Photo (left to right): Laura Wiest, Lucy Whitmarsh, Cecilia Bell, Margaret Dines, Linda McDonald, Edna Puleston, Gail Firebaugh-Smith, and Evelyn Yates
For Valentine's Day the Jacob Bennett Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution met at Vicki's Eatery for lunch. Cecilia Bell, President of the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society, relayed the story of the romance and marriage of William Glasgow and Josephine Magoffin. In April of 1892, Lieutenant William Glasgow, a West Point graduate, was assigned to Fort Bayard. In 1895 he met Josephine Magoffin who was visiting friends at Fort Bayard.
William wrote to Josephine: "Now Dear, if I may call you, we will not misunderstand each other. You are very dear to me and I want you to be my wife. That is indeed a plain statement, not dressed in sentimentalism. I hope that even now you will someday say yes. It may not be quite easy to decide, but it is your task. You, your own dear sweet self, must say whether we spend the rest of our lives together or I can not write the alternative." Josephine did accept the proposal and the couple was married in El Paso at the Church of the Immaculate Conception on October 29, 1896. A reception followed at the Magoffin Home, now a State Historic Site, in El Paso. A local newspaper reported that the wedding and reception that followed was "the wedding of the century." The church was decorated with white and yellow chrysanthemums, the bridesmaids wore white and yellow, the groom and groomsmen were in full military uniform and the bride dressed in white.
The usual meeting date for the Jacob Bennett Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is held the second Saturday of the month from September through May in the reception hall at the Church of the Good Shepherd on Texas Street in Silver City at 10:00. If you think that you might have a patriot from the American Revolution in your family tree, come to a meeting and find out how you can join one of the fastest growing service organizations in the country. For additional information, contact Lucy Whitmarsh, Regent at 575-574-8394 or lmwk@dishmail.net