When Thomas A. Edison Council was organized in 1969. there were four districts; Arrowhead District, Leni Lenape Districts, Towpath Districts, and Cowaw Districts. In 1982, the council was re-organized into three new districts; Joyce Kilmer District, Raritan Bay District, and Semeos District. Raritan Bay District was essentially the old Cowaw District. I have no idea why Council decided to redistrict.

On January 1, 1999, Thomas A. Edison Council merged with George Washington Council to form the new Central New Jersey Council.

The name, Semeos,which sounds like it might be an Indian word, is actually an acronym for the names of the six townships within the district; South River, Edison, Metuchen, East Brunswick, Old Bridge, and Spotswood. The name was chosen by a contest held within the district, and the winner was the son of Art Ford. At that time, Art was Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 36 in Old Bridge and Tom McMillan was the Scoutmaster.

(Information about the districts was provided by David McMillan, former member of Troop 36 and Lodge Chief 9.)

Thomas A. Edison
Rev: Jan 3, 2004