The establishment of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Ballou Post # 3

After the end of the Civil War, many of the Union Army veterans joined branches (or posts) of the national fraternal organization, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). The GAR was formed in 1866 and at the peak of its popularity in 1890, the GAR had more than 490,000 members, all veterans of the Union Army. The GAR was immensely popular during its time and many of the veterans attended regional or national 'encampments'. The GAR founded soldiers' homes, and was active in relief work and in advocating for pension legislation. The organization was dissolved in 1956, when the last surviving member died. The GAR was succeeded by several other groups of descendants of veterans, the most popular being the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW). This is the official successor group to the Grand Army of the Republic. The SUVCW is still active with its mission of preserving the GAR, honoring Union veterans, and patriotic education. There are several allied organizations, including some for women descendants of Union Veterans.

I knew that my Great-Great-Grandfather, Zophar Skinner was a member of Ballou Post #3 of the GAR based in Central Falls, Rhode Island. According to one of his grandsons, Zophar attended many of the encampments and held positions as an officer of the Post. His obituary in the Pawtucket Times, 15 November 1926, page 6, states that

 "The ritual of the G.A.R. was read by Commander Henry Clark of the Ballou Post, G.A.R. As the body was borne from the house, former comrades representing the Ballou Post, G.A.R., the Prescott Post, G.A.R., and the State Department [of the G.A.R.] acted as a guard of honor." 

 Zophar died on what was then called Armistice Day (now Veteran's Day) on 11 November 1926 at the age of 83. I don't imagine there were many other veterans left in the post to participate in his funeral. The obituary states that Members of S.B. Hiscox Camp, No. 14, Sons of Veterans officiated in the firing squad and three volleys were fired as the casket was lowered into the grave.

What I found tonight while doing a google seach on "Zophar Skinner" was that he was actually one of the founders of Ballou Post!  Google books had a copy of an 1887 publication listing -

 "An Act to Incorporate Ballou Post, No. 3, G. A. R."

Acts, Resolves and Reports of the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Part I- May Session, 1886. Part II-January Session, 1887. State of Rhode Island, Etc., Office of the Secretary of State, July 1886. Published by E.L. Freeman & Son, State Printers, Providence, 1887.

Along with James Mulligan, Edson F Spring, Lucius F.C. Garvin, Nathan N. Knight, George W. Gooding, and B. Frank Bowen, Zophar was one of the founders of the Post.  It was established for "literary and charitable purposes" as set forth in the state statutes. The bill was passed during the RI State Assembly on 10 February 1887. Several other Rhode Island GAR posts came into being during the same legislative session.

Ballou Post obviously got off to a great start since a large advertisement was placed in the local paper in 1889, advertising the Third Grand Fair of the Ballou Post.

At the bottom of the advertisement, it says -

"Send $1.00 and your address to Zopher Skinner, Treas., P.O. Box 521, Central Falls, R.I., and receive a ticket in return."

I think I need to do more research in the Pawtucket Times and the Providence Journal to see who won some of these big prizes! I'm also interested in researching more of the history of Ballou Post as well as the other Rhode Island posts that some of my other Civil War ancestors probably joined.

Rescued Photo #5 - Clarence Sidney Verrill

When I was in Vermont last year, I spent an hour or so browsing at the Antique Center at Camelot Village in Bennington, VT. This shop is huge and is composed of many individual 'stalls' where all kinds of antiques are sold. 

I spent most of my time there looking thru old photos and was amazed at how many of them had identification written on the back. If only all my old family photos were identified! I bought a few that caught my eye and to see if I could identify the families of the individuals, and possibly to locate a living descendant who would like to have these photos. Please contact me if you are related to these people and would like the original photo.

Clarence Sidney Verrill
M. Moulthrop, Photo.
298 Chapel St.   New Haven, CT

"Clarence Sidney Verrill
3 years old May 6 -80
Taken June 10 - 1880"

From a quick search of records -

Clarence Sidney Verrill was born 6 May 1877 in New Haven, Connecticut. He was the son of Addison Emery Verrill and Flora Louisa Smith.  Clarence was the 5th of six children, and the 3rd son. Clarence's father, Addison was Yale University's first Professor of Zoology and later, curator of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Clarence married Dorothy Lord Maltby in California in 1906, and their only child, Rae Maltby Verrill, was born 2 September 1907 in Soulsbyville, California.

A biography/obituary for Clarence was found in the Bulletin of  the American Institute of Mining Engineers, issue 145, January, 1919, pages xlii - xliii, and available on Google Books. Clarence was a mining engineer and worked in many areas of the American west. He and his family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia around 1910 where Clarence opened an office as a consulting engineer. He died in a wreck of the steamship, Princess Sophia, on 25 October 1918 as he was returning from a mine visit near Juneau, Alaska. At least 343 people were on board the vessel when it struck a reef and all died in this disaster. According to the biographical sketch, Clarence is buried in Juneau, along with many of the other passengers.

Clarence's daughter Rae Maltby Verrill married Ralph Gordon McDiarmid in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1928. They had at least one son, Neil Verrill McDiarmid who was born and died in North Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1976 at age 42.

Girl Scout Memories

Thinking Day is coming up! Thinking Day is a Girl Scout and Girl Guide tradition which is celebrated on February 22 each year. From page 213 in my Brownie Girl Scout Handbook  -

Brownie Girl Scout Handbook
Published by the Girl Scouts of the
United States of America, New York: 1963

"On Thinking Day, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides, in every country have special thoughts of their sister Scouts and Guides in other lands. They do something special to show their friendship for them.

 Thinking Day is celebrated on February 22. Perhaps you already know this date as the birthday of our own George Washington. But February 22 is the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell and of his wife, Lady Baden-Powell;, too! Lord Baden -Powell was, of course, the Founder of Scouting for boys and girls round the world; Lady Baden-Powell is the World Chief Guide".

I was in Girl Scouts for around 6 years when I was a young kid. As I remember, I was a Brownie for two years, a Junior Girl Scout for three years and a Cadette for a year or two before I gradually lost interest as I moved into the middle school years. I know we celebrated Thinking Day in Scouts but I don't have any specific memories of it.

I loved Scouts when I was involved in it. I especially liked the Girl Scout summer camp I attended - Camp TeAta in Central Valley, NY.  I was a camper there for around 5 summers and they were great summers. I started off with two week sessions, and stayed for 7 weeks my last year. The last 3 weeks of that last summer I was in what was called 'Wilderness Unit'. We lived in tents (not the cabins the rest of the camp stayed in) out in the woods and cooked our own breakfasts and dinners over a campfire. This experience started my life-long love of camping.

One of my best memories of Girl Scouts were some of the trips we did when I was a Junior Girl Scout. During the three years I was in Troop 225 in Little Falls, NJ, we went on three separate trips to Washington, DC, Niagara Falls, and Williamsburg, VA. Up until a few years ago, it was the only time I had been to each place.

Wendy at the Lincoln Memorial, 14 May 1967

Wendy Grant and best friend, Wendy Sarafine
and charter bus to Washington DC

I found some old notes in my Junior handbook. We went to Washington DC on the weekend of May 13-14, 1967. We left Little Falls at 7 AM and arrived in Washington DC by noon. My notes said we went sight-seeing for 5 hours and went to the Wax Museum . We stayed at the Whitehouse Motel in Fairfax, VA. I remember epic pillow fights and many reminders from the troop leaders to quiet down. On Sunday we visited Arlington Cemetery (spelled Alarton in my notes), Mount Vernon, and somewhere I wrote as "Amtion Theatre". I have no idea where that was. Could it have been another name for Ford's Theater (where Lincoln was shot)? I think we saw that. Supper was in Washington, DC. We were scheduled to leave there at 6:00 PM and arrive back in Little Falls by 11 PM after a stop or two. It was a great trip!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Share some of your memories

Randy Seaver has a long-running blogging prompt - Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. This week's prompt is based on a keynote talk Judy Russell aka The Legal Genealogist gave at the RootsTech 2014 conference last week in Salt Lake City. I was not at RootsTech but watched her address recorded at this link. The link to Randy's post is here.

Here is Randy's task and my answers-
1)  Judy Russell asked six questions in her Keynote address at RootsTech to determine if audience members knew certain family stories about their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  She demonstrated very well that family stories are lost within three generations if they are not recorded and passed on to later generations.

2)  This week, I want you to answer Judy's six questions, but about YOUR own life story, not your ancestors.  Here are the questions:

a)  What was your first illness as a child?
I had to get out the baby book my mom made to look this one up. The first recorded illness for me was measles during the summer of 1962 when I was 6 1/2 years old. I am sure I had many colds and other mild illnesses before then too. Summers were rough for childhood diseases in my family. All three of us kids had measles, German measles, chicken pox and mumps during June and July and in 3 successive years in the early 1960s. Because of advances in vaccines, my children only had to suffer one of these - chicken pox. They got it a year or two before the vaccine was available.

b)  What was the first funeral you attended?
We did not have a lot of close relatives so the first funeral I attended was for my grandfather, Harold Veith, who died in December of 1978. I was in my last year of college and home for Christmas break.

c)  What was your favorite book as a child?

Holiday for Edith and the Bears - This was one of a series of books by author and photographer Dare Wright. Edith was a doll and the bears were stuffed animals. I vividly remember a photo of Edith falling out of a rowboat, after she and Little Bear went out in the boat without permission. The photo fascinated me - I am not sure why. 

After I learned to read and I was a bit older, my favorites were any of the books about the detective children in the series The Happy Hollisters by Jerry West.

d)  What was your favorite class in elementary school?
I'm not sure about this one. In general I liked school and I loved to read.

e)  What was your favorite toy as a child?
My doll who I named Merry Christmas. I was 4 or 5 when I received her (for Christmas, duh!)

f)  Did you learn how to swim, and where did you learn?
My brother and sister and I learned to swim at Lake Rickabear in Kinnelon, NJ. When I was in elementary school, my dad worked as an engineer at Curtis-Wright. An employee perk was membership at Lake Rickabear which I think was owned by the company. It was a great place to go when we were little, and I think my mom took us 3 days a week for swimming lessons. The lessons were taught by the lifeguards who were all youngish school teachers during the school year. I  remember thinking it was so strange that we called them by their first names during the summer. None of them taught in my school, but I was aware they were teachers.