July 2006, Volume 9, Issue 4
From the President’s Desk
Two-hundred and thirty years ago on July 4th, 1776, in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), the world’s history changed forever.
After a three-week recess, the Second Continental Congress reconvened on July 1, 1776. A Committee of Five, which had been appointed before the recess on June 11, was assigned the duty of writing a statement which recounted the Colonies’ arguments, grievances, and reasons why the thirteen colonies should be free and independent from Great Britain. The Committee of Five included: John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson. It fell upon Jefferson’s shoulders, though, at the persuasion of the other four, to write the document. Before the document was presented to the committee, Jefferson asked Franklin and Adams for their input. After incorporating their suggestions, Jefferson made a legible copy (a fair copy), which was given to the full Committee of Five for consideration, to which they made no alterations.
On July 2, 1776, the General Congress adopted the Lee Resolution, the adoption of which had been postponed from June 11. The resolution was presented by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee. In it, he called for Congress to declare the 13 colonies free and independent states. Directly after this, the Declaration was presented to Congress by the Committee of Five. For the remainder of July 2nd and all of July 3rd, and well into July 4th, Congress discussed, and made some changes and deletions to Jefferson’s document. Finally, in the late afternoon of July 4th, 1776, the church bells of Philadelphia pealed the news – the Second Continental Congress had adopted the Declaration of Independence!
In an era of time when the World Wide Web and Internet were never glimmers of reality, not even in Dr. Franklin’s imaginative mind, word of the Declaration spread with amazing swiftness. The final undertaking of the Committee of Five was to oversee the printing of the document. A manuscript, likely Jefferson’s “fair copy” with Congress’ changes notated, was given to John Dunlap, the official printer to the Congress. Throughout the night, Dunlap worked diligently at transcribing the manuscript and printing an unknown number of broadside copies. On the morning of July 5th, members of Congress quickly sent copies of the Declaration of Independence to the commanders of the Continental troops and to numerous assemblies, committees of safety, and conventions. One printed copy was entered into the Continental Congress’ “rough journal,” or record of events, for July 4th. The copy which was entered into the July 4th record has these words following the text, “Signed by order and in Behalf of the Congress, John Hancock, President. Attest. Charles Thomson, Secretary.” Other copies of the broadside were distributed and posted for public viewing near and far. Out of an unknown number of printed copies, only 24 are known to exist of the Dunlap broadside. The known copies are in the possession of 17 American institutions and two British institutions; five are owned by private individuals.
Finally, on July 9th, 1776, all 13 colonies were in unanimous agreement about the Declaration of Independence, when the New York Convention approved the July 4th action taken by the Continental Congress. Ten days later on July 19, Congress ordered that the Declaration of Independence be “fairly engrossed on parchment, with the title and stile [sic] of ‘The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America,’ and that the same, when engrossed, be signed by every member of Congress.”
The parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence,
which is safely protected in the U.S. Archives, is the copy which most of us
have etched in our minds. Timothy Matlack, a Quaker, was the engrosser who
handwrote the one and only parchment copy. He received the honor because he was
the assistant to Charles Thomson, the Secretary to the Congress. The piece of
parchment which Matlack used measured 24 ½ by 29 ½ inches. With quill pen in
hand and skillful longhand, he finished his assignment; at which point, the
parchment copy was taken before the Continental Congress on August 2, 1776 where
it was compared against Jefferson’s fair copy for mistakes. Finding none, the
minutes of journal say that the Declaration of Independence was then finally
signed by the delegates who were present – 29 days after July 4th!
This is one of the least known facts about the Declaration – it was not
signed on July 4th. The 51 delegates present on August 2nd
signed the Declaration that day. Five more delegates eventually signed the
Declaration, but several delegates who were present on July 4th when
it was adopted, never penned their signatures. Two of those men were John
Dickinson from Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston, one of the Committee of
Five. Dickinson thought that reconciliation with England was still possible and
Livingston believed it was premature to adopt the Declaration.
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| The National Park Service has established the National Underground Railroad network to Freedom Program which will “*promote programs and partnerships to commemorate, *preserve sites and other resources associated with, and *educate the public about the historical significance of the UGRR.” |
On January 18, 1777, Congress gave the order to print the second official copy of the Declaration of Independence. This time, a woman, Mary Katherine Goddard, of Baltimore, Maryland had the honors. Why Baltimore? Because during the war, Congress moved and reconvened in a number of cities; and at this point in time, it was headquartered in Baltimore. The first printing only carried the names of John Hancock and Charles Thomson. The “authentic copy” included all 56 names of the signers; and each state received a copy and each state was directed by Congress to enter their copy into the formal record.
The First Continental Congress had sent to King George III a petition for redress of the colonies’ grievances, to which he never replied. It was an obvious act of ignoring the “petulant” young colonies, children of their mother country, Britain.
Another little known fact is that the Second Continental Congress did not send a formal engrossed parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence to King George III or to the Legislature. No; in fact, the King and the Legislature learned about the Declaration the same way the American colonists did, and the same way the British Army stationed in the colonies did, and the same way the rest of the world did – by reading a copy of John Dunlap’s broadside that was issued on July 5th, 1776!
Through a series of serendipitous twists, it has been recently discovered here in the United States that England was not the first country abroad to learn of the Declaration. One of John Dunlap’s broadsides was carried on a ship, bound for England. Due to a fierce storm, it was necessary for the ship to take shelter in the port of Londonderry, Northern Ireland in August 1776. On August 27, 1776, only 52 days after the Declaration was adopted, The Belfast News Letter scooped England’s newspapers and printed the first news of and full text of the Declaration of Independence, as printed on Dunlap’s broadside!
Happy Fourth of July!
July/August Open House Exhibit
America’s first Baby Boomer, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, turned 60 on New Year’s Day 2006. She was born just one second after midnight on January 1, 1946. Depending on whose statistics one wants to believe, there are between 76 million and 79 million of us Baby Boomers out there.
At the end of WWII, 16 million GIs came home and within the next year, 3.4 million babies were born – an unprecedented annual birthrate, at that time. In 1947, the annual birthrate increased another million. The peak year for births was in 1957 when 4.3 million children were born. The last of those who can consider themselves part of the Baby Boomer generation were born in 1964, because in 1965, the birthrate fell below 4 million for the first time since 1946.
Unless they heard it from relatives, anyone under 40 doesn’t know what Baby Boomers mean by black and white, rabbit ears, snow, and test patterns nor do they know who said, “Aw, gee, Wally.” There was the American Band Stand and Dick Clark and Clark Kent, Jimmy and Lois Lane. The oldest of the Baby Boomers started school in the easygoing 1950s, and then experienced a wide range of political and societal events in the 60s. President John F. Kennedy “spoke” to many us when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” A lot of our friends joined the Peace Corp and did good and great things around the world. And, there is not one of the older Baby Boomers who do not remember exactly where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Then The Beatles invaded America and a revolution in music began; we could make a difference and change the world; the escalation of the Viet Nam War, the draft, and 58,249 names listed on a black wall (including five from Greencastle-Antrim); disillusionment with the government; “Don’t trust anyone over 30;” sit-ins; the Civil Rights movement, riots, and Resurrection City.
Do you remember Barney Fife, the Little Rascals; Gunsmoke; Saturday morning westerns with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and the Lone Ranger; Mr. Wizard; Lassie and Rin Tin Tin; M-I-C K-E-Y MOUSE; Miss Nancy and Miss Sally on Romper Room; “Say, kids, what time is it?;” transistor radios; the Nelsons and the Cleavers; I Love Lucy and Superman; or listening to the first-manned space shot over your classroom PA system?
During July and August the special exhibit “Life was Different in Black and White” will cater to the nostalgic memories of Baby Boomers. Among exhibited items will be an early portable TV set, a console radio, transistor radio, hula hoops, vacuum tubes, 1950s TV programs, and much more. See Calendar of Events for dates and times.
July Monthly Meeting
Because of health reasons, the July speakers had to be
rescheduled. Speaker TBA. See
Calendar of Events for date and time.
August Monthly Meeting
Tom Gerhart will speak about the “Underground Railroad in Franklin County.” More information will follow in the newspapers and via your postcard invitation to the meeting. See Calendar of Events for date and time.
Images of America Greencastle-Antrim Revisited
Bonnie and Ken have signed the contract for Images of America Greencastle-Antrim Revisited, which will be published in 2007, just in time for Old Home Week.
Antrim Township and Greencastle will be revisited with some of the old photographs which had to be edited from the 2004 pictorial history book and “new” old photographs, which have been given to the museum since the first book was published. In addition to the photographs already in the museum’s archives, we are still looking for more pictures, which are out there. The plans are to give additional focus to the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. We are looking for photographs of WWI veterans from the G-A area, favorite places or businesses in town to patronize, and businesses which no longer exist. We would also like to include more about the steam and gas engine companies of Greencastle. What’s in the shoeboxes in your closet? If you have, or know of anyone who has, old photographs, please contact us at 717.597.9325. Or, you may bring your pictures to the museum’s table during Sidewalk Sales Days and have them scanned, while you wait, on Friday evening, July 7 or Saturday morning, July 8.
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| Photographs, which have never been seen before by the public, such as the one above, are being sought for the next pictorial history book of Greencastle and Antrim Township. The photograph was taken by the late Harold Pensinger, and shows the houses in the section of West Madison Street as it appeared before the Route 11 bypass was built on the west side of Greencastle. These houses, on the south side of Madison Street, were razed as construction began. |
Annual Membership Renewal
Allison-Antrim Museum’s membership year runs from July 1 of each year through June 30 of the following year. Sometime during the first part of July, members will receive their annual renewal letter and applications. The membership fees for individuals and families are nominal, compared to membership fees of similar organizations in the area, and have remained the same since they were established in 1997, for the first membership campaign.
The board of directors sincerely appreciates the membership support of each and every member, whether student, individual, family, or one of the other categories. It will greatly help with record keeping and planning the budget for the coming year, if you so kindly return your membership application in a timely fashion before July 31. Through your continued support, you are helping to ensure Allison-Antrim Museum’s future.
What’s Been Happening
- Justin Wenger, a sophomore at Messiah College, has begun the computer cataloging of Allison-Antrim Museums collections. He is working this summer, in his spare time, on an internship which is required for college credits.
- All of the windows, louvered openings, and doors, and door jams are now in place in the west wall of the barn.
- On June 15, Heritage Roofing began replacing the museum house’s 60 something year old interlocking shingles and the original slate roof, upon which the shingles were nailed. The 12” wide 1860s boards, which were used as underlayment for the slate, were not removed. The new shingles are “architectural” and give the appearance of slate shingles. They come with a 50-year warranty.
Recent Acquisitions
- One white lawn wedding dress and half slip, a pair of ¾ length white kid gloves, one white cotton nightgown with hand embroidered stumpwork (a padded and raised style of embroidery), all of which belonged to Fedilia Metz who married Moddie Chamberlin on June 7, 1911. One “plain” dress with cape-pelerine and a waist apron all of the same material, one black crepe “plain” bonnet, all of which belonged to Rhoda Hollinger who married Lloyd Meyers. These two women were the maternal and paternal grandmothers of Nancy Meyers Pensinger, the donor.
- Eight small fruit/dessert bowls and one vegetable bowl, all in the Rosalinde pattern of china made by Haviland & Co., France. These china pieces match the set of Rosalinde china, which is displayed in the museum’s corner cupboard, all of which were a gift from Nancy and Red Pensinger. The china set was a wedding gift to the Pensingers.
- From AAMI member, Edward Beard, and his wife Sandy, two 8” x 10” oil paintings by the late Leila Hawbaker, and well known local artist and teacher of art.
Recent Inquiries
- AAMI member Gordon Crooks is seeking information on James Rody and James Johnston, two of the very early settlers in Antrim Township in the 1730s. He can be contacted at glcrooks@bcpl.net or by calling the museum at 717.597.9010.
- A descendant of Henry Hamilton, who was in this area about 1796, is looking for information about Henry Sr., or his two sons, Henry Jr. and William Hamilton.