"Tri-State Connection to TV Show!"

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There is a connection to the Tim McGraw episode of the NBC TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" in the Tri-State area. Tim discovered that when George Washington was 16 years old he kept a journal and mentioned that he stayed with Tim's ancestor Jost Hite. Twenty years later George Washington met with Captain John Posey and the Hite family was brought up. Posey lived on land adjacent to George Washington's Mt. Vernon home. This John Posey was the father of General Thomas Posey of which Posey County, Indiana is named. The General served as the Aide-De-Camp to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. General Posey died of Typhus fever on March 19, 1818 in Shawneetown, Illinois, aged 67, and was buried in the Westwood Cemetery. When the General died he was serving as the Governor of the Indiana Territory.

General Posey's grave marker in Westwood Cemetery in Shawneetown, Illinois.
SAR Color Guard from the General Thomas Posey Chapter of Posey County, Indiana. L-R: Robert Hall, Ruth Hall, Wil Teague, Becky West, John G. West (I am carry the 13-Star Betsy Ross Flag while Hall & Teague are carrying muskets to guard the flag)

I am a member of the General Thomas Posey Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution that meets in Mt. Vernon, Indiana in Posey County. We were invited to participate in a SAR/DAR grave re-dedication ceremony for General Posey in Shawneetown, since our chapter was named for him. Several of us dressed in our Revolutionary War uniforms to provide a Colonial Color Guard for the ceremony.

-Written by JGWest

General Thomas Posey Grave Dedication (2004)

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[This would normally have been posted on Thursday in the regular weekly feature "Tombstone Thursday," except that was Thanksgiving Day... so, I am posting this today. Click on photos for larger images.]

General Thomas Posey (name sake for Posey County, Indiana) is buried in Shawneetown, Illinois. The Illinois Society Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) invited the Gen. Thomas Posey Chapter of the Indiana Society to provide a Color Guard for the Grave re-dedication ceremony on 16 Oct 2004. Robert Hall & I being members of that chapter, as well as, the Ohio Valley SAR Chapter answered the call with another member of the OVC Color Guard. It was a cold windy, but sunny day!
Photo of the new marker dedicating Gen. Posey's tomb... many may not know that he was Lt. Governor of Kentucky, a Governor of the Indiana Territory, a Louisiana Senator, an Indian Agent & an Aide-De-Camp to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. He died of typhus fever on 19 Mar 1818 and is buried in Westwood Cemetery.

Members of the Ohio Valley SAR Chapter Color Guard (L-R): Robert Hall, Ruth Hall, Wil Teague (Capt. of the Guard), Becky West, John G. West (carrying the 13-Star "Betsy Ross" Flag).

Will Teague & John West posing by the tomb of Gen. Thomas Posey.

One of my SAR friends, Wade Harshman, posted on Facebook for me... a link to Wikipedia for Gen. Thomas Posey, I have incorporated some of its information in this blog. Thanks, Wade! Here is the link for more info on General Posey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Posey

- Photos submitted by JGWest

[Tombstone Thursday is dedicated in memory of Donald G. West 1952-2000]

From the FIRST MATE's PHOTO ALBUM...

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Local DAR & SAR
very active in the Evansville, Indiana area...

These two photos taken at the 2009 West Side Nut Club Fall Festival Parade of the Captain Henry Vanderburgh Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Photos submitted by Vannetta McDowell.

SAR & DAR participate in the West Side Fall Festival Parade

These two photos at the 2009 Fall Festival Parade are of the Ohio Valley SAR Chapter of the Indiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Photos taken by Cheri Baumberger & submitted by Don Counts.

From the FIRST MATE's PHOTO ALBUM...

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Photo taken at the 2006 Evansville Central High School for their JROTC Awards Banquet by Ruth Hall. This was the photo that Ruth was taking when Chris Myers caught her in his photo giving the impression that Ruth was addressing everyone at the Banquet... see the September 18 TSGS blog "A Photo is Worth a Thousand Words." (http://tsgsblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/photo-is-better-than-thousand-words.html)

In this photo seated at table is (L-R) Bob Hall (Ruth's husband), John G. West, Becky West, and Peggy Gilkey's elbow is to the far right (in white blouse & blue vest). [Click on photo to get a larger image.] We were there to present the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution's JROTC Medal, Ribbon & Certificate to an Outstanding Cadet. Representatives of the US Military Branches, DAR, etc. along with SAR present awards to deserving cadets for various achievements. We do the same thing for Evansville Harrison High School.

- Photo taken by Ruth Hall

"A Photo is Worth a Thousand Words!"

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They say (you know who "they" are)... "That a photo is worth a thousand words!" or is it?

Here is a photo of Ruth Hall (with the purple Colonial dress and her back is to the camera) giving a speech before a large crowd at Central High School. The event was the Junior ROTC Awards night and our Ohio Valley SAR Chapter was to present an award to a deserving cadet... DAR does the same along with each of the branches of the military and other groups. In this "standing room" only crowd, you can see the interest everyone has in Ruth's speech.


This photo is a fooler... Ruth is not giving a speech - she is taking a photo of some of us that came to present the award after the meal. Those standing were in line to get food! So, a photo may be worth a thousand words, that is, if you know what the photo represents. If we put a caption to this picture as: "Ruth Hall addresses large crowd at CHS JROTC Awards Banquet" - you would think that she actually did address this big group back in 2006!

- Photo taken by Chris Myers