American War Mothers Scrapbook

 The Gaston County Chapter of American War Mothers History is now available online.

This history from 1920 through 1978 was compiled by Chapter Historian, Mrs. (Howard) Rettie H. Wilson. She recorded the organization's activities which were based on objects stated in their 1920 charter.

Mrs. Howard H Wilson, Chapter Historian

 

 The Gaston County Chapter was organized at the home of Mrs. A. A. McLean on September 29, 1917 with 26 members.The original charter was granted by Congress on November 22, 1920.

Some of the stated objectives of the Chapter were "to work for the welfare of the army and navy; to assist in every way men and women who served and were wounded or incapacitated in the World War."
 

The Chapter donated money, food, and clothing to military hospitals and Veteran's families. They also adopted a ward at Oteen Public Health Service Hospital in Oteen, N.C., near Asheville, in 1920, and donated to the construction of a guesthouse in 1949 where the relatives of patients could stay. 

 

Gaston County War Mothers Memorial, S. Belvedere Ave. & E. Franklin Blvd., 1963

 

Members sold Forget-me-not flowers every year to help support disabled veterans at Oteen. They also held a memorial service annually on Memorial Day. Monuments and markers were placed throughout Gaston County by War Mother Chapters as memorials to World War veterans. Locations by the Gaston County Chapter include the marble monument in Gaston Memorial Park Cemetery erected in 1956, and the marker at the corner of S. Belvedere Ave. and E. Franklin Blvd.

 

Sources: 

 Separk, Joseph H. (Joseph Henry), b. 1872. Gastonia and Gaston County, North Carolina: past, present, future. Gastonia, NC: Joseph H. Separk, 1936. 

Gaston County Chapter American War Mothers History. Compiled by (Mrs. Howard M.) Pettie H. Wilson. History from 1920 through Oct. 1977-Sept. 1978.

 

Brian Brown, Librarian, Local History & Genealogy