Invitation to a dance at West Point, sent by Will to Alma in Canton, Ohio: 6/7/1899
Full size image is below.
Cadet Will sent this printed invitation to his sister Alma, even though he knew she couldn't come.
~AUDIO~---images---comment---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
audio---~IMAGES~---comment---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
EnvelopeImage #1 of three for this invitationScroll up for the audio reading.Scroll down for the transcript.
Invitation: front, with calling cardImage #2 of three for this invitationScroll up for the audio reading.Scroll down for the transcript.
Invitation: insideImage #3 of three for this invitationScroll up for the audio reading.Scroll down for the transcript.
It would have been so easy for Will simply to leave his family behind and make the Army his life. But the Five Stokey Siblings and their mother stayed close.
audio---images---~COMMENT~---transcript---notes---links---site navigation
audio---images---comment---~TRANSCRIPT~---notes---links---site navigation
The United States Corps of Cadets
request the honor of your presence
on the evenings of Monday Wednesday & Friday
at eight o’clock
during the continuance of
Camp William H Smith
June July & August 1899
West Point, New York
Dancing
[Calling card]
William Provines Stokey
United States Corps Cadets
[Inside]
Hop managers
1900
George Blanchard Cemly
Robert Fenwick Jackson
Upton Birnie Jr.
Samuel Reid Gleaves
Charles Macon Wesson
Robert Elkington Wood
John William Wilen
Lewis Sidney Morey
John Rudolph Slattery
1902
Edmund Llewellyn Bull
John Maury Gibert
Frederic William Hinrichs Jr.
Richard Peters Williams
William Francis Morrison
Philip Henry Sheridan
request the honor of your presence
on the evenings of Monday Wednesday & Friday
at eight o’clock
during the continuance of
Camp William H Smith
June July & August 1899
West Point, New York
Dancing
[Calling card]
William Provines Stokey
United States Corps Cadets
[Inside]
Hop managers
1900
George Blanchard Cemly
Robert Fenwick Jackson
Upton Birnie Jr.
Samuel Reid Gleaves
Charles Macon Wesson
Robert Elkington Wood
John William Wilen
Lewis Sidney Morey
John Rudolph Slattery
1902
Edmund Llewellyn Bull
John Maury Gibert
Frederic William Hinrichs Jr.
Richard Peters Williams
William Francis Morrison
Philip Henry Sheridan
1.
Alma, with her appreciation of nice stationery, must have loved this invitation - which would be one reason why it was kept.
2.
Camp William H Smith
"Camp William H Smith" does not seem to have been a permanent name. There was a William H Smith in the Class of 1883 who was killed the year before this at the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba in the Spanish-American War, on July 1, 1898. So I figure this summer they named the West Point summer camp (which sounds frivolous, but never mind) in his honor.
3.
Hop managers
There's a delinquency list (jocular) in Will's college yearbook:It says:
Stokey --- Late returning from the hop.
4.
The hop managers are listed for the Class of 1900 - i.e. the rising seniors (though I don't think that's what they're called at West Point) - and the Class of 1902 - i.e. the rising sophomores (again, nomenclature), but not the Class of 1901. I figure the Class of 1901 was out on assignment somewhere.
5.
Upton Birnie Jr.
Half a century later Upton Birnie Jr.'s namesake grandson, Upton Birnie _____, married Sally, a cousin (third, if I remember correctly) on my mother’s side. There was a weekend gathering at West Point in the year 2000 to which descendants of the Class of 1900 were invited - an annual hundred-year thing, I think. Mother, Ming, Betsy, and I went, and were pleasantly surprised to see Cousin Upton and Cousin Sally there. We had no idea of the connection before that.
Alma, with her appreciation of nice stationery, must have loved this invitation - which would be one reason why it was kept.
2.
Camp William H Smith
"Camp William H Smith" does not seem to have been a permanent name. There was a William H Smith in the Class of 1883 who was killed the year before this at the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba in the Spanish-American War, on July 1, 1898. So I figure this summer they named the West Point summer camp (which sounds frivolous, but never mind) in his honor.
3.
Hop managers
There's a delinquency list (jocular) in Will's college yearbook:It says:
Stokey --- Late returning from the hop.
4.
The hop managers are listed for the Class of 1900 - i.e. the rising seniors (though I don't think that's what they're called at West Point) - and the Class of 1902 - i.e. the rising sophomores (again, nomenclature), but not the Class of 1901. I figure the Class of 1901 was out on assignment somewhere.
5.
Upton Birnie Jr.
Half a century later Upton Birnie Jr.'s namesake grandson, Upton Birnie _____, married Sally, a cousin (third, if I remember correctly) on my mother’s side. There was a weekend gathering at West Point in the year 2000 to which descendants of the Class of 1900 were invited - an annual hundred-year thing, I think. Mother, Ming, Betsy, and I went, and were pleasantly surprised to see Cousin Upton and Cousin Sally there. We had no idea of the connection before that.
audio---images---comment---transcript---~NOTES~---links---site navigation
audio---images---comment---transcript---notes---~LINKS~---site navigation
LINKS TO OTHER RELEVANT PAGES IN THIS WEBSITE
DOCUMENT LISTS FOR PEOPLE:
- WILL: DOCUMENTS ----- Outgoing
- ALMA: DOCUMENTS ----- Incoming
ADDITIONAL RELATED PAGES IN THIS WEBSITE:
audio---images---comment---transcript---notes---links---~SITE NAVIGATION~-
WHERE AM I?
WHAT ARE THE PREVIOUS PAGE AND THE NEXT PAGE?
WHERE CAN I FIND THIS DOCUMENT IN OTHER LISTS?
- COMPLETE DOCUMENT LIST BY DATE
- DOCUMENTS BY WHERE THEY WERE WRITTEN ----- New York
- DOCUMENTS BY SOURCE ----- Barbara
- AUDIO READINGS OF THE DOCUMENTS: 1890-1899