Magazine article, exhibit honor Gen. Henry Knox

At 25, Henry Knox didn’t let his limited military experience prevent him from offering important service to the cause of the American Revolution.

From Dec. 5, 1775, to Jan. 24, 1776, Knox and the men from the garrison at Fort Ticonderoga in New York trudged through snow and ice to move 59 cannons and mortars taken from the British the 300 miles to Boston.

George Washington got the point, and Knox was vital to the rebel cause right up through the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

Lee Gimpel has a marvelous article, “At the Right Hand of History: The Legacy of General Henry Knox,” in the November-December issue of American Spirit, published by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. The magazine is available at some bookstores.

In Maine we’re familiar with Knox as the early nation’s first secretary of war, the man who came here and built a mansion, Montpelier, at the head of the St. Georges River in Thomaston.

His family was not able to maintain the mansion well after Knox died in 1806, and eventually it was torn down.

A replica was built nearby in 1929 by the Knox Memorial Association after a national campaign to raise the money, with a good amount of help from the DAR. Many of the KMA members were also Daughters.

In 1903, General Knox Chapter DAR placed a bronze plaque on the site of the original Montpelier, and a gorgeous photo of the event is included in the magazine article.

Interviewed in the article is Ellen Dyer, director of education and the Center for the Study of Early American History at the General Henry Knox Museum in Thomaston.

Also commemorating Knox are 30 markers put up in the 1920s on the trail along which he and his men brought the cannons in 1775-76. According to the article, the Hudson River Valley Institute hopes to restore the New York markers.

When I was in Washington last summer, I was pleased to visit a new exhibit that will be up for two years on Knox in the Americana Room at the NSDAR headquarters at 1776 D St. NW.

On display are a portion of 32 Knox items the DAR purchased earlier this year, including letters between Knox and family members, and a 19-page manuscript by daughter Lucy Knox Thatcher. The exhibit is open to the public by appointment. Visit the DAR Web site at www.dar.org.

As close as I can tell, three women joined DAR through the Lucy Thatcher line to Gen. Henry Knox, but none that I could find in recent years. Perhaps the new attention to Knox and his contributions will prompt more of his descendants to join.

Each issue of American Spirit includes an article on one of the crafts. This issue, it’s “Braided Rugs: Homespun Works of Art,” by Phyllis McIntosh.

I remember well my grandmother, Edith Roberts Steeves, braiding rugs.

Those interviewed – and pictured – in the issue include Nancy Young of Augusta, who has taught rug braiding to people from Switzerland, Australia and a sixth-grade class in Augusta, among others.

Also in this issue of American Spirit are “Penning a Family Narrative” and “Petticoats in the Pulpit,” about women preachers.

Subscriptions to the magazine are $18 for one year, $34 for two years, or $48 for three years, sent to American Spirit, 1776 D St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20006-5303.

A recent member of DAR in Maine was Honorary State Regent Dorothy Winsor Wilbur of Rhode Island, who joined on the service of Isaac Winsor in 1950.

A longtime member of Pettaquamscutt Chapter in North Kingstown, R.I., she had joined Frances Dighton Williams Chapter in Bangor after moving to Brewer to live near family.

Dorothy passed away on Nov. 1, but we remember her fondly as an active DAR member to the last. Even at 90, she came to chapter meetings regularly and had traveled to Indianapolis this summer to the world conference of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. That’s what I call young at heart.

The meeting of the Penobscot County Genealogy Society at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 21, at Bangor Public Library, will feature John Van Dyke speaking on “The Master Genealogist,” an introduction to the capabilities of this genealogical software.

Perhaps you’ll pick up a new tip or idea on how to improve your use of whatever genealogical software you use. Everyone is welcome.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail queries to familyti@bangordailynews.net.