At our recent Cincinnati Chapter Membership meeting we were treated to a brief presentation from our President Scott Freeman.

The past couple of years, we have experimented with having outside speakers come in and make presentations.  This was warmly welcomed.  The only challenge was the length of some of the presentations.  We applaud our past President George Stewart to introducing the concept of having historical content during our meetings.

This year, Scott is trying a new concept where chapter members sign up to share any interesting presentation related to the American Revolution.  Sign ups for chapter members to present are being taken and as of last night, only two slots for the 2024 program year were open.

If you are interested, please reach out to Scott Freeman to discuss your topic and availability (even into the future, or as a backup in case someone scheduled is not available).

Scott gave a follow up to our 2023 Presidents Day luncheon where there were some open questions that our presenter “Martha Washington” could not answer.

The questions were two fold:

1.  Where did Martha Washington’s significant wealth come from?
   • George Washington was Martha Dandridge Custis’s second husband.
   • Her first husband was Daniel Parke Custis who owned a large acreage on the Virginia peninsula east of Richmond and west of Williamsburg.
   • Mr. Custis died, leaving his sizable estate to Martha Custis prior to marrying George Washington.
   • Mr. Custis’s death left Martha one of the wealthiest widows in the Virginia Commonwealth.
   • Martha managed this estate very capably prior to forming the union with George Washington.
   • Upon her marriage with George Washington, she was required to redistribute some of the property to other heirs.
   • Some additional information on Martha Dandridge Custis Washington

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_Washington

1.  Arlington Cemetery land and home was owned by Robert E Lee at the break out of the Civil War.  How did the Lee’s acquire the property?
   • Robert E Lee married Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who was the only child of George Washington Parke Custis and his wife, Mary Lee Fitzhugh
   • George Washington Parke Custis was the great grandson of Martha Washington (adopted son of George Washington – our first president
   • At the outbreak of the Civil War, Robert E Lee’s wife removed herself from the Arlington home and traveled back to her ancestral home in eastern Virginia.
   • Some additional information on the Arlington house and its history:

https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/History-of-Arlington-National-Cemetery/Arlington-House

Hopefully these answers addressed the open questions.

Presidents Day – 2024

Note that on Saturday February 17th, 2024, we will be having a “Presidents Day Luncheon” featuring special guests George and Martha Washington.  This is hosted by the DAR with SAR participation.

You can learn more about how to attend that session by checking out the “Calendar” section of the CCSAR website.

A link to the Calendar and registration flyer is below:

If you come, please bring your questions to ask our special guests.

Look forward to seeing you at this 2/17 event!