by Sharon Gothard
In 1997, when I started working at the Easton Area Public Library, the Easton Flag was hanging on the wall, across from the Circulation Desk. It was in an older wooden frame, with stitching running through the entire flag. Between the dark wooden frame and the stitching, it was rather dull. The flag has a blue field with 13 white 8-pointed stars in a circle; 13 red and white stripes are in the upper left corner. The entire flag is made of silk. It is 55” x 97”.
The flag that I was seeing each day was/is presumed to be dated to either July 8, 1776 or September 16, 1814. These two dates are the Reading of the Declaration of Independence by Robert Levers at the Northampton County Courthouse, and at the end of the 1812 War, 1814, again at the same courthouse.
So, what do we know for sure?
The American Archives, Fifth Series, Volume 1:
Easton, Northampton County, July 8, 1776
This day, the Declaration of Independency was received here, and proclaimed in the following order: The Colonel, and all other Field-Officers of the First Battalion, repaired to the Court-House, the Light-Infantry company marching there with drums beating, fifes playing, and the Standard, (the device for which is the Thirteen United Colonies,) which was ordered to be displayed; and after that the Declaration was read aloud to a great number of spectators, who gave their hearty assent with three loud huzzas, and cried out, “May God long preserve and unite the Free and Independent States of America.”1
However, the flag was never fully described.
For a fact, we know it dates to 1814. There are many recollections in later newspapers telling the stories of presenting the flag to the men in Captain Abraham Horn’s company of Volunteer Riflemen. Rosanne Beidelman, then 13 years old and daughter to George Beidelman, was the person who handed the flag to Ensign John Dingler.2 The call to war was very abrupt and the women of Easton only had four days to make uniforms and knapsacks. Samuel Moore, who remembers the event said the uniforms were hunting shirts and pants made of common muslin. Also, not all soldiers had a uniform or even muskets. They marched the streets of Easton and when approaching Second St., halted and were presented with the flag from the ladies of Easton and Ms. Beidelman.
Some believe that it was possible for a few women to make the flag, while the other women made the uniforms and knapsacks; others believed it was not enough time to make a double-sided flag.
Either way, it came back to Easton in December of that same year, never seeing any battles. (In 1814 the US flag had 15 stripes and stars)
Years later at a meeting of the late Rifle Company, on July 25, 18183, it was decided to give the flag to a public institution for safekeeping. They asked the Easton Library Company if they would accept and preserve the flag. Abraham Horn Jr. was a past President of the Library Board, so this may be why the library was chosen. In 1818 the Company of Volunteer Riflemen voted to place it in the library, it was not delivered to the Library until July of 1821.4 When it was delivered, there was a note attached to the pole. 5
On May 19, 1876, a reporter from the Easton Express, wrote a description of the Easton Flag;
“It is a blue silk flag with twelve stars arranged in a circle on the field and one star in the middle of the circle. It is badly faded, and there appeared to have been six red stripes across the white union. The flag is attached to a blue pole, surmounted with a German silver spear.”6
It appears, even in 1876 the flag was in bad shape. It was still lodged in the Easton Library Hall and probably still being on the pole, helped its demise.
Perusing the library minutes, on May 6, 1907, the library board received a request from William J. Heller (flag manufacturer) to take the “flag of 1812” and after framing it in a permanent hermetically sealed frame at his own expense, to take it down to the Jamestown Exposition. 7 The library granted this request on the condition that he take it only to the Exposition and that he files a bond of three hundred dollars for its safe return. From June to August 1907 there was no quorum so the meetings were adjourned. I have yet to find any mention of this actually happening.
The Flag along with the Easton Liberty Bell was sent down to Philadelphia for the Sesqui-Centennial that was celebrated from May 31, 1926 to November 1926. It was sent to Philadelphia on the back of an open truck. Yes, an open truck. Before traveling to Philadelphia, the Easton Express on June 17, 1926 8, stated it was placed in a “suitable frame and covered with glass”. We know the frame for the flag was made by Edward A. A. Schilling 9, a furniture maker in Easton and most likely presented on June 16, 1926. After putting the flag and the Liberty Bell in the truck, there was a parade with school children and patriotic citizens heading to Cottingham Stadium for the local afternoon ceremonies. After the festivities, the flag was put in a window at the Bush & Bull’s store until it went to Philadelphia. On June 23, 1926 10 a caravan of Easton dignitaries headed to Philadelphia for the Sesqui-Centennial. That day it was raining and later when they arrived it turned to a pouring rain.
On December 7, 1926 at the Library Board meeting 11, it was stated the flag was back. At the same meeting, it was proposed by the librarian to have the “revolutionary flag” be permanently displayed in the library. On March 1, 1927, the minutes state Howell Monument was paid to erect the flag. Since Howell dealt with marble, I surmise that this was when the flag was put on the marble wall at the entrance of the Carnegie building.
We do know that in 1944, Mr. Richard Minnich, then Library Director, had reached out to Mrs. Katherine F. Richey, a well-known restorer and preserver of historic flags. She agreed to restore the Easton Flag by backing the flag with Irish linen and interlocking a stitch over the entire flag so that there was no strain on the fabric. This method of stitching was patented by Mrs. Richey’s mother 12. By mid-1945, the flag was ready to come back to the library. Mrs. Richey had said the flag was from 1776-1780 or perhaps earlier. “The old material in its disintegrated state would indicate this.”
In 1978, a letter was sent to Dr. Charles Waltman 13. In it, Hattie Dagon Durgin had written that her ancestor Elizabeth Shipman, married to George Beidleman, had made the Easton Flag when only nine or ten. The family had talked of this family lore many times when Hattie was a child. They also told Hattie about Rosanne Beidleman and the presentation of the flag to the Northampton County men in 1814. Mrs. Durgin also stated that a Shipman ancestor of hers (possibly Colonel Matthais Shipman) was associated with George Washington and this Shipman told Elizabeth the ideas Washington had for a flag, and hence she made the Easton Flag accordingly. The Shipman and Beidleman families lived in Warren County NJ (then Sussex County NJ) at this time, but George Beidleman’s father, Valentine, was very involved in Easton, PA at the time of the Revolutionary War. This seems like a likely synopsis of who made the flag, but George Beidleman married Elizabeth Beaver, not Elizabeth Shipman. Also, Elizabeth Shipman, daughter to Matthias was born in 1771 and married John Kline.
Another synopsis could be Elizabeth (Beaver) Beidleman (1767-1855) or someone in her family made the flag. Her father, Colonel Joseph Beavers, of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, served as Colonel in the Second Regiment, Hunterdon County Militia. He also was chosen as one of the delegates from Hunterdon County to the New Jersey Provincial Legislature at Trenton. He most likely was present when the Reading of the Declaration of Independence was read in Trenton, NJ on July 8, 1776. 14 American Archives, Series Five, Vol. 1, page 119, states that members of the Provincial Congress, the gentleman of the Committee, the officers and privates of the militia, and more, attended. It is possible, if made by Elizabeth (Beaver) Beidleman and she still had the flag, and still being alive, gave it to Rosanne to present.
The Easton Flag, since being with the Easton Library, has been at the Easton Library Hall on 2nd & Church Streets, (on the pole). In a wooden frame, it has been at the original stair entranceway to the Carnegie building and when the addition was finished in 1968, on the wall near the back entrance of the library. In 2000 it was sent to Textile Preservation Associates, Inc in Sharpsburg, Maryland and each stitch that Mrs. Richey put in, was painstakingly taken out. A material called Stabiltex was added to keep what little remains there are of the stripes, stars and blue field. The double-faced flag was put into an aluminum frame. 15
The Easton Flag was brought back in time for Flag Day and on June 15, 2000, an employee from Palmer Post Office came to the library with limited Classic Collection sheets of stamps, all flags, called The Stars and Stripes, with the Easton Flag being one of them. 16,17 Each sheet that was sold had a commemorative stamp with the flag and date on it. The Northampton County Genealogical and Historical Society allowed us to borrow the finial or spear that was once on top of the flag pole. After this celebration the flag was then put on the wall in the Marx Room as it is climate controlled.
On February 21, 1908, the city of Easton voted to have the Easton Flag their Municipal Flag. Many replicas of the Easton Flag have been produced. Kaplan’s, a local awning store in Easton, has been selling the Easton Flag, the Sigal Museum had small replica flags made. There are some local shops that have incorporated the Easton Flag into their merchandise. The Easton Rovers football team always carries an Easton Flag when entering the field.
The last and final place for the Easton Flag is in the Marx Room. After years on the wall in the Marx Room, I noticed bits of the stripes falling onto the blue field. We knew laying it flat was the best option so we decided to have a “table” made to fit the frame of the flag. In 2011, R. S. Hahn & Sons, Inc. donated the custom-built aluminum table to hold the already framed flag. We had a “history nook” ready for the table where it was permanently placed. In October of 2012 a beautiful replica of the Easton Flag was presented to the library in the form of a quilt. Quilters from At Piece Quiltery stitched and hand quilted it. This is placed over the original flag to keep light off of it to help prevent further deterioration.
1. American Archives – Fifth Series – Volume I April, 1848 - located in the Marx Room – oversize
2. Located in the Northampton County Genealogical & Historical Society, there was a card attached to the pole with a note, written and signed by Samuel Moore;2. This flag was presented by Miss Rosanna Beidelman on behalf of the ladies of Easton, to Capt. Abram. Horn’s Company of Volunteer Rifleman, 1st Co. 1st Regt. Colonel Humprey’s in Sept. 1814 immediately after the burning of Washington City with this address - “Under this flag march to glory”. The Ensign replied, “I will mam” – not “I be’s the man” as stated in the “History of the Lehigh Valley”. It was subsequently voted at a general meeting of the members of the Company called for the purposed to deposit the Flag in the Easton Library in honor and remembrance of the patriotic donors. S. Moore - 1821 Samuel Moore (1794 – 1883) joined Capt. Abram. Horn, Jr’s. Company. Also, in the “Der Northampton Correspondent”, an Easton German Paper, September 16, 1814.
3. 3. Account of meeting in which city flag was given to the library by the late rifle co. commanded by A. Horn - The Easton Centinel July 31, 1818 pg., 3. Also, Reminiscences of Easton past -- account of Abraham Horn's Company in 1814 -- tells of Beidelman giving flag. Muster roll of Easton Artillerists in 1821. Easton Express - May 19, 1876 Also, The Easton Library Minutes - August 1, 1818
4. 4. The Easton Library Minutes – see image 1
5. 5. Copy of the note is in “The Story of the Easton Flag”, compiled by Jane S. Moyer, 1976. Storage H.929.9 M928s see image 2 - Original note, pole and finial at the Sigal Museum
6. 6. Easton Express - May 19, 1876
7. 7. The Easton Library Minutes – see image 3
8. 8. Easton Express - June 17, 1926
9. 9. Easton Flag Ephemera box – H 929.9 E13r Oversize (Marx Room)
1010. Easton Express – June 17, 1926
1111. The Easton Library Minutes – December 7, 1926
1212. Easton Express – July 3, 1945
1313. The original letter is at the Sigal Museum Library. The Marx Room has a copy of the letter.
1414. American Archives – Fifth Series – Volume I April, 1848 - located in the Marx Room - oversize
1515. Report from Textile Preservation Assoc. – located in Marx Room
1616. Easton Flag Conservation and Postage Stamp Commemoration 2000 – H 929.9 E13c
17. Limited Classic Collection sheets of stamps, all flags, called The Stars and Stripes, with the Easton Flag – see image 4
1, 14
American Archives – Fifth Series – Volume I
April, 1848
4. image 1
7. image 3
July 19, 1821
*Located in the Marx Room at the EAPL in Safe
image 2 5.
5.
5.
Date unknown
Circa 1927 at the original staircase to the Carnegie Easton Public Library
@ 1945 at the original staircase to the Carnegie Easton Public Library
David H. Miller of NCH&G in the new addition to the library 1968
The plaque that is on the frame is in the Marx Room.
“The First Stars and Stripes of the
United Colonies unfurled at Easton, PA July 8, 1776”
In the Marx Room on the wall @2000
In the Marx Room, present location, covered by Quilt.
Image 4
No comments:
Post a Comment