The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 223, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 6, 2003 Page: 17 of 87
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Baytown Sun and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sterling Municipal Library.
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—
LET US KNOW
Have questions about today's
stories or a story idea? Call
Lifestyles Editor Meredith Darnell
at 281-42&8017 or email at
meredith.damelWbaytownsun.com
or sunnews0baytownsun.com
Sunday, July 6, 2003
Sun Lifestyle
j.
ft
It
Jane
Howard Lee
Morethana
signature...
Now that the fireworks all have fallen to
earth and the parades, picnics and parties of
this July 4th weekend are about over, it is a
good time to remember that the Fourth of
July is marked for celebration for reasons
other than to sell hot dogs, beer and fire-
crackers.
We celebrate July Fourth to commemo-
rate the day that 56 brave men put their
names to a document that proclaimed a new
nation.
Have you ever wondered about those men
who signed the Declaration of
Independence? We’ve all seen copies of the
document and we’ve seen their signatures.
Some signed boldly with flourishes. Some
names seem scratched on with timidity, or
at least with a shaky hand. Some signed
big, some very small. They were obviously
men of different personalities and probably
had different thoughts about just what they
were getting into by signing the document,
but they shared a burning desire for free-
dom, a need to shake off the choke-hold
that the British held over them, over their
families and their futures.
Have you wondered what happened to
them?
A friend sent me an e-mail with this
information and I pass it on to you.
Twenty-four of the signers were lawyers
and Jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine
were farmers and large plantation owners.
So they were men of means, mostly well
educated, and they signed the Declaration
of Independence knowing full well that the
penalty would be death if they were cap-
tured. They signed and they pledged their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Many of the signers paid a heavy price.
They quickly became hunted men.
Five of the signers were captured by the
British as traitors and tortured before they
died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and
burned.
Two lost sons serving in the
Revolutionary Army.
Another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from
wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary
War.
Carter Braxton ofVirginia, a wealthy
planter and trader, saw his ships destroyed
by the British Navy. He sold his home and
properties to pay his debts and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the
British that he was forced to move his fami-
ly almost constantly. He served in Congress
without pay and kept his family in hiding.
His possessions were taken from him, and
he ended his life in poverty.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties
of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett,
Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas
Nelson Jr., noted that the British General
Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home
for his headquarters. He quietly urged
General George Washington to open fire.
The home was destroyed and Nelson died
bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and proper-
ties destroyed.
The enemy jailed his wife and she died
within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bed-
side as she was dying. Their 13 children
fled for their lives. His fields and his grist-
mill were laid to waste. For more than a
year he lived in forests and caves, returning
home to find his wife dead and his children
vanished. t
Some of us take our liberties so much for
granted but freedom never comes for free.
As they put their names to the document,
those 56 signers of our Declaration of
Independence thought freedom worth the
price they might pay for it and most of
them paid dearly.
So, take a moment while enjoying these
last minutes of your July 4th weekend and
think of the patriots who made it possible.
Jane Howard Lee's column appears
every Sunday in the Lifestyle section. Her
e-mail address is bubbalee@flash.net.
www.baytownsun.com
Section C
Sterling Municipal Library
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Baytown Sun photo/Meredith Darnell
ANOTHER FIRST! Jasmine Reynaga, 2, gets her first library card on Wednesday from Peggy Jepnings, circulation technician, at
Sterling Municipal Library. Her brother, Javier Reynaga, also got his first card. The library is celebrating its 40th anniversary this
year. Below: Matthew Necco, 9, is hard at work Wednesday at Sterling Municipal Library. At top: The Sterling library starting from
construction of its first building in 1925 to where the library is housed today. J
-
1
40 Years
City library evolves
with community
By DENISE FISCHER
City librarian
BAYTOWN — It could very well be that early cave paintings were actual-
ly a library repository of the knowledge of the time.
Around 1500 B.C., librarians experienced a significant change.
Pictographic writing was carved on stones and became known as hiero-
glyphic writing. Lifting these stone tablets also gave rise, or fall, to hernias,
and librarians experienced a great deal of sick leave during this period.
Leather and papyrus soon came into use. But, librarians found that while
0 . * more comfortable to carry, scrolls led to other problems.
SUSHI The papyrus made a rustling sound as they were unfurled.
Anthropologists note that it was-
during this period that librarians learned to say
“Sush.”
More is known about middle-aged librarians than
about librarians in the Middle Ages. V\fe can think of
monks as the librarians of the period. Until the
invention of printing, books or manuscripts were
written by hand. In order to minimize errors in tran-
scription, a code of absolute silence prevailed.If the monk wished to consult
a book, he made certain signs to his fellow workers. It could very well be that
the stereotypical idea of silent libraries originated during this period.
By the 12th century, university libraries began to appear. One of the earli-
est was the Sorbonne in Paris. Librarians were faced With a new and troubling
factor: the student. Wisely,
Sorbonne books were chained to
shelves, but chains were long
enough to reach to the desks.
The birth of printing in {he
1400s changed the life of the
librarian forever. Once the com-
mon man had access to books,
librarians had to devise new
methods for storing and cata-
loging their holdings. In 1873,
Melv5 Dewey Solved all of these
dilemmas with his numerical
system — the Dewey Decimal
LIBRARY G)
? TRIVIA f
1. The first known libraries
probably evolved in the 12th
century BC. Do you know
where?
Ross S. Sterling:
‘Wouldn’t you like
your own building?’
2. What was the name
of the greatest library
of Egypt which is best
known because It was
destroyed?
3. What wars
where i
trans
rooms called
■1
■ Mott librarians remember Ben
Franklin for having established
the first subscription library In
1731. But many members of the
library could not have taken
advantage of the works housed
there without another of
Franklin’s great Inventions.
Can you gussa what it was?
BIfocalsI
4. WH)ft caused thl
"library smell?"
5. What was thf
street in froi
Municipal LN
was re-namd
Councllwoman Mary Elizabeth
Wilbanks?.
6. How mi
get a llbrail
it cost to
(Answers on Page 3C.)
$66 LIBRARY on Page 3C
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Cash, Wanda Garner. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 81, No. 223, Ed. 1 Sunday, July 6, 2003, newspaper, July 6, 2003; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1051924/m1/17/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.