Saturday May 19, 2012

Best Western Suites 907 Holcomb Bridge Road Roswell, Georgia

(The Best Western is next door to the hotel where we normally meet)
8:00 am Breakfast
8:30 am Meeting

GASSAR President Ed Rigel, Sr. will present

“Georgia’s Reluctant Rebels

BIO – Ed Rigel Sr.

Ed Rigel, Sr. grew up in Atlanta.  He graduated from Emory College, Emory University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Anesthesiology at Emory University Affiliated Hospitals before joining the practice of Anesthesia Associates of Gainesville in 1977.  He served as Chief of the Medical Staff in 1994 and retired in 2006.

Ed has been active in the Boy Scouts for over 20 years and remains active in the Order of the Arrow and the Council Properties Committee.  He served on the Board of United Way of Hall County, as Trustee for Gainesville Elks Lodge #1126, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Crawford W. Long Museum in Jefferson.  He is a member of Gainesville First United Methodist Church.  He is a Master Gardener and a Master Naturalist.

He has been married to Joan Sidelinger for almost 40 years.  Their son, Ed Jr., lives in Cumming and works in information security.  Their daughter, Rebecca Donald, is married to a Methodist minister and lives in Charlottesville, VA.  She is in her first year of medical school at UVA School of Medicine.

Ed became a member of the National Society Sons of the American Revolution in 2007.  He is currently serving as President of the Lyman Hall Chapter in Gainesville, as President of the Georgia State Society SAR, and as Commander of the Georgia Society SAR Color Guard.  He is Vice Chairman of the National Society Eagle Scout Committee and is a member of the National Color Guard and Historic Sites and Celebrations Committees.

Saturday April 21, 2012

Holiday Inn 909 Holcomb Bridge Road Roswell, Georgia
8:00 am Breakfast
8:30 am Meeting

Don L. Shadburn will present

“Tories Among Cherokees in North Georgia in Revolutionary War Years”

BIO – Don L. Shadburn

Don L. Shadburn, a retired middle-school science teacher, is a native of Forsyth County, born in Cumming.  He began historical and genealogical research in 1969 on the county’s non-Indian pioneers and families of Cherokee blood, following three years of intensive research on his paternal and maternal ancestors.  Thus far his research has resulted in the publication of six book titles in his Pioneer-Cherokee Heritage Series: Pioneer History of Forsyth County, Georgia (1981); Cherokee Planters in Georgia 1832-1838 (1989); Unhallowed Intrusion: A history of Cherokee Families in Forsyth County, Georgia (1993); Crimson and Sabres: A Confederate Record of Forsyth County, Georgia (1997, with Ted O. Brooke); Blood Kin: Pioneer Chronicles of Upper Georgia Centered in Forsyth County (1999); and The Cottonpatch Chronicles: Reflections on Cherokee History, People, Places, and Events in Forsyth County, Georgia (2003).

In 1971 he was instrumental in organizing the Forsyth County Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc., and served as president of the organization for the next ten years.  Over the next decade he conducted independent research projects and performed research tasks for individuals tasks for individuals upon request in most continental states.

In 1980 he was appointed the county’s official historian by a resolution adopted by the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.  The following year he completed and published the county’s first comprehensive history, Unhallowed Intrusion,  resulting from more than two decades of research among county and archival sources as well as correspondence among descendants nationwide, in 1995 received the first Lilla Mills Hawes Award presented to an author by the Georgia Historical Society. Cherokee Planters in Georgia is the only book written on Georgia’s Cherokee citizens and on a grassroots level and a county-by-county basis.

His books have sold nationwide and in several foreign countries (e.g., England, France, Japan, and Australia).  Each title has been reproduced on microfilm and microfiche by the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, for distribution among their regional library centers.

Shadburn, in addition to writing, publishing, and marketing his books, has contributed feature articles to a number of periodicals in the past three decades, including The Chronicles of Oklahoma, North Georgia Journal, Georgia Magazine, Outdoors in Georgia, and Genealogy Today.  He wrote a series of historical features for The Forsyth County News in 1973 and again in 1996, under the titles “The Cottonpatch Chronicles” and “Speaking of History.”  He is currently writing another book on Cherokee history and genealogy titled, Cherokee Kindred in Georgia (Vol. 7), which will be a continuation or extension of Unhallowed Intrusion, and a manual on the county’s heritage, Speaking of History: A Handbook on the Pioneer, Cherokee and Confederate Heritage of Forsyth County, Georgia.

He serves at times as a consultant to the Georgia Chapter of the National Trail of Tears Association (NTTA).  Recently he was made a Lifetime Honorary Member of the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama in recognition for his scholarly work on the Cherokee people of Georgia.

Shadburn is recognized today around the country not only as a leading historian and genealogist, but as a chief research authority on Georgia families of Cherokee blood.

Saturday March 17, 2012

Holiday Inn 909 Holcomb Bridge Road Roswell, Georgia
8:00 am Breakfast
8:30 am Meeting

Joseph Kitchens will present

“Testing Your Knowledge of Georgia History“

BIO – Joseph H. Kitchens

Born in Burke County, Georgia, Joseph H. Kitchens is a graduate of the University of West Georgia and holds the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from the University of Georgia.

He served as Professor of History at Georgia Southwestern State University before beginning a career in museum management. In 1983, he was invited to become the founding Executive Director of Pebble Hill Plantation Museum in Thomasville, Georgia, and is currently Executive Director of the Funk Heritage Center at Reinhardt College.

The Heritage Center is the “Official Georgia Frontier and Southeastern Indian Interpretive Center” and its programming includes Native American and Appalachian culture and history. The Center’s exhibits include the Margaret Rogers Contemporary Native American Art collection and the historic tool collection assembled by collectors Alan and Louise Sellars of Marietta. Nearly 90,000 people have visited the Center and many more have participated in its special programs and events, including the Georgia History Timeline held every October, where area students meet historical figures such as Oglethorpe, Tomochichi, Sequoyah and De Soto.

In 2005, Dr. Kitchens was chosen “Museum Professional of the Year” by the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries. His publications include two books: Quail Plantations of South Georgia and North Florida which explores the little known world of the more than seventy family enclaves in the Thomasville-Tallahassee area and their sporting-life traditions; and,   a look at the legacy of the slave system entitled Generations; the Story of Albany.  He is the author of more than ninety magazine and newspaper articles about Georgia history and life.

Joe and his wife Karen live in Tate, Georgia with their Labrador Retriever “Peachie.”

2012 Feb 18, 18th Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet

 The Piedmont Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution request the  pleasure of the company of Members and their guest at the 18th Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet & George Washington Birthday Celebration
Saturday 18 February 2012 at 6 pm
Holiday Inn
909 Holcomb Bridge Road
Roswell, Georgia
$35.00 per person
Dress: Business, Kilt or Uniform

 Our guest speaker will be The Honorable Bob Barr and his topic will be:

 “CONSTITUTIONAL DISSEVERANCE – Weakening the Constitution by Executive Power Grabs and Congressional Acquiescence”

Bob Barr represented the 7^th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, and now practices law in Atlanta, Georgia.   He also serves Of Counsel with the Law Offices of Edwin Marger in Jasper, Georgia. Congressman Barr runs a consulting firm, Liberty Strategies, Inc., also headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.  He is a registered Mediator and Arbitrator.

From 2003 to 2008, he occupied the 21^st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy at the American Conservative Union. He is a member of The Constitution Project’s Initiative on Liberty and Security.  From 2003 to 2005 Bob was a member of a project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government addressing matters of privacy and security.  Barr serves as a board member for Privacy International, a privacy watchdog group headquartered in London. Recognizing Bob Barr’s leadership in privacy matters, former New York Times columnist William Safire called him “Mr. Privacy.” Barr was the Libertarian Party nominee for President in 2008.

Bob serves on the board of directors for the National Rifle Association, and is on the advisory board for 1Force, a company providing domestic and international security. Bob also is a member of the Cobb County Citizens Oversight Committee and the Georgia Public Safety Commission. He is a national officer for Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity.

Bob has appeared on virtually every major cable and network television program dealing with public policy matters, and has served as a regular contributor for CNN.  He writes regularly for The Daily Caller, and has been a columnist and blogger for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.   Congressman Barr writes occasional pieces for other publications as well, and has hosted a nationally-syndicated weekly radio show.  He is the author of three books: “The Meaning of Is: The Squandered Impeachment and Wasted Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton,” “Patriot Nation: Bob Barr’s Laws of the Universe Volume One,” and “Lessons in Liberty.”  He is a member of the board of advisors for The Texas Review of Law and Politics at the University of Texas Law School; and he teaches constitutional law at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School.

Bob was appointed by President Reagan as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia (1986-90), and served as President of Southeastern Legal Foundation (1990-91).  He was an official with the CIA from 1971-78.  Additionally, he has served as an official member of the U.S. delegation at several United Nations conferences on firearms.

Bob Barr was awarded his law degree from Georgetown University; his master’s degree from The George Washington University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California. He and his wife Jeri live just outside Atlanta, Georgia.

Barr is listed with the All American Speakers Bureau (www.allamericanspeakers.com).

Saturday January 21, 2012

Holiday Inn 909 Holcomb Bridge Road Roswell, Georgia
8:00 am Breakfast
8:30 am Meeting

Alan Bowen will present

“The Campaign and Battle of Kings Mountain”

The Battle of Kings Mountain was a decisive battle between the Patriot and Loyalist militias in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The actual battle took place on October 7 1780, nine miles south of the present-day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina in rural York County, South Carolina, where the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalist forces commanded by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot.

Ferguson had arrived in North Carolina in early September 1780 with the purpose of recruiting for the Loyalist militia and protecting the flank of Lord Cornwallis’ main force. Ferguson issued a challenge to the rebel militias to lay down their arms or suffer the consequences; in response, the Patriot militias led by James Johnston, William Campbell, John Sevier, Joseph McDowell and Isaac Shelby rallied for an attack on Ferguson.

After receiving intelligence on the oncoming attack, Ferguson elected to retreat to the safety of Lord Cornwallis in Charlotte; however, the Patriots caught up with the Loyalists at Kings Mountain on the border with South Carolina. Having achieved surprise on the Loyalists, the Patriots attacked and surrounded the Loyalists, inflicting heavy casualties. After an hour of battle, Ferguson was shot dead while trying to break the rebel ring, after which the Loyalists surrendered. Wanting to avenge the events of the Battle of Waxhaws, the Patriot soldiers gave no quarter to the surrendering Loyalists until the rebel officers re-established control over their men. Although victorious, the Patriots had to quickly move from the area for fear of Cornwallis’ advance.

The battle was a pivotal moment in the Southern campaign; the surprising victory over the Loyalist American militia came after a string of rebel defeats at the hands of Lord Cornwallis, and greatly raised morale among the Patriots. With Ferguson dead and his militia destroyed, Cornwallis was forced to abandon plans to invade North Carolina and retreated into South Carolina.  This information was obtained from Wikipedia.

BIO – Alan Bowen

Alan Bowen was born and raised in the Sandy Springs area of Atlanta. He attended Sandy Springs High School and graduated in 1975.

Alan attended Ga. Tech for 2 years where he received a Varsity Letter in Football. He transferred to the University of Georgia to study Agriculture (which is his passion along with the study of History). Alan graduated in 1979 with a BS in Animal Science and Economics. He also received a Varsity Letter at UGA as a Cheerleader. Alan is also a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Alan is married to the former Carolyn Neel of Cartersville, Ga. and they have 2 children, Sarah Bowen Yacovett and Sheppard Bowen and 3 Grandchildren, Reese and Jackson Yacovett and Emily Bowen.

Alan is the co-owner of Sharp Top Trees, and the owner of Bowen Development Co.

Alan is the current Treasurer and immediate Past President of the Overmountain Victory Trail Association, and also serves on the Board of the Partnership for the National Trails System.

He is a Past President of the Ga. Division of Reenactors Association and the Cartersville Bartow Youth Soccer Association.

Alan is an Elder in the 1^st Presbyterian Church, Cartersville, former Board Member of the Cartersville/Bartow Chamber of Commerce along with being a member of various trade
associations and organizations.

Carolyn and Alan reside on the family farm in White, Georgia.

Saturday December 17, 2011

Holiday Inn 909 Holcomb Bridge Road Roswell, Georgia
8:00 am Breakfast
8:30 am Meeting

Ruth Reddick will present

“George Washington’s tour of the Southern States in 1791″

Ruth Reddick and her family live in Powder Springs.  She is a member of the Cherokee Chapter, NSDAR, and her husband, Loy,is a member of the Sons of Liberty NSSAR Chapter.  Their daughter, Julie, is a fourth generation DAR member. Ruth is an eighth generation Georgian and has seven Revolutionary ancestors buried in Georgia.

A former teacher, Ruth has a longstanding interest in history and genealogy and enjoys historical research and writing.  She is an active member of several heritage societies.

Her program gives an overview of George Washington’s tour of the Southern states in 1791, highlighting his stops in Georgia and South Carolina and the lavish entertainment which he enjoyed during his travels.

Saturday November 19 , 2011
Holiday Inn 909 Holcomb Bridge Road Roswell, Georgia
8:00 am Breakfast
8:30 am Meeting

Bruce Maney will present

“Colonial Etymology”

Jack Ferguson, George Thurmond, Bob Sapp and Color Guard Commander Paul Prescott participated in the May 9th INS service at the Richard B. Russell Federal Courthouse. In each service the court places these historic documents, The Declaration of Independence, the  Constitution and the Bill of Rights on display for the hundreds of new citizens to view. The documents shown were presented to the court by the Piedmont Chapter several years ago. The INS service is held at the federal courthouse several times each year and members of the Piedmont Color Guard usually participates in the ceremony.  On April 11 the Color Guard presented the Colors at the ceremony where 151 new citizens were sworn in from 49 different countries.