1 DECEMBER 2011

NEW YORK STATE SEAWAY TRAIL EVOKES EVENTS OF WAR OF 1812 FOUGHT TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Marguerite Fogleman, AGS Council parliamentarian and Southern Echoes book reviewer, will assume the role of "tour guide" with a slide presentation of events in the War of 1812 for our program to be held on Thursday, December 1, at 3 p.m. at the Augusta Museum of History.

The War of 1812 celebrates its bicentennial next year, and events are being scheduled across the eastern half of the US and Canada to commemorate it. The war, sometimes alluded to as America's second war for independence, was precipitated by the belligerent monarchies of France and Great Britain preying on American shipping and attempting to manipulate the young United States republic. The British impressed seamen from American merchant vessels by claiming the men were deserters from the British navy. Native American Indian tribes allied with the English in the American northwest and Canada and with the Spanish in the American southwest and Florida. Conflicts were fought along the length of the American frontier. France hoped that involvement with American efforts would weaken the British position.

Sackets Harbor, located on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario in New York, was used as a naval base from 1808 until the 1940s. In the War of 1812, the British tried twice to capture it. Marguerite's program will explain the role of Sackets Harbor and also "escort" program attendees on a "journey" along the New York State Seaway Trail. The Trail was established in 1980 and extends for 454 miles along the shoreline of Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River.

Southern Echoes featured Marguerite "In the AGS Spotlight" in Vol. XXVII, Nr. 11. At that time, she told us that her first book review appeared in 1983 when the newsletter was written on a typewriter and run off on a mimeograph machine. She has reviewed hundreds of books since that time. Her love of genealogy, history and literature began in childhood when both of her parents were writers. She received her degree from Louisiana State University, where her father was on faculty, and later held positions in the Memphis Public Library and Wilmington College Library. She especially enjoyed 26 years spent at Augusta State University where she was associate librarian with director Ray Rowland and wrote Historical Markers of Richmond County, Georgia, published in 1986. She retired from ASU in 1991.

Her family includes four children, seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. Several years ago after her retirement, she helped one granddaughter by "twin-sitting" two sets of twins when all the babies were less than three years old. All the "greats" are boys!

Marguerite is an active member and past Regent of the College Hill Chapter of the DAR in Augusta, and she volunteers as a docent at Meadow Garden. She is a member of the National Society of U.S. Daughters of 1812 and a number of other lineage organizations and family societies. She travels frequently to meetings and national conferences.

The program at the museum on December 1 is free and open to the public. Ample parking is available from the Sixth Street or Broad Street entrances at the Augusta Museum.