Show UNCOMMON AMERICANS by elmo 0 western C f ir A newspaper arntson union uin great father great son ARELY does a great father R RARELY transmit his genius to his son but the Hopkin sons of philadelphia were exceptions to that rule francis hopkinson born in 1737 was the first scholar entered at the university of pennsylvania then the college of philadelphia and was graduated from its first class ile he held several positions of importance in penns colony then moved to new jersey there he was a member of the provincial council until lie he was elected to the continental congress from new jersey and thus became one of the signers of the declaration of independence pen dence but other facts make him more notable than almost any of the other 55 signers of that document lie he wrote an allegory in which he recounted the wrongs of the colonies and did much to fan the spirit of revolution lie he wrote tile the famous song the battle of th the e kegs satirizing satir izing the british scare over an attempt to blow up their ships with a crude submarine invented by a certain david bus bushnell elnell and this song became the favorite of ing tons soldiers but most important is the fact that evidence exists which shows that he was the designer of the first stars and stripes as our national flag the betsy ross tradition to the contrary notwithstanding and that lie he had a hand in designing the farst great seal beal of this nation his son joseph hopkinson born in 1770 followed closely in his fathers footsteps ile he also was graduated from the university of pennsylvania studied law and held several positions in the state and federal government he helped found the philadelphia academy of fine arts served as its president ent tor for many years and was vice president of the american philosophical society which his father had bad helped f found but he is best remembered tor for a song which he wrote thus emulating his father again it was vas hall hail columbia which was the only national song of this republic until francis scott sc ott key wrote the star spangled banner |