(Originally Published Friday, January 17, 2014 – Blogger: One Daughter’s Point of View)
Today we had our regular monthly chapter meeting. Our speaker today was Fam Brownlee who came to tell us the story of the union of the towns of Winston and Salem in 1913. We’d intended to have this program in 2013 – Winston-Salem’s centennial year but had to defer to this month due to scheduling conflicts with another program. However, it was well worth the wait.
Fam refreshed our local education on the formation of Winston and the Moravian town of Salem. He talked to us about Irishmen, a horse graveyard, laws against roaming pigs and their criminal records – the pigs…not the people. But he really perked my interest even more when he mentioned the name Col. J.L. Ludlow.
Col Ludlow is credited with giving the speech, known as the ‘Walled City’ speech, to urge the citizens of Winston and Salem to vote in favor of joining the two cities into one. And long story short…(give or take a criminal piggy or two) in 1913, the city of Winston-Salem was created. I’ll leave the real story telling about the union of the two towns to the great local oral historian, Fam Brownlee.
But back to Ludlow. No, I’m not talking about Col. Ludlow, I mean Mrs. Col. Ludlow. Her name was Myra Hunt Ludlow – and she was our chapter’s third chapter regent. The first was Mrs. Lucy Patterson who was an extraordinarily accomplished woman for her time. The second was Mrs. Kate Bitting Reynolds, another noble name in our city’s history. Then there was Mrs. Myra Hunt Ludlow.
Our chapter experienced a significant change under the regency of Mrs. Ludlow. When our chapter was chartered in February 1904, the chapter was named the Salem Centennial Chapter. There appears to be some conflicting information which I discovered only this week. Recent chapter history notes stated that thirteen ladies gathered in 1902 during “the Centennial Celebration of the Old Salem Village” where they initially began the chapter that would be formally chartered on February 16, 1904, as the Salem Centennial Chapter.
But in 1902, Salem was already well over 100 years ago. I already knew that Mrs. Patterson, the Organizing Chapter Regent, was a graduate of Salem Academy, which had become a boarding school in 1802. Therefore, it is most likely that the chapter was originally named for the centennial celebration of Mrs. Patterson’s beloved Salem Academy.
On January 17, 1908 (106 years ago today!) the chapter convened and Mrs. John L. (Emma Jones) Gilmer “…delightfully entertained the Daughters in her lovely apartments of the Zinzendorf in honor of the anniversary of George Washington’s wedding day. The Regent Mrs. Ludlow presiding with her usual grace…” It was at this meeting that the Daughters apparently decided to change the chapter name to the General Joseph Winston Chapter “…in appreciation of his fine military record during the War for Independence. Our City [sic] also has been named in his honor.”
So…it appears the scheduling conflict was meant to be. Otherwise, Fam wouldn’t have told his story on the exact 106th anniversary of the day another Ludlow – Mrs. Myra Ludlow – presided (graciously presided that is) over the meeting where our chapter changed its name. How poetic! And it occurred on Day 4 of our “110 Years in 110 Days” chapter anniversary celebration.
During the chapter regency of Mrs. George (Lula Ditmore) Sandlin and following additional research, the chapter discovered that Winston had been promoted to the rank of Colonel. Therefore by 1966, the chapter was renamed again as the Colonel Joseph Winston Chapter
A Robynn’s Chirps 