The Fort Atkinson-Eli Pierce Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution has
dedicated a Liberty Tree at Evergreen Cemetery. In a brief ceremony Friday, Nov. 15, members of the DAR and guests set a marker at the elm tree, located across from the Soldiers’ Circle in the Fort Atkinson cemetery. The tree replaces a nearby pine that was felled in July 2023 by straight-line winds that damaged nearly 70 trees at the northside cemetery. The engraved marker was donated by member Christine Spangler in memory of her late mother, Virgil Blumer, a longtime member, secretary and chaplain of the John Bell Chapter of DAR in Madison.
“An ‘America 250!’ grant offered by the National Society Daughters of the American
Revolution was applied for and granted to our local DAR Chapter: Fort Atkinson-Eli Pierce,” DAR Chapter Regent Nancy Olson said. “We chose to have an elm planted, not only to help ‘reforest’ the cemetery, but to provide a lasting tribute to our patriot ancestors.” She pointed out that in early America and Europe, trees were used as meeting places. They often served as the community’s bulletin board. “In New England and other colonies, holding an unauthorized meeting was dangerous and could be life threatening. But chatting under a tree appeared innocuous, therefore safer,” Olson said. Leading up to the American Revolution, a stately elm on the Boston Common served as a place to demonstrate dissatisfaction with British rule. Planted near the intersection of what today are Washington and Essex streets, the elm was nearly 120 years old when, on Aug.14, 1765, a band of discontented merchants and artisans calling themselves the Loyal Nine hung in the tree a straw-stuffed effigy of Andrew Oliver, the lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts. They were protesting the Stamp Act, which required required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets and playing cards in the American colonies to carry a tax stamp. When the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, townspeople decorated the large elm with flags, streamers and lanterns. A copper sign fastened to the trunk read, “This tree was planted in the year 1646, and pruned by order of the Sons of Liberty, Feb. 14th, 1766.” “Bostonians called it ‘The Tree of Liberty.’ The tree was a safe place to foment a rebellion,” Olson said. “This elm tree provides a nod to our patriot ancestors, who were willing to act for a more just future. Here, in the Soldier’s Circle, we honor the patriots who have gone before … including two Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Jefferson County.”
As a side note, Olson shared that loyalists to King George III cut down the original Liberty Tree in Boston Common in 1775, and British soldiers used the resulting 14 cords of wood for heat. After the British evacuated Boston the following year, patriots returning to the city erected a liberty pole at the site. Standing there during an 1825 tour of Boston, the Marquis de Lafayette declared, “The world should never forget the spot where once stood Liberty Tree, so famous in your annals.”
After the dedication, Evergreen Cemetery Association President Brad Wilcox thanked the DAR for its tree donation. “The Liberty Tree stands in a spot where we hold the city’s Memorial Day services every year, so when they come to the observance, (attendees) will stand under and by this Liberty Tree,” he said. Wilcox noted that the Liberty Tree is located across the road from the cemetery’s new flagpole. It fills a void left by the loss of a bur oak, white pine and cedar tree. He said that the 32 fully healthy trees lost in the storm included those three, as well as many planted toward North Main Street near the grave of Dwight Foster, the community’s first settler of European descent. Wilcox added that his granddaughter counted the rings on stumps of the felled trees and found 10 to have been more than 150 years old.
DAR members attending the dedication were Cheryl Hoeth, Regent Nancy Olson, Chaplain Val Cole, Registrar Jessica Punzel, Vice Regent Janet Stehling, Gayle Beck, Vicki Schicker, Mary Narkis, Jane Fary and Christine Spangler. In addition to Wilcox, guests included cemetery grounds supervisor Raughn Ferrell; cemetery head sexton Neal Traeder; Fort Atkinson City Council President Davin Lescohier; American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars member Dan Juday; and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 409 member Larry Narkis.
Organized in 1899, the Fort Atkinson Chapter of DAR was one of the earliest and largest chapters in Wisconsin for many years. In 1992, it merged with the Eli Pierce Chapter, which was founded in Whitewater in 1941. Today, chapter members reside in Fort Atkinson, Watertown, Lake Mills, Jefferson, Whitewater, Milton, Janesville and surrounding communities, as well as in several other states.
