FROM LEWIS L. NEILSON JR., CHANCELLOR

DATE: SEPTEMBER 9, 2008

I wish all of our Divisions Colonies and Chapters well with your programs and meetings.

We have added a "members only" section of our website. THE MEMBER NAME AND PASSWORD ARE CASE SENSITIVE. We have sent the username and password (which is case sensitive) to all of our members who have been identified as members in our email program. Since that is different from our member database it is necessary to individually identify people as members in the email program so that is in process. If you are a member and did not receive the email with the password, please send us an email with your full name and address with MEMBER and state in the subject line.

We introduced a page on our Website which identifies the short term goals and long term vision for our Society, consistent with our purposes and supporting our mission. This page will be periodically updated and we invite suggestions. Please look at the "What's New" Page on our Web Site for information.

Our Washington DC dinner on Saturday, April 12, 2008 was very successful with recognition to Wayne Valis for his service with the Magna Charta. We were especially pleased that two representatives of the NEA spoke on a current initiative to develop Magna Charta Curriculum in the US and UK as well as the NEA support for exhibit of the Magna Charta in the US. We showed the video with David Rubenstein, Esq.   We have included video of the talks at the dinner on our website. http://www.magnacharta.org/2008/4/12a/DinnerApril12.htm

Last year we scheduled an information lunch for members in Washington DC during DAR Week. We found a convenient and attractive restaurant and those participating ordered from the menu. Let us know if you might be interested in a lunch next year for planning purposes.

Our Washington DC Centennial Dinner is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 2009 at the University Club. We encourage you to attend. As in prior years we are planning a reception portion for those who might have additional activities that evening. We especially welcome Patron participation even if you are unable to attend the dinner. We are also welcoming Patron States who wish to recognize the Centennial with an event. We will be adding information concerning the Patron contributions.

Magna Carta To Remain In the United States:

On March 24, 2008 I was pleased to have a conversation with David Rubenstein Esquire concerning his vision for his Magna Carta which he purchased in December and has loaned to the National Archives for display in Washington DC.  http://www.magnacharta.org/2008/3/24/Default.html

Views From England:

On February 24, 2008 I met with Ashley Mote, Member of the European Parliament, Independent MEP for South-east England, who shared some of his views concerning Magna Carta in a short video clip. http://www.magnacharta.org/2008/2/24/Default.html  His website is www.ashleymote.co.uk

Additional Information in the Magna Charta Web Site:

August 23, 2008 We have added a History Page and the first addition is the Program Book for the 40th Anniversary in 1949. We have also added some pictures of Chancellor Neilson explaining the purposes of our Society to Prince Charles when he visited Philadelphia last year.
Link to History Page /http://www.magnacharta.us/History/history1.htm
Link to Pictures http://www.magnacharta.us/Prince Charles Pictures.htm 

Notes Concerning Video:

We are planning to continue and expand this format for sharing individual views on the Magna Charta. We continue to emphasize video from talks presented in a public forum (hopefully with the text), however, we do not wish to wait for a formal talk when there is a message which can be shared using our website.

The 1215 Lincoln Magna Carta is continuing on tour with individual exhibits for each venue. I am informed that the schedule includes, the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley California beginning February 2009, the Gerald Ford Museum in Michigan in the fall of 2009, in New York City at the historic Fraunces Tavern in the autumn of 2009 and the George H. W. Bush Library in College Station Texas in 2010. Wayne Valis, former Presidential Aide, has made an outstanding effort for the tour of the 1215 Magna Carta which has successfully included Virginia Beach and Philadelphia. We have included video from these two exhibits on our website. We recognized Wayne Valis for his effort at our dinner in Washington DC on April 12, 2008.

There can be a number of additional Exhibit opportunities leading up the 800th anniversary in 1215 and I would welcome suggestions.

You will observe that the format has been changed for the listing of immigrant ancestors, currently 196. There is a link from each of listed ancestors to a page for that ancestor and that page has the Barons listed with links to each of the Barons pages. As the Barons other than the Surety Barons are researched we will add pages for them with the links for the immigrant ancestors. To clarify these are the Barons who supported the Magna Charta as distinguished from the non qualifying Barons who supported the King.

Also as many of the immigrant ancestors are descended from more than one Baron many of our members are descended from more than one qualifying immigrant ancestor. In some cases two qualifying immigrants are married to each other and this has already been noted on their web page. It turns out that most of our recent Primary Members submit lineage information from one ancestor, however, in the past the office was including more than one qualifying immigrant in the member records. Brookfield is working on listings of grouped ancestors and is planning to gradually include some of them on the web site.

We are planning a dinner is Washington DC next Spring 2009 to celebrate our 100^th Anniversary. We also invite our Divisions Chapters and Colonies to have celebrations throughout the year and, perhaps, continuing into 2010. For each there are likely to be some excellent and educational programs and perspectives on Magna Charta. This is a good time to plan for recording the events for presentation and sharing.

We are pleased that many of our members have appointed their successors. On the first page of the website there is a tab for Successor Information which will explain succession in our Society.

If you are a member of our Society you may Propose your children for membership using the Proposal Form for our Society. Your signature on the form will be accepted as primary proof of descent and no additional documentation will be necessary. If you propose another relative then descent would need to be established from your common ancestor on your qualifying line.

We are continuing with planning for the Reissue and welcome interest in a Committee to be established for this purpose.

Our March Newsletter provided information concerning the Reissue Project and I encourage you to review that information.

We will be sending lists of new members to most of the State Division Regents or local Regents. If you are a member and wish to participate at the State or local level, please let us know. The "members only" section of our website includes contact information for our State Divisions. Please be reminded that it is necessary to first be a member of the National Society in order to participate in State Divisions or Chapters of Colonies.

Several of our members have expressed interest in forming new Divisions. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to assisting with this effort.

On behalf of the Officers and Council of the Society, I bring greetings with this Newsletter. We continue to develop awareness of Magna Charta and its message. We ask each of you to participate with us in continuing the long tradition of friendship and fellowship which has continued over many years. We need to increase the number of members and friends on our email listing. Please ask your relatives or friends to send us their E-mail address. Please also send us the E-mail addresses of friends who are interested either in lineage societies or in memorializing Magna Charta. For the future, please propose new members for our Society. Please also attend your local meetings and include your children and grandchildren. We have a very special organization and I hope that you will help us to maintain its traditions.

We continue to be pleased with the response from our members to update addresses and provide new addresses for those who have been lost. Many members who were eligible to do so have appointed successors. Updated address lists will be sent to the State Divisions. I am, however, saddened to learn when our members are deceased. I and the Society are grateful for the time, dedicated effort and financial contributions that many of those members have given to our Society. As I update the deceased role with members who I have worked with and known during the past nineteen years, I am reminded that we need to express appreciation on an ongoing basis to all of those who are helping to make our Society a wonderful organization. Thank You!

If you are not a member of our Society and are eligible, I hope that you will join. If you are not eligible but share our interest in history and genealogy, we encourage you to remain on our Email list. We also welcome your participation in our ongoing genealogical research projects and our Tours. We welcome and encourage new members and remind those submitting lineage information to include copies of referenced material.

As mentioned in prior E-Newsletters, membership continues to be of vital importance to our Society. If you wish to speed up or facilitate the membership process, please include with the Proposal Form a well-documented lineage (including copies of the documentation) to either a known ancestor or to one of the qualifying Barons. If you have sent lineage information without the copies, you may also speed up the process by sending copies of the documentation. Lineage Forms are provided on the Website.

We rely on member contributions for our Society operations and we plan to build our endowment in connection with the 100^th Anniversary of the founding our Society in 1909. We hope you will consider contributions, including contributions of appreciated securities. Our Society is a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

We continue to significantly increase our e-mail list. To those of you who are new to our list we welcome you to receive our Electronic Newsletter and hope that you will find our Society and our mission to be interesting. Since a primary mission of our Society is to develop awareness of Magna Charta we wish to expand the circulation of our Electronic Newsletter by increasing our e-mail address list particularly including those who are members of lineage societies and/or those who share our interest in the principles of Constitutional Liberty. I would like to thank those who have shared their email lists since our last Electronic Newsletter.