History of the Fincastle Resolutions Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution

 

This information about the history of the Fincastle Resolutions Chapter was shared with Cranston Williams, Jr. by Hoskins M. Sclater in correspondence dated September 17, 1991. 

 

Although the present SAR Chapter in Roanoke, VA was not organized until 1969, its history goes back to 1946. The Virginia State Society began its activities in Roanoke, Virginia on November 2, 1946 when William Macfarland Jones, Secretary of the Virginia Society, wrote to Hoskins Mallory Sclater of Roanoke, Virginia and authorized him to endeavor to form a chapter in the Roanoke area.

 

Hoskins was a young attorney, a former President of the Mill Mountain Chapter of the Children of the American Revolution (CAR) and an SAR member in good standing since February 29. 1940. Hoskins knew of four other SAR members who resided in the Roanoke area. In 1947, he invited twenty-nine other well known and established Roanoke men to join the SAR. Of the 29 invited, 27 were a generation or older than he, as he was only 28 years old.

 

In 1947, Roanoke City was 63 years of age and was 29 years away from celebrating the Bicentennial. Little interest was demonstrated by those Hoskins invited to join another organization, no matter how patriotic or worthy it might be. Hoskins worked hard and corresponded extensively, but Roanoke men were not ready for the SAR, despite the fact that the DAR had been active in Roanoke since 1894. Of the 29 invitees, one joined in 1947. However, Hoskins had "planted the seed", which bore fruit when the Roanoke SAR Chapter was organized September 15, 1956 and chartered in 1957. In 1958, another of the 29 invitees joined the Roanoke Chapter. The Chapter disolved itself in 1966 into the Richmond Headquarters Chapter.

 

At a July 12, 1969 luncheon meeting at Hotel Roanoke, plans were laid for the organization of an SAR chapter in Roanoke, VA. Virginia Society President Donald Baldwin presided, and the six SAR Roanoke residents selected William T. Horton as their first president. At a subsequent meeting on September 9, 1969, the chapter was named the Fincastle Resolutions Chapter, in recognition of the importance of resolves drawn up June 20, 1775 by the freeholders of Fincastle County, Virginia. The Chapter's Charter was awarded at the Hotel Roanoke on November 15, 1969 with twenty-one SAR members present. The Chapter has continued in operation since that date.