TO MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY MAGNA CHARTA DAMES AND BARONS, POTENTIAL MEMBERS AND THOSE WHO SHARE OUR INTEREST IN THE PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY
FROM LEWIS L. NEILSON JR., CHANCELLOR
DATE: DECEMBER 15, 2003
We continue to 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 who might share our interest in the principles of Constitutional Liberty.
We encourage you to check our Website regularly for new developments and information. The link to the Newsletter on the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org/enews122003.htm The link to the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org. Please also refer to OUR E-MAIL LIST at the end of this Newsletter.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
On behalf of the Officers and Council of the Society, I express best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. I am delighted to report that our Society is doing extremely well and to present a Christmas 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 express special appreciation for our State and Local leaders throughout the United States who maintain the vitality of their Divisions, Colonies and Chapters.
Our E-mail listing has had a net increase of over 4,400 to 5,760 since December of 2000 when the list was slightly over 1,350. We need to significantly 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.
Unanswered E-Mail
I normally back up my computer every three weeks. This last September my computer crashed and we lost about three weeks of email mostly responding to our last Electronic Newsletter. While many of the lost messages had already been answered, I apologize to the others. Please let me know if you have an outstanding inquiry.
If you have any unanswered questions please let me know. I particularly thank each of you who have helped with the ongoing lost member project; we are delighted to locate lost members. I also particularly welcome new members who have joined as a result of the WebSite. 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.
Expanding the Society Web Site
The goals for our WebSite for 2004 include increasing the amount of video from our past tours and increasing the amount of information available concerning the immigrant ancestors who descended from the Barons. We look for participation from our members and volunteer researchers to assemble information concerning over 1,000 immigrant ancestors.
Tour Program - 2004
We are continuing the process of preparing an England Tour for 2004. There will be a celebration in Bury St. Edmunds where members of our Society donated shields of the Barons. This will be our last chance to experience Royal Ascot prior to renovation. The purpose of the educational tour will be to visit locations of cultural and historical significance primarily relating to the Magna Charta. We are now undertaking to reduce the cost while maintaining quality; please let us know if you might be interested in participating.
National Events 2004 - Washington DC & Philadelphia
Our Washington Dinner next year is scheduled for Saturday, April 17, 2004 and a luncheon is scheduled for Saturday, February 21, 2004 outside Philadelphia. Please mark you calendars and let us know if you would like to receive an invitation to either event.
Texas Members - At the last Texas Division Parliament a resolution was offered and passed inviting all Texas Members of our Society to attend the Parliament to be held in San Antonio on March 13 and 14, 2004. If you are a member living in Texas and are not presently a member of one of the Colonies or would like to contact the Texas Division please let me know and I will forward your message.
New York Members - The New York Division has scheduled a meeting for Monday, February 23, 2004.
All Members (Mailing List) - As I mentioned in the last Electronic Newsletter I have visited eight state meetings this past year. I appreciate the gracious hospitality of our members in those states and organizations. I am delighted to report that the programs have been outstanding and our State Division leadership is excellent. I encourage our members to attend meetings of our Divisions, Chapters and Colonies. We send addresses of our members to the State Divisions, enabling the Divisions to contact the members living in their states. That is a significant reason for keeping your address current with our Society.
Potential Members
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.
Contributions
We rely on member contributions for our Society operations and we plan to build our endowment in connection with the 100th Anniversary of the founding our Society in 1909. We hope you will consider year end contributions, including contributions of appreciated securities. Our Society is a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
OUR E-MAIL LIST
Our E-mail list is made up of those who have sent us e-mail, of members and friends of the Society who have responded to our Newsletter request for E-mail addresses and others who we believe might be interested in our Society or mission. If you would prefer not to receive future Electronic Newsletters, however, please let us know. If you have friends who you believe might be interested in our Society, please forward this e-mail. If you have received this as a forwarded e-mail, please visit our Website at for more information about our Society. You may also contact our Society Office at 215-836-5022 between the hours of 9:30am and 3:00pm, Tuesday to Friday.
Best Christmas and Holiday Wishes. I hope that each of you is well. Do not hesitate to contact me with questions or suggestions. Chancellor@magnacharta.org