From CTPost: Historic star may have had Milford origins
MILFORD -- One of the nation's most cherished symbols -- the five-pointed star used on the American flag and on the Great Seal of the United States -- may have had its origins here.
Amateur historian Gary Gianotti, a board member of the National Museum of the American Revolution, said the star symbol was used by Colonial Gov. Robert Treat, who defied an order by Edmund Andros, the King's representative, to surrender the royal charter. What became known as the Charter Oak Incident, the document was spirited away under Andros' nose to a tree outside, was orchestrated by the Milford-born Treat.
Treat, whose descendants still live here, used the five-pointed star on his personal seal, Gianotti said, possibly as a rebuke to the King's Star Chamber, where religious dissidents were convicted.
"The stars in the courtroom were there to let (defendants) know where they stood in the universe," Gianotti said on a history podcast. "And Treat was the governor who defied King James I and helped to hide the regicide judges.''
He said in an email Monday to the Connecticut Post that the Museum of the American Revolution has sent letters to city officials recognizing the link between the colonial governor and his great-grandson, Robert Treat Paine, who used the star design on what was to become the Great Seal of the United States, affixed to diplomatic dispatches.
Richard Platt, the Milford municipal historian, said Monday that while Gianotti's theory has not been proven, "he is an exhaustive researcher and it is quite possible" that at least the idea of the five-pointed star came from the Treats.
Historian Robert Hieronimus said that while Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all submitted designs for the Great Seal, those designs were rejected by the State Department. The Great Seal, which has been slightly modified over the years, was first used by John Jay and Franklin on a diplomatic mission to Spain in 1787, according to a State Department website.
Gianotti said the Swan Family Foundation in New Jersey, which owns a nearly 5,000-piece collection of American Revolution artifacts, purchased what may be that original seal several years ago for $7. Gianotti said on the podcast that he hopes to authenticate it by comparing the impression made with the Swan Foundation seal to State Department documents known to have been made with the original seal.
