Tampa Chapter
Sons of the American Revolution
January 2020
Contents
Meeting
announcement
January
Meeting
Revolution
History note
Wreaths
Across America
Program
Schedule
Color Guard Opportunities
Misc.
reminders and information
The
January meeting of the Tampa Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, will
held on Saturday, January 18 at the Floridan Hotel. This is our annual officer
installation meeting. Members and guests will start gathering at
11:00 with lunch planned for 12:00.
Everyone will order from the menu and pay individually. Due to the size of our group the Hotel will
add tax and gratuity to your bill. The Hotel is located at 905 N Tampa Avenue. Reservations are not necessary; however, President Goolsby must give an
expected head count so the room can be set.
Please let him know by Friday, January 10 that you are going and if you
will bring a guest. His email is
johndgoolsby@gmail.com
Please note that at the November
Chapter meeting, the following officers were elected to serve the Tampa
Chapter during 2020:
President
– David Bryant
Vice
President – Bob Yarnell
Recording
Secretary --
Membership
Secretary --
Treasurer
–
Chancellor
– Charles Klug
Chaplain
--
Historian
-- Bob Yarnell
Registrar/Genealogist
–
Sergeant-at-Arms
– William Swain
Members
at Large (2) -- Terry Doan
As you can tell, there are
still a number of vacancies. Do not be
surprised if newly installed President David Bryant asks you to accept an
appointment to one of these positions.
American Revolution Notes:
New Years Eve/Day in Colonial America
Copied/reprinted from the Tiverton Historical Society web page.
In the Colonial period, New Year’s Eve was a time for young
ladies to get together, prepare a large bowl of wassail (heated, spiced ale)
and carry it from house to house, sharing the warm drink with their neighbors,
and receiving small gifts in return. This was called “wassailing”. The name
comes from the Middle English, waes and haeil,
meaning “health to you”. The drink consisted of mulled (heated) cider or ale,
with sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and other spices mixed in. Pieces of toast would
be floated on the top of the bowl. The wassail was also known by the name of
Lamb’s Wool.
During Colonial times, it was customary to
give small gifts on New Year’s Day. It was believed that the ending of the
previous year was to be celebrated with drinking and socializing with loved
ones and friends, and that the starting of the new year should be celebrated
with the giving and receiving of gifts. A gift that was commonly given was an
orange with cloves stuck in it. A ribbon would be tied around a fresh orange,
and then the entire exposed surface would be covered with whole cloves and then
dusted in cinnamon.
There are a few superstitions associated with
New Year’s, one of which is related to the weather. It was believed that if New
Year’s Day opened with red skies, that the following year would be one with
much strife and debates between people, and that robberies would be quite
common.
Another superstition involved the Bible. Before
eating breakfast, people would take turns opening a Bible completely at random.
Then a verse would be pointed to on the two open pages, again at random. The
verse that was thus randomly chosen was believed to foreshadow the events of
the following year for the participant.
During this time when houses were heated and
lit by open fires, it was believed that if anyone took fire from your house,
one of your family members would die before the year was finished.
It was considered bad luck for the first visitor
of the day to be a woman.
Bad luck was also feared if anything was
thrown out of a house. In the day and age before modern plumbing, women would
throw dirty water out the door, and ashes that accumulated in the fireplace
needed to be removed. But because the removal of anything portended bad luck,
families were very cautious about their actions on New Year’s Day.
from http://motherbedford.com/Holiday01.htm
The regular column will
resume next month.
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Wreaths
Across America
Our
December meeting was the Chapters participation in the Wreaths Across America
Ceremony at the USS Tampa Post #5 American Legion Veterans Cemetery in
Tampa.
For the
seventh year, our Chapter Color Guard Presented the Colors to open the Ceremony. Color Guard members present were David
Bryant, Terry Doan, John Sessums, John Stewart (St Petersburg), Dick Young and
Bill Swain. Other chapter members were
present for the Ceremony, as well as a prospective member and Pat Niemann, Past
President of Florida SAR. The DAR and
C.A.R. were also present at this WAA Ceremony.
Future Meetings
Jan. 18 Officer Installation
Feb. 15 TBA
Mar. 21 TBA
Apr. 18 JROTC recognition
May 16 TBA
Color Guard Opportunities
February 22 C.A.R.
Annual Conference Banquet Orlando
March 6 DAR State Conference Opening Orlando
March 21 SAR Rumbaugh Oration Contest The Villages
March 7 Last Naval Battle Commemoration Merritt Island
March 28 Battle of Thomas Creek Commemoration Jacksonville
April 28 Honor Flight St Pete/Clearwater
May 1-2 Florida SAR Annual Meeting Kissimmee
May 9 Battle of Pensacola Commemoration
Pensacola
June 9 Honor Flight St Pete/Clearwater
Miscellaneous Reminders
Chapter Website—remember
you can find information about the chapter and programs on the chapter
website. http://www.tampasar.org/
One of the duties of the
Chapter Chaplain is to send cards to our members that are sick. Another is to
send a sympathy card to the family of a member who has passed away. If you know
of anyone that should be the recipient of these cards, please mention it to the
Chapter Chaplain or one of the other officers at our next meeting.
Chapter officers and
committee chairman are encouraged to send any pertinent information they wish
included in the newsletter to the editor.