrday James Weatherspoon famley (my 4th great grandmother, Hester Story Witherspoon) I hope is well I heard from them Wensday. none of our peeple has gon to town yet I expect they wold gon next week if they had ent been take sick the Gentman is waiten I may conclude with my love to you and Mr Reese and my little dears give my complements to my good frends fearwell my dear fearwell I am your souls well wisher tell deth. Mary Stoery “
ccMary was the second wife of Charles Story and was his widow for 31 years. They had four children: 1. Mary Alexander who was the second wife of David Witherspoon III andthe mother of 10 children. 2. Anna who married George Reese and had 11 children.
3. Charles who married Susannah Carter and had one child. 4. Hester who married James Witherspoon and was my ancestress. Hester and James had 11 children.
Mary often lived with Anna's family who buried her at the Hopewell Cemetery at the Old Stone Church near Clemson. The stone marker says, "Sacred to the Memory of Mary Story who departed this life in the full assurance of a happy immortality on the 5th day of Sept 1822 Aged 80 years Erected by her Daughter Ann Reese"
Old Hopewell Cemetery is at the SE corner of intersection of S.C. Hwy. 81 and S.C. Sec. Rd. 29 Located 1.09 miles northwest, this cemetery marks the original site of Hopewell Baptist Church, which was constituted in 1803. The cemetery contains graves of Revolutionary and Confederate veterans. Some graves are marked by field stones with hand-chiseled initials. Erected by the Congregation, 1975.
Hopewell Church is off S.C. Hwy. 81, 1/2 mile E on Road 29. This Baptist church, which was first located about 1.5 miles northwest, was constituted in 1803. The congregation moved to the present 4.4 acre site after it was surveyed December 14, 1822. Two houses of worship were built here before 1891, when a third was erected. It was replaced by the present 1949 structure. Erected by the Congregation, 1975.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Lady P - My Great Grandmother
This is a story about Louisiana Prestine Chalfant (1855 - 1943)when she was was 8 years old. This incident is when her sick mother died due having no shelter and then her father died of grief she was 14 years old. She continued to live at China Grove Plantation in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana with her sister, Emma and her husband, J. Foster Collins and with her sister, Belle.
MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL (ATLANTA, GA), June 9, 1863, p.2, c.8
"A spunky Girl.--A letter in a Northern paper says:"One of the houses destroyed by the Queen of the West on her trip down the Mississippi belonged to an old gentleman, (Nathaniel Chalfant) who, with his two sons(Charles and James)and daughters (Mary, Belle, Emma, Ann and Louisiana) carried on the farm and worked the negroes. One of the young ladies admitted that her brother had fired on the Queen of the West, and only wished that he had been a dozen. She abused the colonel and berated the Federals. When she discovered that her abuse failed to move Colonel Ellett, just as the flames began to circle around the house top, she sang, in a ringing, defiant tone of voice, the "Bonnie Blue Flag." until forest and river echoed and re-echoed."
The Bonnie Blue Flag by Harry MaCarthy
We are a band of brothers and native to the soil,
Fighting for the property we gained by honest toil;
And when our rights were threatened, the cry rose near and far,
"Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!"
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
As long as the Union was faithful to her trust,
Like friends and like brothers both kind were we and just;
But now, when Northern treachery attempts our rights to mar,
We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
First gallant South Carolina nobly made the stand,
Then came Alabama, who took her by the hand;
Next quickly Mississippi, Georgia and Florida,
All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Ye men of valor, gather round the banner of the right,
Texas and fair Louisiana join us in the fight;
Davis, our loved president, and Stephens statesman are,
Now rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
And here's to old Virginia, the Old Dominion State,
Who with the young Confederacy at length has linked her fate;
Impelled by her example, now other states prepare,
To hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Then cheer, boys, cheer, raise the joyous shout,
For Arkansas and North Carolina now have both gone out;
And let another rousing cheer for Tennessee be given,
The single star of the Bonnie Blue Flag has grown to be eleven.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Then here's to our Confederacy, strong are we and brave,
Like patriots of old we'll fight our heritage to save;
And rather than submit to shame, to die we would prefer,
So cheer for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
"Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River" by Steve Mayeux. This story is included as a footnote - footnote looks as of now, in my rough draft:
[6] Ibid. This was originally a Chicago Tribune article, dateline February 15, 1863, and can be also be found quoted in Moore, The Rebellion Record, Vol. 6, 387, and Gosnell, Guns on the Western Waters, 183 (Bodman account). According to family stories handed down over the generations, the man who shot Master Thompson was Charles Chalfant, the 25-year-old son of plantation owners Nathaniel and Caroline Burrows Chalfant. Charles had been discharged from the 2nd La. Infantry in 1861 for physical disability. In the Chalfant version, Charles' sisters Isabella (known as Belle, and described as "cold, haughty and regal") and Emma had the Yankees drag their piano from the house, and one played while the other sang "The Bonny Blue Flag" as the house burned. They also reported that in addition to burning the house, the Yankees also burned the gin, the sugar house, the corn crib and twenty-two slave cabins, and stole the cattle and "cut the feet off of little calves." Stories collected by Linda Ellen Perry and posted on the Internet.
Dear Ms. Perry,
For years I have been trying to identify the girl who sang "The Bonny Blue Flag" while the Yankees burned her home down after her brother shot an officer aboard the USS Queen of the West, and now thanks to your geneology site I think I may have her narrowed down. And I also now know the name of the man who shot First Master James D. Thompson. (He died a few weeks later, and is now buried at the National Cemetery in Pineville, LA.)
I am writing a book on the history of Fort DeRussy, and this incident played a part in the history of the fort - the Queen of the West was captured at the fort two days after the plantations on the upper Atchafalaya were burned. Since Captain Thompson was injured, he could not be removed from the boat so it could not be burned, and therefore it fell into Confederate hands.
Steve Mayeux
President, Friends of Fort DeRussy
MEMPHIS DAILY APPEAL (ATLANTA, GA), June 9, 1863, p.2, c.8
"A spunky Girl.--A letter in a Northern paper says:"One of the houses destroyed by the Queen of the West on her trip down the Mississippi belonged to an old gentleman, (Nathaniel Chalfant) who, with his two sons(Charles and James)and daughters (Mary, Belle, Emma, Ann and Louisiana) carried on the farm and worked the negroes. One of the young ladies admitted that her brother had fired on the Queen of the West, and only wished that he had been a dozen. She abused the colonel and berated the Federals. When she discovered that her abuse failed to move Colonel Ellett, just as the flames began to circle around the house top, she sang, in a ringing, defiant tone of voice, the "Bonnie Blue Flag." until forest and river echoed and re-echoed."
The Bonnie Blue Flag by Harry MaCarthy
We are a band of brothers and native to the soil,
Fighting for the property we gained by honest toil;
And when our rights were threatened, the cry rose near and far,
"Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!"
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
As long as the Union was faithful to her trust,
Like friends and like brothers both kind were we and just;
But now, when Northern treachery attempts our rights to mar,
We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
First gallant South Carolina nobly made the stand,
Then came Alabama, who took her by the hand;
Next quickly Mississippi, Georgia and Florida,
All raised on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Ye men of valor, gather round the banner of the right,
Texas and fair Louisiana join us in the fight;
Davis, our loved president, and Stephens statesman are,
Now rally round the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
And here's to old Virginia, the Old Dominion State,
Who with the young Confederacy at length has linked her fate;
Impelled by her example, now other states prepare,
To hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Then cheer, boys, cheer, raise the joyous shout,
For Arkansas and North Carolina now have both gone out;
And let another rousing cheer for Tennessee be given,
The single star of the Bonnie Blue Flag has grown to be eleven.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Then here's to our Confederacy, strong are we and brave,
Like patriots of old we'll fight our heritage to save;
And rather than submit to shame, to die we would prefer,
So cheer for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
Hurrah! Hurrah! For Southern rights hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star.
"Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River" by Steve Mayeux. This story is included as a footnote - footnote looks as of now, in my rough draft:
[6] Ibid. This was originally a Chicago Tribune article, dateline February 15, 1863, and can be also be found quoted in Moore, The Rebellion Record, Vol. 6, 387, and Gosnell, Guns on the Western Waters, 183 (Bodman account). According to family stories handed down over the generations, the man who shot Master Thompson was Charles Chalfant, the 25-year-old son of plantation owners Nathaniel and Caroline Burrows Chalfant. Charles had been discharged from the 2nd La. Infantry in 1861 for physical disability. In the Chalfant version, Charles' sisters Isabella (known as Belle, and described as "cold, haughty and regal") and Emma had the Yankees drag their piano from the house, and one played while the other sang "The Bonny Blue Flag" as the house burned. They also reported that in addition to burning the house, the Yankees also burned the gin, the sugar house, the corn crib and twenty-two slave cabins, and stole the cattle and "cut the feet off of little calves." Stories collected by Linda Ellen Perry and posted on the Internet.
Dear Ms. Perry,
For years I have been trying to identify the girl who sang "The Bonny Blue Flag" while the Yankees burned her home down after her brother shot an officer aboard the USS Queen of the West, and now thanks to your geneology site I think I may have her narrowed down. And I also now know the name of the man who shot First Master James D. Thompson. (He died a few weeks later, and is now buried at the National Cemetery in Pineville, LA.)
I am writing a book on the history of Fort DeRussy, and this incident played a part in the history of the fort - the Queen of the West was captured at the fort two days after the plantations on the upper Atchafalaya were burned. Since Captain Thompson was injured, he could not be removed from the boat so it could not be burned, and therefore it fell into Confederate hands.
Steve Mayeux
President, Friends of Fort DeRussy
Friday, July 25, 2008
Occoquan Workhouse and Women's Voting Rights
As we crossed the scenic Occoquan River on the way home, we decided to drive through the Fairfax County Park that runs along the bluff. We have visited the historic town of Occoquan, Virginia many times but had never gone into the park across the river. It was a beautiful drive through trees, picnic areas, hiking trails, scenic overlooks and sports fields. We came to a low domed brick building with a rusted metal door and barred openings a few feet off the ground. It was brick kiln which was used by prisoners the Occoquan Workhouse which later became Lorton Prison and now will reopen as an Arts Center. It jolted me to realize I was looking at part of the place of horror recounted in the story below. I do not know the author, as I found it on many sites.
"This is the story of our Grandmothers, and Great-grandmothers, as they lived only 90 years ago. It was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic."
They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie (2004) "Iron Jawed Angels." It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again."
HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Remember to vote."
"This is the story of our Grandmothers, and Great-grandmothers, as they lived only 90 years ago. It was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote. The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic."
They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie (2004) "Iron Jawed Angels." It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again."
HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Remember to vote."
Friday, July 4, 2008
Blessed 4th of July 2008 - John Witherspoon and Benjamin Rush
Please note that much of the blog information posted is not my orginial writing but is "cut and pasted from other sources."
On this 4th of July I am proud to be associated with Signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Witherspoon. We share the same ancestors, James Witherspoon (b. 1640 Scotland) and Helen Welch. I descend from their daughter, Janet and he from their son, James. The Witherspoons are descended from the Scottish Reformer Rev. John Knox and his second wife, Lady Margaret Stewart. The Stewart line takes the family back to Charlemagne, as royal lines are well documented.
"The Rev. John Witherspoon was from a branch of a very respectable family, which had long possessed considerable landed property in the East of Scotland. He was descended from John Knox. His father was eminent, not only for piety, but for literature and for a habit of extreme accuracy in all his writings and discourses. His father a minister of Ester, about 18 miles from Edinburgh.
He went to school at Haddington and was a distinguished scholar. He entered the University of Edinburgh when he was 14. At 21, he was licensed to preach the gospel. His first church was at Beith, he them went to a large, flourishing congregation at Paisley. He was a profound scholar, he held two degrees, Doctor of Divinity and L. L. D. He was a great theologian who organized the spirit of Presbyterianism in this country.
He came to America in 1769 to be the President of the College of New Jersey, now called Princeton University, from 1769 to 1794. His wife had to be convinced by Benjamin Rush who was studying medicine in Scotland and Richard Stockton to come to the U.S. John brought 33 valuable books with him as a gift to the College. (Benjamin Rush is another signer of the Declaration of Independence and an outstanding father of America. I will blog about him soon. It is fun that our excellent neighbor and friend of decades, Ralph Stevens, is his descendant.)
John preached two sermons each Sunday, taught mathematics, natural philosophy, divinity, rhetoric, history, chronology, and French.
He was elected as a member of the Congress of the United States and served for 7 years from 1776 to 1779 and from 1781 to 1782. He taught them the importance of basing any form of government on the recognition that our true rights come directly from the hand of God. His life work is a powerful example of the impact one person can have on the renewal of our nation's religious, moral and constitutional roots.
John Witherspoon was the Signer of the Declaration of Independence. He said, "There is a tide in the affairs of men - a nick of time. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to consent to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon your table should be subscribed this very morning by every pen in this house. He that will not respond to its accents and strain every nerve to carry into effect its provisions is unworthy of the name of freeman."
"Although these grey hairs must soon descend into the sepulcher, I would infinitely rather that they should descend thither by the hand of the public executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country."
"Sir, in my judgment the country is not only ripe for the measure (Declaration of Independence) but in danger of rotting for the want on it." When the British burned his library, a colleague reported, 'He would lay aside the cloth to take revenge on them, I believe he would send them to the devil if he could."
He was described as of medium height, tended to stoutness, bushy eyebrows, prominent nose, large eyes and a commanding presence.
Dr. Witherspoon was a dedicated patriot who held one of the most responsible positions in Congress as the trusted financial counselor for the new republic. He was an affectionate husband, a tender parent to his twelve children, a kind master and a sincere friend. He was a good companion full of amusing and instructive stories. He was a powerful minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ using his melodious voice, good sense, elegant and beautiful expression to give sermons without notes or oratorical flourishes and gestures. He was called by John Adams, "as high a Son of Liberty, as any Man in America."
JOHN WITHERSPOON AND THE FOUNDING OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, by Jeffry H. Morrison, Notre Dame, $22.50, was reviewed in The Washington Times Sunday, August 28, 2005. Morrison argues that any one of the Witherspoon's three careers - pastor, college president and politician - should have guaranteed him the "prominent and lasting place in American history that he has been denied." Witherspoon signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and, the author argues, only "a prior commitment to his ministerial duties" (attending to a conference to establish a national Presbyterian Church, where he was elected the first Moderator) kept him from playing a key role at the Constitutional Convention. He helped write the Presbyterians' national constitution, which "provides an interesting corollary to his pro-federal Constitution stand." Five of his students including James Madison were delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
Witherspoon was a man of many achievements in religion, education and politics.
Benjamin Rush decided to propose to his future wife partly because of her high opinion of Witherspoon's preaching.
Morrison states, "Even in his day some Americans were made uneasy by the idea of clergymen as legislators," and Witherspoon didn't make it easier for those Americans by insisting on wearing his clerical garb to the Continental Congress and composing religious proclamations in the name of that Congress. He was also accused of favoring "A general establishment of Protestantism," although the author argues that Witherspoon advocated nonestablishment.
Witherspoon, John (1723-1794), was the sixth president of Princeton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and from 1776 to 1782 a leading member of the Continental Congress. He came from Scotland in 1768 to assume the presidency of the college and held office until his death a quarter of a century later.
A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, who received an honorary doctorate from St. Andrews in 1764, Witherspoon had become widely known as a leader of the evangelical or "Popular Party'' in the established Church of Scotland, of which he was an ordained minister. The trustees of the College first elected him president in 1766, after Samuel Finley's death; but Mrs. Witherspoon was reluctant to leave Scotland, and he declined. Thanks very largely to the efforts of Benjamin Rush 1760, then a medical student at Edinburgh, she was persuaded to reconsider. Informed that Witherspoon would now accept the call if renewed, the trustees again elected him to the presidency in December of 1767.
With their five surviving children (five others had died in early childhood), and 300 books for the college library, the Witherspoons reached Philadelphia early in August 1768. When a few days later they moved on to Princeton, they were greeted a mile out of town by tutors and students, who escorted them to Morven, home of Richard Stockton. That evening the students celebrated the occasion by 'illuminating' Nassau Hall with a lighted tallow dip in each window.
Witherspoon had arrived in time to provide the highlight for commencement, which in those days was held in September. Early in October, he wrote Rush that on the preceding 28th he had delivered "an inaugural Oration in Latin'' before "a vast Concourse of People.'' He was obviously heartened by the warmth of his reception, but he also reported a number of disturbing conditions in the state of the college. He found far too many of the students inadequately prepared for college work, a complaint frequently heard since, and one that explains the close attention he subsequently gave to the grammar school conducted by the college. Most worrisome of all was the low state of the college's finances.
With characteristic vigor, Witherspoon moved immediately to find the remedy. Taking advantage of the vacation between commencement and the beginning of a new term in November, he went first to New York and then on to Boston for consultation with friends of the College. During the next fall's vacation, he visited Williamsburg, where, the Virginia Gazette reported, he "preached to a crowded audience in the Capital yard (there being no house in town capable of holding such a multitude) and gave universal satisfaction.'' The concrete measure of that satisfaction was a collection taken at the end of the sermon amounting "to upwards of fifty-six pounds.'' The following February found him again in Virginia, and this was not the last of his southern tours.
By no means the least of the advantages that accrued to the College from his itinerant preaching was an increased enrollment of students, whose tuition continued to be the major source of revenue. Enrollment had reached a peak under President Finley, with graduating classes of 31 each in 1765 and 1766, but had fallen off thereafter. There were 11 graduates at the commencement of 1768, but 29 in 1773, and 27 in 1776. Simultaneously, a change occurred in the constituencies from which the students were drawn. Now, as before, most of them came from the middle provinces, but the representation from New England, which had been substantial, declined markedly, and a significant enrollment from the southern colonies began to develop.
Not all of Witherspoon's preaching was done on the road. Indeed, when in Princeton he normally preached twice each Sunday to a mixed congregation of townspeople and students, which only recently had acquired a place of worship apart from the Prayer Room of Nassau Hall. Their church had been constructed at the front of the present campus, where stands today a Presbyterian church of much later construction. According to Benjamin Rush, Witherspoon's manner in the pulpit was "solemn and graceful,'' his voice melodious, and his sermons ``loaded with good sense and adorned'' with "elegance and beauty'' of expression. But Rush was impressed above all by the fact that Witherspoon carried no notes into the pulpit, in sharp contrast with the "too common practice of reading sermons in America.'' Other contemporary descriptions indicate that he depended upon no oratorical flourishes or gestures. The story is told of a visitor who, observing that Witherspoon's enthusiasm for gardening was confined to growing vegetables, remarked, "Doctor, I see no flowers in your garden,'' to which came the reply, "No, nor in my discourses either.''
To the day of his death, his speech revealed his Scottish birth. A man of medium height, tending toward stoutness, with bushy eybrows, a prominent nose, and large ears, he had a quality contemporaries were inclined to describe as "presence.'' One of his students, a later president of the College, recalled that Witherspoon had more presence than any other man he had known, except for General Washington. Witherspoon lived at first in the President's House (now called the John Maclean House), but after several years he moved about a mile north of the village to "Tusculum,'' a handsome residence he built that still stands on Cherry Hill Road. His route to and from the College is well enough indicated by the street that bears his name.
President Witherspoon was obviously a very busy man, for in addition to managing the College's affairs and preaching twice on Sundays, he bore the heaviest responsibility for instruction of the students. His "faculty'' normally included two or three tutors (recent graduates who may have been pursuing, in such free time as they could find, advanced studies in divinity before moving on to some vacant pulpit) and one, later two, professors. Considering himself less than an accomplished scholar in mathematics and astronomy, he secured the appointment of a Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1771. This left to the president the main responsibility for the instruction in moral philosophy, divinity, rhetoric, history, and chronology, and also in French, for such students as might elect to study the language.
Witherspoon's administration marks an important turning point in the life of the college, but the changes he made were mainly of method and emphasis within the broad objectives which had been originally set. Thus, he brought to Princeton a fresh emphasis upon the need of the church for a well-educated clergy, a purpose to which the college had been dedicated at the time of its founding, but by men who at the height of a stirring religious revival may well have given first place to the church's need for "converted'' ministry. There is no indication that Witherspoon discounted the importance of a conversion experience, but on balance he tended to place the primary emphasis on education. His influence in helping to bring about a final reunion of all Presbyterians, who earlier had been sharply divided, in support of the College was one of his major accomplishments.
The founders had hoped too that the College might produce men who would be "ornaments of the State as well as the Church,'' and Witherspoon realized this hope in full measure. His students included, in addition to a president and vice-president of the United States, nine cabinet officers, twenty-one senators, thirty-nine congressmen, three justices of the Supreme Court, and twelve state governors. Five of the nine Princeton graduates among the fifty-five members of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were students of Witherspoon.
Witherspoon broadened and enriched the curriculum of the College. He was the first to introduce the new rhetoric of the eighteenth century, accomplishing his purpose by extending and intensifying instruction in English grammar and composition. He added substantially to the instructional equipment of the College, especially books for the library and "philosophical apparatus'' for instruction by demonstration in the sciences, including the famous Rittenhouse Orrery acquired in 1771. (Our family is related to David Rittenhouse through his wife, it appears. The three great scientist of the Colonial era were David Rittenhouse, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Unfortunately, Rittenhouse has been forgotten except for Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.)
He was not an original thinker, but he was a product of Scotland's leading university in an age when the Scottish universities had a vitality possessed by no others in Great Britain. Although certain leniencies encouraged by the Scottish Enlightenment had offended his orthodox Presbyterianism, Witherspoon introduced to Princeton, and through it to other institutions, some of the more advanced ideas of that movement. He subscribed to John Locke's view of the role of sensory perception in the development of the mind, but vigorously rejected all esoteric interpretations of that view. He saw no conflict between faith and reason; instead, he encouraged his students to test their faith by the rule of experience. He was much inclined to apply the test of common sense to any proposition, and to reduce it to its simplest terms. In lecturing on rhetoric he advised his students of the multiple components into which a discourse traditionally had been divided, and then suggested that it was enough to say that every discourse or composition ``must have a beginning, a middle, and an end.'' His name is rightly identified with certain attitudes and assumptions, considered to be of importance in the development of our national life, that are associated with what is known as the Common Sense Philosophy.
Though a man of strong convictions, he showed no inclination to protect his students from exposure to ideas with which he disagreed. The many books he added to the library gave the undergraduate access to a wide range of contemporary literature, including authors with whom he had publicly disputed. In his famous lectures on moral philosophy, not published until after his death and then probably contrary to his wish, his method was to lay out contending points of view and to rely upon persuasive reasoning to guide the student toward a proper conclusion of his own.
Witherspoon had a helpful sense of humor. He suffered from insomnia, and his tendency to drowse, particularly after dinner, led him, during one of the two terms he served in the New Jersey legislature, to move that the daily sessions be concluded before dinner. When his motion lost, he informed his colleagues that "there are two kinds of speaking that are very interesting . . . perfect sense and perfect nonsense. When there is speaking in either of these ways I shall engage to be all attention. But when there is speaking, as there often is, halfway between sense and nonsense, you must bear with me if I fall asleep.''
In his support of the American cause there is no occasion for surprise. He subscribed to John Locke's political philosophy as wholeheartedly as to his psychology, and brought from Scotland a strong sense of "British liberty,'' which he came to see as greatly endangered by the course of British policy. When John Adams stopped over in Princeton on his way to the first meeting of the Continental Congress in 1774, he met Witherspoon and pronounced him "as high a Son of Liberty, as any Man in America.''
Through the years he served in Congress, Witherspoon's patriotism and judgment won the respect of his colleagues, as evidenced by his assignment to many committees, some of them among the most important. He struggled through these years -- not always successfully -- to keep the College in session, and he became a frequent commuter between Princeton and Philadelphia. He resigned from Congress in November 1782, when a war that had cost him the life of his son James (who graduated from the College in 1770 and was killed in Germantown) was ended, and peace, with American independence, seemed assured.
Witherspoon's later years were filled with difficulty. The college had suffered extensive damage to its building and instructional equipment, and its finances were in disarray. Two years before his death he became totally blind. His wife died in 1789, and a second marriage in 1791 to a young widow of twenty-four occasioned more than a little comment. Through these later years his son-in-law, Samuel Stanhope Smith, increasingly carried the responsibility for conduct of the College's affairs.
But through these later years, too, Witherspoon remained remarkably active and influential. He was a member of the ratifying convention that brought to New Jersey the honor of being the third state to ratify the Constitution of the United States. He contributed greatly to the organization of a newly independent and national Presbyterian Church and in 1789 opened its first General Assembly with a sermon and presided until the election of the first moderator. Above all, the name he had won as a divine, an educator, and a patriot brought returning strength to the College. He is rightly remembered as one of the great presidents of Princeton.
W. Frank Craven
From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).
Go to Search A Princeton Companion
* Dr. John Witherspoon, who wrote, "I entreat you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for there is no salvation in any other [Acts 4:12]...."
* Dr. Benjamin Rush, an innovator of mass-produced Bible printing, initiator of the Sunday school movement in America and founder of the first Bible society in our nation.
* John Dickinson, also a signer of the U.S. Constitution, who wrote in his will: "Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity."
On this 4th of July I am proud to be associated with Signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Witherspoon. We share the same ancestors, James Witherspoon (b. 1640 Scotland) and Helen Welch. I descend from their daughter, Janet and he from their son, James. The Witherspoons are descended from the Scottish Reformer Rev. John Knox and his second wife, Lady Margaret Stewart. The Stewart line takes the family back to Charlemagne, as royal lines are well documented.
"The Rev. John Witherspoon was from a branch of a very respectable family, which had long possessed considerable landed property in the East of Scotland. He was descended from John Knox. His father was eminent, not only for piety, but for literature and for a habit of extreme accuracy in all his writings and discourses. His father a minister of Ester, about 18 miles from Edinburgh.
He went to school at Haddington and was a distinguished scholar. He entered the University of Edinburgh when he was 14. At 21, he was licensed to preach the gospel. His first church was at Beith, he them went to a large, flourishing congregation at Paisley. He was a profound scholar, he held two degrees, Doctor of Divinity and L. L. D. He was a great theologian who organized the spirit of Presbyterianism in this country.
He came to America in 1769 to be the President of the College of New Jersey, now called Princeton University, from 1769 to 1794. His wife had to be convinced by Benjamin Rush who was studying medicine in Scotland and Richard Stockton to come to the U.S. John brought 33 valuable books with him as a gift to the College. (Benjamin Rush is another signer of the Declaration of Independence and an outstanding father of America. I will blog about him soon. It is fun that our excellent neighbor and friend of decades, Ralph Stevens, is his descendant.)
John preached two sermons each Sunday, taught mathematics, natural philosophy, divinity, rhetoric, history, chronology, and French.
He was elected as a member of the Congress of the United States and served for 7 years from 1776 to 1779 and from 1781 to 1782. He taught them the importance of basing any form of government on the recognition that our true rights come directly from the hand of God. His life work is a powerful example of the impact one person can have on the renewal of our nation's religious, moral and constitutional roots.
John Witherspoon was the Signer of the Declaration of Independence. He said, "There is a tide in the affairs of men - a nick of time. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to consent to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon your table should be subscribed this very morning by every pen in this house. He that will not respond to its accents and strain every nerve to carry into effect its provisions is unworthy of the name of freeman."
"Although these grey hairs must soon descend into the sepulcher, I would infinitely rather that they should descend thither by the hand of the public executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country."
"Sir, in my judgment the country is not only ripe for the measure (Declaration of Independence) but in danger of rotting for the want on it." When the British burned his library, a colleague reported, 'He would lay aside the cloth to take revenge on them, I believe he would send them to the devil if he could."
He was described as of medium height, tended to stoutness, bushy eyebrows, prominent nose, large eyes and a commanding presence.
Dr. Witherspoon was a dedicated patriot who held one of the most responsible positions in Congress as the trusted financial counselor for the new republic. He was an affectionate husband, a tender parent to his twelve children, a kind master and a sincere friend. He was a good companion full of amusing and instructive stories. He was a powerful minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ using his melodious voice, good sense, elegant and beautiful expression to give sermons without notes or oratorical flourishes and gestures. He was called by John Adams, "as high a Son of Liberty, as any Man in America."
JOHN WITHERSPOON AND THE FOUNDING OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, by Jeffry H. Morrison, Notre Dame, $22.50, was reviewed in The Washington Times Sunday, August 28, 2005. Morrison argues that any one of the Witherspoon's three careers - pastor, college president and politician - should have guaranteed him the "prominent and lasting place in American history that he has been denied." Witherspoon signed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and, the author argues, only "a prior commitment to his ministerial duties" (attending to a conference to establish a national Presbyterian Church, where he was elected the first Moderator) kept him from playing a key role at the Constitutional Convention. He helped write the Presbyterians' national constitution, which "provides an interesting corollary to his pro-federal Constitution stand." Five of his students including James Madison were delegates to the Constitutional Convention.
Witherspoon was a man of many achievements in religion, education and politics.
Benjamin Rush decided to propose to his future wife partly because of her high opinion of Witherspoon's preaching.
Morrison states, "Even in his day some Americans were made uneasy by the idea of clergymen as legislators," and Witherspoon didn't make it easier for those Americans by insisting on wearing his clerical garb to the Continental Congress and composing religious proclamations in the name of that Congress. He was also accused of favoring "A general establishment of Protestantism," although the author argues that Witherspoon advocated nonestablishment.
Witherspoon, John (1723-1794), was the sixth president of Princeton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and from 1776 to 1782 a leading member of the Continental Congress. He came from Scotland in 1768 to assume the presidency of the college and held office until his death a quarter of a century later.
A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, who received an honorary doctorate from St. Andrews in 1764, Witherspoon had become widely known as a leader of the evangelical or "Popular Party'' in the established Church of Scotland, of which he was an ordained minister. The trustees of the College first elected him president in 1766, after Samuel Finley's death; but Mrs. Witherspoon was reluctant to leave Scotland, and he declined. Thanks very largely to the efforts of Benjamin Rush 1760, then a medical student at Edinburgh, she was persuaded to reconsider. Informed that Witherspoon would now accept the call if renewed, the trustees again elected him to the presidency in December of 1767.
With their five surviving children (five others had died in early childhood), and 300 books for the college library, the Witherspoons reached Philadelphia early in August 1768. When a few days later they moved on to Princeton, they were greeted a mile out of town by tutors and students, who escorted them to Morven, home of Richard Stockton. That evening the students celebrated the occasion by 'illuminating' Nassau Hall with a lighted tallow dip in each window.
Witherspoon had arrived in time to provide the highlight for commencement, which in those days was held in September. Early in October, he wrote Rush that on the preceding 28th he had delivered "an inaugural Oration in Latin'' before "a vast Concourse of People.'' He was obviously heartened by the warmth of his reception, but he also reported a number of disturbing conditions in the state of the college. He found far too many of the students inadequately prepared for college work, a complaint frequently heard since, and one that explains the close attention he subsequently gave to the grammar school conducted by the college. Most worrisome of all was the low state of the college's finances.
With characteristic vigor, Witherspoon moved immediately to find the remedy. Taking advantage of the vacation between commencement and the beginning of a new term in November, he went first to New York and then on to Boston for consultation with friends of the College. During the next fall's vacation, he visited Williamsburg, where, the Virginia Gazette reported, he "preached to a crowded audience in the Capital yard (there being no house in town capable of holding such a multitude) and gave universal satisfaction.'' The concrete measure of that satisfaction was a collection taken at the end of the sermon amounting "to upwards of fifty-six pounds.'' The following February found him again in Virginia, and this was not the last of his southern tours.
By no means the least of the advantages that accrued to the College from his itinerant preaching was an increased enrollment of students, whose tuition continued to be the major source of revenue. Enrollment had reached a peak under President Finley, with graduating classes of 31 each in 1765 and 1766, but had fallen off thereafter. There were 11 graduates at the commencement of 1768, but 29 in 1773, and 27 in 1776. Simultaneously, a change occurred in the constituencies from which the students were drawn. Now, as before, most of them came from the middle provinces, but the representation from New England, which had been substantial, declined markedly, and a significant enrollment from the southern colonies began to develop.
Not all of Witherspoon's preaching was done on the road. Indeed, when in Princeton he normally preached twice each Sunday to a mixed congregation of townspeople and students, which only recently had acquired a place of worship apart from the Prayer Room of Nassau Hall. Their church had been constructed at the front of the present campus, where stands today a Presbyterian church of much later construction. According to Benjamin Rush, Witherspoon's manner in the pulpit was "solemn and graceful,'' his voice melodious, and his sermons ``loaded with good sense and adorned'' with "elegance and beauty'' of expression. But Rush was impressed above all by the fact that Witherspoon carried no notes into the pulpit, in sharp contrast with the "too common practice of reading sermons in America.'' Other contemporary descriptions indicate that he depended upon no oratorical flourishes or gestures. The story is told of a visitor who, observing that Witherspoon's enthusiasm for gardening was confined to growing vegetables, remarked, "Doctor, I see no flowers in your garden,'' to which came the reply, "No, nor in my discourses either.''
To the day of his death, his speech revealed his Scottish birth. A man of medium height, tending toward stoutness, with bushy eybrows, a prominent nose, and large ears, he had a quality contemporaries were inclined to describe as "presence.'' One of his students, a later president of the College, recalled that Witherspoon had more presence than any other man he had known, except for General Washington. Witherspoon lived at first in the President's House (now called the John Maclean House), but after several years he moved about a mile north of the village to "Tusculum,'' a handsome residence he built that still stands on Cherry Hill Road. His route to and from the College is well enough indicated by the street that bears his name.
President Witherspoon was obviously a very busy man, for in addition to managing the College's affairs and preaching twice on Sundays, he bore the heaviest responsibility for instruction of the students. His "faculty'' normally included two or three tutors (recent graduates who may have been pursuing, in such free time as they could find, advanced studies in divinity before moving on to some vacant pulpit) and one, later two, professors. Considering himself less than an accomplished scholar in mathematics and astronomy, he secured the appointment of a Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in 1771. This left to the president the main responsibility for the instruction in moral philosophy, divinity, rhetoric, history, and chronology, and also in French, for such students as might elect to study the language.
Witherspoon's administration marks an important turning point in the life of the college, but the changes he made were mainly of method and emphasis within the broad objectives which had been originally set. Thus, he brought to Princeton a fresh emphasis upon the need of the church for a well-educated clergy, a purpose to which the college had been dedicated at the time of its founding, but by men who at the height of a stirring religious revival may well have given first place to the church's need for "converted'' ministry. There is no indication that Witherspoon discounted the importance of a conversion experience, but on balance he tended to place the primary emphasis on education. His influence in helping to bring about a final reunion of all Presbyterians, who earlier had been sharply divided, in support of the College was one of his major accomplishments.
The founders had hoped too that the College might produce men who would be "ornaments of the State as well as the Church,'' and Witherspoon realized this hope in full measure. His students included, in addition to a president and vice-president of the United States, nine cabinet officers, twenty-one senators, thirty-nine congressmen, three justices of the Supreme Court, and twelve state governors. Five of the nine Princeton graduates among the fifty-five members of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were students of Witherspoon.
Witherspoon broadened and enriched the curriculum of the College. He was the first to introduce the new rhetoric of the eighteenth century, accomplishing his purpose by extending and intensifying instruction in English grammar and composition. He added substantially to the instructional equipment of the College, especially books for the library and "philosophical apparatus'' for instruction by demonstration in the sciences, including the famous Rittenhouse Orrery acquired in 1771. (Our family is related to David Rittenhouse through his wife, it appears. The three great scientist of the Colonial era were David Rittenhouse, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. Unfortunately, Rittenhouse has been forgotten except for Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.)
He was not an original thinker, but he was a product of Scotland's leading university in an age when the Scottish universities had a vitality possessed by no others in Great Britain. Although certain leniencies encouraged by the Scottish Enlightenment had offended his orthodox Presbyterianism, Witherspoon introduced to Princeton, and through it to other institutions, some of the more advanced ideas of that movement. He subscribed to John Locke's view of the role of sensory perception in the development of the mind, but vigorously rejected all esoteric interpretations of that view. He saw no conflict between faith and reason; instead, he encouraged his students to test their faith by the rule of experience. He was much inclined to apply the test of common sense to any proposition, and to reduce it to its simplest terms. In lecturing on rhetoric he advised his students of the multiple components into which a discourse traditionally had been divided, and then suggested that it was enough to say that every discourse or composition ``must have a beginning, a middle, and an end.'' His name is rightly identified with certain attitudes and assumptions, considered to be of importance in the development of our national life, that are associated with what is known as the Common Sense Philosophy.
Though a man of strong convictions, he showed no inclination to protect his students from exposure to ideas with which he disagreed. The many books he added to the library gave the undergraduate access to a wide range of contemporary literature, including authors with whom he had publicly disputed. In his famous lectures on moral philosophy, not published until after his death and then probably contrary to his wish, his method was to lay out contending points of view and to rely upon persuasive reasoning to guide the student toward a proper conclusion of his own.
Witherspoon had a helpful sense of humor. He suffered from insomnia, and his tendency to drowse, particularly after dinner, led him, during one of the two terms he served in the New Jersey legislature, to move that the daily sessions be concluded before dinner. When his motion lost, he informed his colleagues that "there are two kinds of speaking that are very interesting . . . perfect sense and perfect nonsense. When there is speaking in either of these ways I shall engage to be all attention. But when there is speaking, as there often is, halfway between sense and nonsense, you must bear with me if I fall asleep.''
In his support of the American cause there is no occasion for surprise. He subscribed to John Locke's political philosophy as wholeheartedly as to his psychology, and brought from Scotland a strong sense of "British liberty,'' which he came to see as greatly endangered by the course of British policy. When John Adams stopped over in Princeton on his way to the first meeting of the Continental Congress in 1774, he met Witherspoon and pronounced him "as high a Son of Liberty, as any Man in America.''
Through the years he served in Congress, Witherspoon's patriotism and judgment won the respect of his colleagues, as evidenced by his assignment to many committees, some of them among the most important. He struggled through these years -- not always successfully -- to keep the College in session, and he became a frequent commuter between Princeton and Philadelphia. He resigned from Congress in November 1782, when a war that had cost him the life of his son James (who graduated from the College in 1770 and was killed in Germantown) was ended, and peace, with American independence, seemed assured.
Witherspoon's later years were filled with difficulty. The college had suffered extensive damage to its building and instructional equipment, and its finances were in disarray. Two years before his death he became totally blind. His wife died in 1789, and a second marriage in 1791 to a young widow of twenty-four occasioned more than a little comment. Through these later years his son-in-law, Samuel Stanhope Smith, increasingly carried the responsibility for conduct of the College's affairs.
But through these later years, too, Witherspoon remained remarkably active and influential. He was a member of the ratifying convention that brought to New Jersey the honor of being the third state to ratify the Constitution of the United States. He contributed greatly to the organization of a newly independent and national Presbyterian Church and in 1789 opened its first General Assembly with a sermon and presided until the election of the first moderator. Above all, the name he had won as a divine, an educator, and a patriot brought returning strength to the College. He is rightly remembered as one of the great presidents of Princeton.
W. Frank Craven
From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).
Go to Search A Princeton Companion
* Dr. John Witherspoon, who wrote, "I entreat you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for there is no salvation in any other [Acts 4:12]...."
* Dr. Benjamin Rush, an innovator of mass-produced Bible printing, initiator of the Sunday school movement in America and founder of the first Bible society in our nation.
* John Dickinson, also a signer of the U.S. Constitution, who wrote in his will: "Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity."
Monday, June 2, 2008
Bats and Basements
Smile – This is from Lyn’s blog about our adventure. Photos later
The latest flood
Along with the bat story, below, my parents also woke up to a flood in the basement. Again. This time, a pipe burst. In the library. There are probably 16 fully loaded bookcases in there, so the carpet can’t be air dried very easily. Dad used their carpet cleaner machine to suck up water for about 5 hours. I pulled another 3 gallons of water out of the carpet too. The plumber finally arrived and it took about 2 hours to fix the problem. Apparently the carpet can not be salvaged, so strong men must be hired to pack up the books, move the book cases. Then Beth & Dad will lay a tile floor in there. Good choice!
Batmen and Robin
Somehow a bat got into my parents house yesterday. Their cat was very fascinated with trying to catch it and was tearing all over the house batting at it. Dad tried to shoo it out the window for a while, then it hid behind a bookcase. It finally took three grown men to catch the bat in a trash can with the clothes hamper lid. Here are the mighty bat warriors:Notice that Tim is wearing 'professional' protective clothing...a coat and gloves...so that he is not bitten or scratched by said poor bat.And here's the cute little fella before he flew away:
The latest flood
Along with the bat story, below, my parents also woke up to a flood in the basement. Again. This time, a pipe burst. In the library. There are probably 16 fully loaded bookcases in there, so the carpet can’t be air dried very easily. Dad used their carpet cleaner machine to suck up water for about 5 hours. I pulled another 3 gallons of water out of the carpet too. The plumber finally arrived and it took about 2 hours to fix the problem. Apparently the carpet can not be salvaged, so strong men must be hired to pack up the books, move the book cases. Then Beth & Dad will lay a tile floor in there. Good choice!
Batmen and Robin
Somehow a bat got into my parents house yesterday. Their cat was very fascinated with trying to catch it and was tearing all over the house batting at it. Dad tried to shoo it out the window for a while, then it hid behind a bookcase. It finally took three grown men to catch the bat in a trash can with the clothes hamper lid. Here are the mighty bat warriors:Notice that Tim is wearing 'professional' protective clothing...a coat and gloves...so that he is not bitten or scratched by said poor bat.And here's the cute little fella before he flew away:
Sunday, June 1, 2008
By George, She is a writer!
My favorite book in the whole world is, "The Bronze Bow" by Elizabeth George Speare (Nov. 21, 1908 to Nov. 15, 1994). I wrote letters to her many times telling her of my love for her books and the impact they had on my life but I never mailed them. They were too important to have end up on a publishers fan pile or trash instead of in her hands. She is rightly called one America's 100 most popular children's authors. Her books have received 2 Newbery Medals, the Newbery Honor Citation, the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and the Christopher Award. In 1989, Speare received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for her distinguished and enduring contribution to children's literature.
Elizabeth was born in to Harry Allan and Demetria George in Melrose, MA. Her childhood, as she later recalled, was "exceptionally happy" and Melrose was "an ideal place in which to have grown up, close to fields and woods where we hiked and picnicked, and near to Boston where we frequently had family treats of theaters and concerts." She had an extended family with one brother and many aunts, uncles, and cousins, and most importantly, very loving and supportive parents. Speare lived much of her life in New England, the setting for many of her books.
Speare discovered her gift for writing at the age of eight and began composing stories while still in high school. After completing her BA degree at Smith College, she earned her MA in English from Boston University and taught English at several private Massachusetts high schools. In 1936 she met her future husband, Alden Speare, (I imagine I would love their family histories. Sounds like he is an Alden descendant.) They married and raised two children; Alden, Jr., who was born in 1939, and Mary in 1942. Although Speare always intended to write, the challenges and responsibilities of being a mother and wife drained her of any free time. Speare began to focus seriously on literature when her children were in junior high school.
Speare's first published work was a magazine article about skiing with her children. She also wrote many other magazine articles based on her experiences as a mother, and even experimented with one-act plays.
Her first novel, "Calico Captive", was published in 1957. It tells of women and children captured by Indians in New England and marched to Canada to be sold as slaves to the French. In my family, we have a similar story of brothers who are stolen out of the fields in Texas and sold as slaves by the Indians to other Indians. "The Boy Captives" tells their tale. "The Witch of Blackbird Pond," tells the story of a young woman who struggles to adjust to her New England home after being raised Barbados. "The Bronze Bow", published in 1961, is a tale of Christ and a young Jewish boy's fight against the Romans. He learns that a bow of bronze will bend with love better than with hate. (Walden Media needs to do a film of it.) In 1984, "The Sign of the Beaver" my least favorite of her books was published. She wrote an interesting adult book on David Brainerd and the Christian colony of whites and Indians living together but I can find no references to it. She was a bright, articulate Christian who communicated her faith clearly to the secular world. She need more of her ability and grace.
Speare said, "it was always a thrill to watch some girl or boy discover for the first time the enchantment of reading and writing".
She died in Tucson, AZ at 85 years of age.
It is strange that there are other author's named, Elizabeth George. One is a speaker at women's events and television and radio programs. She worked for Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California. She also taught at the Grace Logos Bible Institute, Talbot Theological Seminary and The Master's Seminary. Her husband Jim taught and served as Talbot Dean of Admissions and Placement. Jim and Elizabeth's ministry is to create books for practical Christian living and personal Bible study. They have two married daughters and seven grandchildren, and live and write on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Washington.
The other George is Susan Elizabeth George, who is an American mystery author who writes about Inspector Lynley in England. The stories are also on BBC TV.
Elizabeth was born in to Harry Allan and Demetria George in Melrose, MA. Her childhood, as she later recalled, was "exceptionally happy" and Melrose was "an ideal place in which to have grown up, close to fields and woods where we hiked and picnicked, and near to Boston where we frequently had family treats of theaters and concerts." She had an extended family with one brother and many aunts, uncles, and cousins, and most importantly, very loving and supportive parents. Speare lived much of her life in New England, the setting for many of her books.
Speare discovered her gift for writing at the age of eight and began composing stories while still in high school. After completing her BA degree at Smith College, she earned her MA in English from Boston University and taught English at several private Massachusetts high schools. In 1936 she met her future husband, Alden Speare, (I imagine I would love their family histories. Sounds like he is an Alden descendant.) They married and raised two children; Alden, Jr., who was born in 1939, and Mary in 1942. Although Speare always intended to write, the challenges and responsibilities of being a mother and wife drained her of any free time. Speare began to focus seriously on literature when her children were in junior high school.
Speare's first published work was a magazine article about skiing with her children. She also wrote many other magazine articles based on her experiences as a mother, and even experimented with one-act plays.
Her first novel, "Calico Captive", was published in 1957. It tells of women and children captured by Indians in New England and marched to Canada to be sold as slaves to the French. In my family, we have a similar story of brothers who are stolen out of the fields in Texas and sold as slaves by the Indians to other Indians. "The Boy Captives" tells their tale. "The Witch of Blackbird Pond," tells the story of a young woman who struggles to adjust to her New England home after being raised Barbados. "The Bronze Bow", published in 1961, is a tale of Christ and a young Jewish boy's fight against the Romans. He learns that a bow of bronze will bend with love better than with hate. (Walden Media needs to do a film of it.) In 1984, "The Sign of the Beaver" my least favorite of her books was published. She wrote an interesting adult book on David Brainerd and the Christian colony of whites and Indians living together but I can find no references to it. She was a bright, articulate Christian who communicated her faith clearly to the secular world. She need more of her ability and grace.
Speare said, "it was always a thrill to watch some girl or boy discover for the first time the enchantment of reading and writing".
She died in Tucson, AZ at 85 years of age.
It is strange that there are other author's named, Elizabeth George. One is a speaker at women's events and television and radio programs. She worked for Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California. She also taught at the Grace Logos Bible Institute, Talbot Theological Seminary and The Master's Seminary. Her husband Jim taught and served as Talbot Dean of Admissions and Placement. Jim and Elizabeth's ministry is to create books for practical Christian living and personal Bible study. They have two married daughters and seven grandchildren, and live and write on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula in Washington.
The other George is Susan Elizabeth George, who is an American mystery author who writes about Inspector Lynley in England. The stories are also on BBC TV.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sojourner Truth - anti-slavery and for women's rights
Isabella Baumfree (1797–November 26, 1883) was the name she was given at birth, but God renamed her: Sojourner "because I was to travel up an' down the land, showin' the people their sins, an' bein' a sign unto them." She soon asked God for a second name, "'cause everybody else had two names; and the Lord gave me Truth, because I was to declare the truth to the people."
To me, she has the prefect name for a Christian living for Christ at the beginning of a new millennium. We are to see ourselves as travelers in a foreign land speaking out boldly for truth to ears that do not want to hear or be disturbed in the midst of their pleasure.
All of Sojourner's days of slavery were in the North not the South. She lived in New York, 95 miles north of New York City. Slaves were freed in NY on July 4th, 1827. She spoke only Dutch in her youth and carried the accent all her life. When she was 9 years old she was sold to John Neely who raped and beat her every day, she reported. She was beaten by others for her speeches and stand.
Reminiscences by Frances Gage of the Women's Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio, May 1851.
"There were very few women in those days who dared to "speak in meeting"; and the august teachers of the people were seemingly getting the better of us, while the boys in the galleries, and the sneerers among the pews, were hugely enjoying the discomfiture, as they supposed, of the "strong-minded." Some of the tender-skinned friends were on the point of losing dignity, and the atmosphere betokened a storm. When, slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner Truth, who, till now, had scarcely lifted her head. "Don't let her speak!" gasped half a dozen in my ear. She moved slowly and solemnly to the front, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned her great speaking eyes to me. There was a hissing sound of disapprobation above and below. I rose and announced "Sojourner Truth," and begged the audience to keep silence for a few moments."
"The tumult subsided at once, and every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly six feet high, head erect, and eyes piercing the upper air like one in a dream. At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in deep tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and away through the throng at the doors and windows."
"Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen (historians say she had five) children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?
Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or Negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it. The men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.”
--Sojourner Truth
Her last words were "Be a follower of the Lord Jesus." This is the best advice anyone could ever give!
William Wetmore Story, the son of famed Supreme Court Chief Justice, Joseph Story sculpted his "Libyan Sibyl" and it is said to be modeled on Sojourner Truth. It is on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. His "Angel of Grief" is one of my favorite statures, especially the copy in the Friendship Cemetary in Columbus, MS. My 5th great grandfather, Charles Story, is reputed to be from this family but I have found no connection.
To me, she has the prefect name for a Christian living for Christ at the beginning of a new millennium. We are to see ourselves as travelers in a foreign land speaking out boldly for truth to ears that do not want to hear or be disturbed in the midst of their pleasure.
All of Sojourner's days of slavery were in the North not the South. She lived in New York, 95 miles north of New York City. Slaves were freed in NY on July 4th, 1827. She spoke only Dutch in her youth and carried the accent all her life. When she was 9 years old she was sold to John Neely who raped and beat her every day, she reported. She was beaten by others for her speeches and stand.
Reminiscences by Frances Gage of the Women's Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio, May 1851.
"There were very few women in those days who dared to "speak in meeting"; and the august teachers of the people were seemingly getting the better of us, while the boys in the galleries, and the sneerers among the pews, were hugely enjoying the discomfiture, as they supposed, of the "strong-minded." Some of the tender-skinned friends were on the point of losing dignity, and the atmosphere betokened a storm. When, slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner Truth, who, till now, had scarcely lifted her head. "Don't let her speak!" gasped half a dozen in my ear. She moved slowly and solemnly to the front, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned her great speaking eyes to me. There was a hissing sound of disapprobation above and below. I rose and announced "Sojourner Truth," and begged the audience to keep silence for a few moments."
"The tumult subsided at once, and every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly six feet high, head erect, and eyes piercing the upper air like one in a dream. At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in deep tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and away through the throng at the doors and windows."
"Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?
That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen (historians say she had five) children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?
Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or Negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?
Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it. The men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.”
--Sojourner Truth
Her last words were "Be a follower of the Lord Jesus." This is the best advice anyone could ever give!
William Wetmore Story, the son of famed Supreme Court Chief Justice, Joseph Story sculpted his "Libyan Sibyl" and it is said to be modeled on Sojourner Truth. It is on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. His "Angel of Grief" is one of my favorite statures, especially the copy in the Friendship Cemetary in Columbus, MS. My 5th great grandfather, Charles Story, is reputed to be from this family but I have found no connection.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Family Women's Suffrage and Temperance leaders
I am proud of the strong women in my family history. I never have been able to understand the feminists and their version of history with helpless women who hated their family responsibilities. I work in the prolife movement as the director of a Pregnancy Center which seeks to assist women to affirm their bodies, their pregnancies and their children. We also provide healing through Jesus Christ to women to have made poor choices. Here are two distant relatives who helped women get the right to vote and who helped to protect their families from the troubles which come from the abuse of alcohol.
Zerelda Wallace is a great niece of my great grandfather, Nathaniel Chalfant. Corporal Nathan Chalfant served in the War of 1812 under her grandfather, Lt. Col. Presley Gray.
Copied from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Zerelda G. Wallace
Zerelda Gray Sanders Wallace (August 6, 1817 – March 19, 1901) was a First Lady of Indiana, a contemporary of Susan B. Anthony, an early temperance and women's suffrage leader, a charter member of Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Indianapolis, and stepmother of Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.
Early life and family
Born Zerelda Gray Sanders, August 6, 1817 in Kentucky , she came to Indianapolis with her family in the early 1830s . She was a charter member of the Church of Christ in 1834 (later renamed Central Christian Church) which went on to be the "mother church" of all Disciples of Christ congregations in Indiana. She was elected the first president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Indiana in 1874 and was a member of the Equal Suffrage Society of Indiana.
She married David Wallace on December 25, 1836; they had six children, Mary, Ellen, Sanders, Jemina, Agnes and David. She was stepmother to Wallace's three sons from his first marriage to Esther French Test. Her stepsons were William, Lewis and Edward. David Wallace became the sixth governor of Indiana, serving from December 6, 1837 to December 9, 1840.
Temperance and suffrage leader
Zerelda spoke nationally on temperance and suffrage. On January 21, 1875, she testified before the Indiana General Assembly, presenting 21,050 signatures on temperance petitions from 47 counties. (Do you see that petitions have a long and effective history?) On January 23, 1880, Zerelda testified before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on women's right to vote. She died March 19, 1901 and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.
Zerelda Wallace became a temperance leader first in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, when in 1883 she refused communion at Central Christian Church because of her convictions about alcohol. Her refusal eventually led to the use of grape juice rather than wine at communion celebrated during each worship service of the Disciples of Christ.
An Indiana State Historical Marker was erected in Zerelda Wallace's honor in 2004 along Fort Wayne Avenue in downtown Indianapolis on the grounds of the Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The marker is located on Fort Wayne Avenue, an angle street, in the block between Alabama and Delaware Streets. Indiana's first female lieutenant governor, Kathy Davis, led the dedication ceremony for the marker.
Caroline Thomas Merrick was the sister of my great, great, grandmother, Ellen Aurelia Thomas Miller. Here is a copied biography. The book that Caroline wrote in 1906 is available on line.
Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Person in Cyclopedia Form, Vol. 5, pp. 298 - 299.
Merrick, Caroline E., was a daughter of Capt. David and Elizabeth (Patillo) Thomas. She was born at Cottage Hall, parish of East Feliciana, LA., Nov 24, 1825, died in New Orleans, LA, 29 March 1908. Her father was a native of South Carolina and a soldier in the War of 1812, settling afterward in LA where he became a prominent planter.
Mrs. Merrick was secretary of the board of St. Ann's Asylum for Widows for 12 years, and in the constitutional convention of 1879 she with Mrs. Saxon petitioned the convention to remove those disabilities which restricted the independent action of women, and to grant them a vote in educational matters, since many were large tax payers. The convention gave them a public hearing, at which Mrs. Harriett Keating, of New York, and Mrs. Saxon spoke, and Mrs. Merrick made the concluding address. Her husband, Edwin Thomas Merrick - former Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, encouraged her to the undertaking which resulted in the concession which enabled women of 21 years and older to hold any managerial position under the school laws of the state.
Another constitutional convention was held in 1899 and another opportunity was afforded Mrs. Merrick and her associates to plead their cause. They begged for power for to sign notarial acts, to witness wills, to own their own wardrobes, to draw their own money from banks without written authorization from their husbands, and to exercise municipal suffrage. But the convention revoked the concessions granted in 1879, and gave in its place only the small privilege of voting when a question of imposing taxes came up, a privilege restricted to tax paying women. Mrs. Merrick continued to work for the enfranchisement of women in her own state and elsewhere. She was made honorary vice president for life of the Woman's Suffrage Association of LA when she resigned the presidency in 1900. For 10 years she was president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Louisiana, and was one of the first presidents of the Woman's general society of which she became honorary vice president.
She was the author of published stories of pronounce literary merit and of a volume of recollections of her own times entitled "Old Times in Dixie Land". She was a notable example of what a woman may do when actively interested in public and private benevolence, and at the same time maintain her position as a leader in domestic circles.
"She is clothed with strength and dignity." Proverbs 31:25a Hurrah for women who know their minds and speak them!
Zerelda Wallace is a great niece of my great grandfather, Nathaniel Chalfant. Corporal Nathan Chalfant served in the War of 1812 under her grandfather, Lt. Col. Presley Gray.Copied from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Zerelda G. Wallace
Zerelda Gray Sanders Wallace (August 6, 1817 – March 19, 1901) was a First Lady of Indiana, a contemporary of Susan B. Anthony, an early temperance and women's suffrage leader, a charter member of Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Indianapolis, and stepmother of Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.
Early life and family
Born Zerelda Gray Sanders, August 6, 1817 in Kentucky , she came to Indianapolis with her family in the early 1830s . She was a charter member of the Church of Christ in 1834 (later renamed Central Christian Church) which went on to be the "mother church" of all Disciples of Christ congregations in Indiana. She was elected the first president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Indiana in 1874 and was a member of the Equal Suffrage Society of Indiana.
She married David Wallace on December 25, 1836; they had six children, Mary, Ellen, Sanders, Jemina, Agnes and David. She was stepmother to Wallace's three sons from his first marriage to Esther French Test. Her stepsons were William, Lewis and Edward. David Wallace became the sixth governor of Indiana, serving from December 6, 1837 to December 9, 1840.
Temperance and suffrage leader
Zerelda spoke nationally on temperance and suffrage. On January 21, 1875, she testified before the Indiana General Assembly, presenting 21,050 signatures on temperance petitions from 47 counties. (Do you see that petitions have a long and effective history?) On January 23, 1880, Zerelda testified before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on women's right to vote. She died March 19, 1901 and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.
Zerelda Wallace became a temperance leader first in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, when in 1883 she refused communion at Central Christian Church because of her convictions about alcohol. Her refusal eventually led to the use of grape juice rather than wine at communion celebrated during each worship service of the Disciples of Christ.
An Indiana State Historical Marker was erected in Zerelda Wallace's honor in 2004 along Fort Wayne Avenue in downtown Indianapolis on the grounds of the Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The marker is located on Fort Wayne Avenue, an angle street, in the block between Alabama and Delaware Streets. Indiana's first female lieutenant governor, Kathy Davis, led the dedication ceremony for the marker.
Caroline Thomas Merrick was the sister of my great, great, grandmother, Ellen Aurelia Thomas Miller. Here is a copied biography. The book that Caroline wrote in 1906 is available on line.Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Person in Cyclopedia Form, Vol. 5, pp. 298 - 299.
Merrick, Caroline E., was a daughter of Capt. David and Elizabeth (Patillo) Thomas. She was born at Cottage Hall, parish of East Feliciana, LA., Nov 24, 1825, died in New Orleans, LA, 29 March 1908. Her father was a native of South Carolina and a soldier in the War of 1812, settling afterward in LA where he became a prominent planter.
Mrs. Merrick was secretary of the board of St. Ann's Asylum for Widows for 12 years, and in the constitutional convention of 1879 she with Mrs. Saxon petitioned the convention to remove those disabilities which restricted the independent action of women, and to grant them a vote in educational matters, since many were large tax payers. The convention gave them a public hearing, at which Mrs. Harriett Keating, of New York, and Mrs. Saxon spoke, and Mrs. Merrick made the concluding address. Her husband, Edwin Thomas Merrick - former Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, encouraged her to the undertaking which resulted in the concession which enabled women of 21 years and older to hold any managerial position under the school laws of the state.
Another constitutional convention was held in 1899 and another opportunity was afforded Mrs. Merrick and her associates to plead their cause. They begged for power for to sign notarial acts, to witness wills, to own their own wardrobes, to draw their own money from banks without written authorization from their husbands, and to exercise municipal suffrage. But the convention revoked the concessions granted in 1879, and gave in its place only the small privilege of voting when a question of imposing taxes came up, a privilege restricted to tax paying women. Mrs. Merrick continued to work for the enfranchisement of women in her own state and elsewhere. She was made honorary vice president for life of the Woman's Suffrage Association of LA when she resigned the presidency in 1900. For 10 years she was president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Louisiana, and was one of the first presidents of the Woman's general society of which she became honorary vice president.
She was the author of published stories of pronounce literary merit and of a volume of recollections of her own times entitled "Old Times in Dixie Land". She was a notable example of what a woman may do when actively interested in public and private benevolence, and at the same time maintain her position as a leader in domestic circles.
"She is clothed with strength and dignity." Proverbs 31:25a Hurrah for women who know their minds and speak them!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Prince Caspian
We went to see PRINCE CASPIAN yesterday. Movieguide gave it 4 *'s (their highest rating and +1 for acceptablity) and found it to be an exciting, fantastic epic in the tradition of LORD OF THE RINGS. (Like LOTR it is basically a war/battle movie with some good lines and beautiful scenery.) Despite some loose ends, it re-imagines the C. S. Lewis book’s story, which is about having faith in God through the Christ figure of Aslan. (Aslan does not appear as much in the film as He does in the book which is too bad.) Ultimately it is God who determines the future of Narnia (and of America). MOVIEGUIDE® commends the filmmakers for being faithful to the book’s spiritually uplifting, redemptive themes. They turned a complex plot into an exciting adventure.
I am a Christian
In recent days I have run across several versions of the poem, When I say, "I am a Christian."
Here is the original poem.
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not shouting, "I've been saved!"I'm whispering, "I get lost! That's why I chose this way"
When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't speak with human pride I'm confessing that I stumble-needing God to be my guide
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not trying to be strong, I'm professing that I'm weak and pray for strength to carry on
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not bragging of success,
I'm admitting that I've failed and cannot ever pay the debt
When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't think I know it all, I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not claiming to be perfect, my flaws are far too visible but God believes I'm worth it
When I say, "I am a Christian," I still feel the sting of pain, I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name
When I say, "I am a Christian," I do not wish to judge, I have no authority--I only know I'm loved. Copyright 1988 Carol Wimmer
Next is the version, incorrectly attributed to Maya Angelou, I posted in a letter sent to friends and family.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean livin'' I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride. I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong. I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.
When I say.. 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success. I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect, My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain.. I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou, I'm just a simple sinner Who received God's good grace, somehow!'
Graham Weeks posted it this way and said, "I received this from an Afghan Christian friend who is suffering for his faith."
When I say, "I Am A Christian - A Follower of Jesus Christ" ... I am not screaming that I am HOLY! - I am only whispering that I was lost and now I am found and forgiven.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not saying this with pride. I am only confessing that I slip and I am a sinner and I need Christ to guide me.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not trying to be strong. I only confess that I am weak and to continue my life I need His Power.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not proud of my achievements. I only accept that I have failed and need God to fix my life and my wrong doings.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not claiming to be perfect. My weaknesses and failures are obvious, but God values me.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not immune to pain and suffering. I have my share of pain and suffering, so I trust in His Name.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not saying I am holier than you. I am nothing but a sinner who has received the Grace of God - His forgiveness through Jesus Christ. "
I must say like Graham, I like the last version best and thank God I can say, I am a Christian.
This quote goes well with it.
For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is--limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death--He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it was well worthwhile.... Dorothy L. Sayers, Christian Letters to a Post- Christian World [1969]
Here is the original poem.
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not shouting, "I've been saved!"I'm whispering, "I get lost! That's why I chose this way"
When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't speak with human pride I'm confessing that I stumble-needing God to be my guide
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not trying to be strong, I'm professing that I'm weak and pray for strength to carry on
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not bragging of success,
I'm admitting that I've failed and cannot ever pay the debt
When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't think I know it all, I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not claiming to be perfect, my flaws are far too visible but God believes I'm worth it
When I say, "I am a Christian," I still feel the sting of pain, I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name
When I say, "I am a Christian," I do not wish to judge, I have no authority--I only know I'm loved. Copyright 1988 Carol Wimmer
Next is the version, incorrectly attributed to Maya Angelou, I posted in a letter sent to friends and family.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean livin'' I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride. I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong. I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.
When I say.. 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success. I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect, My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain.. I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou, I'm just a simple sinner Who received God's good grace, somehow!'
Graham Weeks posted it this way and said, "I received this from an Afghan Christian friend who is suffering for his faith."
When I say, "I Am A Christian - A Follower of Jesus Christ" ... I am not screaming that I am HOLY! - I am only whispering that I was lost and now I am found and forgiven.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not saying this with pride. I am only confessing that I slip and I am a sinner and I need Christ to guide me.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not trying to be strong. I only confess that I am weak and to continue my life I need His Power.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not proud of my achievements. I only accept that I have failed and need God to fix my life and my wrong doings.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not claiming to be perfect. My weaknesses and failures are obvious, but God values me.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not immune to pain and suffering. I have my share of pain and suffering, so I trust in His Name.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not saying I am holier than you. I am nothing but a sinner who has received the Grace of God - His forgiveness through Jesus Christ. "
I must say like Graham, I like the last version best and thank God I can say, I am a Christian.
This quote goes well with it.
For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is--limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death--He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it was well worthwhile.... Dorothy L. Sayers, Christian Letters to a Post- Christian World [1969]
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Bear Story
Today I would love to be a bear. This was an email I received from a cousin. The writer must have shared it as part of her Sunday School lesson. Forget the reincarnation junk and smile.
"Hey ladies! Several of you asked for the bear story from my lesson yesterday, (glad you go for the spiritual stuff ), so here it is...In this life I'm a woman.
In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.
Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.
When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.
If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.
If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.
Yup---gonna be a bear."
"Hey ladies! Several of you asked for the bear story from my lesson yesterday, (glad you go for the spiritual stuff ), so here it is...In this life I'm a woman.
In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.
Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.
When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.
If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.
If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.
Yup---gonna be a bear."
Thank you, Lady Bird
My daughter and I drove to North Carolina for the weekend, enjoying the wildflowers by the side of the highways along the way. Thank you, Lady Bird Johnson, for a great idea full of natural beauty. I would love to visit Texas and see the Blue Bonnets around the Lyndon Baines Johnson
Ranch when they are in bloom. I was hoping the Jenna Bush wedding photos had blue bonnets as a backdrop but I don't see any in the released photos. (Henry's father, Lt. Gov. John Hager, spoke at our Assist Pregnancy Center Banquet a few years ago.) I enjoy the beautification projects that Mrs. Johnson inspired here in the D. C. area as well. Here is an edited bio of my distant relative, Lady Bird.
George Alexander PATTILLO Birth: 1720 in Dundee, Angus County, Scotland Death: 9 Jun 1798 in Lunenburg, Charlotte County, Virginia
" George Alexander Pattillo, b. ca. 1720 in Scotland; d. 9 June 1798, Charlotte Co., Va. Married Martha Varner (Varnor, Vernon) of Penn. in Va., 1 July 1757. She was b. 1 Feb. 1735.
George came from Dundee, Angus County, Scotland to America with his brother, Henry Pattillo in 1740. George and his younger brother, Henry, had supposedly been in Penn. before moving to Va. They were closely associated with a large group of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who had emigrated about 1734, by way of Penn., to the southern part of Virginia. The group we speak of settled in and around Cub Creek, Charlotte Co., then Lunenburg Co. John Caldwell seemed to be the leader of this particular group as the area near Cub Creek was known as the "Caldwell Settlement"(His grandson was Vice President John C. (Caldwell) Calhoun.) They helped establish Washington College and now Washington and Lee University and Hampden Sydney College.
It was located near Phenix near the Red Hill home of Patrick Henry. In 1742, the first log church was built as one of the first 6 churches of the first Presbytery of VA and it was used until 1820. The church was established in 1738 on more than 30,000 acres on Cub Creek by the colony of Scotch-Irish. In May 1739, John Caldwell got permission from the Synod of Philadelphia to ask the Governor of Virginia "with suitable instructions in order to procure ther favour of the government of that province to the laying a foundation of our interest in that place and to ask for the Colony Liberty of Conscience and the priviledge of worshiping God in a way agreeable to the principles of our education."
William Caldwell executed a deed, 2 Apr. 1751, in Lunenburg Co., Va., for the conveyance of one acre of ground on his land for a burial place to thirty-one men in his neighborhood. Among these men whose families we find closely associated with the Pattillo family were David Logan, James Logan, John Middleton, Isaac Vernon (Varner, Varnon) and Henry Pattillo. (Va. Hist. Mag., Vol. XVIII, pp. 40-41)
I hope you note that my claims to be Empress have some faint historic facts to support them. :)
Ranch when they are in bloom. I was hoping the Jenna Bush wedding photos had blue bonnets as a backdrop but I don't see any in the released photos. (Henry's father, Lt. Gov. John Hager, spoke at our Assist Pregnancy Center Banquet a few years ago.) I enjoy the beautification projects that Mrs. Johnson inspired here in the D. C. area as well. Here is an edited bio of my distant relative, Lady Bird.
Mrs. Lyndon Baines Johnson was born Claudia Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas on December 22, 1912. She died in Austin, Texas on July 11, 2007 at the age of 94 and was buried beside her husband in the family cemetery at the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.
Mrs. Johnson's father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor, owner of a general store who declared himself "dealer in everything." Her mother, Minnie Pattillo Taylor, died when the little girl was but five-years old. She had two older brothers, Tommy and Tony. After her mother's death, Mrs. Johnson's Aunt Effie Pattillo moved to Karnack to look after her. At an early age, a nursemaid said she was "as purty as a lady bird" -- thereafter she became known to her family and friends as "Lady Bird." Mrs. Johnson grew up in the "Brick House" and attended a small rural elementary school in Harrison County, Texas. She graduated from Marshall High School in 1928, and attended Saint Mary's Episcopal School for Girls in Dallas from 1928 to 1930.
Mrs. Johnson entered the University of Texas in 1930 and received a bachelor of arts degree in 1933 with a major in history. She earned a journalism degree in 1934. Many colleges and universities have awarded Mrs. Johnson honorary degrees. Throughout her life, she supported and was very interested in the activities of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, both located on The University of Texas campus in Austin.
After a whirlwind courtship, Claudia Alta Taylor and Lyndon Baines Johnson were married on November 17, 1934 at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas. Two daughters were born to the Johnsons: Lynda Bird Johnson (1944) (Mrs. Charles S. Robb) resides in Virginia; and Luci Baines Johnson (1947) (married to Ian Turpin) lives in Austin, Texas. Mrs. Johnson had seven grandchildren -- one boy and six girls -- and eleven great-grandchildren. President Johnson died at his beloved LBJ Ranch on January 22, 1973.
Mrs. Johnson was the author of A White House Diary, a record of her activities which she kept during the years her husband served as the 36th President of the United States. About writing A White House Diary, Mrs. Johnson said, "I was keenly aware that I had a unique opportunity, a front row seat, on an unfolding story and nobody else was going to see it from quite the vantage point that I saw it." She also co-authored Wildflowers Across America with Carlton Lees.
In 1977, President Gerald Ford presented Mrs. Johnson with this country's highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom. Mrs. Johnson received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Ronald Reagan in 1988.
First and foremost, Mrs. Johnson was an environmentalist, and she was an active worker on innumerable projects. In Washington, she enlisted the aid of friends to plant thousands of tulips and daffodils which still delight visitors to our nation's Capital. The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 was the result of Mrs. Johnson's national campaign for beautification. In 1999, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt presented Mrs. Johnson with the Native Plant Conservation Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award. At that time he said, "Mrs. Johnson has been a 'shadow’ Secretary of the Interior' for much of her life."
Mrs. Johnson was honorary chairman of the LBJ Memorial Grove on the Potomac in Washington, D. C. On her 70th birthday in 1982, Mrs. Johnson founded the National Wildflower Research Center, a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and re-establishment of native plants in natural and planned landscapes. In December, 1997, the Center was renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in honor of Mrs. Johnson's 85th birthday. In December 1972, President and Mrs. Johnson gave the LBJ Ranch house and surrounding property to the people of the United States as a national historic site, retaining a life estate in the Ranch. Mrs. Johnson continued to live at the Ranch in Stonewall, Texas until her death. She was a member of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg, Texas.
George Alexander PATTILLO Birth: 1720 in Dundee, Angus County, Scotland Death: 9 Jun 1798 in Lunenburg, Charlotte County, Virginia
" George Alexander Pattillo, b. ca. 1720 in Scotland; d. 9 June 1798, Charlotte Co., Va. Married Martha Varner (Varnor, Vernon) of Penn. in Va., 1 July 1757. She was b. 1 Feb. 1735.
George came from Dundee, Angus County, Scotland to America with his brother, Henry Pattillo in 1740. George and his younger brother, Henry, had supposedly been in Penn. before moving to Va. They were closely associated with a large group of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who had emigrated about 1734, by way of Penn., to the southern part of Virginia. The group we speak of settled in and around Cub Creek, Charlotte Co., then Lunenburg Co. John Caldwell seemed to be the leader of this particular group as the area near Cub Creek was known as the "Caldwell Settlement"(His grandson was Vice President John C. (Caldwell) Calhoun.) They helped establish Washington College and now Washington and Lee University and Hampden Sydney College.
It was located near Phenix near the Red Hill home of Patrick Henry. In 1742, the first log church was built as one of the first 6 churches of the first Presbytery of VA and it was used until 1820. The church was established in 1738 on more than 30,000 acres on Cub Creek by the colony of Scotch-Irish. In May 1739, John Caldwell got permission from the Synod of Philadelphia to ask the Governor of Virginia "with suitable instructions in order to procure ther favour of the government of that province to the laying a foundation of our interest in that place and to ask for the Colony Liberty of Conscience and the priviledge of worshiping God in a way agreeable to the principles of our education."
William Caldwell executed a deed, 2 Apr. 1751, in Lunenburg Co., Va., for the conveyance of one acre of ground on his land for a burial place to thirty-one men in his neighborhood. Among these men whose families we find closely associated with the Pattillo family were David Logan, James Logan, John Middleton, Isaac Vernon (Varner, Varnon) and Henry Pattillo. (Va. Hist. Mag., Vol. XVIII, pp. 40-41)
I hope you note that my claims to be Empress have some faint historic facts to support them. :)
Friday, May 9, 2008
Happy 60th Birthday ISRAEL May 8 2008
Happy Birthday, Israel. May there be peace in Jerusalem and throughout the land. Israel turned 60 on May 8th on the Jewish calendar. "We salute the brave men and women whom God brought back to the Holy Land to fulfill the prophecies of Ezekiel 36 & 37 -- to rebuild the ancient ruins, make the deserts bloom, create an "exceedingly great army" and forge a homeland to protect and defend the Jewish people from all enemies, foreign and domestic." (Joshua Fund)
God says: "I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them a singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will most assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul." (Jeremiah 32:37-41).
I am old enough to remember the excitement many expressed in seeing prophesy fulfilled in the early years of the nation of Israel. Certainly I grew up with an expectation of the soon return of Christ the Messiah to the earth. My expectation remains but, hey, Christians in the first century looked for the Messiah too. I am praying for the success of Jews for Jesus' "Behold Your God Campaign" which is underway.
When we spent two weeks in Israel in 1970, we decided that Israel would be a country we would enjoy living in. As we came in to the airport at Tel Aviv, we were addressed in Hebrew repeatedly. The customs men would not believe we were not Sabra (native born) or that at least
we had relatives in the country. It was late on Friday afternoon and when we went to the taxi stand I was questioned as to why a "good Jewish girl" was traveling, as the Sabath was about to begin. I stated I was a Christian so the man spit on the ground stating, "Well, that explains it." It was a funny experience as I attended University High School in West Los Angeles, CA. The high school was nearly empty on the Jewish High Holiday days and we Gentiles used to say, "Unihi was 99 and 44/100% Jewish."
I loved seeing the sites where Jesus and other Biblical persons walked. Salvations history played out in time, space and history. Denny and I really enjoy the DVD's by Ray Vander Laan, founder of That the World May Know Ministries. You are see the places of Biblical history through them.
God says: "I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them a singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will most assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul." (Jeremiah 32:37-41).
I am old enough to remember the excitement many expressed in seeing prophesy fulfilled in the early years of the nation of Israel. Certainly I grew up with an expectation of the soon return of Christ the Messiah to the earth. My expectation remains but, hey, Christians in the first century looked for the Messiah too. I am praying for the success of Jews for Jesus' "Behold Your God Campaign" which is underway.
When we spent two weeks in Israel in 1970, we decided that Israel would be a country we would enjoy living in. As we came in to the airport at Tel Aviv, we were addressed in Hebrew repeatedly. The customs men would not believe we were not Sabra (native born) or that at least
we had relatives in the country. It was late on Friday afternoon and when we went to the taxi stand I was questioned as to why a "good Jewish girl" was traveling, as the Sabath was about to begin. I stated I was a Christian so the man spit on the ground stating, "Well, that explains it." It was a funny experience as I attended University High School in West Los Angeles, CA. The high school was nearly empty on the Jewish High Holiday days and we Gentiles used to say, "Unihi was 99 and 44/100% Jewish."
I loved seeing the sites where Jesus and other Biblical persons walked. Salvations history played out in time, space and history. Denny and I really enjoy the DVD's by Ray Vander Laan, founder of That the World May Know Ministries. You are see the places of Biblical history through them.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Veggie murder
In a culture which has little respect for the unwanted child in the womb, I thought this was a new low in craziness. With the thought expressed below, everytime you have a salad at a table with a floral arrangement you have become a mass murderer.
Switzerland Ethics Committee Calls for the Right to Life of PlantsBern, Switzerland (LifeNews.com) -- A group of Swiss experts are arguing that plants deserve the right to life and that killing them is morally wrong except when it comes to saving humans. In a report on "the dignity of the creature in the plant world", the federal Ethics Committee on non-human Gene Technology condemned the decapitation of flowers without reason. In a new article published in this week's Weekly Standard, bioethicist Wesley Smith opines: "Switzerland's enshrining of 'plant dignity' is a symptom of a cultural disease that has infected Western civilization, causing us to lose the ability to think critically and distinguish serious from frivolous ethical concerns. It also reflects the triumph of a radical anthropomorphism that views elements of the natural world as morally equivalent to people." Smith notes that once society began to diminish the view of the worth of human beings by abortion, euthanasia and other practices, it makes sense that scientists would push for the rights of plants. "Our accelerating rejection of the Judeo-Christian world view, which upholds the unique dignity and moral worth of human beings, is driving us crazy. Once we knocked our species off its pedestal, it was only logical that we would come to see fauna and flora as entitled to rights."
We went to see "Expelled" with Ben Stein today which pointed out that the acceptance of Darwin's worldview of the "survival of the fittest" was the basis of the eugenics movement in America, Germany and elsewhere. I was encouraged to see that abortion and euthanasia were shown to be an outcome of such thinking. Margaret Sanger and her Planned Parenthood continue the thought with abortion mills in black neighborhoods. Day Gardner, Lillie Epps and others protested at the DC PP last week. They stated that 39% of abortions are in the Africian American community which is 12% of the population.
May we properly appreciate and protect human life and value this beautiful creation from God.
Switzerland Ethics Committee Calls for the Right to Life of PlantsBern, Switzerland (LifeNews.com) -- A group of Swiss experts are arguing that plants deserve the right to life and that killing them is morally wrong except when it comes to saving humans. In a report on "the dignity of the creature in the plant world", the federal Ethics Committee on non-human Gene Technology condemned the decapitation of flowers without reason. In a new article published in this week's Weekly Standard, bioethicist Wesley Smith opines: "Switzerland's enshrining of 'plant dignity' is a symptom of a cultural disease that has infected Western civilization, causing us to lose the ability to think critically and distinguish serious from frivolous ethical concerns. It also reflects the triumph of a radical anthropomorphism that views elements of the natural world as morally equivalent to people." Smith notes that once society began to diminish the view of the worth of human beings by abortion, euthanasia and other practices, it makes sense that scientists would push for the rights of plants. "Our accelerating rejection of the Judeo-Christian world view, which upholds the unique dignity and moral worth of human beings, is driving us crazy. Once we knocked our species off its pedestal, it was only logical that we would come to see fauna and flora as entitled to rights."
We went to see "Expelled" with Ben Stein today which pointed out that the acceptance of Darwin's worldview of the "survival of the fittest" was the basis of the eugenics movement in America, Germany and elsewhere. I was encouraged to see that abortion and euthanasia were shown to be an outcome of such thinking. Margaret Sanger and her Planned Parenthood continue the thought with abortion mills in black neighborhoods. Day Gardner, Lillie Epps and others protested at the DC PP last week. They stated that 39% of abortions are in the Africian American community which is 12% of the population.
May we properly appreciate and protect human life and value this beautiful creation from God.
Max McLean Screwtapes Letters
It was amusing today to go to google and put in “Max McLean Screwtape Letters” and find that they had posted Beth’s comments on the show from her Blog. From blog to published on a Theater website as a review. I love it! It was also interesting to view the TV interview posted there. Please do watch it. I think you would all enjoy it and would get a sense of the production.
Last night in small group we watched a tape of Dean Jones in his one man show “St. John in Exile”. It is a wonderful and insightful view of John at 86 on the Isle of Patmos. So much for my theater reviews for today. Next is Beth from the Screwtape website -
"This afternoon, my mom and I trekked downtown to see Max McLean in his one (well, really two) man show of CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters. I can't think of when I enjoyed a trip to the theater more - it was seriously wonderful.Max McLean has always been a dramatic reader to me. If you get the chance to hear his CD of Jonathan Edward's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, do so. His voice and voice performance is amazing. But as Screwtape he was wonderful. And Toadpipe nearly stole the show - she was fantastic, not just as she scribbled down the letters, but as she became the personifications of the various illustrations Screwtape used in his letters."--Beth
This review by Perry (not me) was well word smithed and I wish I could write so well.
Usually, one-person shows stretch my patience, but this adaptation of C.S. Lewis's epistolary novel was a sinfully delicious exception. Scaling to an upper floor to St. Clement's Theatre, we look down on a wondrously appalling vision of hell, where His Abysmal Sublimity Screwtape has his efficient little office. McLean veers deftly between the various Screwtapes we encounter in his letters. Generally, he is avuncular in his correspondence with his unseen acolyte Wormwood as this junior temptor strives here on earth to recruit his first soul to the netherworld. Yet as Wormwood's fortunes shift -- along with his own -- Screwtape may rage, shrivel into unctuous servility, or reveal his primal cannibalistic core.Greatly enriching this infernal treat was Karen Eleanor Wight as Toadpipe, Screwtape's eternally silent personal secretary. Slithering on the floor to transcribe her master's dictation, slinking up a pole to post it, Toadpipe was a constant undertow of evil even when Screwtape himself was his most charming and provocative -- a Cirque du Soleil imp turned into nightmare. During those delicious instances when she bared her teeth, we realized that the servile Toadpipe was also a carnivore, hungrily dependent on her master's scraps."
"This afternoon, my mom and I trekked downtown to see Max McLean in his one (well, really two) man show of CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters. I can't think of when I enjoyed a trip to the theater more - it was seriously wonderful.Max McLean has always been a dramatic reader to me. If you get the chance to hear his CD of Jonathan Edward's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, do so. His voice and voice performance is amazing. But as Screwtape he was wonderful. And Toadpipe nearly stole the show - she was fantastic, not just as she scribbled down the letters, but as she became the personifications of the various illustrations Screwtape used in his letters."--Beth
This review by Perry (not me) was well word smithed and I wish I could write so well.
Usually, one-person shows stretch my patience, but this adaptation of C.S. Lewis's epistolary novel was a sinfully delicious exception. Scaling to an upper floor to St. Clement's Theatre, we look down on a wondrously appalling vision of hell, where His Abysmal Sublimity Screwtape has his efficient little office. McLean veers deftly between the various Screwtapes we encounter in his letters. Generally, he is avuncular in his correspondence with his unseen acolyte Wormwood as this junior temptor strives here on earth to recruit his first soul to the netherworld. Yet as Wormwood's fortunes shift -- along with his own -- Screwtape may rage, shrivel into unctuous servility, or reveal his primal cannibalistic core.Greatly enriching this infernal treat was Karen Eleanor Wight as Toadpipe, Screwtape's eternally silent personal secretary. Slithering on the floor to transcribe her master's dictation, slinking up a pole to post it, Toadpipe was a constant undertow of evil even when Screwtape himself was his most charming and provocative -- a Cirque du Soleil imp turned into nightmare. During those delicious instances when she bared her teeth, we realized that the servile Toadpipe was also a carnivore, hungrily dependent on her master's scraps."
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