Kate's Notes: A photograph of Mrs. Stanton (formerly Mrs. Finetta Amelia Hart Gilliland) accompanied this article but the quality was too poor for reproduction here. I have added some genealogical notes following the article.

From: The Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana
July 4, 1916

Woman Who Gives Four Sons to the Colors 
Sends Fourth of July Message to Mothers

“Bear the Heart Pangs That Always Come With 
Blast of Bugle and Roll of Drums as Did the 
Mothers if Old,” She Says, Ready to Send 
Fifth Boy to the Front.

THIS MOTHER’S CREED

I believe in Preparedness

*   *   *   *
I believe in America and its principles

*   *   *   *
I believe every American boy should 
be trained to fight for his country.

*   *   *   *
I believe American mothers should 
place love of country above selfish love
of home and children in time of war.

*   *   *   *
I believe mothers throughout the nation 
will proudly send their sons to the front
 in the president calls for vounteers.

*   *   *   *
I believe it is the sacred duty of mothers 
to place no obstacle in the way if 
their sons want to answer the country’s 
call to arms.

*   *   *   *

Cleveland, O., July 4. -- Mothers of America! Here’s a message to you from a woman whose patriotism stood the acid test -- a mother who sent four sons to the front when the first call came for troops, and is willing to send her fifth and last son if the country needs him!
   This mother is Mrs. L.E. Stanton. Her four sons -- Lieut. J. Clinton Gilliland, 24; Sergeant David Gilliland, 22; Privates Morris and Robert, 20 and 19, respectively -- are members of Co. A, O.N.G. [Ohio Natoinl Guard]
    Here is Mrs. Stanton’s message to the mothers of the nation:
   “Don’t raise your boy to be a coward! If he is able-bodied and wants to go to the front in repsonse to his country’s call to arms, let him go.
   “Be just as brave about it as he is. Show him by your actions that you are proud to have reared a son who is not afraid to fight -- and die if need be -- for the country of his birth.
   “Be as unselfish in your love as were the mothers of ‘76, ‘61 and ‘98.
   “Bear the heart pangs that always come with the blast of bugle and roll of drums as did the mothers of old.
    “And when your son comes home again you will be proud of the sacrifice you made.
   “Four of my sons are with the colors. I have only one left, Theodore. He is only 16, but if his country needs him I shall let him go.
    “Do not think I do not feel the heartaches that come with parting with those one loves. The mother-love is strong in me.
   “I have always had my children with me -- all except the eldest, who is married. They were my comforters after the death of their father, sixteen years ago. Again they comforted me when my second husband died, last January.
   “But I consider it the duty of every mother to place love of country above the selfish love of children when the nation faces a crisis.”
   Mrs. Stanton is not the stolid sort of woman that takes things as a matter of course. Her gentle face shows traces of care. She speaks lovingly of her “boys” and of her country.
   Forty odd winters have left a sprinkling of snow in her hair.

*   *   *   *

-- Contributed and transcribed by Kate Maynard, 2009

GENEALOGICAL NOTES:
   Since the newspaper article referred to the mother only as Mrs. L.E. Stanton, the trick was to determine a starting point in the search for the story of this woman and her Gilliland sons. I decided to choose the more unusual of her sons' names, Morris, subtract 21 years from 1916 as an approximate birthdate, and see what I could find. My first it came in the LDS records. Though not entirely accurate, these records provided me with the starting point:
 
[b]MORRIS GILLILAND (John Morris Gilliland)
 Father: John A. Gilliland b: ABT 1862
 Mother: Finetta Amelia Hart b: 15 NOV 1864 in Plymouth, Richland County, Ohio [/b]

 ID: I69803
 Name: John A. Gilliland 1
 Sex: M
 Birth: ABT 1862
 Death: ABT 1932 (Mrs. Stanton's first husband John A. Gilliland, according to the newspaper article,  would have died abt 1900.)

 The first source I found for the family of "Mrs. L. E. Stanton" was in a 1900 census for Ashtabula, Ohio. In that census Finetta (b. 1865) is the head of a household that includes her sons by John Gilliland: Clinton, David, Morris, Robert and Theo, plus two children presumably by John Gilliland's first marriage, daughter Ada (b. 1877) and son Alfred (b. 1880). Finetta would have been too young to have been the mother of those eldest two children. Also, Ada and Alfred's mother is listed as born in New York. At this time I do not have the name of the mother to these eldest children.

Next, I was able to correlate these records with a family tree posted by Gary Silverstein (link is provided below):

 Marriage 1 Finetta Amelia Hart b: 15 NOV 1864 in Plymouth, Richland County, Ohio
     •     Married: 11 DEC 1890
 Children
     1     Joseph Clinton Gilliland b: 13 DEC 1891
     2     Bertha Gilliland b: FEB 1893 (Bertha appears to be the one child who died)
     3     David Lewis Gilliland b: ABT 1895
     4     John Morris Gilliland b: 5 APR 1896
     5     Robert Hart Gilliland b: 5 JUL 1897
     6     Theo Thomas Gilliland b: 21 SEP 1899

 **********

 ID: I69795
 Name: Finetta Amelia Hart 1
 Sex: F
 Birth: 15 NOV 1864 in Plymouth, Richland County, Ohio
 Death: 7 AUG 1954 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
 Burial: UNKNOWN Ashtabula, Ashtabula County, Ohio

 Father: Clinton Bishop Hart b: 28 OCT 1837 in Worthington, Franklin County, Ohio
 Mother: Alzada M. Brown b: 21 APR 1845 in Lennox, Ohio

 (Note: The order of the marriages are reversed in this record)
 Marriage 1 Lou Stanton b: ABT 1862

 Marriage 2 John A. Gilliland b: ABT 1862
     •     Married: 11 DEC 1890
 Children
     1     Joseph Clinton Gilliland b: 13 DEC 1891
     2     Bertha Gilliland b: FEB 1893
     3     David Lewis Gilliland b: ABT 1895
     4     John Morris Gilliland b: 5 APR 1896
     5     Robert Hart Gilliland b: 5 JUL 1897
     6     Theo Thomas Gilliland b: 21 SEP 1899

 Sources:
     1     Title: Http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com by Gary Silverstein

Finally, I located a census that listed the Stanton household, including Lou, Finetta, and all the Gilliland boys. 

From the 1910 census:
 Name: Lou E Stanton 
 Age in 1910: 50 
 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1860 
 Birthplace: Ohio 
 Relation to Head of House: Head  
 Father's Birth Place: Ohio  
 Mother's Birth Place: Ohio  
 Spouse's Name: Finetta 
 Home in 22 Apr 1910: Cleveland Ward 6, Cuyahoga Co, Ohio 
 Marital Status: Married  
 Race: White 
 Gender: Male  
 Lou E Stanton 50, head, married 2 times  
 Finetta Stanton 45  wife, married 2 times, 6 children; 5 living
 Clinton Gilliland 18, Step-son 
 David L Gilliland 16, Step-son  
 Morris Gilliland 14, Step-son  
 Robert H Gilliland 12, Step-son  
 Theo Gilliland 10, Step-son  

 -- Kate