The Thomasville Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) celebrated Constitution Week during its September meeting with an informative program by Randy Young about the Georgia signers of the U.S. Constitution. Thomasville Chapter DAR Regent Charlotte Brown introduced the speaker. Randy Young is a 30-year veteran teacher of audio/video production at Thomas County Central High School. He is a columnist for the Thomasville Times-Enterprise and a published author on local, Confederate and Revolutionary War history. He is also the radio voice of the Thomas County Central Yellow Jacket football team and lead guitarist and singer in the band, The Skinks.

Young gave an interesting program about the two Georgia signers of the United States Constitution, Abraham Baldwin and William Few. Their signatures appear at the bottom of the Constitution. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the Constitution in 1788. Baldwin and Few also served in the Revolutionary War. 

William Few was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1748 and he was a Quaker. His parents moved their family to Orange County, North Carolina around 1758. After the Few’s farm was burned by colonial militia troops because of their association with the Regulators rebellion, the family moved to a Quaker community in Wrightsboro, Georgia. During the Revolutionary War, Few served as a Lieutenant Colonel of the Richmond County Regiment of which his older brother, Benjamin, commanded. Few fought in the Battle of Burke County Jail in 1779 near Waynesboro.

After the War, William Few studied law and began a successful law practice in Augusta. In 1777, Few was elected to the House of Representatives in Georgia. He was appointed to represent Georgia in the Continental Congress in 1780 and then served as a delegate at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Few served as one of Georgia’s first U.S. senators and was also appointed a trustee of the University of Georgia. In 1799, Few moved to New York, became involved in politics and was also a successful banker. He died in New York in 1828. 

Abraham Baldwin was born in North Guilford, Connecticut in 1754. He was the son of a blacksmith. Baldwin’s parents died when he was a young teenager and he raised his six younger siblings by himself and paid off his family’s debts. He attended Yale and became a Congregationalist minister. He also worked as a tutor at Yale. During the American Revolution, Baldwin served as a chaplain and became a friend of George Washington. In 1783 he decided to move to Georgia at the suggestion of his friend General Nathaniel Greene. He had a career in Georgia as an attorney and as a politician in the cities of Savannah, Augusta and Washington. 

Baldwin was the founder and original trustee of the University of Georgia when it was established in 1785 and he served as its first President. He served several terms in Congress as a member of the House of Representatives. He served as a Senator from 1799-1807 and also served as President of the Senate. Baldwin played a pivotal role in the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and helped arrange for the creation of a compromise that led to the method of representation in the proposed Congress. The controversy threatened to end the convention. He became friends with Benjamin Franklin and they were able to diffuse conflicts that took place at the Constitutional Convention.  Baldwin died in 1807 and was buried in Augusta. Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) in Tifton is named for Baldwin. Young also provided an update about the Thomasville-Thomas County Veterans Museum which will be located at the former T.L. Spence, Jr. American Legion building. Young is a member of the museum’s board and said they recently received a large grant to help with fundraising which is ongoing in the community. They hope to break ground on the Veterans Museum soon. In addition to the display space for artifacts in the museum, it will also include an events center and banquet area which can be used by local organizations. The goal of the museum is to honor and preserve the history of our veterans from the Revolutionary War to the present.  

Constitution Week is celebrated annually on September 17-23. As part of Bells Across America, the Thomasville Chapter DAR held a Bell Ringing Ceremony on September 17 at the historic Thomas County Courthouse to mark the 235th anniversary of the framing of the U. S. Constitution. Chapter Regent Charlotte Brown presented the Constitution Week program and then chapter members, prospective members and local citizens joined in the celebration by reciting the Preamble to the Constitution followed by the ringing of bells for one minute to mark the signing of the Constitution.

The DAR initiated the observance in 1955, when the service organization petitioned the U.S. Congress to dedicate September 17–23 of each year to the commemoration of Constitution Week. Congress adopted the resolution, and on August 2, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into Public Law #915. The celebration’s goals are threefold: to encourage the study of the historical events that led to the framing of the Constitution in September 1787; to remind the public that the Constitution is the basis of America’s great heritage and the foundation for its way of life; and to emphasize U.S. citizens’ responsibility to protect, defend and preserve the U.S. Constitution. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 190,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world’s largest and most active service organizations. More than one million women have joined the DAR since it was founded. To learn more about the work of today’s DAR, visit www.DAR.org. For more information about the Thomasville Chapter DAR, visit thomasville.georgiastatedar.org or the Chapter’s Facebook page at facebook.com/ThomasvilleChapterNSDAR.