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Bill 1398

                    Current Status

Bill Number:                      1398
Type of Legislation:              Concurrent Resolution CR
Introducing Body:                 Senate
Introduced Date:                  20000523
Primary Sponsor:                  Alexander
All Sponsors:                     Alexander
Drafted Document Number:          l:\council\bills\bbm\9653htc00.doc
Date Bill Passed both Bodies:     20000524
Subject:                          Town of Walhalla, Oconee County; General 
                                  John Andreas Wagener, Resolutions


                        History

Body    Date      Action Description                     Com     Leg Involved
______  ________  ______________________________________ _______ ____________
Senate  20000524  Received from House
House   20000523  Introduced, adopted, returned
                  with concurrence
Senate  20000523  Introduced, adopted, sent to House


              Versions of This Bill

TO HONOR THE TOWN OF WALHALLA IN OCONEE COUNTY ON THE OCCASION OF THE SESQUICENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDING AND TO REQUEST THE HEIRS OF GENERAL JOHN ANDREAS WAGENER, THE TOWN'S FOUNDER, TO ALLOW HIS REMAINS TO BE MOVED TO A PLACE OF HONOR IN THE TOWN OF WALHALLA, WHERE HE DIED AND WAS ORIGINALLY BURIED IN 1876.

Whereas, the members of the General Assembly note that the Town of Walhalla in Oconee County this year celebrates the sesquicentennial anniversary of its founding; and

Whereas, the town's founder, General John Andreas Wagener, a native of Germany, born in Sievern, the former kingdom of Hanover in 1816, arrived in the United States in 1833 and made his home in Charleston, where he rapidly rose to be leader of the German Community in Charleston, publishing a German language newspaper and organizing the German Evangelical St. Matthew's Church; and

Whereas, in 1844 General Wagener organized the Walhalla Lodge and in 1848 the Walhalla Colony, that area of his adopted state that most resembled his homeland, where twelve German families settled, and whose decendents remain to this day ; and

Whereas, General Wagener served with distinction as a soldier in the War Between the States, rising to the rank of Colonel and commander of the militia forces in Charleston, and in recognition of his service to his adopted state, was commissioned brigadier general of militia by Governor Orr; and

Whereas, General Wagener was active in the rebuilding of the State after the defeat, elected Mayor of Charleston in 1871, where he earned a reputation for vigorous and honest public service; and

Whereas, General Wagener, who had founded the Town of Walhalla, and while there on August 27, 1876, died and at his own request, was buried in Walhalla; and

Whereas, the following year the citizens of Charleston claimed his remains and removed them to Charleston; and

Whereas, it is appropriate that the General's original wishes as to his resting place be honored in this year of the sesquicentennial anniversary of the founding of the town where he may rest secure in a place of honor surrounded by the town he established. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:

That the General Assembly, by this resolution, congratulates the citizens of the Town of Walhalla on the sesquicentennial anniversary of the founding of the town and the General Assembly further urges the heirs of the town's founder, General John Andreas Wagener, to allow his remains to be moved to a place of honor in the Town of Walhalla, the town he founded, the site where he died, and the place where, at his own request, his remains were originally interred.

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