A Gracious Gathering of Ladies Not Your Ordinary Daughters By TOM POLAND

Some of you old timers will remember when The Lincoln Journal published “personals.” No, not the scandalous boy-wants-to--meetgirl kind. I’m talking about the snippets that went something like, “Mr. and Mrs. John Doe had dinner with the Hugh Jackson family Sunday. They enjoyed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, English peas, and biscuits and had a nice time.” Remember those? I always found those to be down right entertaining. I miss them too.

In a case of throwback times, here’s my personal. “Tommy Poland spent a delightful afternoon with Curtis and Lydia McGill in Lawrenceville, Georgia Sunday. He and his daughter, Becky, and her children Will and Mary Beth and husband Mike visited with the Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 2:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. A good time was had by all.”

First some background ... The DAR, founded in 1890 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit, non-political volunteer women’s service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America’s future through better education for children.

A Certificate of Appreciation was presented to Tom Poland by the Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Now here’s some interesting and colorful information about the Winn Philadelphia Chapter. The Philadelphia Winn Chapter NSDAR was organized and chartered during the DAR Continental Congress on April 19, 1982, with twenty-nine organizing members. The chapter was named for Philadelphia Winn Maltbie, wife and daughter of men instrumental in the founding of Lawrenceville, the county seat of Gwinnett County, Georgia.

Philadelphia Winn was born on July 27, 1804, the daughter of Elisha Winn and Judith Cochran; the granddaughter of Thomas Winn, a Revolutionary soldier from Lunenburg, Virginia, and of Major James Cochran, a Revolutionary soldier from Jackson County, Georgia. In October 1817, having turned thirteen, she married William Maltbie, twenty years her senior.

While her father donated more than two hundred acres on which to build Lawrenceville, her husband is responsible for having named the town and its four main streets. Both men became prominent members of the county government.

Around 1850, Philadelphia set the pattern for the Ladies Temperance Society when she walked into a saloon on Perry Street (across the street from the courthouse) and, using a heavy walking stick, broke every bottle in sight. It seems she had told the owner “not to sell whiskey” to one of her boys, and he had failed to obey her. Philadelphia Winn Maltbie died on September 13, 1887.

The chapter had 43 original charter members. As of January 1, 2013, the chapter had 171 members and four associate members.

That’s a spirited history is it not? Now, the story behind the story of how I ended up talking to the chapter. A good many months ago Lydia McGill contacted me asking if I would come make a presentation to her DAR chapter and discuss the work I do writing columns, books, and magazine features about the South and in particular, Georgia and South Carolina. She added that any stories I had written concerning the Revolutionary War would be welcome.

I gladly accepted and went up a day before hand to spend time with Becky and her family. The occasion made a good opportunity to get in some family time. We arrived early Sunday so we could set up some book displays and my granddaughter Mary Beth helped the ladies set flowers and other accents on the tables. Becky talked with the ladies about her ancestors and soon she had an application to the DAR in her hands. Mary Beth, despite her young age, enjoyed the afternoon and not once did she fidget as children will do. She’s an exceptionally bright young lady and she makes me very proud.

I found the DAR meeting itself to be an elegant and formal affair. It opened with the American Creed, the pledge of allegiance to the USA flag, the pledge to the Georgia flag, and the DAR’s creed along with a prayer. Minutes and inductions were handled in impressive fashion. As I told the ladies at the conclusion of my talk, “You run a tight ship.”

The meeting was held at Ashton Senior Living in Lawrenceville, a wonderful center owned by the McGill family. Prior to the meeting, Curtis and I had the chance to talk about growing up in Lincolnton, playing for the Red Devils, taking part in track and field, and of course the Georgia Bulldogs. Curtis told of a recent experience he had with Vince Dooley and how he thanked him for giving him a chance to play for Georgia. “It changed my life,” said Curtis.

For me the afternoon really was a throwback experience. I can’t recall the last time so many people called me by my real name, “Tommy.” Lydia even presented me an official certificate of appreciation made out to “Tommy Poland.” The chapter also gave me a subscription to American Spirit, the magazine published by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Something like 110 people attended, almost all ladies, and I told the audience that the last time I faced so many ladies I had brown hair, was 24 years old, and teaching at a woman’s college.

I explained that were it not for The Lincoln Journal, I wouldn’t have been speaking to the group. Curtis takes the journal and reads my columns. He suggested to Lydia that they invite me to speak. It so happens my work has touched on several aspects of the Revolutionary War, so I was able to provide the ladies some comments relevant to their mission, which I’ll summarize here. I told the chapter about a coincidence in which I got to know a member of the famous South Carolina family, the Rutledge family. Malinda Rutledge inherited the letters, journals, artifacts, and possessions of the family that produced two notable men. John Rutledge helped write the Constitution and signed it and his brother Edward signed the Declaration of Independence. I shared a tale of marital woe in the famous family where the son of John Rutledge demanded a duel with a doctor who had dishonored him by being a bit too cozy with his wife. Rutledge shot the good doctor in Georgia near Savannah for a simple reason. He had long been campaigning to ban the “barbaric’ practice of dueling in South Carolina and it just wouldn’t do to duel there.

I also told the chapter about some of the things Malinda inherited and the amazing fact that she is not a member of the DAR. She sure should be! I told the chapter too about my youth when I loved watching Disney’s series, “The Swamp Fox.” My writing has taken me into the very swamps where the real Francis Marion hid out, and another writing assignment covered the stout but small and agile horses he and his men rode, the Marsh tacky. Today I am working on a book about Carolina bays, the mysterious swamps where the Swamp Fox often took refuge.

Material about the South I told them comes to me in one of three ways. I go out and find interesting subject matter; people come to me with subject matter as in the case of the Rutledge family, or I get lucky and stumble across it. That was the case with my “How A Mule Kick Killed Eight People” column, which I shared with the group. It came as no surprise to the ladies that Strom Thurmond was involved in this tale of woe.

In closing I told the group that a new book, Georgialina, A Southland, would be out and that it will contain some of the better columns and features pondering just how Georgia and South Carolina are changing. People love to read about the old days and much of the color of the past is in fact being drained away.

Before the afternoon ended I signed a good many books and found all in attendance to be gracious. I’m here to tell you that you just can’t beat the manners of a properly raised Southern lady.

The best part of the day was getting to reminisce with Curtis. Neither of us lives in Lincoln County but I can assure you we are still native sons. And let me add that in an era when it’s open season on values, traditions, and our American heritage, it’s gratifying to see people still paying respect to their ancestry and ways of life, and even more gratifying to see people who aren’t intimidated by the politically correct cowards who bully people into un-American ways. Long live the DAR say I, and may my daughter apply and gain admission.

Visit my website at www.tompoland.net

Email me at tompol@earthlink.net