Chapter History
Josiah Edson Chapter, NSDAR
Organized in Northfield, Minnesota, July 15, 1905
Josiah Edson was the great grandfather of our first regent, Martha A. Edson Bronson (pictured at left).
The Daughters of the American Revolution in Rice County were members of the Charter Oak Chapter, NSDAR, in Faribault, Minnesota, from 1898 until 1958. In Northfield, Minnesota, the Josiah Edson Chapter, NSDAR, was organized in 1905, and is active at the present time. The Charter Oak Chapter, NSDAR, disbanded in October 1959.
Josiah Edson Chapter, NSDAR, began with 18 members and has had as many as 80 members in recent years. Throughout the years, our members have sold or given out United States flags, held flag retirement ceremonies, assisted in laying of wreaths during memorial services, held genealogy classes, given out DAR Good Citizens awards to high school students and DAR ROTC Medals to Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students, volunteered at Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, served meals at the Fisher House, provided money and goods to DAR sponsored schools, sponsored the American History Essay Contest in junior and senior high schools, and many other projects.
In 2005 Josiah Edson Chapter, NSDAR, celebrated its 100th anniversary with a special DAR Centennial Tea and published a Centennial Cookbook.
A Patriot Story
Josiah Edson #A036506
Patriotic Service/Connecticut
Residence: Stafford, Connecticut
Born: 12 August 1758
Died: 27 October 1819
Josiah Edson married July 1, 1779, Sarah Pinney who was born December 25, 1756, died December 16, 1804. They are both buried in Randolph, Orange County, Vermont.
Patriot's Service: Josiah Edson was on active service in the Revolutionary War enlisting at Stafford, Connecticut, on January 25, 1777, when only nineteen years of age. He was made corporal on February 1, 1778, and sergeant on January 9, 1779. On January 25, 1780, his term of enlistment had expired and he was honorably discharged.
He saw more active service after his move to Vermont about 1781, in the frontier Indian warfare. About the time of the burning of Royalton, Vermont, by the Indians and the English, he organized a company and went into the service as captain pursuing the Indians beyond the frontier. He was afterward elected colonel of the local Regiment of the Militia.
Later Colonel Edson, as he was always called, took an active part in the affairs of Vermont. He was High Sheriff of Orange County from 1797 until 1802.
Source(s):
United States Pension Rolls
Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution
Vermont Historical Gazeteer, Volume 2