Our History
Major General Edgar Erskine Hume (Governor 1915-1920)
Robert Worth Bingham (Governor 1932-1934)
Willard Rouse Jillson (Governor 1950-1952)
1895-1992
by Downey M. Gray, III
Originally published in Society of Colonial Wars 125th Anniversary 1892-1992: The Centennial History (Copyright © 1992 General Society of Colonial Wars), pp. 123-125.
The Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Kentucky was chartered by the General Society of Colonial Wars on 19 December 1895, the charter members being Dr. Thomas Page Grant, Capt. Alexander Macomb Wetherill, David May Jones, William Lafon Halsey, Col. Benjamin LaBree, John Franklin Lewis, Charles Julian Clark Grant, Cary Harrison Bacon, and Dr. Charles Henry Todd. On 23 December 1895 the members met at the residence of Dr. Thomas Page Grant, the first Governor, formed the organization, adopted a Constitution, elected some of the officers, and after a social session adjourned to hold a Court on 8 January 1896. At that time, the holding of the annual Court was fixed for 13 May, the anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia. (More recently, the Annual Court has been held in December.) The remainder of the officers were elected at the first Court.
Since its organization, the Kentucky Society has been host to the General Society on three occasions, all in Louisville. The first of these meetings was held at the Seelbach Hotel in 1908; the second at the J.B. Speed Museum and the Filson Club on 13 and 14 May 1949, and the third at the Humana Building and Calvary Episcopal Church, 19-22 May 1988.
It has been the custom of the Kentucky Society to hold a Summer and a Winter Court in June and December each year at a private club. In recent years, ladies have been invited to attend the social portions of these events. Each occasion consists of dinner, followed by an address by a guest speaker. The Warriors then retire to another room for the Court. At the December 1989 Court the guest speaker was The Honorable C. William Verity, former Secretary of Commerce of the United States.
Since 1987 the Kentucky Society has presented a Marine dress sword to the most outstanding Marine Officer Candidate from Kentucky upon graduation. The 1990 award was bestowed, with appropriate ceremony, at the Summer Court on 14 June 1990 to Marine Officer Candidate Suzann Moats. The Kentucky Society has made grants to various organizations and for various purposes within the objectives of the Society: for the purchase of a tree to be planted at the site of Fort Nelson (now in the center of Louisville), where George Rogers Clark established the fort which was later to become Louisville; to The Filson Club, for the purchase of books relating to the Colonial period; and to Locust Grove, the final home of George Rogers Clark, a veteran of Dunmore’s War and later military campaigns.
Beginning in the 1980s, the Kentucky Society has made its flag, with staff and stand, available to the families of deceased Warriors for mounting (not parading) at the place of visitation or funeral, or both. This offer has been accepted with appreciation by the families of Warriors since the practice was adopted.
As of 1990, six members of the Kentucky Society had received fifty-year membership awards: James Clark Courtenay, admitted in 1918; John Carter Stewart, admitted in 1921; John Edward Tarrant, admitted in 1925; George Barry Bingham, admitted in 1930; Whitefoord Russell Cole, Jr., admitted in 1935; and Asa Warren Fuller, admitted in 1939.
The Kentucky Society’s most recent honor was to have its former Governor, The Honorable T. Kennedy Helm, Jr., elected Governor General at the General Assembly held in Baltimore, Maryland, in May 1990. This is the highest General Office ever held by a Kentucky Warrior.
The Society reported a membership of 159 as of 31 December 1989. From its beginning in 1895, it has grown and prospered under the leadership of its Governors.
William Pfingst Carrell II (Governor 2016-2019) and John Edmond McLeod (Governor 2019-2022)
1992-2017
by John McLeod and William P. Carrell II
Originally published in Francis J. Sypher, Jr., editor. Society of Colonial Wars 125th Anniversary 1892-2017: Twenty-Five Year History 1992-2017 (Copyright © 2017 General Society of Colonial Wars), pp. 66-68.
Over the last twenty-five years, the Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Kentucky has continued to live by the words of Governor General Shelby Cullom Davis, which are often quoted by the immediate past Governor General and Kentucky Warrior Gerald Gettys Tyrrell: “remember the Purpose, and have a jolly good time.” We have maintained our commitment to the memory of our Colonial Warrior ancestors, while enjoying biannual dinners and outstanding speakers.
We have undertaken many activities to promote knowledge and study of American history, with a special (though not exclusive) focus on colonial days. Every year, we make grants to Kentucky historical institutions, including the Frazier History Museum; Historic Locust Grove (the last home of General George Rogers Clark); the Friends of McConnell Springs (site of the first settlement in Lexington); and the library of the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution. In 2005, we instituted a fellowship in honor of Governor General T. Kennedy Helm, Jr., a Kentucky Warrior. It initially recognized outstanding papers on colonial history by graduate students at Kentucky universities. The terms were subsequently broadened to support other endeavors connected with the study of American history. In 20I3 and 20I4, the Helm funds were given to the John Dickinson Writings Project at the University of Kentucky, which is publishing the works of that founding father (1732-1808).
In 2000, after a break of more than sixty years, we resumed erecting historical markers at pre-Revolutionary sites in Kentucky. Our achievements in that regard are detailed in the General Society’s book Honoring Our Colonial History.
For the last decade, the Kentucky Society has been second only to the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York in number of members. We currently have 38I Warriors. Throughout our history, our membership has been concentrated in Louisville, Kentucky’s largest city. In I998, we established the Central Kentucky Chapter to help Warriors in and around the state’s second city, Lexington, to take a larger part in our activities. It is modeled on the Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Society.
In 1995 and 2007 we published editions of our Register, a directory of members with information about our history and activities. Our newsletter, Communiqué, is sent twice a year to Warriors, nominees, and widows. Naturally we now also publish online, and in 2012 we appointed our first webmaster. He constructed our website (linked to the General Society site) and created pages for us on the social-media sites Facebook and Twitter. The full run of our newsletters is available on the General Society website.
Two of our Warriors have served as Governor General of the General Society during the last quarter century, T. Kennedy Helm, Jr. (I990-I993), and Gerald Gettys Tyrrell (20I3-20I6). We hosted the General Society’s General Council in 2005 and 2014, and both times Warriors and ladies from across the country enjoyed the Bluegrass State’s unique hospitality.
And that brings us to the final part of our mission, to have a “jolly good time.” The Kentucky Society holds two Courts a year, in June and December. The Courts are combined with formal dinners, where ladies and other guests are welcome. Since1996, our banquets have always been held at the historic Pendennis Club in Louisville. We enjoy delicious food and fine drink, and our dinner speakers have included Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton; Air Force General Charles Horner; Army General John G. Coburn, and other serving generals and retired officers of the U.S. military (including General George S. Patton’s grandson, Colonel James Patton Totten, who is a Kentucky Warrior); also history professors from the state’s universities; diplomats from Mexico and the United Kingdom; and historical reenactors. They have spoken on such mainstream colonial topics as “Fortress Louisbourg,” and “Louisville’s Colonial Origins,” as well as on “Colonial Whisky,” “Colonel Sanders,” and “Speaking Through Skulls.”
In 1995, the Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Kentucky marked its hundredth anniversary. We are well on the way to our bicentennial, and we have every intention of continuing to remember our Purpose, commemorating our heritage, and having a jolly good time.
