How a Colorado man’s box of forgotten relics shed light on grandfather’s role in ending World War I

How a Colorado man’s box of forgotten relics shed light on grandfather’s role in ending WWI

By Mark K. Matthews
via the Denver Post newspaper web site

A treasure hunt that stretched from the Jersey shore to the Rocky Mountains came to fruition Wednesday with the unveiling in Colorado of a cache of long-forgotten World War I-era antiquities.

us army major amos peaslee historic documents treaty of versail 10 U.S. Army Major Amos J. Peaslee, dated 1919, next to his personalized engraved copy of the Treaty of Versailles that is part of a treasure trove of historical items his grandson Robin Peaslee Dougall has given to the U.S. Department of State on April 11, 2018The search began six years ago, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, when New Jersey native Shane Morris Sparks was sifting through old boxes and stumbled across song lyrics written decades ago by a globe-trotting envoy of the U.S. government.

Intrigued, Sparks tucked away the work of Amos Peaslee but pretty much forgot about it until last Thanksgiving, when Sparks recalled that a cousin of hers had grown up with some of Peaslee’s descendants.

The connection ultimately led Sparks to Colorado Springs resident Robin Peaslee Dougall, a Peaslee grandson who then went through his own long-forgotten boxes of family possessions.

What emerged was a wellspring of history — papers, photos and other artifacts recounting the end of World War I, the signing of the Treaty of Versailles and the birth of an international messenger service the U.S. government still uses today.

“It was an eye-opener to me that he had created the courier service, which is the same courier service that’s still around,” said Dougall, 68, of his grandfather. “And then it was an eye-opener to me that he had been involved in the negotiations (for) the Treaty of Versailles.”

Read the entire article on the Denver Post web site here:

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