Deed of Conveyance
GAR to the SUVCW
The Deed of Conveyance conveyed the records and property to the Commandery-in-Chief — the National Organization. Therefore, no Camp or Department has any claim to any of the records and property without the express approval of the National Organization. Camps and Departments are subordinate organizations which hold all property and funds in trust for the National Organization.
Stated in other words, Camps and Departments have no primary claim to any Grand Army of the Republic property or records and only have secondary claims based upon the explicit delegation of the claim by the National Organization.
THE INDENTURE made this 13th day of February, 1954 by and between the GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, a Corporation organized by an act of the Congress of the United States approved June 3, 1924, by Albert Woolson, sole surviving member of said Grand Army of the Republic, and the COMMANDERY-IN-CHIEF, SONS OF UNION VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR, a Corporation organized and existing under and pursuant to the laws of the State of Illinois;
WHEREAS, because of the age and infirmity of the last surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and being desirous of carrying out the objects and purposes for which said Grand Army of the republic was organized and believing that the Sons of Union Veterans is the natural heir of the Grand Army of the Republic;
THEREFORE, pursuant to the provisions of Sections six and seven of said act incorporating the Grand Army of the Republic, I, ALBERT WOOLSON, as sole surviving member thereof do hereby grant, bargain, sell and convey to said Commander[y]-in-Chief, sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War all property of any and every kind and nature owned by said Grand Army of the Republic, and wheresoever situate, and all the records and archives thereof; except such property and records as are specifically mentioned and described in a resolution adopted by the Grand Army of the Republic at its 83rd and final Encampment held at Indianapolis, Indiana August 28th to September 1st, 1949.
The meaning and intent of this conveyance is to convey to said Commandery-in-Chief, sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, all post and department records of the Grand Army of the Republic and it is my express wish and desire that said Grantee shall use its best endeavors to return said records to the Communities where grand Army posts were located, so far as possible, for the use and benefit of the Communities where such posts were located.
This conveyance shall become effective upon compliance with Section seven of the said act incorporating the Grand Army of the Republic.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I, the said Albert Woolson, as sole surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal at the City of Duluth in the County of St. Louis and State of Minnesota the day and year first above written.
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
By: /s/ Albert Woolson (seal)
WITNESS:
[Illegible]
J. W. Kobus
Dewey B. Meade
STATE OF MINNESOTA )
} SS
COUNTY OF ST. LOUIS )
I, a Notary Public within and for the said County and State aforesaid do, hereby certify that Albert Woolson personally known to me to be the same person who is described in and who executed the foregoing instrument and personally known to me to be the last surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic, do hereby certify that the said Albert Woolson acknowledged to me that he executed the same freely and voluntarily as the last surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic for the uses and purposes in said instrument set forth.
Given under my hand and notarial seal this 13 day of February 1954.
/s/ Dewey B. Meade Notary Public
My Commission Expires: Dewey B. Meade Notary Public, Hennepin County, Minn. My Commission Expires April 9, 1957
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
In re )
)
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, )No. 3966-54
)
Petitioner )
Upon consideration of the motion filed herein by Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, a corporation created by Act of Congress, representing that it is the successor of Commandery-in-Chief, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the grantee in a certain deed from the Grand Army of the Republic dated February 13, 1954, and confirmed by this Court on December 22, 1954, and praying for confirmation of a certain confirmatory deed to it from the Grand Army of the Republic dated February 25, 1956, made for the purpose of correcting a clerical error in said deed of February 13, 1954, a copy of said confirmatory deed being filed in this Court and the original being submitted to the Court for insertion, and it appearing to the Court that the allegations of said motion are true and the purpose of said confirmatory deed is to carry out the true intent and purpose of the original deed of February 13, 1954, it is this fifteenth day of June, A..1956, by the Court,
ORDERED, Adjudged and decreed that the title and ownership of the property covered by said deeds of February 13, 1954 and February 25, 1956, be and hereby is vested in the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, a corporation created by Act of Congress approved August 20, 1954.
/s/ Alexander Holtzoff
Judge
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
In re )
)
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, )
) No. 3966-54
Petitioner )
)
Upon consideration of the motion filed herein by counsel for the petitioner for transfer of the remaining property of the Grand Army of the Republic to the Commandery-in-Chief, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the petition filed herein, the copy of the conveyance of property of the Grand Army of the Republic to the Commandery-in-Chief, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War also filed herein, and the duly authenticated original of such copy of the conveyance, it is this 22 day of December, 1954 by the Court,
ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED That the title and ownership of the property provided for in the indenture of the 13th day of February, 1954, by and between the Grand Army of the Republic and the Commandery-in-Chief, sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, pursuant to the Act of June 3, 1924, 43 Stat. 358, 76th Cong. 1st Sess., Sec. 7, be and hereby is vested in the Commandery-in-Chief, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
/s/ Alexander Holtzoff
Judge
Note: Copies are attested by Harry M. Hull, Clerk
