I have been researching the statues of Robert Burns in the United States in preparation for our next History Club meeting on January 8, 2011. In the process I have found other stories of interest. This is one of them:
The date is January 25, 1931, and in Chicago, Luke Grant, a very prominent member of the Illinois St. Andrews Society, has died. There is not much information about Mr. Grant in my files, but he evidently was well liked by other members and friends. Eleven men decided to honor Luke Grant and also celebrate the 172nd birthday of Robert Burns at the same time.
They journeyed to the Burns statue "and laid a wreath at the foot of the statue in Garfield Park. John T. Cunningham, who presided at the ceremonies explained that the event was a memorial to Luke Grant, a member of the Society and former publicity representative of the North Shore lines and the Chicago Rapid Transit lines, who died a short while ago."
In the Chicago Daily Tribune there is a picture of the statue, the wreath, and the eleven men. They are John T. Cunningham, Robert Falconer, Robert Eadie, Robert W. Hall, Donald Fraser, Robert Black, Samuel Hutcheson, Thomas Catto, John F. Holmes, Dr. W. F. Dickson, and William Lister.
I know about Cunningham, Black, Hutcheson, Dickson and Lister. These men would all serve as Presidents of the Society and there is a file on each of them. There is little or no information on the others.
If, perchance, some distant relative searching the Internet some day finds this site would you please contact me?
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