The SAR Magazine

MAY 2015

The SAR MAGAZINE is the official quarterly publication of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution published quarterly.

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SPRING 2015 27 In a special ceremony at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, George Washington's resignation speech was unveiled in a case, above, that the MDSSAR helped to fund. In 2007, the MDSSAR donated $5,000 to the creation of a display case in the State House for the resignation speech that had been privately held. Gen. Washington resigned his commission as commander of the Continental Army on Dec. 23, 1783 in the Old Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House, where the United States Congress was then meeting. The state of-the-art display case for his resignation speech was unveiled in the State House rotunda. New exhibits will be placed in the stairwell and in committee rooms, interpreting that event as well as the ratification of the Treaty of Paris there on Jan. 14, 1784, and in Annapolis in the 18th century. The unveiling was timed to coincide with the opening of the restored Old Senate Chamber, a project that has kept the chamber closed for almost five years. The chamber itself, which saw the formation of the MDSSAR on April 20, 1889, had undergone extensive changes throughout the 19th century. The recent restoration involved extensive research to return the chamber to how it looked in Washington's day. The featured speaker was Alan Taylor, holder of the Thomas Jefferson History Chair at the University of Virginia and winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book, The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832. Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse, retired state archivist, was the master of ceremonies for the evening. It was through his efforts that the Friends of the Maryland State Archives was able to acquire Washington's resignation speech. Charles Carroll of Carrollton Chapter The Charles Carroll of Carrollton Chapter met Feb. 28 for luncheon to discuss this year's plans for activities. State Vice President Jim Engler urged participation in chapter and state activities, and two members volunteered to help in state activities—one in reviewing the state membership handbook and the other in assisting in the annual Patriot's Ball. Chapter President Dave Embrey brought a number of Colonial uniforms and explained their histories. Col. John Eager Howard Chapter Three Generations of Chapter Presidents in One Family On Jan. 31, a historic NSSAR event occurred at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum in Baltimore. Jean S. Fugett Jr. was elected and installed as the 23rd president of the Col. John Eager Howard Chapter, MDSSAR. It was not nationally historic because Jean is a former Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins football player or because his sponsor and President General Joseph W. Dooley (2013-14) conducted the installation. It was historic because Jean Jr. is part of three generations of the same family—his father and his son preceding him—as president of the same chapter. This is rare enough in our organization, but historic because Jean's election represents the first election of three generations of the same African-American family as chapter president in our 125-year history! His father, Jean Sr., was elected as chapter president in 2009, and his son, J. Russell, was elected in 2011. Both are active in support of the chapter named for one of Baltimore's patriotic heroes. His Patriot ancestor, Henry Bakeman, a free mulatto, served as a private in Col. Willett's New York Regiment for 11 months, 5 days, joining in April 1781 when he was 16. He was pensioned under Pension #R400, giving his birth as January 1765 in Rocky Fall, Somerset Co., N.J. He and his wife, Jane, are buried at South Onondaga Cemetery, South Onondaga, N.Y. Henry Bakeman's light-skinned descendants were unaware of their ancestor's race until Jean and family attended an annual reunion and provided documentation on his color, which few had alluded to. Jean S. Fugett Jr. has been a man of many firsts as an athlete, journalist, businessman and attorney. He graduated from Cardinal Gibbons High School, where he was the first African-American to win Baltimore Catholic Athlete of the Year. He then attended Amherst College, where he was a two-sport All-American athlete and executive editor of the weekly student newspaper. After graduating with honors, Jean studied at Columbia Law School and was on the waiting list at Harvard Law School, which his brother attended. Fugett was drafted in the 13th round by the Dallas Cowboys and learned the playbook in two days to make the team. NFL Hall of Famer Tom Landry coached him to his greatest success in his fourth and final season with the Cowboys to start in Super Bowl X. Fugett then signed with the Washington Redskins as one of the first modern-day free agents, so he could go to night school to become a lawyer. He went from being the lowest-paid starting tight end to the highest. Fugett became a reporter for The Washington Post in his off season, appearing on a CBS station as a weekend anchor on the Redskins Sidelines show. He completed law school at George Washington University at night. After his football career was over, Fugett continued to work for The Post and as a commentator for the NFL on CBS. Following the death of his brother Reginald Lewis in 1993, Fugett took over TLC Beatrice International Foods, the largest black-owned and -managed business at the time and the world's first billion-dollar black-owned business. With $2.2 billion in sales, TLC Beatrice was No. 512 on Fortune magazine's list of the world's 1,000 largest companies. Fugett served as president of the NFL Retired Players Steering Committee, as legal counsel and advisor to a President General Joseph Dooley (2013-2014) was on hand to install Jean Fugett as president of the Col. John Eager Howard Chapter.

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