Vet Council Meets, Hears Research Report, Plans Field Trip

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Above, the Gulf War exhibit at American Heritage museum

Thursday, the Franklin Veteran’s Council met at the Senior Center under the auspices of veterans’ services officer Shannon L Nisbett. She shared several announcements including:

  • An upcoming recognition of Purple Heart recipients at the Senior Center at 10 AM on Aug. 3, in coordination with National Purple Heard Day, celebrated on Aug. 7.
  • American Legion chaplain Bob Markunis led a Quilts of Valor event at the Enclave on July 9.
  • Nisbett provided an update on the War Monuments Restoration project. A dinner-dance fundraiser is scheduled for Saturday Aug. 6 at the Elks Club. The Club is donating use of the facility and labor. Tickets are $20 each at the Veteran’s Services Office and may also be purchased at the door. Nisbett said some restoration work is planned for completion in the fall.
  • Recent donations included from Ginley Funeral Home, The Elks Riders, and Grove Street Auto Repair.
  • The Tune-it-Out guitar lessons for vets just celebrated its one-year anniversary.
  • An update was provided from the informal Museum Trip Committee, which is planning to bus interested vets to the American Heritage military museum in Hudson on Oct. 8. A veteran offered to cover the cost of the bus, but Mark Ellis, from the Elks, a constant supporter of veterans, said his club will cover that cost. The other donor may instead cover the cost of box lunches. The fee for admission, transportation, and lunch for individual veterans is expected to be $15 per person.
  • The last item on the agenda was a “report” from Susan Elliot and Vicki B. Earls regarding their efforts to research, identify, and document Franklin veterans of the American Revolution not previously recognized as such, many of whom were black and, in some cases, enslaved during their service. Elliot said she stumbled into the topic while doing other research where she uncovered a bill-of-sale for an enslaved man named Caesar. It turned out he was encouraged to enlist by his “owners” – the Gilmore family – and the money his service earned they agreed would purchase his freedom. He did serve and was granted his freedom.
  • Elliot said the discovery of this enslaved man’s story had shocked her and led her to research more about enslaved people in New England and in Franklin.
  • Earls had a similar “discovery” when she was archiving the first actions of the town’s first justice of the peace, Jabez Fisher. He recorded the first marriage in town shortly after the town’s incorporation, of two “free negroes” – again a discovery that both surprised and intrigued Earls.
  • Further research by both women revealed that the military service of these individuals was not always recorded or recognized – so they decided to cooperate to see what other men might not have been “counted” – often due to clerical confusion rather than any deliberate exclusion.
  • Ultimately, they discovered some ten individuals, white, Native American and black, and presented their documentation to the veteran’s office.

In closing, Elliot noted that many veterans of the Revolution were treated poorly, paid off in currency that was almost valueless and usually unable to collect any pension or other benefits until very late in life—or sometimes only posthumously.

And while “modern” veterans sometimes have their gripes, all agreed, things today have improved for America’s servicemembers!

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