Help me decrypt this mysterious stone ...

June 7, 2008 10:28 AM

I'm trying to find out what "J.S. of A." stands for. It's engraved on a stone included in an archival collection I'm processing.

So far I've turned up nothing useful via the Web or the print acronym / abbreviation / initial dictionaries that I have access to. The stone is part of a collection of personal papers and artifacts owned by a Washington, D.C. family that date from from ca. 1895-1945 (though several members lived into the late 1960s). The bulk of the material appears to have been collected by two sisters who were D.C. / Maryland / Virginia history buffs. Some of the materials in the collection relate to Savannah, Oklahoma City and England, where the family had relatives and traveled.

I have no contact information for the donor, and all of the people named in the collection itself are dead. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

posted by ryanshepard to grab bag (9 comments total)

Junior Sons of America? (link 1 | link 2)
posted by candyland at 10:38 AM on June 7, 2008

Only barely helpful: My first thought was Girl Scouts of America. Was there ever a "Junior Scouts"?
posted by salvia at 10:39 AM on June 7, 2008

here (Google HTMLized Word doc) is a finding aid in which it is given as an abbreviation for Junior Sons of America. Some further Googling indicates a junior auxiliary of a fraternal organization under this name.
posted by enn at 10:42 AM on June 7, 2008

Damn, too slow!
posted by enn at 10:42 AM on June 7, 2008

candyland and enn: thanks - previous digging had not turned up the Junior Sons of America. I'll do a little sleuthing and see if I can figure what (if any) connection the family had to them.

Additional suggestions are still welcome, though, hivemind ...
posted by ryanshepard at 10:52 AM on June 7, 2008

Junior State of America?
posted by parmanparman at 10:58 AM on June 7, 2008

Is it possible that the initials are a person's name and a business or country name? For instane, Joe Swanson of America? James Scott of Andover? Joanne Silver of Allied?

Another one that comes to mind is the Justice Society of America, but that's highly unlikely! ;-)
posted by tcv at 12:39 PM on June 7, 2008

J.S. of Annapolis? I'll keep thinking on what the J and S might be...
posted by KAS at 4:39 PM on June 7, 2008

Justifiable State Of Anxiety?

Jolly Souls Of America?

Jewish Scholars Of Antiquity? (I think this was a trading card set in the '60's)

There's a slim chance I may be wrong about 1 or more of these...
posted by motown missile at 11:50 PM on June 7, 2008