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Frederick E. Stees – P.O.S. of A. National Secretary
Posted By Norman Gasbarro on August 11, 2018
A monument at the St. John Lutheran Cemetery at Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, recognizes Frederick Eckert Stees for serving as the National Secretary of the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America [P.O.S. of A.]. Stees died on 19 April 1905.
The inscription on the monument reads:
Erected by the National Camp Patriotic Order of Sons of America. The State and Subordinate Camps of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, New York, and Virginia, and the Commandery General.”
The Reading Times, 5 June 1908 told the following story about the monument:
HANDSOME MONUMENT
MADE AND ERECTED BY READING FIRM FOR GRAVE OF FREDERICK E. STEES
With impressive ceremonies. in which members of the Patriotic Order Sons of America from all over the state and various points in the United States will take part, a handsome shaft monument that will mark the last resting place of Frederick E. Stees, in the cemetery at Pine Grove, will be unveiled on Saturday afternoon. Mr. Stees was prominent in the affairs of the order up to the time of his death, having filled both national and state offices.
The monument to be unveiled was made and erected by P. F. Eisenbrown‘s Sons & Co., of this city, and is of granite.
Many members of the Sons of America from this city will take part in the unveiling exercises.
At the monument there is a G.A.R. star-flag holder recognizing his service as a Civil War veteran. Frederick E. Stees was previously found on an on-line list of Civil War veterans from Pine Grove. His service was in the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company B, as a Private.
The Veterans’ File Card (above) from the Pennsylvania Archives shows that on 2 September 1861, at Pine Grove, a 21 year old Frederick E. Stees, enrolled in the 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company B, as a Private. On 23 September 1861, at Pottsville, he was mustered into service. This record also indicates that Stees was discharged at Philadelphia on 1 December 1862, on a Surgeon’s Certificate of Disability. No other information is given.
The Pension Index Card (above from Fold3), indicates Frederick E. Stees applied for a disability pension on 28 February 1863, which he received and collected until his death in 1905. This early application is significant in that his disability was sufficient to give him benefits when the rules were very strict. Note: The actual pension application and military record was not consulted for this blog post; the nature of his injuries and his injuries would be in those records
The Press Herald (Pine Grove), 28 April 1905, published the obituary of Frederick E. Stees:
Death of a Former Townsmen
Frederick E. Stees died at his home in Philadelphia on the evening of 19 April 1905, and was buried here in the family lot on the Lutheran Cemetery on Saturday afternoon. The deceased was born in Pine Grove, 27 September 1841, received a common school education and at the breaking out of the Civil War he had entered the service as a volunteer. At the close of the war he entered the mercantile business, joining partner with William Forrer, his uncle, and conducted a successful business until 18 when he disposed of the store and moved to Kansas City. Later he returned to Philadelphia, where he received an appointment at the Custom House. Several years later he was elected Secretary of the National Camp of the Sons of America, this office he served until his death. He was a prominent member of the Order of Patriotic Sons of America and devoted much of his time and means for the Order he so ardently loved. He was a charter member of Washington Camp, No. 49, of town, and up to his removal to Kansas City, was its faithful secretary. He was looked upon as the father of Camp 49, and a more devoted and faithful member could not be found on its roll.
On the arrival of the 12:45 p.m. train from Philadelphia, the funeral train was met at the depot by a delegation of Sons of America, members of the State and National Camps, the lodge of Odd Fellows, and many of the deceased’s old friends, the cortege proceeded to the Lutheran Cemetery, when the body was consigned to the tomb. The last services were conducted by the National officers of the Sons of America.
The surviving members of the family are: the widow and two sons, Charles Stees and Lewis Stees, of Philadelphia. The surviving sisters are Mrs. Anna Batdorf, Mrs. S. M. Helms, and Mrs. Harry Gottschall, all of Reading; also a brother, George E. Stees, of Conshohocken.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.
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An interesting story of the reasons for the founding of P.O.S. of A. is found on-line:
The Patriotic Order Sons of America was one of several Nativist organizations founded in the wake of the anti-alien riots of 1845-46. It was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic and its philosophy was not that far removed from the Know-Nothing Party, a violent political movement that today would easily be classified as a terrorist organization.
The women’s branch was the Patriotic Order of America. The Free Education they touted was meant to include a healthy dose of Protestant religion to counter the Catholic menace seen to be arriving with recent immigrants.
The Patriotic Order Sons of America (P.O.S. of A.) is one of America’s oldest patriotic and fraternal societies still in existence. It once had several hundred Camps (lodges) with several thousand members in the United States of America and its territories, but is now only found in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey and Louisiana. Its motto is “God, Our Country and Our Order.“
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