Club Business
I happened folks. President Jim Cartner returned to conduct our meeting, just as promised. Great to have him back! Micah Fox led us in prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the US flag. Jim shared some interesting historical trivia for this date. We had no visiting Rotarians or special guests this meeting. Congrats to Cliff Parker and his wife, Karon, who are celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary this week! Our meeting next Tuesday will be our quarterly Club Assembly. This is an important opportunity for our club to catch up on everything we are currently doing and our plans for the future. Try to make it and invite a friend who may be interested in Rotary.
Click here to see all scheduled program dates and responsibilities.
April Birthdays and Anniversaries
5 | Cathryn Hartwell | 7 | James and Bonnie Honeycutt |
14 | Deva Reece | 28 | Cliff and Karon Parker |
17 | Trip Durham | 30 | Thomas and Lea Phelps |
Club Announcements
- Please support Rotary Reads this month and in May. We are in the middle of a big push to raise funds for our joint Rotary Reads project. The four local clubs are selling $100 chances for a dream vacation for two. As of the Tuesday meeting time, 43 tickets had been sold of the 100 we set as our cut off point. The deadline has been extended to May 15. One other change is that the winner has the choice of receiving a trip or the cash. Here is your link for more information and to purchase your ticket – http://www.grahamrotaryclub.org/2019-fundraiser.html.
- Our Rotary bell will be used at an upcoming memorial service for Alamance County servicemen and women who died during the past year.
- We need more people to sign up as volunteers to read to kids as part of our Rotary Reads initiative. So far 11 members of our club have done so. Don’t miss this great opportunity to serve. Here is your link to contact Tracy Taylor @… Rotary Club of Alamance Rotary Reads Signup
- The Times-News published a great two-page article on our Rotary Reads program in today’s paper. Jim encouraged everyone to purchase a copy. Here is the link – https://www.thetimesnews.com/news/20190423/sweet-sweet-books
Happy Dollar Announcements
Club Member Providing Today’s Program: Pete Beck
Pete has been a member of our club since 2008, with a brief hiatus. He is a Paul Harris Fellow, a past president (2010-11), and currently is the PR Chair and handles the website and communications. He pastors Life Community Network, a missional small group based church, is married to his high school sweetheart, Martha, has four wonderful children and nine amazing grandchildren.
Pete said that his sixth great grandfather, Jeffrey Beck, settled in what is now Randolph County in the mid-1700s. He purchased 230 acres from Jacob Evans on the west side of Deep River just north of present day Coleridge, NC. Cox’s Mill, the hub of Regulator activity was about two miles north of his land. Just across the river was Herman Husband’s acreage. Husband was the intellectual leader of the Regulators. Jeffrey Beck signed the Regulator Petition in 1768 and probably fought at the Battle of Alamance; although, there is no record of who participated. Pete asked Sam Powell to speak on the battle and history of the Regulator movement at today’s meeting. Sam is a treasure trove of information on all things relating to the American Revolution.
Sam distributed a pamphlet he put together entitled “Alamance County 1781, On the road to victory during the American Revolution.” It contained a map of the county which located the three Revolutionary War battles that took place in our county in 1781: Pyle’s Defeat, Clapp’s Mill, and Lindley’s Mill. Sam said that General Cornwallis and the British army marched right through Alamance County on the way to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, camping for several days at the Alamance Battleground site.
The Battle of Alamance was the first large scale armed rebellion against British royal authority in the colonies.
The location of our memorial was proved to be the actual battlefield when an archaeological dig discovered broken canon shells on site. Last Saturday the Battleground hosted a gathering for descendants of those who participated in the battle. This coming season (#5) of the TV series entitled Outlander will focus on the Regulator movement and the Battle of Alamance. Diana Gabaldon, the author of the books upon which the TV series is based, will be speaking at the Paramount Theater on Saturday, April 27. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at the theater or online.
Sam introduced our featured speaker.
Program: Jeremiah DeGennaro, NC Historic Site Manager @ Alamance Battleground
Jeremiah was born in California and moved to NC in 2006. He lives in Mebane with his daughter. He earned a masters degree from UNCG in Museum Studies and has ten years’ experience with the NC Division of Historical Sites, including stints at Bennett Place and Historic Stagville in Durham. He started at the Alamance Battleground in 2015. He enjoys keeping the past alive through living history and costumed interpretation. He will be on hand for the Saturday, May 18 Living History Day at the Battleground decked out in a colonial costume he made.
Jeremiah gave some background regarding the Regulator movement. Back country farmers in what was then Orange County were being abused by a powerful group of colonial officials who made it nearly impossible to legally and fairly acquire title to land that had been promised. These early settlers farmed and improved land in the expectation that they would be allowed to purchase it for a fair price, but colonial officials, which included land speculators, sheriffs, judges, registers of deeds, etc. all the way to the governor, joined together to make this nearly impossible. As anger against these injustices increased, the Regulator movement was birthed in an effort to join forces to “regulate” unfair and unjust officials and practices. It started peacefully, but after several frustrating years of nothing being gained, violence broke out in 1768. In 1770 Regulators rioted in the county seat of Hillsborough. No one was killed, but several officials were beaten and colonial leader Edmund Fanning’s house was torn down.
Governor Tryon was determined to quell this backwoods rebellion as the parting shot before he left for New York to assume that governorship. He assembled militiamen from eastern NC and marched them to Orange County, where his 1000 men engaged some 2000 regulators. Tryon’s militia was better trained and better armed and fairly easily won the day. The farmers did not come with much ammunition or have any designated commander. This defeat, accompanied by Tryon’s march through the back country burning Regulator homes and arresting key insurgents, effectively ended the Regulator movement. Six men were subsequently hanged in Hillsborough. Many of the Regulators scattered into neighboring colonies. Around 4000 signed an oath of allegiance to the King.
The colonial elites regarded the Regulators as an ignorant and unruly mob, but these back country commoners had good leadership and well thought out solutions for the corruption, many of which were later adopted and are part of our current way of doing things. Governor Josiah Martin, who succeeded Tryon, soon realized that the Regulators’ complaints were valid and instituted some reforms. Many of the Regulators subsequently were leery of all government officials after that, and some refused to join the patriot side in the War of Independence, since some of American leaders previously had oppressed the Regulators. The Regulator movement was basically the common man against the elites.
The 250th anniversary of the battle will be held on May 16, 2021.
Conclusion
Jim Cartner gave our speaker a book as part of our club’s ongoing commitment to promote literacy. Jeremiah said he would give it to his daughter, who is soon to enter kindergarten.
Mary Thomas Gilbert held the winning ticket in our weekly raffle, but failed to draw the Queen of Diamonds. Only 47 cards left! Jim adjourned the meeting by leading us in a recitation of Rotary’s four-way test.