Greetings Washingtonburg Chapter,
I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday season thus far. This is the last update for 2024,
and we have lots of information to share. As we turn the calendar to 2025, I am predicting this
coming year will be the best year in Washingtonburg history. We are poised to build on programs
that we started in 2024. Many 250th Anniversary events will take place this year, and some are not
too far away.
- Membership Update: Washingtonburg is approaching 60 members and will likely eclipse that
number this year. Several candidates’ applications are processing at the national office, and we
have several more prospective members who have expressed interest in joining. It is exciting to see
our membership grow; however, I, like many other compatriots, do not know everyone in the
chapter. With that in mind, I have a project to put faces with names. I am requesting that each
compatriot send me a photo (of yourself only, from the shoulders up) so that I can compile a
pictorial directory. Feel free to wear your 18th-century attire in your photo. I will crop photos to get
the correct size, so don’t worry about that. Junior members will need parental permission to be
included. Below is a sample of Compatriot Sam Russell. Let me know if you have any questions.
Email or text photos to me, Secretary Ray Mowery: raymondmowery@hotmail.com or 717-830-
1888.
- Washingtonburg is hoping to join our sister DAR chapter in Cumberland County for a combined
event to honor George Washington’s birthday. A potential date is Saturday February 22, 2025. More
details will follow when they become available. - For the first time ever, Washingtonburg will host a PASSAR Board of Management (BOM) meeting—it will be from Friday January 31 to February 1, 2025, at the Penn Harris Hotel in Camp Hill, PA.
Friday evening is a reception only. The business meeting will be Saturday, and two of our
compatriots will be guest speakers: Doug Cubbison and Sam Russell. The registration form is
attached. Please send your completed form and registration check (write checks to
“Washingtonburg SAR” and write “BOM” in the memo) to Treasurer Steve Burd at 101 TeeBird Lane, Newville, PA 17241 by Friday January 17. We would like to have great attendance to support Doug and Sam and to show our chapter’s strength. Currently, we only have a handful of members who have registered. If you are not able to attend in person, there is a Zoom option. It is also a great
chance to see how our state society operates.
- SAR encourages each chapter to present Flag Certificates to deserving individuals, families,
businesses and organizations in their area that fly the US flag properly. It would be nice if we could
present at least one Flag Certificate each month in 2025. We need your help to identify deserving
recipients. Please send names and addresses of deserving recipients to me, Secretary Ray Mowery,
so that I can work to arrange the details. - Our Wreaths Across America sponsorship page is active for 2025. For every wreath sponsored
from today until January 17, we will get a second wreath to place at our location for free. We
are already up to 8 wreaths sponsored. Here is the link:
https://wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/181029/Overview/?relatedId=0. In addition, here is
the link to a digital photo album that I created for our WAA:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qUva2CPUnD_7exCFPOI883G9ooVI1C6po31A_hW
QbgE/edit#slide=id.g31a970e15f4_0_0. - As a thank you for our chapter’s generosity in sponsoring Washingtonburg Founder and Past
President John Fralish’s lifetime SAR membership, he would like to complete an 18th-century
census project to publish and sell through our chapter. It is an identification project for the
Cumberland County schedule of the 1790 U.S. Census (present-day Perry and Cumberland
Counties), a project that connects the census to Revolutionary War service records. The first
edition of the results is a book (a publication of our chapter) setting forth the original census but
adding township divisions lacking in the original and also numbering the households
sequentially for reference (there are 3,019). John hopes to finish this project this winter and is
willing to take on serious volunteers with related experience in this type of work and research. If
you have a serious interest in assisting John, please contact Secretary Ray Mowery for more
information. - For our chapter web site, we would like to add short biographies for each of our patriot
ancestors. Mine is below, and you may use that as a guide. Include as much information as you
can. I will edit your ancestor’s biography to fit our web site. Attach photos if able.
Raymond Mowery IV and Raymond Mowery V’s (and soon-to-be member Alexander
Mowery’s) patriot ancestor: Barnabas Doyle, an Irish-Catholic whose family
immigrated to Path Valley in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. As
the Doyle family expanded, they founded the town of Doylesburg, which is in present-
day Franklin County. Barnabas was born in 1750 to Felix and Sarah Doyle. Barnabas
married Mary Catherine McElhenny in 1771, and they had 3 sons who were deeded
land that is now present-day Doylestown (Franklin County). During the American
Revolution, Barnabas served as a private in the 6th battalion of the Cumberland
County militia under Captain Thomas Askey’s company under the leadership of
Colonel James Dunlop from 1779-1781. On July 16, 1779, the 6th Pennsylvania was
part of the force commanded by “Mad” Anthony Wayne that stormed the British
fortifications at Stony Point, NY, in a surprise nighttime attack. This victory helped the
Continental Army control the Hudson River. They spent the rest of the year in garrison
at West Point and probably wintered at Morristown. The next year, the regiment took
part in several small engagements in New Jersey and again wintered at Morristown.
After the war, Barnabas returned home to farm his land. He died on November 23,
1797, in Fannett Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He was buried at St.
Mary’s Catholic Church (now called Our Lady of Refuge Catholic Mission) in
Doylesburg, Pennsylvania, on land his family once owned. Barnabas’ original
gravestone pictured left; his new gravestone pictured right.
- On a personal note, I am planning to attend the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or
Death” speech in Richmond, VA, on Sunday March 23, 2025, at the historic St. John’s Church.
Tickets are $25 each, and the event is likely to sell out. This is the link to purchase tickets:
https://www.historicstjohnschurch.org/events/250th-anniversary-m2pt9. I will likely spend
one night in Richmond. There are several historic Revolutionary War-related sites in the area,
including the church where George Washington got married. Let me know if you would like to
attend with me. I am happy to drive. This event is for personal interest cannot be included
toward SAR 250th Anniversary Medals until approved by President Jen La Marca, who will give
us an approved list of 2025 events in the near future.
So, your homework includes these items:
- Send Secretary Ray Mowery a photo of yourself for a pictorial directory at your earliest
convenience. - Send Treasurer Steve Burd your registration form and check for BOM by January 17.
- Send Secretary Ray Mowery a short bio of your patriot ancestor (include a photo of your
patriot, the grave, a historical marker, or a homestead if able) at your earliest convenience. - Send Secretary Ray Mowery names and contact info for deserving recipients of Flag
Certificates at your earliest convenience. - Sponsor wreaths for our 2025 Wreaths Across America ceremony if you desire (by January
17 to give our chapter double the wreaths). - Contact Secretary Ray Mowery if you are interested in joining him for Patrick Henry’s
“Liberty or Death” speech reenactment the weekend of March 23, 2025. - Contact Secretary Ray Mowery if you have a serious interest in assisting John Fralish in his
census project.
That’s all for now. Please contact me with questions or ideas.
Ray Mowery
