Bess Poehlmann with the picture of her great-great grandfather. Photo: Gil Klein
Bess Poehlmann, great-great granddaughter of the National Press Club’s first president, William P. Spurgeon visited the Club for the first time Monday to learn more about her ancestor.
But her lineage in the Club and Washington journalism goes even beyond her connection to the first president.
Her great grandmother was Marie McNair, who as society editor for the Washington Post covered first ladies from Eleanor Roosevelt to Lady Bird Johnson. She also was president of what is now called the American News Women’s Club from 1941-42, Phoehlmann visited its clubhouse near DuPont Circle to meet with its director, Claire Swift.
Her great grandfather, Lorenzo Woodhouse Martin, was an active Club member from at least 1928 until at least 1948 – dates when his name appears in Club histories as a reporter for the Louisville Times.
Visiting from her home in Takoma, Washington, she met with Club archivist Jeff Schlossberg to see if she could find out more about Spurgeon, who had been managing editor of the Washington Herald and the Washington Post, a position he held when he died in 1920 at the age of 53.
“People involved in reporting the news made history and witnessed it,” she said during her Club tour. “I wanted to find out how my family contributed. The National Press Club has a critical role in supporting a free press and democracy. I am thrilled that my great-great grandfather was the first president.”
