Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100096
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO, TEX. LENGTH: Medium
In 1777, a patriotic Pennsylvania farmer and wine merchant named Jacob DeHaven hocked his homestead to lend George Washington's bankrupt, ragtag army gold and livestock to get through the winter at Valley Forge, his descendants say.
The $450,000 loan was never repaid - which is why the DeHaven clan has taken the U.S. government to court. They simply want repayment of the loan - plus interest. Which they roughly calculate to be a total of $141.6 billion.
The debt isn't the only thing that's grown. So has the DeHaven family.
As word of the lawsuit spread, long-lost relatives have been popping up everywhere.
Carolyn Cokerham, an eighth-generation niece of DeHaven's and organizer of the family search for lost relatives, said about 2,000 candidates have surfaced.
"I had no idea I had that many relatives," says Cokerham, a San Antonio homemaker. "About 12 people from San Antonio alone showed up at a restaurant where we were having the reunion. I didn't know any of them, but they seemed like nice people."
DeHaven was apparently a nice guy too, but cautious. Seems that, shortly after the British were defeated and the colonies won their independence, the government offered to repay the debt, but DeHaven refused because it would have been made in continental dollars, which weren't worth anything.
In the end, says Cokerham, DeHaven died alone and a pauper and was buried in an unmarked grave.
It was an ignominious end for a man who arrived in the colonies with his brothers in 1750 and made a fortune running a shipping line to the West Indies and marketing wine.
With his fortune, DeHaven bought several thousand acres of farmland in what is now Upper Merion Township, Pa.
"He was a very patriotic man, from what I have been able to find out," says Cokerham. "He maintained a great interest in the up-and-coming country, and he took it personally when the call went out for money. The colonies had no money left to feed soldiers, who by then were barefoot and all but discouraged."
Cokerham can only guess at DeHaven's motives for making such a sacrifice.
"That money was a huge, staggering amount back then, and it represented a substantial part of his wealth. He gave just about all he had, including most of his cattle and horses. He wanted badly to help out his new country, or at least to see that the English not gain more territory," she says.
She says the family still maintains a copy of the certificate issued by the government acknowledging the loan, along with an embossed eagle, on the inside cover of an old family Bible.
Cokerham quotes a letter she says was sent by George Washington soliciting funds for the army.
"We are desperate beyond the possibility of recovery. We have never experienced a like extremity . . . the army must disband or starve," if no money was forthcoming, the letter states.
This isn't the first time DeHaven descendants have attempted to collect the debt. Attempts were made - and failed - in the 1920s and 1960s.
In the 1920s, then-President Calvin Coolidge supported an effort to repay the loan. In 1966, a congressman introduced a resolution to pay the family a $50,000 settlement. The measure died in committee.
"I think eventually, someone will listen and admit the great sacrifice this man made for his country," Cokerham says.
Earlier this year, an attorney filed suit in U.S. Claims Court in an effort to recover the $450,000, plus 6 percent interest compounded annually. The court dismissed the suit, claiming it had no jurisdiction since the debt was more than six years old.
The family has appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which will hear arguments in the case later this year.
Cokerham says the family is prepared to take the matter to the Supreme Court, "not so much because of the money, but like George Washington said: `It is more than a common debt, it is a debt of honor.' "
She says Washington made that speech at the end of his presidency acknowledging the importance of the money loaned by DeHaven and others.
"We, DeHaven's family, have a right to be heard on our claim. What the government does after they hear us is totally up to the government, but at this point the important thing is not so much the money, but that the government listen to us. They haven't done that yet," she says.
"After all, if not for Jacob and his generosity to the fledgling nation, we'd all be drinking tea now," Cokerham said with a laugh.
by CNB