Pearl Gurkin Riggan Adamson, daughter of Dr. Wilson Butler Riggan and Louise Gurkin Riggan, is a native of Norfolk, Virginia. Mrs. Adamson was educated at the Graham School in Norfolk, and graduated cum laude from Sweet Briar College. She has been a member of Phi Beta Kappa since 1966.

Mrs. Adamson is married to Mr. Vincent Cassel Adamson, Jr. The Adamsons have four children (Louise Gurkin Adamson Moore; Vincent Cassel Adamson, III; John Gurkin Adamson; and Kirkpatrick Perrow Adamson). She enjoyed a teaching career and now devotes her time to volunteer civic and charitable activities. The Adamsons reside in Richmond, Virginia.

Membership

• National Society of the Colonial Dames of America (National Registrar; National Executive Committee; National Board; National Roll of Honor; Past President of the Virginia Society)

• National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (Thirty-Year Member)

• National Society Daughters of American Colonists (Thirty-Year Member)

Notes

Mrs. Adamson has been a moving force in the Index of Documented Descendants' Lineage (IDDL) for computerizing genealogical records of The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America members and their ancestors to simplify the admission process for new members. The system provides efficient functional online access to genealogical information in members’ papers while controlling access for security and privacy. When a prospective member claims descent from an approved qualifying ancestor utilized by other members, the proof of generational links between the common ancestor and other members can be downloaded from a national database.

Mrs. Adamson has a lifelong interest in historic preservation, lives in an historic home in Richmond, presently being considered for National and Virginia Landmark status, has recently restored Oak Grove, a National and Virginia Landmark farm on the Staunton River in Campbell County, and is in the final stages of restoring another National and Virginia Landmark home in Campbell County. Both Campbell County homes are closely associated with Patrick Henry and his children. She and her husband also own a National and Virginia Landmark in downtown Richmond, the Crozet House, used for office purposes.

Mrs. Adamson formerly served on the Executive Committee and Board of Regents of Gunston Hall Plantation. She has been a member of Phi Beta Kappa since 1966. She has served as past President of the Children's Hospital Junior Board, and is a Founding Member and past President of the Richmond Lawyers' Auxiliary. Mrs. Adamson is a Sustaining Member and Board Member, of the Junior League of Richmond; a member of the Council of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; former Council Member of the Historic Richmond Foundation; and former Director of the Woman's Club. She also holds membership in the Garden Club of Virginia, as well as the Boxwood Garden Club.

Betty Jane James Bernstorf, daughter of Clarence Charles and Hazel Gertrude James, is a native of Wichita, Kansas. Mrs. Bernstorf attended Wichita State University, College of Business Administration. She has also completed eighteen credit hours with certification in Professional Genealogical Research from Brigham Young University.

Mrs. Bernstorf had a twenty-five-year career in Federal Civil Service serving in procurement with the United States Air Force, in supply and medical with the Veterans Administration and in accounting and engineering with the U.S. Postal Region.

She is the widow of Philip Wendall Bernstorf, M.D., F.A.C.P., and has one son; David James Bernstorf. The Bernstorfs reside in Wichita, Kansas.

Memberships

• National Gavel Society

• National Society Americans of Royal Descent

• Order of the Three Crusade 1096-1192 (First Vice President General)

• Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America

• Order of the Merovingian Dynasty

• Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors (Governor General)

• Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry (Honorary President General)

• National Society Children of the American Revolution (Honorary Senior National President)

• Sons and Daughters of the Colonial & Antebellum Bench & Bar 1565-1861 (President General)

• National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims (Honorary Governor General)

• National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (former National Chairmanships and Chapter Regent)

• National Society Daughters of the American Colonists (State Resolutions Chairman; former Chapter Regent)

• National Huguenot Society (former National Officers; Honorary State President; current State First Vice President)

• Baronial Order of Magna Charta

• Military Order of the Crusades

• Guild of Saint Margaret of Scotland

• Presidential Families of America (State Regent)

• Dames of Colonial Cavaliers

• National Society Dames of the Court of Honor (State President of the District of Columbia)

• National Society Daughters of the Barons of Runnemede (former Surety for Kansas)

• National Society Daughters of Colonial Wars

• Hereditary Order of the First Families of Massachusetts

• Huguenot Society of the Founders of Manakin Colony of Virginia

• National Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century (Kansas State President)

• National Society of Colonial Daughters of Seventeenth Century (Registrar of the District of Columbia Society)

• National Society Descendants of Early Quakers

• National Society of New England Women

• National Society Sons and Daughters of Antebellum Planters 1607-1861 (Council Member)

• National Society of Old Plymouth Colony Descendants

• National Society of Women Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts (former National Treasurer)

• National Society United States Daughters of 1812 (Kansas State Treasurer; former Kansas State Registrar)

• Continental Society Daughters of Indian Wars

• Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War

• Flagon and Trencher

• Society of Indiana Pioneers

• Descendants of the Founders of Hartford

• National Society of the Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts

• Society of the Founders of Norwich, Connecticut

• National Society of Magna Charta Dames

• Plantagenet Society

At the 2011 NSCAR Annual Award Meeting, Mrs. Bernstorf was recognized with the NSCAR-SAR Gold Medal of Appreciation in recognition of her efforts, specifically the raising of $100,000 for the benefit of the NSCAR Magazine and update management of the financial holdings of the society.

Other Notes

Mrs. Bernstorf served as Chairman of the Fourth District Republican Central Committee 1982-83, and Vice Chairman of the Sedgwick County Republican Central Committee from 1980-82. She was Secretary, Treasurer and Finance Campaign Manager for Wichita Theatre Organ. She is also a former Officer and Board Member of the Twentieth Century Club and a life member of the Women's Kansas Day Club. She has been a member of the National Association of Parliamentarians since 1996.

Mrs. Bernstorf was Recorder of the Zohar Temple, Daughters of the Nile; and a former officer of the Rose Douglas Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. She received the Outstanding Service Award of the Wichita Kennel Club. She also holds life membership in the West Highland White Terrier Club of America, although she is no longer active in breeding or showing.

Authorships

• National Society Daughters of Colonial Wars Lineage Book VI

• Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors Lineage Book II

• Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors Directories,1997, 2001, 2003

• Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry, Directories, 1999, 2001

• Sons and Daughters of the Colonial & Antebellum Bench & Bar 1565-1861

• Register of Ancestors, 2000

• Sons and Daughters of the Colonial & Antebellum Bench & Bar 1565-1861 Directories, 1999, 2001, 2003

• American Patchwork Quilts, Tokyo Japan, 1987 (contributor)

Listed In

• Who's Who in American Politics

• Who's Who In Wichita

• Hereditary Register of the United States of America

• Hereditary Society Blue Book

LTC Thomas Pelham Curtis, II, born in New York City, was the son of Thomas Pelham Curtis of Boston and Elizabeth Delafield Longfellow of New York. LTC Curtis grew up in Washington, D.C. Currently, he and his wife, Denise W. Curtis, reside in Menomonee Fall, Wisconsin. The Curtises have five children.

He is a graduate of Sidwell Friends School, Washington, D.C. and won the First Place award in Art. LTC Curtis is a graduate of Harvard College , with an AB Degree in Architecture. He was cartoonist and officer of The Harvard Lampoon and a member of the Hasty Pudding Club and the Signet Society at Harvard. LTC Curtis completed his post-graduate studies in drawing at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C.

Commissioned an officer in the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1960, Curtis served five years’ active duty during the Vietnam War; first at Fort Belvoir, VA, and then in Germany from 1962 to 1965. From 1966 through 1987, he was active in the US Army Reserves, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. LTC Curtis is a recipient of The Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, The Army Commendation Medal, The National Defense Service Medal, The Armed Forces Reserve Medal, and The Army Reserve Component Medal.

LTC Curtis' professional career has included: Editorial Cartoonist for The Milwaukee Sentinel 1969-1983; Editorial Cartoonist for National Review 1967-1985; Editorial Cartoonist for Roll Call, the Newspaper of Capital Hill 1966-1969; Illustrator for Imprimus 1968-2000; Illustrator for Rally Magazine 1967-1969; Art Director for PM Advertising 1984-1985; Owner, Curtis Studio 1985 - present; Art Teacher at Brookfield Academy, Brookfield, WI 1986 - present.

Membership

• New York State Society of the Cincinnati (President)

• General Society of Colonial Wars (former Deputy Governor General from Wisconsin; former Governor of the Wisconsin Society)

• National Gavel Society

• Ancient Heraldic and Chivalric Order of Albion

• Colonial Order of the Acorn

• Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America

• Order of the Founders and Patriots of America (former Governor General)

• Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence

• General Society of Mayflower Descendants (former Governor of the Wisconsin Society

• Baronial Order of Magna Charta (former Baron)

• Aztec Club of 1847

• General Society of the War of 1812 (President of the Wisconsin Society)

• Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry

• Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (Commander of the Wisconsin Commandery

• National Society Sons of the American Revolution (former President of the Wisconsin Society)

Chivalric Orders

• Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (Knight Grand Cross; Grand Aumonier and Deputy Grand Prior for the Grand Priory of the United States of America; Chancellor and Grand Commander of the Order of Merit; Recipient of the Distinguished Service Award; The Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster; The Meritorious Service Medal and the Pilgrim's Medal;

• Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem (Knight; Recipient of The Bronze Cross of Merit)

• Imperial Ethiopian Order of Saint Mary of Zion (Knight Grand Cross; Recipient of the Imperial Solomonic Order of Merit in the grade of Grand Cross; Baronet of Gorgora)

Publications

The Turn of a Decade, Editorial Cartoons by Curtis, 1970 Curtis in Profile, 14 Years of Editorial Cartoons in the Milwaukee Sentinel, 1983

Listed In

• The Social Register

• Who's Who Among America's Teachers

Notes

LTC Curtis holds membership in The American Society of Portrait Artists; Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (Past President); The Copley Society of Boston; Knickerbocker Artists of New York; and Philadelphia Society.

His art has been shown at the Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1970, 1987, 1992; the People's Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1989; Brookfield Academy, Brookfield, Wisconsin 1990, 1995, 1999; Ciao Cafe Italian Restaurant, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin 2004.

LTC Curtis is an active member in the Episcopal Church, serving as a member of the vestry and as past Senior Warden. He is a member of Freemasons Lodge 363 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Traces ancestry through the Livingstons to Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, and has been known to wear a kilt and play the bag pipes.

Dr. Henry Darlington, Jr., son of Henry and Dorothy Darlington, was born in New York City, New York. Dr. Darlington was married to the former Carla Paterno Barratt-Brown. He had three children, Henry Darlington, III; Elizabeth Aldrich; and Victoria Wilde Darlington Yoder.

Dr. Darlington graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1949. He received his LHD (hon) from Saint Paul's College in Lawrenceville, Virginia. Working with IBM immediately after graduating college, Dr. Darlington eventually became a partner and investment executive with Hill, Darlington and Co., as well as a member of the New York Stock Exchange. Dr. Darlington also worked as Branch Office Administrator for ten years at Loeb, Rhoades and Co.

Dr. Darlington was a Lieutenant (J.G) in the United States Naval Reserves between 1943-46. He and his wife resided in Palm Beach, Florida.

Memberships

• Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (former President)

• General Society of Colonial Wars (former Governor of the New York Society)

• Saint Andrew's Society in the State of New York

• Saint George's Society of New York

• Huguenot Society of America (former President)

• National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

• Military Order of the World Wars

• Pilgrim Society

• Naval Order of the United States

Chivalric Orders

• The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem

• Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (Grand Cross; Secret Councillor, Priory of Saint Michael and Saint George, New York City)

Notes

Dr. Darlington was an active member of the Episcopal Church for many years, serving in a variety of roles. Dr. Darlington was appointed to be the presiding Bishop's representative to the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem for the Gaza Hospital Project. He served on the board of directors for the Episcopal Missions Society and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agys, and was a former Trustee on the Board of Foreign Parishes. He was a member of St. Paul's Church in Rome and St. James' Church in Florence, and former warden of Eglise Francaise du Sanit Esprit.

In New York City, Dr. Darlington was a member of the Union Club; the University Club; Everglades Club; Army and Navy Club; and Piping Rock Club. He was a member and former trustee of the Alpha Chapter of Delta Psi. Dr. Darlington maintained membership in the New York Society of Military and Naval Officers of the World War, and the Navy League of the United States.

James Bronson Gardiner, II, was born on January 20, 1907 in Amsterdam, New York. He was educated at Governor Dummer Academy in Massachusetts, and Yale University. After graduating from Yale, he began his career as an actuary with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company until he faced mandatory retirement in 1972. He then went to work with the New York State Department of Insurance, where he was involved in the management of pension funds of New York City employees, remaining in this role for thirty years, and retiring definitively at the age of 95.

Mr. Gardiner had two children; a daughter by his first wife, and a son by his second. His daughter, Cynthia, and son, James Bronson Gardiner, III of Burlington, Vermont, survive him. Mr. Gardiner married third Alice Haddock of Alexandria, Virginia when both were 88. She preceded him in death. Mr. Gardiner died on December 11, 2003.

Memberships

• New York Society of Colonial Wars

• Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York

• General Society Sons of the Revolution

• National Society Sons of the American Revolution (former President General)

• Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry

• Order of the Founders and Patriots of America

• National Huguenot Society

• Dutch Settlers Society of Albany

Chivalric Orders

• Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem (Priory of Saint Michael and Saint George, New York City)

Other Notes

Mr. Gardiner, at the time of his death, was the country's oldest working life actuary. During his career he became a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of America, served as Manager of the Group Contract Bureau at MetLife, and helped establish that firm's Immediate Participation Program.

His interests included mathematics, mountain climbing, early American and New York history, and genealogy. His son writes, "I think he loved nothing so much as poring through dusty archives in courthouses or church basements, looking for birth, death and baptismal records of some remote ancestor."

America Ann Daniels Hallgren was born in Washington D. C., daughter of Major Morris Simpson Daniels (USA) and Martha Baggett (Nichols) Daniels. She was married to the late Major George William Hallgren, Sr. (USMCR). Ann was the mother of one daughter, Jan Hallgren and two sons, Jon Morris Hallgren and George William Hallgren, Jr. She resided in Bel Air, Maryland.

Her early education was in Washington D.C. schools and later attended Harford College. Professionally Ann spent five years with Daughters of the American Revolution, National Headquarters, Washington D.C., in their Genealogical Records Department. Mrs. Hallgren spent much of her adult life as a volunteer with the Girl Scouts; The Christ Child Home for Emotionally Disturbed Children; Red Cross; Parent Teacher Association and assisting others in genealogical research. She served as a volunteer at the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, Maryland.

Membership

• Hereditary Society Community of the United State of America (former member of the Advisory Council)

• National Gavel Society

• Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry (former President General)

• Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America

• National Society Americans of Royal Descent

• Order of Three Crusades 1096-1192 (Registrar General)

• National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

• Colonial Dames of America

• Dames of the Court of Honor

• National Society United States Daughters War of 1812 (former President of Maryland Society; National Chairmanships)

• National Huguenot Society (Registrar of Washington D.C. Society; National Chairmanships)

• Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy

• Hereditary Order of the Descendants of Colonial Governors (Councilor General)

• Sons and Daughters of the Colonial & Antebellum Bench & Bar 1565-1861

• National Society Sons and Daughters of Antebellum Planters 1607-1861

• United Daughters of the Confederacy (Maryland State Parliamentarian; former Recorder of Military Crosses for Maryland Society)

• National Society Colonial Dames XVII Century (former President of Maryland Society; National Chairmanships)

• Daughters of the Republic of Texas

• National Society Magna Charta Dames

• National Society of New England Women (former Assistant Treasurer General)

• Colonial Daughters of (National Chairmanships)

• National Society Women Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (former President National)

• Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War 1861-1865

• National Society Daughters of the American Colonist (former Atlantic Coast National Vice President)

• Hereditary Order of Descendants of Loyalists and Patriots of the American Revolution

• Hereditary Order First Families of Massachusetts (Governor of Maryland Society)

• National Society Descendants of Early Quakers (National Corresponding Secretary)

• Society of Daughters of Holland Dames

• Guild of St. Margaret of Scotland

• Old Plymouth Colony Descendants

• National Society Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims

• National Society Southern Dames of America

• Plantagenet Kings of England

• Piscataqua Pioneers

• National Society Children of the American Revolution (former Sr. State Registrar for Maryland Society)

• National Society Children of American Colonists (former Sr. National Vice President of Atlantic Coast Section)

• Society of Daughters of the United States Army

• Continental Society Daughters of Indian Wars (National Corresponding Secretary)

Notes

Mrs. Hallgren belonged to a number of family associations, including: The Hull Family Association; the Association of Blauvelt Descendants; the Mapes Family Association; and The Bruce Family Society. She also held memberships in Eastern Star; P.O.E. Sisterhood; and the National Rifle Association.

Jay Wayne Jackson, Esq., son of John Wayne and Catherine M. Jackson, was born in Albany, New York. He married Francoise de Chabert. The Jacksons have one daughter, Mrs. Francoise Williams. Mr. Jackson attended the Kingswood School. He later attended Washington and Lee University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts, and the Washington and Lee School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctorate.

Mr. Jackson was a partner in the Hartford office of Jackson, O'Keefe and Phelan. After forming the firm, Mr. Jackson's practice concentrated in governmental law and relations.

Memberships

• Society of the Cincinnati (former President General)

• General Society of Colonial Wars (former Chancellor of the Connecticut State Society)

• National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (former Chancellor for the Connecticut State Society)

• Descendants of the Founders of Hartford (former Board Member)

Notes

Legal Counsel to: Governor William A. O'Neill, 1980-1988, and Governor Ella Grasso, 1976-1980. Connecticut Commissioner of Insurance, 1975-1976. Connecticut State Senator, 1967-1973. West Hartford Town Councilman, 1963-1967. Member: Hartford County and Connecticut Bar Associations.

George Tully Vaughan, son of Brigadier General and Mrs. William Washington Vaughan, was a native of Denver, Colorado. He attended Kent School, and graduated from the University of Athens in Greece with a B.S. in Political Science. In his senior year at Kent School he was in the number five position in the undefeated Kent School eight-man crew, which sailed on the Queen Mary to England where, in the summer of 1950 they competed for and won the Thames Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta, Henley-on-Thames, England.

Mr. Vaughan served with the Central Intelligence Agency in Greece for three years under the Marshall Plan (JUSMAG) from 1951 to 1953 where, in addition to his regular duties, he became fluent in Greek. Tully was also the head rowing coach for the Hellenic Rowing Club, which was the private rowing club of his Majesty King Paul of the Hellenes.

Mr. Vaughan served in the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer from Officer's Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was a Ranger, awarded the Combat Infantry Badge and Combat Jump Wings and was in the third provisional Special Forces unit before they became an official combat special detachment and acquired the Green Beret.

Following his military service, Mr. Vaughan spent most of his career management in the Jim Walter Corporation, until retiring in 1981. After his retirement, Mr. Vaughan became Head Crew Coach for Villanova University in which position he served for many years bringing the crew program from a failing effort of 22 male and female rowers to a successful maximum capacity of over 100 rowers. At the same time, he was a nationally licensed referee for many regattas across the country, as well as executive secretary for the national governing body of rowing-the NAAO.

George Tully Vaughan died on March 28, 2003, and is survived by his wife of thirty-six years, Sara Colman, his sons Jonathan and Jason, their wives Victoria and Marina, and his four grandchildren Joshua, Justin, Olivia and Liam.

Memberships

• Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia

• National Gavel Society

• Order of the Crown in America

• National Society Americans of Royal Descent

• Baronial Order of Magna Charta (Marshal)

• Military Order of the Crusades (Commander General)

• Order of Three Crusades 1096-1192

• Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the United States of America

• Colonial Order of the Acorn

• Society of the Ark and Dove

• Colonial Society of Pennsylvania

• Order of Lafayette

• Saint Andrew's Society of Philadelphia

• Society of Saint George of Philadelphia

• Welsh Society of Philadelphia

• General Society Sons of the Revolution

• National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

• Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States

• Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States

• Society of Descendants of Knights of the Garter

• Royal Society of Saint George

• Descendants of the Knights of Bath

• Order of the Second World War

• Order of the First World War

• Military Order of the World Wars

• National Society of Sons of American Colonists

• Scotch-Irish Society of America

• Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick

Chivalric Orders

• Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem

Other Notes

Mr. Vaughan had a seat on the thirteen-member board of trustees of the Magna Charta Trust of England, which is chaired by the Master of the Rolls of England. He was a member of both the Heraldry Society (UK) and the Leander Boat Club (UK). He served as Vice President of the Penn Club, and First Vice President of the English Speaking Union of Philadelphia. Mr. Vaughan was also a member of the British Officers Club of Philadelphia; the Union League of Philadelphia; the Bachelors Barge Club; and the Pickwick Club of Philadelphia. He was a member of the Navy League, and the American Legion.