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On February 22, 1912, three gentlemen with the surname of Scudder sent out a Call to “the Scudders of America” with the mission statement of their vision of “summoning the Scudder Clan to a gathering in New York for the purpose” to organize the descendants of the “sturdy Pioneer Puritans, Thomas of Salem and John of Barnstable” into a cause bigger than themselves,

To The Scudders (Everywhere) Greeting: Referring to my letter of May 1, our sixth annual gathering took place on May 19, as scheduled. While nearly 150 replies were received in response to the call, unusual circumstances made the actual attendance smaller than in recent years.

The Scudder Memorial Association was founded in 1911, the year prior to the founding of the Scudder Association of America in 1912. In 1913, Mrs. John L. Scudder wrote a history of the Scudder Memorial Association stating that it was founded on 10 March 1911 for two reasons: “to honor the Rev. John Scudder, M.D., for his self-sacrificing work as a pioneer medical missionary in India

Two in the First Decade, One for 1928–1939, and Two Between 1949 and 1962, and Three Other SA Presidents in the First Three Decades Were Also Townsends Plus Three Others Later

As historian David McCullough said, “Personality is often the determining factor of why things turn out the way they do.” Therefore, these brief biographies that follow, compiled from the Scudder Association Archives and other artifacts and sources, explain why these early leaders of the Association were successful and were met with great enthusiasm by its members.