# The Part Taken by Women in American History/National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
Introduction by Mrs. Donald McLean.
Just twenty-one years ago, in 1890, was organized a national society of women, whose purpose was patriotism and whose deeds now speak for them. To paraphrase the resolution presented for action to and by the Continental Congress, when the flag of our nation was created: "A new constellation was born," in woman's universe, and the stars sing together as they course through an approving heaven. Upon August 9th, 1890, was held the first organizing meeting of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Three women were actually present, and these women, Miss Eugenia Washington (great-niece of General Washington), Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth, and Miss Mary Desha, have since been known as the "founders" of the society. A final meeting to complete organization was held October, 1890, and thereafter the society was an accomplished fact. The necessary eligibility to mem​bership consists in direct descent from an ancestor—man or woman—who rendered "material aid" in establishing the independence of the republic. This ancestor may have been a commanding officer, or an humble private with true and proper American spirit. Rank, as such, has no influence in determining the eligibility of an applicant, but genealogical claims must be thoroughly proven, and an applicant must be acceptable to the society. As to the raison d'etre of the organization, the constitution states that the objects of this society are:
(1). To perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and women who achieved American independence by the acquisition and protection of historical spots, and the erection of monuments; by the encouragement of historical research in relation to the Revolution and the publication of its results; by the preservation of documents and relics, and of the records of the individual services of revolutionary soldiers and patriots, and by the promotion of the celebration of all patriotic anniversaries.
(2). To carry out the injunction of Washington in his farewell address to the American people, "to promote, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge," thus developing an enlightened public opinion, and affording to young and old such advantages as shall develop in them the largest capacity for performing the duties of American citizens.
(3). To cherish, maintain, and extend the institutions of American freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid in securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty.
As a practical demonstration of patriotism, as a central crystallization of concrete accomplishment, Memorial Continental Hall stands the pre-eminent work of this society. Women conceived the idea and have carried into execution the ​
​ "To promote the general diffusion of knowledge" a national committee on patriotic education exists. This committee is broad in scope; it deals with the incoming immigrant and with the native mountaineer; it teaches by lecture and by literature; it encourages scholarships; it presents flags (through the flag teaching the nation's history in one glorious demonstration). Connected with the committees on patriotic education is the "interchangeable Bureau" for the lectures, with slides illustrating the subject-matter. Frequently these lectures are delivered in various languages to meet the need of the lately landed immigrant. There is an interchange of these lectures from the chairman as fountain-head, throughout all the states. Besides such work, scholarships in perpetuity have been established in certain colleges for women. These scholarships insure a living monument to patriotic educational attainment. One student after another shall reap the benefit, so long as the college endures, and specializing in American history, as the student does, sends out into the world a force of wider and yet wider dominance, through which knowledge is distributed and the ideals of our formative period preserved, while practical results are obtained for the student, who is thus fitted to teach and become self-supporting. From Continental Hall, too, will emanate the true spirit of the "diffusion of knowledge" for lectures on American History will be delivered in its auditorium to the general public. "The acquisition and protection of historical spots" has not been neglected by the society. In many localities throughout the country are valuable properties, replete with revolutionary and historic associations, owned or cared for by the Daughters of the American Revolution. Sites of battles are marked by boulders and by monuments ; historic events are recorded by tablets on the walls of churches, courthouses and other buildings; libraries are provided for, the army and navy, and Red Cross nurses have ​ been sent to the front. A national committee on Child Labor exists and the fruits of its energies are rapidly maturing into beneficent reforms. The Daughters of the American Revolution have been especially interested and active in the propagation of International Peace Arbitration. The society took action in its Congress of 1907 looking toward the encouragement of such work, and sent a memorial stating its action to the International Peace Congress being held in New York at the same time. Also, Continental Hall was offered to President Roosevelt for the use of the Japanese-Russian Peace Commission assembled in this country at the President's invitation.
By all these means and many more, does the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution consider that it is fostering "true patriotism and love of country." That the Government of the United States so regards the work of the organization is argued, in that such Government recognizes the society in the official printing of the latter's annual reports, and the dissemination of them through the Smithsonian Institute.
The first president-general of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was Mrs. Benjamin Harrison; she has been succeeded by Mrs. Adlai E. Stevenson. Mrs. John W. Foster, Mrs. Daniel T. Manning, Mrs. Charles W. Fairbanks, Mrs. Donald McLean and Mrs. Matthew T. Scott.
A Word by the President-General D. A. R.
"The Wilds," Charlevoix, Mich., July 1, 1911.
My Dear Mrs. Logan:
It gives me great pleasure to learn that you are compiling a book to be known as "The Part Taken by Women in American History," and I am quite sure it will give to women credit which ​ has been withheld from them for their masterful achievements along many lines for the betterment of mankind and the preservation of republican institutions. I am sure that we may in advance congratulate the public upon a volume that will faithfully record and do justice to the history of the women who have been factors, and who have done their full part, in molding that most wonderful product of the age, which we proudly proclaim "Americanism."
The roll call of women who have taken part in the work of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is a long and distinguished one. I need not recall to you the names of the six president-generals who have preceded me—Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Manning, Mrs. Fairbanks, and Mrs. McLean. Among those upon whom I have most relied during the two years of my administration are: Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, authority upon abuses of child labor, Mrs. John W. Foster, Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. McLean, Madame Pinchot, a name synonymous with conservation, Mrs. Dickinson, wife of the Secretary of War, Mrs. Samuel Amnion, Mrs. Alexander Patton, Mrs. John A. Murphy, Mrs. Howard Hodgkins, Mrs. Draper, Mrs. Swormstedt, Mrs. Mussey, Mrs. Orton, Mrs. Edwin Gardner, Jr., all of whom except Mrs. McLean, Mrs. Stevenson and Mrs. John W. Foster—with many others equally able and devoted—have been chairmen of committees and done faithful and zealous work.
In accordance with that law of nature and of Providence, that in this world one sows and another reaps, it is my glorious privilege to have gathered up into one splendid sheaf the results of the labor and devotion of all my greater predecessors in office, as well as of the 87,000 Daughters of the American Revolution, who, by their toils, labors, sacrifices and gifts, have produced the grand results we see in our magnificent memorial building, and in the reports of the inspiring work of state ​ regents and chairmen of national committees presented at the annual Congresses.
It is a source of pride and gratification to me that during my administration Continental Hall has been literally finished and was formally handed over to the society by the architect and contractors in March, 1910. Within the two years not only have all the offices been successfully removed from 902 F. street to the hall, but many magnificent rooms have been furnished in splendid style by different states, and $30,000 of the $200,000 debt paid off, an income for current needs provided and business matters arranged on a satisfactory basis.
With this material advancement, the intellectual and patriotic educational work has kept splendid pace, and the Daughters of the American Revolution are proving worthy descendants of the revolutionary ancestors whose memory and achievements they seek to perpetuate. This they are doing not only by showing their reverential homage for the old flag, but by continuing the work and the traditions of the fathers as a stimulus to this and to coming generations—both American and foreign born—to maintain the high standard of American citizenship, the splendid ideals of American manhood and womanhood we have inherited as a rich legacy from the past, and intend to hand down uncankered to our remotest posterity.
Faithfully, (Signed) Julia G. Scott.
The Active Incorporation of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The Daughters of the American Revolution were chartered by an act of the fifty-fourth Congress in 1895. The list of incorporators contains the names of the most conspicuous women of the United States: Mrs. John W. Foster, of Indiana; ​ Mrs. William D. Cabell, of Virginia ; Mrs. Henry V. Boynton, of Ohio; Mrs. A. W. Greely, of Washington, D. C; Mrs. F. O. St. Clair, of Maryland; Mrs. A. Leo Knott, of Maryland; Mrs. Roger A. Pryor, of New York; Mrs. G. Browne Good, of Washington, D. C.; Miss Mary Desha, of Kentucky; Mrs. Stephen J. Field, of California; Mrs. Thomas Alexander, of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Rosa Wright Smith, of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Hugh Hagan, of Georgia; Mrs. John Risley Putnam, of New York; Mrs. G. H. Shields, of Missouri; Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth, of New York; Mrs. Marshall MacDonald, of Virginia; Miss Eugenia Washington, of Virginia; Mrs. A. Howard Clarke, of Massachusetts; Miss Clara Barton, of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Teunis S. Hamlin, of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Arthur E. Clarke, of New Hampshire; Mrs. Henry Blount, of Indiana; Mrs. deB. Randolph Keim, of Connecticut; Miss Louise Ward McAllister, of New York; Mrs. Frank Stuart Osborne, of Illinois; Miss Marie Devereux, of Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Joshua Wilbour, of Rhode Island; Mrs. W. W. Shippen, of New Jersey; Mrs. N. B. Hogg, of Pennsylvania; Mrs. Clifton C. Breckinridge, of Arkansas; Mrs. Adolphus S. Hubbard, of California; Mrs. Charles E. Putnam, of Iowa; Mrs. Simon E. Buckner, of Kentucky; Mrs. Samuel Eliot, of Massachusetts; Mrs. William Wirt Henry, of Virginia; Miss Elizabeth Lee Blair, of Maryland; Mrs. Julius C. Burrows, Mrs. James McMillan, Mrs. J. A. T. Hull, and Mrs. Joseph Washington.
The charter was signed by Thomas B. Reed, and Vice-President Adlai A. Stevenson, president of the Senate, approved by Grover Cleveland, and certified to by Richard Olney. The board of management was composed of the following prominent women: Mrs. Daniel Manning, of Albany, New York; Mrs. Albert D. Brockett, Alexandria, Va.; Mrs. Russel A. Alger, Detroit, Mich.; Mrs. N. D. Sperry, New Haven, Conn.; Mrs. ​ John W. Thurston, Omaha, Neb.; Mrs. Horatio N. Taplin, Vt.; Mrs. Marcus A. Hanna, Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. William W. Shippen, Seabright, N. J.; Mrs. William P. Frye, Lewiston, Me.; Mrs. John N. Jewett, Chicago, Ill.; Mrs. Eleanor W. Howard, Alexandria, Va.; Mrs. Anita Newcomb McGee, Iowa; Mrs. Ellen M. Colton, San Francisco, Cal.; Miss Mary Boyce Temple, Knoxville, Tenn.; Mrs. Charles W. Fairbanks, Indianapolis, Ind.; Miss Mary Isabella Forsyth, Kingston, N. Y.; Mrs. Abner Hoopes, West Chester, Pa.; Mrs. Charles O'Neil, Massachusetts; Miss Anna Benning, Columbus, Ga.; Mrs. Green Clay Goodloe, Kentucky; Mrs. Charlotte E. Main, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Angus Cameron, La Crosse, Wis.; Mrs. Charles Averette Stakely, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Albert Akers, Nashville, Tenn.; Mrs. Kate Kearney Henry, Washington, D. C.; and Miss Susan Riviere Hetzel, of Virginia.
To Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth, Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood, Miss Mary Desha and Miss Virginia Washington belong the credit of having conceived the idea of the organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and as explained by Mrs. McLean, three of these women met together and from this beginning of three the organization has grown to the number of one hundred thousand. The reports of the Daughters of the American Revolution show that the first meeting of the Continental Congress was held at the Church of Our Father, in Washington, D. C, February 22-24, 1892, with Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, the first president of the society, in the chair. The meeting was opened by the Chaplain, Mrs. Hamlin. The work which they have accomplished since that day has occupied the time, thought, and affection of hosts of noble women. Mrs. Harrison, the president-general, made the address of welcome to the delegates on this occasion, which was responded to by Mrs. Clifton R. Breckinridge, of Arkansas. After examining the credentials of the different delegates, they ​ formed a number of committees, who took up their work with much enthusiasm.
CAROLINE SCOTT HARRISON.
Mrs. Caroline Scott Harrison, the first president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the wife of President Benjamin Harrison, was born in Oxford, Butler County, Ohio, the daughter of John Witherspoon Scott and Mary Scott; granddaughter of George McElroy Scott and Annie R. Scott, and great-granddaughter of Robert Scott, who was a member of the Scottish Parliament, before the union of the crown. Her great-grandfather, John Scott, was commissary general of the Pennsylvania line and rendered efficient service in the Revolutionary struggle for independence. Her father, Dr. John Witherspoon Scott, was a pioneer minister of the Presbyterian Church, and an educator at Oxford, Ohio. He was the president of the well-known Young Ladies' Academy at that place, where his daughters were educated. It was here that Benjamin Harrison, then a student in Miami University, met Miss Caroline W. Scott. They were married at Oxford, October 20, 1853, and removed to Indianapolis, in 1854. Mrs. Harrison's life during her husband's struggles for success as a lawyer, legislator, soldier, and statesman was that quiet homelife which is so characteristic of American homes. During all those years she showed herself the self-sacrificing, self-denying wife and mother. In every position she has filled, whether as the wife of the poor lawyer, the daring soldier, the senator, or the president of the United States, she has displayed rare adaptability. Mrs. Harrison met the demands made upon her as "first lady of the land" with wonderful success. She endeared herself to all who knew her by her unostentatious, natural womanliness. On October 11, 1890, she was unanimously elected as the first president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and took great interest in the organization. During the early difficulties of the society, consequent upon the inexperience of the members and the perplexities of the organization, her advice and good judgment and kindly consideration of the feelings of others materially aided in bringing about a happy solution. At the Continental Congress, in February, 1892, she met delegates from all parts of the country, and by her courtesy and prompt decision, won the hearts of all. A Northern delegate asked one from the South: "What do you think of our Caroline?" "She is simply splendid," came the quick reply, and she voiced the sentiment of all. She was unanimously elected as president-general by a rising vote of the congress. Her patriotic feelings were intense, and the National Society will always have cause to be proud of its first president-general. Mrs. Harrison died October 25, 1892. At a meeting of the Board of Management of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, held in Washington, D. C., November 16, 1892, the following motion, made by Mrs. Walworth, was passed: "Resolved, That to facilitate the collection of a fund of $1,500, for a portrait of Mrs. Harrison, wife of the president of the United States and first president-general of this society, the said portrait to be placed in the White House, the ​Board of Management of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, authorize the action of a national committee to be composed of all officers of the National Society, state regents, honorary officers, all of whom will be ex-officio members of the committee; and that the vice-president-general presiding shall be authorized to appoint a chairman and also a treasurer to receive, report upon, and receipt for contributions; and that any surplus moneys collected over and above the amount required for the portrait, shall be appropriated to the permanent fund for the house of the Daughters of the American Revolution, to be erected in Washington, D. C., a project in which Mrs. Harrison had taken an earnest and active interest."
The Board of Management met October 25, 1892, for the purpose of expressing the feelings inspired by the sad dispensation which had deprived the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution of its honored president. The following members were present: Mrs. Cabell, Mrs. Kennon, Mrs. Field, Mrs. MacDonald, Mrs. Alexander, Mrs. Boynton, Mrs. Clarke, Mrs. Keim, Mrs. St. Clair, Mrs. Tittmann, Mrs. Cockrell, Mrs. Walworth, Mrs. Hamlin, Mrs. Blount, Mrs. Greely, Mrs. Devereux Miss Desha and Mrs. Rosa Wright Smith. On motion, a committee of three, composed of Mrs. Alexander, Miss Desha and Mrs. Rosa Wright Smith, was appointed to select a suitable floral offering, to be sent to the White House, in the name of the "National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution."
CATHARINE HITCHCOCK TILDEN AVERY.
Mrs. Avery, founder and regent of the Western Reserve Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of Cleveland, Ohio, was born December 13, 1844, at Dundee, Michigan. She is the eldest daughter of Junius Tilden and Zeruah Rich Tilden. She received her early education at Monroe, Michigan. Her father died in 1861, and she, with her sister, went to Massachusetts, and was graduated at the State Normal School of Farmingham. On July 2, 1870, she was married to Elroy M. Avery, of Monroe, Michigan. In 1871 Mr. and Mrs. Avery moved to the village of East Cleveland and engaged in public school work, he as superintendent and she as principal of the high school. Mrs. Avery continued in high school work until 1882. As wife, teacher, helper, and friend she has proved her loyalty and wisdom, her benevolence and energy, and both merits and enjoys the admiration and affection of all who know her. Her chapter has been a model in its business and patriotic methods, its enthusiasm, and above all in its historic work.
KATHARINE SEARLE McCARTNEY.
Mrs. McCartney is the regent of the Wyoming Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Her ancestry is closely associated with the earliest Colonial period. She is descended from five of the Mayflower Pilgrims, viz: William Mullins and wife; Priscilla Mullins, who married John Alden; Elizabeth Alden, the "first Puritan maiden," ​ who married William Pebodie; Elizabeth Wabache, who married John Rogers (John Thomas, of the Mayflower); Sarah Rogers, who married Nathaniel Searle; Nathaniel Searle, Jr., assistant governor of Rhode Island from 1757-62, who married Elizabeth Kennicutt, sister of Lieutenant-Colonel Kennicutt; Constant Searle, killed in the battle of Wyoming, who married Harriet Minor, descendant of Thomas Minor and Grace Palmer; Rogers Searle, who married Catharine Scott; Leonard Searle, who married Lyda Dimock, whose grandfather was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary Army and had charge of Fort Vengeance, a northern frontier of Vermont, and who was a great-grandfather of Mrs. McCartney. She is also descended from Rev. John Mayo, Rev. John Lathrop, Nathaniel Bacon, John Coggeshall, first president of Rhode Island; John Rathbone, who came in the Speedwell in 1620; from Margaret Beach, sister of Governor Winthrop's wife, and wife of John Lake, through daughter Harriet, who married Captain John Gallup; Captain James Avery and other early colonists.
LOUISA ROCHESTER PITKIN.
Mrs. Pitkin is a daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, of Revolutionary fame, is a member of the New York Chapter and an honorary vice-president of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and resides in Rochester, New York. She has reached the golden age of eighty-two years. Her reminiscences of these years are of great interest to her friends and to the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is an aunt of General Rochester, of the United States Army
SARAH BERRIEN CASEY MORGAN.
Mrs. Thomas Saunderson Morgan, regent of the Augusta Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is the daughter of Dr. Henry Roger Casey and Caroline Rebecca Harriss Casey; granddaughter of Dr. John Aloysius Casey and Sarah Lowndes Berrien Casey; great-granddaughter of Brigade-Major John Berrien and Wilhamina Sarah Eliza Moore Berrien; great-great-granddaughter of Lord Chief Justice John Berrien and Margaret Eaton Berrien (niece of Sir John Eaton, of England). Major John Berrien entered the army at the age of seventeen and was made brigadier-major at eighteen. He made the campaign of the Jerseys, was at the battle of Monmouth, and served with General Robert Howe in Georgia and Florida. He was decorated by the hand of Washington with the badge of the "Order of the Cincinnnati," and by him appointed secretary of that society. After the war he was made treasurer of the state of Georgia. He died in 1815, and is buried in Savannah, Ga. Lord Chief Justice John Berrien, the father of Major Berrien, was a personal friend of General Washington, who often shared the hospitality of the chief justice's home at Rock Hill, Somerset County, New Jersey. It was from that home that "The Father of his Country" bade farewell to his gallant band when the war was over. Lady Berrien, the wife of the chief justice, gave her family silver to be melted in order to assist in paying the soldiers of the Revolutionary Army. Washington used the home ​ of Chief Justice Berrien as his headquarters. When offering to have the home repaired, which had suffered by its usage during the war, Lady Berrien declined, saying: "What I have done for my country, I have done." Through Wilhamina Sarah Eliza Moore Berrien, Major Berrien's wife, Mrs. Morgan is descended from Dr. James Weemyss Moore. This Dr. Moore, Mrs. Morgan's great-great-grandfather, was a surgeon of the South Carolina troops under General Gates. Insensible must be the heart and cold the patriotism of one who cannot be touched by such memories as these. Mrs. Morgan has also an honorable ancestry through Dr. James Weemyss Moore, who is descended from the Earl of Weemyss, who was the second son of the Macduff of Shakespeare. Through her grandfather, Dr. Aloysius Casey, Mrs. Morgan is descended from Sir John Edgeworth, of Longworth, Ireland, a cousin of Maria Edgeworth, the noted author.
MARY NEWTON.
For years Mrs. Newton, of Athens, Georgia, has received a pension from the government in virtue of being the only surviving child of John Jordan, who was a Revolutionary hero, and was at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. Mrs. Newton is now eighty-seven years of age, and is remarkable for her activity and much beloved by all who know her.
JANE SUMNER OWEN KEIM.
The family roll of honor in the Revolution contains the names of eighteen heroes in the three collateral lines of Sumner descent from the colonists, some of whom belong to that of Mrs. Keim, including also Robert, the son of her fighting ancestor, Captain John Sumner. Mrs. Keim's paternal great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Owen, born in 1761, at Ashford, Connecticut, fourth descendant from Samuel and Priscilla Belcher Owen, who came to America from Wales in 1685, with their son Josiah, and settled first in Massachusetts and later in Rhode Island, was a captain in the Windham County, Connecticut, militia. The sixth line of Mrs. Keim's Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry, the Palmers, descended from Walter, the settler in the Endicott Colony, through Ruth Palmer, her great-grandmother, were also distinguished for patriotic service in the Revolution. Dr. Joseph Palmer, the father of Ruth Palmer, served as a surgeon in the Continental forces. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was captain of a company from Voluntown for the relief of Boston during the Lexington alarm. Mrs. Jane Sumner Owen Keim was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and educated in the public schools of her native city, graduating in 1862 from the high school, formerly the Latin grammar school, founded in 1636, the second oldest institution of the kind in America. She took a higher course of two years at East Greenwich Seminary, on Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. She engaged immediately in charitable work in the city of her birth, teaching seven years in the Sixth Ward Evening School, and was active in city mission, Sunday and sewing schools. She also organized, with Miss Fannie Smith, authoress, pianist, and lecturer, and conducted for some years a boys' reading room and Sixth Ward Temperance Society, out of which initial movement ​ sprung the "union for home work," a noble charity in Hartford to-day. Mrs. Keim has the gratification of knowing that many boys taught by her in charity have become men of prosperous business in several states. On June 25, 1872, she became the wife of deBenneville Randolph Keim, of "Edgemount," Reading, Pennsylvania, an author and Washington correspondent. They spent six months in foreign travel. They visited the localities associated with their ancestral families and nearly all the countries of Europe, extending their journey to Nijni Novgorod, on the Volga.
MRS. ROGER A. PRYOR.
The Southern woman-writer has become, of late years, an important factor in the literary life of New York. One who is perhaps at present better known in the first circles of society in New York than in literature, as yet, is Mrs. Roger A. Pryor, the lovely wife of Judge Pryor, of the Court of Common Pleas. Mrs. Pryor is known in New York as the writer of charming and brilliant feuilletons for the most prominent society journal there, but she invariably publishes over a pen-name, so that, outside the circle who penetrated the secret of her nom-de-plume, she is best known as a society woman. She has also published many sketches and short stories. "The Story of a Persian Rug" was copied widely in English periodicals, and was the true story of an exquisite Persian carpet that lies before the hearth of her pretty drawing room. Mrs. Pryor has refused the most flattering offers from editors to write over her own name, for probably there is no one who can write more cleverly and authoritatively on social life in New York than she. She has no methods of work, writing when she feels the inclination. Mrs. Pryor was a Southern heiress, born to every imaginable luxury, and never a life looked more hedged in with happiness than hers, yet, when the war wrecked and stranded the fortunes of the family, no bourgeois housewife ever performed heavier duties to a large family, ever sewed more diligently on her children's little garments, than this brave and brilliant woman in that dark period after the war when so many great fortunes were swept away. Through the efforts of Mrs. Pryor a handsome sum has been added to the Mary Washington Monument Association fund, and this is most gratifying to the Daughters of the American Revolution, as one of the first working objects placed before the Daughters by an early resolution of the society was assistance to be given to this Mary Washington fund. It is a noble cause, in which women are called upon to honor a woman who displayed high qualities of character under conspicuous circumstances—one who combined tenderness with strength, and dignity with simplicity, as found in the individuality of Mary Washington. Mrs. Pryor's services to the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution cannot be compassed in this brief sketch. She was the first regent of the New York City chapter. She organized it and led it on to success under trying circumstances. After serving for over a year she resigned on account of uncertain health, amid the regrets of the chapter. As vice-president-general of the National Society, and a member of the New York City chapter, she is still active in her efforts for the organization. Mrs. Pryor's home in New York is a charming place, where, in her artistic drawing-room, the hospitable traditions of her family are ​ maintained, and at her weekly receptions one may meet many agreeable and eminent persons.
DELIA GRAEME SMALLWOOD.
Mrs. Smallwood, vice-regent of the District of Columbia, was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Her Revolutionary ancestry is on the side of her mother, whose people have lived in New England for many generations. Her great-grandfather, Dr. James Jackson, for whom the town of Jackson, New Hampshire, was named, was one of the first surgeons of New England. Another ancestor was Joseph Clark, who was one of the men who rowed General Benedict Arnold to the British ship "Vulture" on the morning of his desertion and who refused a command in the British army which was offered him as an inducement to remain on the British side. One of the earliest of Mrs. Smallwood's ancestors in this country was General Hercules Mooney, who came from the north of Ireland in his own boat, "The Hercules," landing at Plymouth, New Hampshire. He was highly educated and became one of the foremost teachers of his day. He served in the early Colonial wars as a British colonel and took part in the capture of Louisburg. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, however, he united his fortunes with the American colonies, was made a general and figured largely in the northern campaign of that heroic seven years' struggle. Through her father Mrs. Smallwood belongs to the Graemes of Scotland and the Hetheringtons of England. "The Fighting Graemes," as they were called, have served in every English and Scotch war and at the battle of Bunker Hill they were in the British army and stormed the heights which her mother's people were valiantly defending. Mrs. Smallwood's family have always placed a high valuation upon education. Her own was obtained in Boston, where she received the advantages of its splendid public school system in conjunction with private tutoring in music, art, oratory, literature and science, and finally occupied a high position as a teacher in the Boston public schools. For years she has been, conjointly with her husband, principal of the Washington Seminary of the Capital city. Mrs. Smallwood is a public spirited woman, active in the philanthropic work of the city, and she is closely identified with the Young Women's Christian Association as one of its vice-presidents. She is well known as an accomplished teacher, able speaker and an enthusiastic member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is tireless in her work in whatever case she champions.
RUTH M. GRISWOLD PEALER.
Ruth M. Griswold Pealer, genealogist of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was born in Dansville, Steuben County, N. J., daughter of Hubbard Griswold, one of the pioneers of western New York, a descendant through an unbroken male line from Edward Griswold, of Kenilworth, England, who settled in Connecticut in 1639.
In early life Ruth Griswold was a student at the Rogersville Union Seminary, near her home, and spent a year at the seminary in Dansville, Livingston County, N. Y. At the age of seventeen she became a teacher in a country school, which ​ occupation she followed until her marriage in 1869 to Philip J. Greene, who was also a teacher of Dansville, N. Y. He died in 1883, leaving her with one son. In 1881 Mrs. Pealer, then Mrs. Greene, was a member of the faculty of the Rogerville Union Seminary as teacher of music. During this period she was also active in grange work of her county.
In 1885 she married Peter Perry Pealer, of South Dansville, N. Y., who in 1800 was a member of the New York State legislature from the first district of Steuben, and later received an appointment as chief of a division in the Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Previous to her removal to Washington, Mrs. Peeler had taken an active part in club work and musical circles, having been one of the organizers and president of the literary club in South Dansville. This club was instrumental in securing a free library for the town. Soon after her removal to Washington she became a member of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and joined "Continental Chapter," of which she became recording secretary. At the Daughters of the American Revolution Congress of 1902, she was elected registrar-general, and re-elected in 1903. In the fall of 1903 she resigned and was elected genealogist of the National Society, which position she still holds.
Mrs. Pealer is also the national registrar of the Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America, serving her fifth term. She is a past-president of the Woman's National Press Association and a past-secretary-general of the National Auxiliary, United Spanish War Veterans, an organization which she assisted in forming soon after the close of the Spanish-American War. For two years she was president of the first auxiliary formed — "Mary A. Babcock, of Washington, D. C."
Work for temperance has also appealed strongly to her and for three years she was president of the West End Union Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Washington, and for years has been the superintendent of the Press on the State Executive Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She is a member of the Washington Colony of New England Women and a member of the Order of the Eastern Star in Canaseraga, N. Y.
Some Real Daughters of the American Revolution.
These women are our nearest links in independence and it is surprising fact that there are one hundred and fifty-eight "Real Daughters" alive to-day (July 4, 1911). Sentiment has impelled the Daughters of the American Revolution organization to provide each "real daughter" with an enduring souvenir to be handed down to posterity, and this memento takes the form of a solid gold spoon properly inscribed. No dues or fees are expected from these survivors, as members of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The oldest living child of a Revolutionary patriot is
MRS. ILEY LAWSON HILL,
of Lakeport, California, who is over one hundred and three years of age, having been born in Adams County, Ohio, May 5, 1808. Her patriot father, James Lawson, ​ was born in 1760, and was but seventeen years of age when he entered Washington's army, and when the war for our independence was over he fought in some of the Indians wars.
MRS. SAMANTHA STANTON NELLIS.
The next "real daughter" in point of age is Mrs. Samantha Stanton Nellis, of Naples, New York, whose father Elijah Stanton, was one of Washington's bodyguard. She was one hundred and one years of age January 5 last (1911).
MRS. SUSAN S. BRIGHAM.
Mrs. Susan S. Brigham, of Worcester, Massachusetts, won her century goal February 3, 191 1, and is the daughter of Ammi Wetherbee, a Massachusetts Minute Man.
Very close indeed to the century mark are Mrs. Jane Newkirk, of Laporte, Indiana, and Mrs. Margaret K. Johnson, of Flemington, Kentucky; also Miss Jeannette Blair, of Madison, New York, who entered upon her ninety-eighth year May 30, 1911. Her father, Seth Blair, enlisted three times during the Revolution.
MRS. MARY ANNE RISHEL,
of Clintondale, Pennsylvania, is the daughter of a Revolutionary veteran, a sister of a veteran of the War of 1812 and the mother of a Civil War veteran. Her father served during five years of the Revolution as a ranger on the frontier. Mrs. Rishel celebrated her ninetieth birthday, March 23, 1911.
Two remarkable women among this group of "real daughters" are the twin sisters, Elizabeth Ann Russell and Julia Ann Demary, of Lake Odessa, Michigan, daughters of John Peter Frank, a patriot of the Revolution.
MRS. EUPHRASIA SMITH GRANGER
in 1909 came to Washington to the annual meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution as an alternate for her regent.
MRS. MARY ANNE SCOTT,
LUCY PARLIN
Almost in sight of Judge's cave, in the home of her son-in-law, near New Haven, Connecticut, lives Mrs. Lucy Parlin, one of the surviving daughters of the heroes of 1776. The father of this venerable lady was Elijah Royce, of Wolcott, Connecticut, who at the age of sixteen enlisted in the Revolutionary Army and served seven years and three months. In the famous battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, he received a severe sabre wound on the face and was left for dead on the field. During the terrible winter at Valley Forge, Corporal Royce was awakened one night by some intruder who was trying to share his scanty blanket. He kicked the unwelcome visitor most lustily, and when daybreak came, to his surprise and chagrin, he saw the familiar features of the Marquis de Lafayette.
MRS. DONALD McLEAN.
"Mrs. Donald McLean, member and vice-president of the New York State Commission to the Jamestown Exposition, and president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was born in Prospect Hall, Frederick, Maryland; and is the daughter of Judge and Mrs. John Ritchie. Her father was judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and served in the National Congress before his elevation to the bench.
"Mrs. McLean's grandfather was Judge William P. Maulsby, and her grandmother, Emily Nelson (for whom Mrs. McLean is named), was the daughter of General Roger Nelson, who was at college, a boy of sixteen, when the Declaration of Independence was signed. He ran away from the university and joined the Revolutionary forces. He was commissioned lieutenant, and afterwards brevetted brigadier-general for conspicuous bravery on the field of battle. Later in life he served in the National Congress, and afterwards was placed upon the bench of his native state.
"Further back in Mrs. McLean's ancestry were Judges Lynn and Beattie, two of the twelve judges known as 'The Twelve Immortals,' who first signed a protest against the British Stamp Act, eleven years before the first battle of the ​ Revolution. Lieutenant James Lackland was also an ancestor, as was one of the earlier deputy governors of Maryland, Governor Burgess.
"Mrs. McLean was educated at the Frederick Female Seminary, now known as the Woman's College. She graduated at the age of fourteen, receiving a diploma. She continued the study of history, the languages, and music until her marriage and, indeed, has pursued the former ever since. In 1883 she married Mr. Donald McLean, a lawyer of standing in New York, who has had various distinctions in office conferred upon him by the President of the United States and the Mayor of the City of New York. Mrs. McLean is the mother of three children.
"From the time of her marriage and removal from Maryland to New York, Mrs. McLean has been interested in social, professional and educational circles of that city. On learning of the formation of the Daughters of the American Revolution, her interest was immediately aroused, and she became a charter member of the society, and also of the New York City Chapter of that organization, being elected to its regency. A scholarship in perpetuity has been founded in Barnard College by the New York City Chapter, and named the 'Mrs. Donald McLean Scholarship.' Mrs. McLean held the office of regent for ten years, until her election, in April, 1905, to the presidency-general of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
"The president-general has served as an active commissioner from New York to the Cotton States International Exposition, in 1895, and as an honorary commissioner to the South Carolina Exposition. She made public addresses at both above-named expositions; also at the Tennessee Exposition, and at the Pan-American Exposition, in 1901, at Buffalo, and at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, in 1903-04, at St. Louis,— ​ representing the varied interests of women, education, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. McLean was an active commissioner and vice-president of the commission from New York to the Jamestown Exposition. In the president-general's administration a memorial building has been erected by the D. A. R. on Jamestown Island in Virginia, which building is a replica of the old Malvern Hall, and will remain as a permanent 'rest house/ upon the island.
"Mrs. McLean has traveled several hundred thousand miles throughout the states, visiting innumerable cities and towns, making addresses upon patriotic subjects, not only in furthering the work of the Daughters of the American Revolution, but in participation in civic and national patriotic celebrations. She is deeply interested in the work of patriotic education, both for immigrants and Southern mountaineers, as well as in keeping alive a patriotic spirit in all classes of American citizens, and is widely and internationally known as a speaker in patriotic and educational gatherings, and in her interest in the movement for peace by arbitration."
The foregoing sketch of Mrs. Donald McLean was taken from the report of the Jamestown Exposition Commission of the state of New York. Mrs. McLean was the only woman upon that distinguished commission, and this report gives indubitable evidence of the high esteem in which she was held by the commission, and their appreciation of her keen perceptions, rare intelligence, sound judgment, and wonderful executive ability.
It has been the editor's valued privilege to have known Mrs. McLean since the beginning of the twentieth century, and she takes pleasure in adding that among the thousands of gifted women she has met during these years Mrs. McLean is second to none in largeness of heart, brilliancy of mind, quickness of perception, eloquence of speech, marvelous executive ability, ​ genial disposition, sturdiness of purpose, and charming personality. As president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution she lifted the society out of the chaos into which contentious rivals had dragged it, and placed it in the line of progression and achievement. She made the dream of Continental Hall a possible reality by her skillful financial management. No other woman has received greater honors or worn them more gracefully than has Mrs. Donald McLean, who is among the most faithful of wives, tenderest of mothers, loyal of daughters, truest of patriots, most generous and loyal of friends.
ELLEN HARDIN WALWORTH.
Mrs. Walworth was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, and is a daughter of General John J. Hardin, United States Volunteers, and Sarah Ellen Hardin. She was educated at Jacksonville Academy and by private tutors. She was married at Saratoga Springs, New York, to M. T. Walworth in 1852. She graduated from the Woman's Law Class of the University of New York. She was president and founder of the Art and Science Field Club of Saratoga and founder and ex-president of the Post Parliament, New York, and was one of the first three women nominated and elected to a school board under the New York law admitting women as trustees. She is chiefly prominent as being one of the three founders—with Miss Eugenia Washington and Miss Mary Desha—of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was director general of the Woman's National War Relief Association in 1898, and was at the Field Hospital at Fortress Monroe to meet the first wounded brought front Santiago, with supplies, nurses, etc. She went to Montauk and remained in the Field Hospital there until it closed. She has served on many important committees of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is the author of "Battles of Saratoga," "Parliamentary Rules," also various monographs.
MRS. MATTHEW T. SCOTT.
​ Born in old Kentucky, her ancestry goes back through a long line of the best, bravest and the most distinguished men and women that this country can boast, including such names as that of Lawrence Washington, Colonel Joshua Fry, Augustine Warner, Dr. Thomas Walker, etc.
Her father, the Reverend Lewis "Warner Green, was one of the most eloquent and scholarly divines of his generation, and was at one time president of Hampden Sydney College, Virginia, and later of Centre College, Danville, Kentucky. Up to his premature death at the age of fifty-six, he was recognized as one of the intellectual and spiritual leaders of the old South, who by sheer force of brains and character, so largely directed and dominated our national life up to the time of the Civil War. The home life of the youthful Hypatia could hardly have been more propitious for the development of those charms and graces of mind and character, which have gained for her so unique a position in the history of womankind, than was that of the beautiful and accomplished Miss Julia Green.
At the age of nineteen her romantic and sheltered girlhood was brought to an end by her marriage and migration across the almost trackless prairies, to take up her abode among the prairie dogs and rattlesnakes of central Illinois. Here for a score of years she threw herself heart and soul into her self-appointed tasks of inspiring and helping her husband, who rapidly became one of the financial, political and intellectual "master builders" of this great region, and of making her home a center from which radiated countless refining and ennobling influences on every side. The good old Southern way in which these hospitable Kentuckians entertained friends and relatives for weeks and even for months at a time, was for years the talk of the countryside.
On her husband's sudden death in the midst of his brilliant business career, she found herself forced to take his place at the ​ helm, and to concentrate all her thought and attention upon the heavy responsibilities connected with the management of the M. T. Scott estate, one of the largest estates in this the most fertile and influential agricultural region in the world. To the surprise of herself and her closest friends, her sound judgment and careful husbandry soon gained for her the title of "the best business man in central Illinois." Moreover, with that dignity, poise and balance which have always been her distinguishing characteristics, she demonstrated that it is quite possible to be hard-headed without being hard-hearted. For in spite of being a first-class woman of affairs, she never forgot nor allowed others to forget, that first of all she was an old-fashioned Kentucky gentlewoman.
Up to the time of her election to the highest office within the gift of the women of this country, Mrs. Scott had been too completely occupied with her own business interests to devote much time or energy to club matters or public affairs. But in spite of this, her friends had quietly pushed her to the front as much as she would permit, instinctively recognizing her innate capacity for leadership, and for the effective handling of large enterprises.
It is a curious and interesting psychological fact, that at an age when most women don becoming lace caps and retire to the fireplace with their knitting—to watch the procession of life go by—Mrs. Scott, whose previous years had been almost exclusively devoted to her home, her friends and her business interests, should suddenly have launched out on a new, untried and signally tempestuous sea of activity, where she at once assumed a prominent, and very soon, a dominant position.
Mrs. Scott during her incumbency as president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution has been a surprise to herself and her friends as well as to her enemies. Talents and traits of character which had lain almost dormant ​ for a quarter of a century were aroused to newness of life by the fresh interests aroused and the new duties which were imposed upon her by her high official position.
When she went to Bloomington, Illinois, to attend the "homecoming banquet" given by her friends and neighbors, she made a powerful and polished speech, putting into it all the strength and restrained force of character of which she is capable. A day or two after, a remark was made by an old friend and neighbor, which gave expression to the widespread feeling among those present at the banquet. "I have come to the conclusion," she said, "that though I have known Mrs. Scott for so long and have known her so intimately, I have always underestimated her. I was aware that she was a woman of great ability, but I am free to confess, that I did not think she had it in her to speak as she spoke last night. I did not realize that we had in our midst a woman of such intellectual grasp, and such wonderful personal dignity and strength."
However, the eloquence and literary charm of her speeches are apparent to everyone. What is, perhaps, less generally known and certainly more rare in her makeup, is her largeness, her ability to rise above petty personal considerations, the broad impersonal way she has of treating people and questions that are brought to her attention. For example, when some of her old-time friends have deserted her and joined the ranks of the enemy, she not only has wasted no time nor energy in recriminations and lamentations, but actually has felt no bitterness toward them. The ability to maintain this attitude is very rare among men and almost unheard of among women. It has something about it that is reminiscent of the attitude manifested towards quitters and turncoats by Julius Caesar in Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra" and shows the remarkable mastery of the conscious mind, of the rational ​ element in her nature, over whims, prejudices and ordinary human passions.
The past two years have also proven to be a sort of Indian Summer for the spiritual element in her nature. The old-time ideals which she had learned to love as a girl sitting at her father's feet, the old-time belief in the efficacy of spiritual powers and the reality of spiritual values have again been quickened into life. The long stretch of years during which she was largely engrossed in family affairs and the heavy labors involved in the management of the material interests of herself and her children, was brought to a close when she assumed her present position of moral and intellectual leadership among American women. As a widow and a mother, she did not hesitate to focus all her energies and abilities upon the financial duties and responsibilities which she felt demanded her first attention, but when these affairs having been satisfactorily and successfully attended to, new intellectual and spiritual responsibilities were thrust upon her, the latent moral fires and spiritual enthusiasms of her girlhood burst into sudden flame—the idealistic element in her nature again asserted itself. To her own surprise, as much as that of her friends and family, she threw into her new work not only the practical skill, and trained energy, which had been developed during her long business career, but as well the old moral fervor and the old spiritual outlook, that had been handed down to her as a rich spiritual inheritance from her distinguished father.
In spite of the fact that she has manifested an extraordinary ability as a presiding officer, showing not only a remarkable mastery of parliamentary law, but an even more remarkable mastery of all the complicated and tempestuous situations that have arisen during the various discussions of the nineteenth and twentieth Congresses; and in spite of the fact that her unusual business and executive ability have enabled her ​ to manage all the financial and administrative affairs of the National Society, with a clear head and a firm hand, yet undoubtedly the most distinctive thing about her administration has been her own personality—that subtle combination of the patrician and the idealist, which has enabled her to infuse into the organization so much of her own spirit of refinement, strength and moral fervor.
In nearly all of her speeches, she somewhere and somehow manages to strike the same clear and fearless note of noble aspiration, high purpose, fearless independence and invincible resolve. In her address at the opening session of the nineteenth Continental Congress occurs the following passage which is a fair sample of her literary style and of her conception of the mission of the "Daughters."
"The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution had its genesis in the sentiment of 'noblesse oblige.' It is our proud title to distinction that we trace our ancestry back, not to forbears distinguished for the arrogance of wealth, or the supercilious vanity that is based upon a supposed aristocratic blueness in our blood—but one and all of us trace our lineage back to faithful men and women whose splendid distinction it was to have served their country in their time, at the sacrifice of all that was most precious from the material standpoint of life. Ours is an aristocracy of service. It is no light responsibility to have become, as we have undertaken to make ourselves, the ambassadors in this twentieth century, of the ruling spirits of the colonies of the last half of the eighteenth century—the time that tried men out and called them to cement with their blood a union of new-born states, setting up for the whole modern world, so startling a conception of political freedom, religious tolerance and social justice."
The Daughters of the American Revolution have since their inception, some twenty-two years ago, selected worthy and ​ distinguished women to wear the badge of supreme authority. Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, Mrs. Adlai Stevenson, Mrs. John W. Foster, Mrs. Daniel Manning, Mrs. Charles Warren Fairbanks, Mrs. Donald McLean and the present incumbent, Mrs. Matthew T. Scott, of Bloomington, Illinois. Mrs. Scott is now well into the third year of her stewardship, and the list of splendid results which may be directly ascribed to her methods is worthy of five times that lapse of time. Like Joshua, she led the cohorts into the land of their desire—the Continental Memorial Hall—and has placed the business affairs of the society on a firm financial basis which will lighten the burden for her successors for all time to come. To build this national hall of fame had been the goal of the society's ambition from the early days of its existence. Every president-general which the Daughters elected labored indefatigably for this end, but it was the keen business acumen, the steady purpose and unflagging labor of Mrs. Scott which made possible so speedy a realization of this hope. Mrs. Donald McLean had by her prompt action in raising the money by mortgage made possible the erection of the hall without the slow, painful method of waiting for the money to be collected. Mrs. Scott took up the work with splendid energy and pushed the lagging forward, closed out every contract connected with the building and planning without one lawsuit or even unfriendly episode with those in charge of the construction. This is a remarkable record in Washington, where even the national government gets entangled in the laws affecting labor and construction. Pushing the work to a speedy termination and taking possession of the Memorial Hall far in advance of the time generally named, Mrs. Scott saved the society a tidy sum in the rental of a great suite of offices. During this same busy juncture of time, she has begun the reorganization of the business affairs of the society in the effort to place it on the same plane as that of other corporate ​ enterprises. The result will be that the society will be saved a considerable amount annually which is to go into the treasury to take up the notes due on the Memorial Hall.
This Valhalla is in an especial way dear to Mrs. Scott, as her sister, Mrs. Adlai Stevenson, who was second and fourth president-general of the Daughters, was the first to crystallize the endeavor to collect funds for its erection. It is unique among the magnificient halls which the national Capital or the country at large possesses. It is the largest and most costly monument ever erected by women in this land or any other, in this era or any past one. It is besides, the first grand monument erected to all heroes who helped to gain American independence, men and women alike. The insignia of the society, the distaff, is pregnant with memories of the noble women who were the ancestresses of those who from the motives of purest patriotism erected the noble memorial. The history and achievements of the Daughters of the American Revolution are written in this hall in letters of bronze and marble. It is a Corinthian temple built of white Vermont marble with a wonderful colonnade, thirteen majestic pillars, typical of the thirteen states which formed the first American union and given by the Daughters from each of these historic commonwealths. Magnificent among the stately buildings which are its near neighbors, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Bureau of American Republics, the Memorial Continental Hall is an achievement of which every woman in the land may be proud, because it is the result of the conservation of the vital forces obtainable when worthy women are leagued together.
The interior of the hall has been the object of loving solicitude from the day the foundation stone was laid. It is a rare combination of delicate and graceful symmetry combined with every practical consideration. Over each door and in the ornamental niches may be seen busts of heroes, gifts of states, ​ chapters and of individuals. The beginnings of the nation are plainly written here—George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Nathan Hale, John Adams, James Oglethorpe, Edward Hand, Isaac Shelby, John Stark, General Clinton, and Ethan Allen look down benignly on the passersby.
Mrs. Scott's energy and enthusiasm is well attested in the rich and varied decorations of the various rooms. Always ready to encourage and to suggest, the entire hall is now furnished, nearly every pledge made by the members has been redeemed, and the hall stands in completeness, a sign of what the strong purpose and ripe judgment of the present president-general accomplished in little more than two years. Mrs. Scott brought all forces into a mighty effort to this endeavor and she used all means at her command. In a word she gathered, while she might have scattered.
All these material proofs of her success as an executive officer are worthy of all praise, but when the sum total of Mrs. Scott's regime as president-general is computed, it will be found that her best and most useful service has been in the deep and intelligent study which she has given the ideals and aspirations of the society, and her dominant energy in forcing the public to accept them, and not a preconceived, distorted notion. She has elevated the tone of the society ; not that she has labored for this end especially, but her dignity and personal worth have eliminated the smaller issues which for a time overpowered the real issues. Mrs. Scott is the first president-general from whom the President of the United States accepted an invitation to open a Continental Congress. The highest officials of the land feel honored when they are requested to appear before the Daughters, and the wives of the loftiest officials now work side by side with the councillors. Those who went before Mrs. Scott solved many a problem and did many a useful and uplifting ​ service to the society, but it remained for her to place the Daughters of the American Revolution before the country as they should be known. She broke down the bulwark of ridicule and sarcasm which greeted every effort, erected by a sensation-loving press of the country. She made it plain to those responsible for giving such news to the world that to bear false witness applied to women organized as well as to women individually, and through courteous and gentle means she showed the injustice with which her society had been treated. In this she performed a service for the society greater in the moral sense than the brilliant management of the business affairs is in a material way.
Very recently she has been elected president of the McLean County Coal Company, of Bloomington, Illinois, to succeed the former vice-president, Adlai Stevenson. The respect and admiration in which she is held by her Illinois neighboring farmers, many of them keen-witted business men, is in itself a tribute which bears testimony to her rating in the realm of great and practical affairs. Her farms yield a golden harvest, but better is the distinction which she has earned as a stimulus to scientific farming and a factor in the future welfare of her environment. One of her many wisely beneficent deeds is to send a certain number of her tenants yearly to the Agricultural College of Illinois to prepare themselves for more productive work.
​ A favorite charity of Mrs. Scott's is to aid the mountain whites in various Southern states, but especially in her home state, Kentucky. Many years ago, she established a school at Phelps, Kentucky, named in honor of her husband, the Matthew T. Scott Institute. Her noble intention is when she rests from the arduous labors connected with the stewardship of the Daughters, to devote her time and energy to arousing the people of this country to their duties towards the poor mountaineers. Mrs. Scott deplores that so much more is given to educate and uplift the Afro-American race than for the poor whites who are left in ignorance and poverty, without hope or ambition. That this phase of our national neglect is now receiving so much attention may be attributed in a large measure to public-spirited women like Mrs. Scott, who by word and deed have set the example of what should be done. She served for many years with eminent success as secretary of the Home Missionary Board of the Presbyterian Church of Illinois, and later as president of the Woman's Club of Bloomington.
Mrs. Scott has written a charming book on her Revolutionary ancestors. This book is intended for her children and grandchildren and has only a limited circulation. It contains some exceedingly interesting facts and ranks among the genealogical records of times remote from written history. Even a meagre list of the famous men and women from whom Mrs. Scott and her sister, Mrs. Stevenson, claim descent, would make a long article. One of the very interesting points, however, is that one of her first American ancestresses was Mildred Warner, aunt and godmother of the "Father of His Country." This hallowed name is perpetuated in the only granddaughter of Mrs. Scott, Mildred Warner Bromwell, daughter of her elder daughter, Letitia, wife of Colonel Charles S. Bromwell, U. S. A.
Since she became president-general of the Daughters of ​
​ Mrs. Matthew T. Scott is one of the noblest types of American womanhood. Her character in every sense is worthy of emulation by those who come after her.
EUGENIA WASHINGTON.
Miss Washington was born beneath the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains near the romantic and historic Harper's Ferry. Her father, William Temple Washington, a graduate of William and Mary College, educated his daughters at home. About 1859 Miss Washington's father moved to Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, the Rappahannock flowing between. On this debatable land, between the contending armies of the Civil War, the family suffered all the horrors and all the hardships, and the end showed them deprived of all worldly goods. Mrs. Washington soon died and was followed in a short time by Mr. Washington. Miss Eugenia Washington was offered and accepted an honorable place under the government and made Washington her home until her death. On her mother's side she was descended from Charles Francis Joseph, Count de Flechir, and who served in the War of the Revolution. He was the friend and kinsman of Lafayette. On her father's side she was descended from John Washington who, with his brother Lawrence, settled in the northern neck in Westmoreland County, where the Potomac ran strong and ample and there was easy trade with the home ports of London and Bristol. Descended from such illustrious ancestry on both sides, closely allied with the Father of His Country, George Washington, and of lineal descent from so many who served in the war that made us a nation, it was fitting that Miss Washington should be identified with the organization of the National Daughters of the American Revolution. She was one of the founders and the first registrar. Having served the society as registrar-general, secretary-general and vice-president-general she was, in 1895, made honorary vice-president-general, which high position was for life. She was presented by the society with a magnificent jeweled badge, showing the high appreciation in which she was held and that they recognized in her one of the founders of the great powerful organization. Miss Eugenia Washington died at Washington on Thanksgiving Day, 1900.
MARY DESHA.
Miss Desha was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and was the daughter of Dr. John Randolph and Mary Bracken Desha. She was educated at Sayre Institute and the Kentucky State College at Lexington. She was a teacher in the Kentucky public schools for twelve years, until 1886, when she came to Washington to take a position under the government. This she held until her death in 1910. Miss Desha is most prominent as having been one of the three founders—with Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth and Miss Eugenia Washington of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In that society she served ​ in many capacities. She was assistant director of the Daughters of the American Revolution Hospital Corps, which furnished a thousand trained nurses during the Spanish-American War. She was an honorary vice-president-general of the National Society, and served on many of its committees. Miss Desha was a president of the Albert Sidney Johnston Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and was parliamentarian of the National Mary Washington Memorial Association and recording secretary of the Pocahontas Memorial Association.
MRS. JOHN W. FOSTER.
Mrs. Foster, president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was born in Salem, Indiana, and is a direct descendant of a line of Revolutionary heroes on both sides of the house. Mrs. Foster is the daughter of the late Rev. Alexander McFerson, her mother being Eliza Reed McFerson, whose nine brothers all became distinguished at the bar, in medicine, or in the army or navy. She graduated at Glendale College, near Cincinnati. Her marriage to Mr. Foster has proved a very happy one. In 1873, four years after the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Foster, General Grant appointed Mr. Foster minister to Mexico. Their residence at the Mexican capital covered a period of seven years. During this time Mrs. Foster became thoroughly familiar with the language, people, habits and manners of the country. Many of the literary societies of Washington have been beneficiaries of her and her husband's experience and knowledge. From Mexico Mr. Foster was transferred to St. Petersburg, in 1880, by President Hayes. During her stay in Russia, Mrs. Foster spent a part of her time in translating Russian fiction into English. Upon Mr. Foster's return to Washington, he was again urged by President Arthur to accept a mission to Spain, which he accepted in 1884. During a residence there of two and a half years Mrs. Foster mingled in the brilliant court of Alphonso XII. The residence in Washington of Mr. and Mrs. Foster has often been the scene of brilliant social events Mrs. Foster is a woman who has had personal experience in the working of the various governments of the world. She has seen the glory and pomp of monarchs, emperors and kings, and comes back to the simplicities of a democratic republican government more of an American than ever, believing that her institutions are the making of the grandest people of the earth, for the foundation of her law is for whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure and of good report.
MRS. CHARLES WARREN FAIRBANKS.
Mrs. Fairbanks was born in the Buckeye State, at Marysville, in Union County. Her father, Judge Philander B. Cole, was one of the prominent men of the Southern shore. He believed in the higher education of women and consequently sent his daughter Cornelia to college. She entered the Wesleyan College in 1868, taking the classical course, and she graduated in 1872. Like many Western girls she was as active in the athletic field and the gymnasium as she was in the historical and literary societies of the college. She was also connected with the college paper of which Charles Warren Fairbanks, one of the students ​ at the college was the editor. Mrs. Fairbanks, as a girl, became familiar with parliamentary law and her early training gave her an excellent basis for her work in later years. Two years after obtaining her degree she became the wife of Charles Warren Fairbanks, her former college editor, and they took up their residence in Indianapolis. Mrs. Fairbanks became the president of the first literary club of the state and was the first woman appointed on the Indiana State Board of Charities. She organized "The Fortnightly Literary Club" and belonged to art and musical societies, all of this in addition to caring for her little family of five children. When Mr. Fairbanks was elected senator from Indiana Mrs. Fairbanks became one of the winter residents of Washington, joined the Washington Club, and founded, together with a number of other progressive and enterprising women, "The Woman's League," to aid and assist the "Junior Republic." During the Spanish War she did an incalculable amount of work for our soldiers, was made president of the Indiana Aid Society to send nurses, hospital supplies and commissary stores to the front. In 1900 Mrs. Fairbanks was elected director of the Federation of Woman's Clubs. One of her chief aims was the promotion of Continental Hall, in which she was actively interested. Another measure that Mrs. Fairbanks strongly advocated during her term as president-general was the commemoration of the historic places of the country which she thought might be made into object lessons in love of country to those who had not had early patriotic training.
MRS. A. LEO KNOTT.
Mrs. Knott is among the earliest members of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, being at the time of its formation, a resident of Washington. She was elected a member of the society on June 19, 1891, having previously attended several preliminary meetings of the society at the residence of Mrs. Cabell. On the 9th of May of the same year she was elected one of the vice-presidents-general. Mrs. Knott claims membership in the society on account of the Revolutionary services rendered by Captain John Phelan, through her mother Mary J. Kienan, nee Mary J. Phelan. Captain Phelan joined the American army at Boston in 1776. He survived the war, being promoted to the rank of captain for gallant services performed during the war and was with the army until it disbanded at Newburg in October, 1783. After the war Captain Phelan engaged in mercantile business in New York. He made a trip to Rio Janeiro in connection with his business. On his return he was shipwrecked, losing the vessel and cargo in which most of his fortune was invested. He removed to Baltimore and established a classical and mathematical school which enjoyed a wide reputation for many years. He died in Baltimore in 1827. Mrs. Knott took an active part in the work of the early building up of the Daughters of the American Revolution. On the retirement of Mrs. Flora Adams Darling from the position which she filled of vice-president-general in charge of the organization of chapters, Mrs. Knott, together with Mrs. John W. Foster and Mrs. H. V. Boynton was appointed by the national board to take charge of that work. In 1891 Mrs. Knott, on her removal to Baltimore, was requested by the national ​ board to accept the position of state regent of Maryland and to undertake the work of establishing chapters in that state. In accordance with that request Mrs. Knott, in 1892, sent out invitations to ladies in Baltimore whom she knew were eligible to membership in the National Society and on March 4th, the Baltimore Chapter was formed at her house. Mrs. Knott appointed Miss Alice Key Blunt regent of the chapter. In 1894 Mrs. Knott resigned the office of state regent of Maryland, and at the succeeding congress was elected one of the honorary vice-presidents-general for life. In 1889, at the urgent request of many of the members of the chapter, Mrs. Knott was elected to the office of regent of the Baltimore Chapter, which has done good work under her regency and has taken a lively interest in the construction of Continental Hall.
SOPHIE WALKER HYNDSHAW BUSHNELL.
The subject of this sketch was born in Henry, Illinois; her father Silas Condict Hyndshaw, coming there from Morristown, New Jersey as a young man. In 1858 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Walker of Cincinnati, Ohio. At an early age Mrs. Bushnell was sent to Monticello Seminary, one of the oldest schools for young women in the Middle West and there she spent four years. During the time she was attending school at Monticello, her parents moved to Norwood Park, a suburb of Chicago, and there in 1878 she was married to Drayton Wilson Bushnell. Mr. Bushnell was a native of Ohio, his ancestors coming there from Connecticut in 1880 and settling on the Western Reserve.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bushnell went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and decided to make that place their home. Mrs. Bushnell became much interested in the Daughters of the American Revolution during the first years of the organization but did not identify herself with the society until 1897, when a chapter was formed in Council Bluffs, and she became a charter member. She has served the chapter in various offices, being regent for three years and in office or a member of the board of management constantly since the chapter was organized. She was state historian for two years, state vice-regent for one year and vice-president-general for four years. She is also a member of various other patriotic societies—the Colonial Dames—the Huguenot Society—United States Daughters of 1812 and others. Her line of ancestry through her father embraces many prominent New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New England names; her father having been named for the Hon. Silas Condict of New Jersey, who was a member of the first Continental Congress and speaker of the House; while his great-grandfather, Captain James Hyndshaw, was a distinguished soldier in the French and Indian Wars ; a fort near the Delaware Water Gap being named for him in recognition of his service. Her mother (Elizabeth Walker of Ohio) traces her lines to the Walkers, Fosters, Hicks, Millers and many of the old Maryland families; also to the Wiltsees and other Dutch families of New York. When elected to the office of vice-president-general, Mrs. Bushnell suggested to the Daughters of Iowa that they pay for one of the rooms in Memorial Continental Hall, to be called the Iowa Room. This plan met with the approval of the members, and Mrs. Bushnell was made the chairman of the Iowa Room Committee ​ and has held the office until the room has been finished and furnished. Recognizing the good work accomplished in the chapter, the state, and on the national board by a member of their own chapter, the Council Bluffs Daughters had the name of Mrs. Bushnell placed on the roll of honor book in Memorial Continental Hall. Mrs. Bushnell's greatest interest is in her patriotic work, her first love, the Daughters of the American Revolution claiming the most of her attention. She has given to it of her best, and in return it has been her privilege and pleasure to feel that in a small way she has been able to add her "mite" to the growth, development, and great work achieved by this grand society.
MRS. I. C. VANMETER, JR.
Mrs. Pattie Field Vanmeter was an enthusiastic and active member of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution from the earliest days of its organization, having joined in 1890, when a pupil in Mrs. Somer's popular school in Washington, D. C. The tradition of her family lead her to an immense interest in a society which honored Revolutionary sires. She was the daughter of Thomas M. Field, of Denver, Colo., and was born in that city on April 10, 1865. She was graduated from the Denver High School in 1883, and bore off prizes in painting and in elocution. After leaving school in Washington she, with her younger brother and sister visited, in 1887, most of the countries of Europe. On May 4, 1892, she was married to I. C. Vanmeter, Jr., of Kentucky, and they removed to Winchester, Kentucky, where on February 24, 1893, she died.
LUCIA A. BLOUNT.
Mrs. Blount was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She was the daughter of Lovett Eames and Lucy C. Morgan Eames, and comes of good Revolutionary stock. Mrs. Blount was educated in Kalamazoo College under Dr. and Mrs. Stone. She lived several years abroad to educate her children. Since her home has been in Washington she helped to organize and was made the president of the Pro-ra-Nata Society, an organization which has taken a front rank in the federated clubs. Mrs. Blount is a charter member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She has been a vice-president and historian for two years. She has also been identified with several other societies and clubs whose trend is for the betterment of society.
MRS. J. HERON CROSMAN.
Mrs. Crosman has been deeply, lovingly interested in the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution from its inception. When the vice-president, first in charge of organization, was sent to form a chapter in New York, initial meetings were held at Mrs. Crosman's house and the proposed members were entertained by her. From these beginnings grew the great army of over four thousand daughters of the American Revolution in New York, the banner state. Mrs. Crosman was the fourth member from New York and her ​ national number is 262. Her distinguished services were fittingly recognzied when in 1900 she was elected vice-president-general to represent the Empire State in the councils of the society. She is a member of the Continental Hall Committee and of the Magazine Committee. Among her ancestors who won renown in Colonial and Revolutionary times is Elihu Hall who served as lieutenant-captain and colonel, receiving his commission as colonel of the Susquehanna battalion in 1778. He was descended from Richard Hall of Norfolk, England, who settled in Cecil County, Maryland. John Harris, another of Mrs. Crosman's colonial forefathers, came from Yorkshire, England, to Philadelphia, where he married Esther Say. Mrs. Crosman was Miss Ellen Hall, daughter of William M. and Ellen Campbell Hall. Mr. J. Heron Crosman, whose wife she is, is a member of an old West Point family. Besides being an honored and beloved Daughter of the American Revolution, Mrs. Crosman is a Colonial Dame, and a promoter of the Society of Children of the American Revolution. A beautiful home life is her crowning inheritance.
ANNA SCOTT BLOCK.
Wife of Colonel Williard T. Block, is a daughter of William P. Scott, and Mary Piper, his wife. Mr. Scott is a descendant of Hugh Scott, who came to America prior to 1720, and settled in Lancaster County, Pa., and whose descendants have had much to do with the making of this country in civil, military, political and industrial affairs. In 1748 some of the Scotts moved from Donegal Church, in Lancaster County, and took up land in Adams County, upon part of the land over which in 1S63 the great battle of Gettysburg was fought.
Mrs. Block's ancestor, Rebecca Scott, married Captain James Agnew, who commanded a company of associators in 1756, among whose descendants were Colonel Thomas A. Scott, late president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, also president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, Kansas Pacific Railroad and Texas Pacific Railroad, the latter road owned by him, when he sold it to Jay Gould.
Colonel Scott was appointed by President Lincoln assistant secretary of war in 1861, and was placed in charge of all the railroads needed for military operations of the war. Colonel Scott was Mrs. Block's uncle.
Other descendants of Captain Agnew and his wife Rebecca Scott were Dr. D. Hayes Agnew the celebrated surgeon. Another descendant was David A. Stewart, a former partner of Andrew Carnegie, and president of the Carnegie Steel Company.
The great-grandmother of Mrs. Block, Sarah Agnew, was married to Archibald Douglas, a descendant of Lord Douglas of Scotland. Mrs. Block's grandmother, Rebecca Douglas, married Thomas Scott, whose father John Scott was a pioneer in the settlement of Franklin County, Pa., and served in the Revolution.
Mrs. Block's great-grandfather on her maternal side was General John Piper of Bedford County, Pa., who served his state in 1763 as lieutenant in the French and Indian Wars, provincial justice in 1775 and 1776. June 18, 1776, ​was a member of the provincial conference held in Carpenter Hall, Philadelphia, which conference took steps to form a new government to denounce George III. The conference signed the declaration on June 18, 1776, that the state of Pennsylvania was willing to concur in a vote to the Congress declaring the colonies free and independent states.
Colonel Piper was a member of the convention of 1776, that formed the Constitution of Pennsylvania. In 1776 Colonel Piper was appointed lieutenant-colonel of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, with free military power reporting to the president of the assembly.
In 1777 he was appointed lieutenant of western Pennsylvania. From 1779 to 1783 he represented Bedford County in Supreme Executive Council, and a member from 1785 to 1789 of the general assembly, member of the convention of 1789, and one of the framers of the Constitution of 1790, a justice from 1796 to 1801, a senator from 1801 to 1803, presidential elector in 1797, major-general of state militia in 1801 until his death in 1817.
Upon the organization of the Daughters of the American Revoultion, Mrs. Block was one of the charter members, her number being 337, and a charter member of the Chicago Chapter, her number being three, also a member of the first board of management.
Mrs. Block represented her chapter several times as a delegate at Annual Congress and at the Congress of 1911. She presented before Congress a plan to raise money to pay off the debt on Memorial Continental Hall, and to start a fund for its maintenance by designing a beautiful and artistic certificate that could be sold at one dollar each to every Daughter and descendant. Her plan as suggested by her was so simple, so effective, that it was unanimously adopted by the Congress and Mrs. Block was appointed chairman of a committee to carry out her idea. This she is now employed in doing. She is a member of the Daughters of 1812, the Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago, and The Woman's Athletic Club of Chicago.
CHARLOTTE LOUISE LAWRENCE.
Mrs. Lawrence, a Daughter of the American Revolution, has the following ancestry: She is a great-granddaughter of Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, who was her mother's grandfather; the great-granddaughter of Major Morgan, her father's grandfather on his mother's side; the great-granddaughter of Colonel Jonathan Bliss, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, by her father's grandmother on his father's side, who commanded a Massachusetts regiment of the Continental Line, and a great-great-granddaughter of David Morgan, from her father's grandmother on his mother's side, who was a private in Captain Joseph Hoar's company of Colonel Gideon Bart's regiment of Massachusetts militia, who served in 1782 in the army of Canada.
Mrs. Lawrence, a charter member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was the daughter of Randolph Morgan Cooley and Maria Louise Stevenson Cooley. She is the wife of George A. Lawrence of New York City.
HELEN MASON BOYNTON.
Mrs. Boynton was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, of Massachusetts parentage on both sides of the house in an unbroken line back to 1630, when Robert Mason came to America from England and settled in Dedham. The family was prominent in civil and military affairs in the colonies. Thomas Mason, son of Robert, was killed by the Indians at the defense of Medfield in 1676. Lieutenant Henry Adams, one of her lineal ancestors was also killed in this massacre. He was the ancestor of Samuel Adams, Revolutionary patriot, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, presidents of the United States. Andrew Hall, her colonial ancestor on her mother's side, was a lineal descendant of Elizabeth Newgate, daughter of John de Hoo Hessett, of England. The Halls were active in the Indian wars, and in the Revolution. Mrs. Boynton's national number is twenty-eight. She has served as vice-president-general in charge of organization, vice-president-general, honorary vice-president-general and librarian-general. In 1871 she married General H. V. Boynton an officer of national reputation in the Civil and Spanish Wars. He received the medal of honor for gallantry in the attack on Missionary Ridge.
LUCY PRESTON BEALE.
Mrs. Beale was elected through the Continental Congress in Washington to the honor of vice-president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was already well known as a representative for her state to the Colorado Exposition. She is the daughter of the late honorable William Ballard Preston and Lucy Staples Redd and was born in Montgomery County, Virginia, at the old family seat, Smithfield. When it was proposed to reproduce for the Virginia State building at Chicago, facsimiles of the furnishings of the home of Washington, Mrs. Beale was able to save the state some expense by her offer to furnish several counterparts from the household belongings of old Smithfield. She is descended on both sides from distinguished Revolutionary ancestors and in her we find the high courage which grapples with different enterprises, the talent that organizes, the executive force that reaches completion, and the diplomatic instinct that leads all circumstances to the consummation of determined purpose. The office to which Mrs. Beale was called was not of her own seeking, for contented in the happy home of an honored husband, she found all that her true, womanly heart asked, in his devotion and that of her children to which is lavishly added the warmest devotion of a wide circle of friends.
AUGUSTA DANFORTH GEER.
Mrs. Geer, vice-president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was born at Williamstown, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Keyes and Mary Bushnell Danforth. She is of good Revolutionary stock, being the grandchild of Captain Jonathan Danforth, a soldier at Bunker Hill and Bennington, besides her grandfather, two uncles and ten other relatives who fought at Bunker Hill. Her father served several terms in the state legislature of Massachusetts and was for many years leader of the Democratic party in Berkshire ​ County. Miss Danforth was married in January, 1856, to Asahel Clark Geer, a lawyer of Troy, New York. She was educated by her brother-in-law, Joseph White, secretary of the board of education of Massachusetts and one of the founders and trustees of Smith College, and for nearly forty years treasurer and trustee of Williams College. She was an excellent scholar, especially proficient in the languages. Mrs. Geer was one of the earliest members of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and has been unwavering in her devotion to its largest interests.
ELIZABETH HANENKAMP DELAFIELD.
Mrs. Delafield was the daughter of Richard P. Hanenkamp and Agnes C. Jones, his second wife. She was born in Missouri and has resided in St. Louis all her life. On her father's side she is descended from Pennsylvania Dutch, on her mother's side from Virginia ancestry. One of her ancestors was governor of Virginia in 1617. She has been prominent in the work of the Daughters of the American Revolution, having held the offices successively of treasurer and regent of the St. Louis Chapter, vice state regent and state regent of Missouri. At the sixteenth Continental Congress she was elevated to the high position of vice-president-general of the National Society. She was chairman of the Daughters of the American Revolution at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, where the entertainments arranged by her were a great success. She has served the Daughters well on the Continental Hall Committee, as the liberal contributions from Missouri show. She is a member of the Daughters of 1812, of the Colonial Dames and the Colonial Governors and of many local clubs for betterment. She is the wife of Wallace Delafield, one of the best-known business men of St. Louis and has five children. Mrs. Delafield is a descendant of Peter Humrichhouse. William Jones, who was killed at the battle of Guilford Court House, was another of her ancestors.
MARY STEINER PUTNAM.
Mrs. John Risley Putnam, vice-president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was born in Ohio. Her life until her marriage was mainly spent in her father's country seat, Glendale, fifteen miles out of Cincinnati. Her father, Robert Myers Shoemaker, was one of the most prominent citizens of his state, being a power among railroad men of the country. Mrs. Putnam's mother was, before her marriage, Mary Colegate Steiner, the daughter of Captain Henry Steiner, who served in the War of 1812. Mrs. Putnam is a charter member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and one of its most zealous officers, having been from the first vice-president-general representing the state of New York. Mrs. Benjamin Harrison was an early and long valued friend of Mrs. Putnam, and when the latter came to Washington in the interest of the National Society a warm welcome awaited her at the White House.
MARY KATHARINE JOHNSON.
Mary Katharine Johnson, vice-president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was born in Washington, D. C, and was educated at the ​ Fulford Female Seminary, Maryland. She is a daughter of the late Mitchel Hervey Millar and Sallie Clayton Williams Millar and the wife of Charles Sweet Johnson, who is a member of the District of Columbia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. On the paternal side she is descended from John and Jane Millar, born in Scotland, who came to America from Ireland in 1770 and settled in the western part of Pennsylvania ; on the maternal side from Pierre Williams, sergeant-at-law, of London, England. Mrs. Johnson has been actively interested in the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution for many years, having served one year as registrar-general and one year as a member of the National Advisory Board before she was elected vice-president-general.
ALICE BRENARD EWING WALKER.
Mrs. Walker is the widow of John Reed Walker, a lawyer of Kansas City, Missouri, widely known in his profession and in politics. She is the daughter of Ephraim B. Ewing and Elizabeth Ann Allen, his wife. Judge Ewing was born in Todd County, Kentucky, but grew to manhood in Missouri and is identified with its history in many distinguished positions secretary of state, attorney-general, judge of the Supreme Court and of the Surrogate Court of St. Louis, and was on the supreme bench at the time of his death. His father, Finis Ewing, was born in Bedford County, Virginia, but at an early date he and his brothers went to Kentucky. An old historian says: "The Ewings brought with them the law and the Gospel to Kentucky." Finis Ewing was the founder of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and was a man of great ability and force of character. In the war of 1812 he served as chaplain on condition that if needed he might use his rifle. He was the intimate and lifelong friend of Andrew Jackson and Thomas H. Benton. Mrs. Walker's mother, Elizabeth Ann Allen, was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Allen and Nancy Watkins, his wife, of Prince Edward County, Virginia. Dr. Allen's father, Charles Allen, was a colonel in the Revolutionary army. On the maternal side her grandfather was Colonel Thomas Watkins, who served under Washington and was personally complimented by him for bravery at Guilford. Mrs. Walker was elected vice-president of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1903 and re-elected in 1905, both times receiving the highest vote cast by the congress. She served the Elizabeth Benton Chapter of Kansas City, Missouri, as regent three consecutive terms, resigning when elected vice-president-general. Mrs. Walker is identified with the Memorial Continental Hall monument, as a member of that committee. She incorporated the fund for the Missouri room. She has written and spoken much on patriotic subjects, delivering an address on Daughters' Day at the World's Fair and was invited by both Mrs. Fairbanks and Mrs. McLean to respond to the address of welcome. She was elected to represent Missouri at the ceremonies of the Jamestown Exposition, September 19, 1906.
CHARLOTTE EMERSON MAIN.
Mrs. Main was vice-president-general in charge of the organization of chapters. She comes of fine New England stock. On her father's side her ​ ancestry has been traced back to the time of King Henry VI. Mrs. Main's paternal grandmother was a direct descendant of Roger Conant, who was appointed hrst governor by the Dorchester Company of St. Ann, Endicott being his successor. Mrs. Main's mother, Elizabeth Emerson, belonged to that family which was so prominent in the early educational life of New England, the most widely known member being Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose fame as a thinker is world-wide. Her maternal grandmother was Esther Frothingham, daughter of Major Benjamin Frothingham, the personal friend of George Washington. Mrs. Main has been identified with the Daughters of the American Revolution since 1896, having filled many important offices in the society.
MRS. BALDWIN DAY SPILMAN.
Mrs. Baldwin Day Spilman, vice-president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is a daughter of Senator and Mrs. J. N. Camden, and though born in Wheeling, West Virginia, has always lived in Parkersburg. She was educated at Madam Lefebvre's school in Baltimore. She lived in Washington during her father's service in the United States Senate and traveled abroad, thus acquiring many graces which distinguished her, and which later attracted the fine young lieutenant who became her husband, and which have made her successful in the work which she has undertaken. Mrs. Spilman formed the James Wood Chapter in Parkersburg. In the annual congress in Washington, in April, 1904, she was elected regent of the little mountain state of which all West Virginians are so justly proud. She was later elected to the position of one of the vice-presidents-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Spilman's Revolutionary ancestor, Captain Cornelius Stimrod, enlisted in the Westchester Militia of New York in 1776 under Colonel Alexander McDougal. He commanded a company of Minute Men in 1782.
MRS. JOHN RITCHIE.
Mrs. Ritchie was elected at the Congress of 1895 state regent of Maryland. She is the widow of the late Honorable John Ritchie, of Frederick City, Maryland, and is the daughter of the late Judge William Pinkney Maulsby, of Maryland, and his wife, Emily Contee Nelson, daughter of Roger Nelson, from whom she derives her eligibility to the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is descended from the legal profession on every side. Her grandfather, General Israel David Maulsby, was one of the most distinguished lawyers of his day, an eloquent and polished orator and a tried public servant, having represented his country in the state legislature twenty-nine times. He was one of the volunteer defenders of the city of Baltimore when it was besieged by the British in 1814, and was one of those who made it possible for the "Patriot Poet" to see the Star-Spangled Banner still waving "in the dawn's early light." His wife was the daughter of John Hall, an officer of the Revolution. Mrs. Ritchie's maternal ancestors came to this country in the latter part of the seventeenth century, locating first in St. Mary's County, Maryland, and later coming up into western ​ Maryland. The first patent issued to John Nelson was for several thousand acres of land and bears the date of 1725. Mrs. Ritchie was commissioned by the first president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mrs. Caroline Scott Harrison, regent of the Frederick Chapter. Entering upon the work of its organization with enthusiasm, her efforts were crowned with success. In 1894 she was elected vice-president-general of the society, and in 1895 regent for the state of Maryland. She was a member of the State Committee on Women's Work for the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and did good service in that cause. She was a member of the Academy of Political and Social Science and an active member of the Frederick Historical Society, to whose annals she contributed several papers. She is one of the founders and one of the board of management of the Key Monument Association. She was commissioned by Governor Brown a member of the Maryland Committee for the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, and was also appointed a member of the Colonial Relic Committee. In her character Mrs. Ritchie manifests the traits to be expected from her inheritance. Courageous, gracious and courtly, she represents the typical Maryland woman. She is distinguished for her patriotic spirit and her zeal has resulted in the establishment of a most prosperous chapter in Frederick. Mrs. Ritchie resides in the old colonial mansion built by her uncle, Honorable John Nelson, the eminent jurist.
MRS. R. OGDEN DOREMUS.
Mrs. R. Ogden Doremus was appointed regent of the New York City Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, January 1, 1892, by the Committee of Safety, and this election was unanimously confirmed by the chapter at its next meeting on May 19, 1892. She was also made corresponding secretary and has been performing the duties of both offices until the present time. Mrs. Doremus, the daughter of Captain Hubbard Skidmore and Caroline Avery Skidmore, was born in the city of New York and educated under the care of the celebrated Madam Mears. She was married in New York to Dr. R. Ogden Doremus, the distinguished professor of chemistry, October 1, 1850. The ceremony took place in the South Dutch Church, corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first Street, the oldest church organization in the city of New York. The original edifice was built by the Dutch within the fortification walls at the Battery. Mrs. Doremus' maternal grandfather, Thaddeus Avery, of Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York, was born October 19, 1749, and died November 16, 1836. He was captain of cavalry during the Revolution and at one time paymaster of the Westchester troops. Mrs. Doremus is richly endowed by nature with a graceful and commanding figure, beautiful features, and a brilliancy of complexion rarely seen. Her tact in securing representative audiences, premiums on boxes at the Charity Ball, for the benefit of the Nursery and Child's Hospital (which the revered mother of her husband was instrumental in founding) inaugurated entertainments which continue to be successful to the present time. Never have the receipts been so large as when under her management. Tn Paris, during the Empire, her receptions were the favorite resorts of our distinguished American colony, and of French scientists and army officers. Here among other celebrities. Mile. Christine Nielsson sang while yet a pupil. Mrs. Doremus' table at the fair ​ of the Princess Czartoryska, for the benefit of the exiled Poles, attracted American residents in the gay capital. Before the late war she gave efficient aid to the "Metropolitan Fair." During the war, in 1863, she was among the most zealous and indefatigable workers for the sanitary fair, which secured $1,400,000 for the sick and wounded soldiers. Her scientific table, with its marvels of the microscope and other philosophical instruments, always surrounded by the wit and wisdom of the day, added greatly to swell the donations. By a vote for the most popular lady at the French fair, held in New York for disabled soldiers, during the Franco-Prussian War, she was honored with the ambulance decoration of the Red Cross, set with diamonds. Successful performances of the play of "Cinderella" were planned and conducted by her, in 1876, in the New York Academy of Music, for the benefit of the "Women's Pavilion," at the Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia. She secured the hearty co-operation of the parents and children of our best families. She rendered efficient aid in the performances of pantomimes on the "Mistletoe Bough" and "Sleeping Beauty," at the Academy of Music, for the Mount Vernon fund. She never allowed her charitable and patriotic work to interfere with the duties and responsibilities as a mother of eight children—seven sons and a daughter. Her nursery witnessed her greatest triumphs. She has been for many years a communicant in the South Reformed Church of New York.
MRS. J. MORGAN SMITH.
Mrs. Smith comes of illustrious Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry. She is eligible to membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution through seven different ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War. For ten years she held the state regency of Alabama, and her service, efficient, faithful and enthusiastic, has won for her a high place in the esteem and affection of her "Alabama Daughters." At the sixteenth continental congress Mrs. Smith was made vice-president-general, a distinction which she has well earned, not only by her tireless efforts in her own state, but by labors which have been far reaching and national in their extent. Mrs. Smith is also an honored member of the Pennsylvania Colonial Dames and an officer of the Alabama Colonial Dames.
MABEL GODFREY SWORMSTEDT.
Mrs. Swormstedt is a native of the "Old Bay State" and a graduate of Wellesley College, class of 1890. She was a teacher in the Washington High School for three years and is the wife of Dr. Lyman Beecher Swormstedt. She is the mother of a beautiful daughter eleven years old. She has held several offices in the Columbia Chapter, culminating in the regency. She has been president of the Washington Branch of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae and corresponding secretary of the Ladies' Aid Association of the Homeopathic Hospital. Mrs. Swormstedt claims six Revolutionary ancestors.
ESTHER FROTHINGHAM NOBLE.
Mrs. Noble is the wife of the Rev. Thomas K. Noble, pastor emeritus of the First Congregational Church of Norwalk, Connecticut. She is a native of ​ Massachusetts and connected with some of the most prominent New England families. On her mother's maternal side she is a direct descendant of Major Benjamin Frothingham, a personal friend of George Washington and one of the original members of the Order of the Cincinnati. On her mother's paternal side she belongs to the noted Emerson family, that long line of ministers and teachers who have been ever since Colonial times such an important factor in the religious and educational life of New England. On her father's side she is descended from Captain Thomas Bradbury and from Roger Conant, who were among the earliest settlers of Massachusetts. During Mr. Noble's pastorate in Norwalk, Connecticut, she was state vice-regent of Connecticut and regent of the Norwalk Chapter. She is a member of the Daughters of the Cincinnati, the Daughters of Founders and Patriots and the Daughters of 1812, the Mary Washington Memorial Society and the board of directors of the Aid Association for the Blind, and also of the Presbyterian Home for the Aged. She is an honored member of the Society of New England Women and of the National Geographic Society.
ELIZABETH MOORE BOWRON.
Mrs. Bowron is the daughter of Hannah Hoffman Moore and the late Watson Appleby Bowron. She is the wife of Henry Snowden Bowron. She was born in New York City of Dutch and New England descent on her mother's side and of English and New England with two lines from Virginia on her father's side; she is allied with some of the most prominent families. Mrs. Bowron was elected recording secretary of the Mohegan Chapter at its first meeting. Her Revolutionary ancestor was Captain Robert Nichols, of the New Jersey Volunteers, who served throughout the entire war. In 1896 Mrs. Bowron became interested in the work of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and as chairman conducted successfully a "Loan Exhibit" to raise funds for Continental Hall. In April, 1897, she formed a chapter of the Children of the American Revolution, and this same year her untiring work as secretary of Auxiliary No. 13 of the Red Cross Society formed by the Mohegan Chapter, contributed largely to its success. In 1900 she became regent of the Mohegan Chapter. The chapter then elected her honorary regent presiding and still continues the word "presiding" as a mark of confidence. Mrs. Bowron, through her interest in genealogy, has personally assisted many in her home chapters and others to qualify for membership in the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She has served on many committees of the society and with Mrs. Charles H. Terry collected the exhibit from ancestry for the Hall of History at the Jamestown Exposition. She is a member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and the Mary Washington Monument Association.
REBECCA CALHOUN PICKENS BACON.
Mrs. Bacon was born near Edgefield Court House, South Carolina. She was the daughter of Governor Francis W. Pickens, a wealthy planter of the South, and she enjoyed all the advantages attendant upon such a life in the ante-bellum ​ days. After a thorough training with governesses she attended a course at the famous Montpelier Institute, presided over by Bishop Elliot of Georgia, where she was graduated with high honors. Having lost her mother when very young, she accompanied her distinguished father to Washington while he was there in Congress, and elsewhere in his political career. In this way she attained unusual accomplishments and became a fine linguist. In 1856 her father was appointed by Mr. Buchanan Minister to Russia, with residence at St. Petersburg, at that time the most brilliant court in Europe. There she married John E. Bacon, secretary of the American Legation at that court, after which they made an extended tour through Europe. Upon the election of Mr. Lincoln she returned to the United States with her husband, who entered the Civil War and served until its close. After the war the family settled in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1884 Mrs. Bacon went to South America, her husband having received from Mr. Cleveland the appointment of Minister to Paraguay and Uruguay. She resided four years at Montevideo, where she acquired a thorough knowledge of the Spanish language. Her letters on South America were widely read and greatly admired. In February, 1893, Mrs. Bacon was elected by the National Board of the Daughters of the American Revolution state regent for South Carolina. No more appropriate appointment could have been made, as in addition to her superior qualifications she is lineally descended on the paternal side from General Andrew Pickens, who ranked with Sumter and Marion as one of the principal leaders in the war for independence. On her maternal side Mrs. Bacon is descended from General Elijah Clarke, of Georgia, and of Revolutionary fame: also Captain Arthur Simpkins, an intelligent and brave officer and staunch friend of his country. Her father's mother was a daughter of Christopher Edward Wilkinson, whose grandfather was Landgrave Joseph Moreton, colonial governor of South Carolina under Charles II, in 1681, and who married the niece of the famous Admiral Blake, of England.
ANNIE WARFIELD LAWRENCE KERFOOT.
Mrs. Kerfoot was the daughter of Otho Williams Lawrence, a lawyer of Hagerstown, Maryland, and his wife, Catherine Murdoch Nelson, of Frederick, in the same state. Her maternal grandfather was Brigadier-General Roger Nelson, of Point of Rocks Plantation, Frederick County, who entered the troops of horse under command of Colonel Augustine Washington in 1776, at the age of sixteen years. After the disbandment of the Maryland troops General Nelson read law. Was for six years in the Maryland senate; for a similar period in the National House of Representatives and was subsequently appointed for life judge of the upper district of Maryland. Three granddaughters and five great-granddaughters of General Nelson have become members of the associations of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Among the distinguished lineal ancestors of Mrs. Kerfoot on the maternal side was her great-grandfather, Colonel Joseph Sims, of Prince George County, Justice of the Supreme Court of Maryland, who represented his country in the convention held at Annapolis June 22, 1774, to denounce the English bill closing the port of Boston. Mrs. Kerfoot was born in Hagerstown, ​ Maryland, in 1829, and was a graduate of St. Mary's Hall, Burlington, New Jersey, having received her diploma during the presidency of its revered founder, Bishop George W. Doane, in 1846. She married, in 1847, Samuel Humes Kerfoot, son of Richard Kerfoot, of Castle Blaney, Monaghan County, Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Kerfoot removed from Maryland to Chicago in 1848 and have since resided in that city. Their home was burned in the Chicago fire of 1871, with a rare library and very fine collections of paintings and many priceless relics of Revolutionary and Colonial ancestry. Mrs. Kerfoot has inherited in a marked degree the clear mind and sound reasoning powers and unbiased judgment of her distinguished ancestors of the bench and bar. She has the enthusiastic temperament of her cavalier blood, which is united with the moderation of her Quaker forefathers. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Chicago Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and holds the chairmanship of its Literary Committee and that of the Committee upon Membership, and was elected in February, 1893, state regent of Illinois.
GEORGIA H. STOCKTON HATCHER.
Mrs. Hatcher, regent of the General de Lafayette Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Lafayette, Indiana, was born in that city July II, 1864, and is of New Jersey Revolutionary stock. In 1883 she was graduated from the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which is the oldest institution of the kind in this country, the school having been turned into a soldiers' hospital during the Revolution. In 1889 she became the wife of Mr. Robert Stockwell Hatcher, of Lafayette, and after a long residence in France and other European countries returned to her native city. Mrs. Hatcher was commissioned as chapter regent by the national board June 1, 1893, and on April 21, 1894 she organized the General de Lafayette Chapter at Lafayette, Indiana, which is in a flourishing condition, with a membership of twenty-seven enthusiastic daughters.
MRS. WILLIAM WATSON SHIPPEN.
Mrs. Shippen was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, the daughter of George Washington, D. C, and joining the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1896, ancestry extends back in all its lines to the early settlement of this country. She early married William Watson Shippen, of New Jersey. He was always prominent and active in affairs in his native state and she was his coadjutor in all his schemes for its prosperity and progress. She was prominent during the late war in the Sanitary Commission and has always been connected with popular charities. She is a leading member of the Ladies' Club in New York; also a trustee of Evylyn College, the woman's college of New Jersey. When a regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution was to be appointed in New Jersey, Mrs. Shippen was chosen and held office from April, 1891, to February, 1895. In a large measure it is due to her good judgment, patience, perseverance and tact that the organization has been perfected in New Jersey. It is one of the most ​ cleverly and thoroughly organized of all the states. After serving as regent she was unanimously elected one of the vice-presidents-general of the National Society.
MRS. M. E. DAVIS.
Mrs. Davis is a native of Wisconsin. She removed from that state to Washington, D. C, and joined the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1896, being indorsed by and entering through the Columbia Chapter of the District of Columbia. Mrs. Davis has served the chapter as historian, treasurer, vice-regent and regent, and represented it in the Continental Congress as delegate or regent from 1897 until she was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Mrs. D. K. Shute, resigning the office of regent to become treasurer-general. At the Fourteenth Continental Congress she was called upon to succeed herself. No other candidate being brought forward, she was declared the unanimous choice of the congress. Mrs. Davis is of English descent in three lines of ancestors. She also had the honor of receiving and reporting the two largest contributions to the Memorial Continental Hall, that to the Fourteenth Congress being in cash and pledges and amounting to $37,660.32 and that to the Fifteenth Congress being in cash and pledges amounting to $35,654.60.
MRS. JOHN C. AMES.
Mrs. John C. Ames—Minerva Ross Ames—state regent for Illinois, 1909-1910, is a native Illinoisan. Her father, John Ross, of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, whose antecedents were the same as George Ross, the "signer," and her mother, Elizabeth Hunter Ross, of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, came to Illinois about 1850.
Mrs. Ames comes of patriotic stock, tracing her ancestry back to Revolutionary soldiers both through her father's and mother's line. Her great-grandfather, Lieutenant Hunter (on her mother's side), was a Revolutionary hero. She is also eligible to the Daughters of 1812. Her only brother gave his life for his country in the Civil War. She has perpetuated the patriotic and military spirit by giving a son for service in the Spanish-American War.
Mrs. Ames became a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution many years ago, and has always taken an active part in promoting the welfare of the organization and the patriotic principles for which it stands. During her temporary residence in Chicago she served the Chicago Chapter as its recording secretary and first vice-regent.
Mrs. Ames is possessed of a love and loyalty for the order, a fervent patriotic spirit, a pleasing personality and great executive ability and extended acquaintance throughout the state. She was a member of a "State Park Commission" appointed by Governor Deneen to investigate and report to the legislature several sites suitable for state parks, which resulted in an appropriation by the legislature of funds for buying the historic spot, "Starved Rock," and several hundred acres surrounding it as a state park. She was one of the founders of the oldest and most active literary clubs in her city and has served ​as its president. She has since her childhood been a member of the Baptist Church. In 1875 she was married to John C. Ames, and coming to Streator a bride she has ever since been a resident of that city. She is a member of the Amor Patriae Chapter of Streator, Illinois.
MRS. AMOS G. DRAPER.
Mrs. Draper was born in Haverhill, New Hampshire, and is the daughter of Daniel F. Merrill, for many years principal of a large boys' school in Mobile, Alabama, and Luella Bartlett Bell Merrill, of Haverhill, New Hampshire. She was graduated from Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1877 and soon after graduation was married to Professor Amos G. Draper, of Gallaudet College, a national institution, and the only one in the world where deaf mutes can receive a college education. Among the several ancestors through whose services Mrs. Draper claims eligibility to the Daughters of the American Revolution, two, Daniel and Jonathan Weeks, were over seventy years, and one, John Bell, Jr., only sixteen years of age at the time of service. Another, Hon Josiah Bartlett, the last president of New Hampshire and its first governor, was the first member of the Continental Congress to vote for the Declaration of Independence, and the first after John Hancock, the President, to attach his name to that document. Since her marriage Mrs. Draper has lived very quietly, surrounded by her family, but devoting her leisure moments to some of the many historical and benevolent societies of the Capital. She was one of the original members of the Ladies' Historical Society, is the vice-president of the Home Missionary Society in her church, and has for many years been connected with the Homeopathic Hospital and Dispensary. She was for two years regent of the Dolly Madison Chapter, and in that capacity attended the Third and Fourth Continental Congresses of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and by the latter body was unanimously elected treasurer of the society.
MRS. HENRY LEWIS POPE.
Sarah Lloyd Moore Ewing Pope, of the city of Louisville, Kentucky, was appointed regent of Louisville on September 15, 1891, by the president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Caroline Scott Harrison. Mrs. Pope is descended from William Moore, of Pennsylvania, who with unfailing loyalty rendered material aid to the cause of American independence as president of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania during the war, Council of Safety and of the Board of War, captain-general of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Pope was twice married; first, to Nathaniel Burwell Marshall, grandson of Chief Justice John Marshall. On the 11th of January, 1891, when she organized her chapter, it was named the "John Marshall Chapter." Her second husband, Mr. Henry Lewis Pope, is related to the Washingtons. Mr. Pope's father, William Pope, although only seventeen years old, fought during the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Pope's father. Dr. Urban E. Ewing, was also of Revolutionary descent. The Rev. Finis Ewing, the great-uncle of Mrs. Pope, founded the ​Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Pope, a devoted Episcopalian, is proud of the patriotism and piety of these relations. Adlai Ewing Stevenson former Vice-President of the United States, is a relative of this family. Gently affectionate and stately, Mrs. Pope displays a remarkable strength of character and energy of action for one who has led an easy, luxurious life. Being of natural right one of the queens of social life in the beautiful city of her birth, she has ever exercised other queenly gifts of charity and hospitality that inspire love as well as respect. Her patriotic spirit was warmly aroused at the first inception of the organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her unfailing zeal has resulted in the establishment of a most prosperous and important chapter in Louisville.
MARY McKINLAY NASH.
Mrs. Nash, regent of the state of North Carolina, Daughters of the American Revolution, was born in New Bern, North Carolina, January 2, 1835. She is the daughter of John Pugh Daves and Elizabeth V. Graham Daves. Her paternal ancestor was of England and came to this country about the middle of the seventeenth century, settling first in what is now Chesterfield, Virginia. Her maternal ancestors were Grahams, of Arglyeshire, Scotland. Mrs. Nash was educated at St. Mary's School Raleigh, and at Madam Chegaray's, New York. On August 11, 1858, she was married to Hon. John W. Ellis, who was later made governor of North Carolina. Governor Ellis died while still in office, July 7, 1861. In 1866 she became the wife of James E. Nash, of Petersburg, Virginia, who died in New Bern May 30, 1880. On March 21, 1892, Mary McKinlay Nash was appointed regent for the state of North Carolina, her identity with its interests and history rendering her peculiarly fitted for this honorable position.
MARY MARGARET FRYER MANNING.
Mrs. Daniel Manning can trace her Dutch ancestry back many generations in Holland on her father's side. On her mother's side she traces her ancestry from Robert Livingston, first head of the house of Livingston. She is a woman of pleasing and gracious presence, a sweet and abiding kindness pervading her every act, official or social. She is a leader in social circles at home, but it is in the humanitarian and spiritual side of life, in her church work and in her deeds of charity that the sweetest and truest womanhood is found. She is the daughter of W. J. Fryer, one of the early merchant princes of Albany, and her mother was Margaret Livingston Crofts, granddaughter of Robert Thong Livingston. Miss Fryer was the second wife of the late Daniel Manning. They were married in November, 1884, and in March, 1885, he was appointed by Mr. Cleveland Secretary of the Treasury. During the years that Mr. Manning held the portfolio of the Treasury their home in Washington became a center of social and political affairs in Washington. After Mr. Manning's death in 1887 Mrs. Manning continued to spend part of each year in Washington, and has never lost sight of the friendships made there. Her patriotism is shown in her work for the Mohawk Chapter of Albany, of which she was regent. She has done yeoman service on ​ the Continental Hall Committee. She was admirably adapted to her position of president of the society, to which she was elected by the congress of 1898.
JULIA CATHERINE CONKLING.
Mrs. Roscoe Conkling, founder and first regent of the Oneida Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was born in Utica, New York, May 4, 1827. She was the youngest child of Henry Seymour and Mary Ledyard Forman Seymour. Mrs. Conkling was endowed with rare gifts of personal beauty and most lovable traits of character. All her early life was spent in Utica. In June, 1855, she married Roscoe Conkling, who was just beginning his brilliant public career. During the many winters Mrs. Conkling spent in Washington with her husband, she was frequently mentioned as one of the most graceful and refined women of the administrations of President Lincoln and President Grant, and as possessing a high-bred charm of manner rarely equaled. The Oneida Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was formed at her house in 1893 with a most gratifying number of eligible applicants, full of zeal and patriotism, present. Mrs. Conkling died at Utica, New York, October 18, 1893.
MARY ORR EARLE.
Mrs. Mary Orr Earle, corresponding secretary-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is the daughter of the late Hon. James L. Orr, of South Carolina. She was born in 1858, while her distinguished father was Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Mrs. Earle's connection with the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution is through descent from Robert Orr, a captain of Pennsylvania troops, and dates from the organization of the society in 1890, she having been one of the early vice-presidents and a member of the first national board. At the congress of 1895 she was elected corresponding secretary-general, which position she has filled with marked ability. Gifted with rare mental and social qualities, Mrs. Earle has drawn around her a large and cultured circle of friends at the national Capital, where her accomplishments as a linguist are much appreciated in the diplomatic corps.
MRS. OGDEN H. FETHERS.
Mrs. Ogden H. Fethers was born in New York State and educated at Claverock on the Hudson. Her maiden name was Frances Conkey. She is a descendant of Elder William Brewster, of Plymouth Colony, and her membership to the Society of the Colonial Dames is through Rev. James Fitch of Connecticut Colony.
On July 15, 1868, she was married in Canton, New York, to Ogden Hoffman Fethers, a well-known and able attorney, of Janesville, Wisconsin.
In 1909, upon the death of Mrs. James Sidney Peck, of Milwaukee, Mrs. Fethers succeeded her as governor of the Society of Mayflower descendants for the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is the only state which has enjoyed having a woman governor of this society. Mrs. Fethers' name will be long remembered ​ by her song "The Star of Wisconsin," which has been adopted by the Daughters of the American Revolution of Wisconsin for the state song. Mrs. Fethers was state regent of the Daughters of the American Revolution for Wisconsin for four years. From the sale of this song, she has furnished a small room in the Memorial Continental Hall.
Mrs. Fethers has been high in the councils of the Daughters of the American Revolution, having served on some of its most important committees and having done particularly valuable work for the Continental Hall. She is a woman of unusual culture and refinement, of wide travel and an intimate acquaintance with the best literature and art. Mrs. Fethers is a director of Janesville public library, in which she has done work of inestimable value for her city and state. The private library of Mr. and Mrs. Fethers and their collection of valuable works of art are among the finest in the country.
ELIZABETH CAROLYN SEYMOUR BROWN.
Mrs. Brown was born at Linden, Michigan. She is a granddaughter of the late Zenas Fairbank, one of the early and most prominent citizens of that town. She was educated at the University of Michigan, and was an active member of the musical and dramatic societies connected with that institution. She spent several years teaching in the schools of Ann Arbor and Manistee, Michigan, and Duluth, Minnesota. She married Frederick Charles Brown, editor and journalist, and since his death in 1900 has resided in Phoenix, Arizona, and at the present time occupies the position of preceptress at the Arizona State Normal School.
Mrs. Brown has been an enthusiastic worker in the Maricopa Chapter. Being a writer of merit and possessing a love for research she made an efficient officer and historian and furnished the chapter with a great deal of interesting data connected with the early history of this section. On her mother's side she is descended from Thomas Dudley and Simon Bradstreet, colonial governors and on her father's side from Mathew Gilbert, also one of the colonial governors.
MARGUERITE DICKINS.
Mrs. Dickins was born in the picturesque valley of the Unadilla in central New York, and had the good fortune to pass her childhood at the home of her grandfather, Squire Noah Ely, a lawyer and influential citizen in his section of the country, and under his careful tuition she acquired a thorough knowledge of the dead languages, which no doubt gave her greater ability to acquire foreign languages, of which she speaks French, German and Spanish fluently. Her widowed mother married Mr. C. Francis Bates of Boston and then the scenes of her life were transferred to New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. In the former state she pursued her studies at one of the most famous private schools for young ladies until 1872, when she was taken by her mother to Europe, where she remained three years, visiting the principal capitals and continuing her studies of languages and art. Shortly after her return to the United States she married Commander F. W. Dickins, United States Navy. In 1882 she traveled extensively through the south and has given her impressions in a series of letters ​ published in the Danbury News, of Connecticut. In 1883 she went with her husband to the South Pacific, living on board the United States steamship "Onward," then stationed at Callao, Peru. The period of two years that was spent in Peru was full of interest due to the war then going on between that country and Chile. Naturally she became interested in the situation in that part of South America. These impressions were published in a series of letters in the National Republican, of Washington, D. C. Not long after her return to the United States in 1889, she followed her husband to the east coast of South America where she passed more than two years, visiting principally the countries of Brazil, Uruguay, Argentine and Paraguay, and living on board the United States steamship "Tallapoosa" most of the time. Her perfect knowledge of the Spanish language enabled her to become familiar with the home life of the people and gain much correct information as to their manners and customs, accounts of which she contributed to the Washington Post. After her return to the United States she made her home in Washington, D. C, where her husband was stationed on duty. She accompanied her husband on a trip to Japan and her impressions of that country were published in the Washington Post. Besides her literary and artistic pursuits, Mrs. Dickins devotes much of her time to missionary work and is prominently connected with many charitable institutions in Washington. She is the well-known author of the delightful volume "Along Shore with a Man of War." At the Continental Congress of February, 1893, she was elected by unanimous vote, treasurer-general of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her work in this important position has been earnest and thorough. She held the unqualified confidence and respect of her associates while her cheering view of life and labor wins for her an affectionate regard. Her many high qualities are exercised with the modest unconsciousness of a sincere purpose and directed by generous culture.
MRS. J. STEWART JAMIESON.
Mrs. Jamieson, registrar-general, entered the society by virtue of the records of two patriots, James Schureman, born in New Jersey, in 1751, and died at New Brunswick, New Jersey, June 23, 1824. Served in the Revolutionary army; was a delegate to the Continental Congress from New Jersey in 1776-1777. and was elected to the first Congress as a Federalist, serving from March, 1789, until March, 1791, and again to the fifth Congress, serving from May, 1797, until March, 1799. Was then chosen United States Senator in place of John Rutherford, serving from December, 1709, until February, 1801, when he resigned. Subsequently became mayor of the city of New Brunswick and was again elected to Congress serving from May 24, 1813. to March 2, 1815. Dr. Melanchthon Freeman of Piscataway township, New Jersey, was a member of the Committee of Observation and surgeon in the state troops, Colonel Forman's battalion, Heard's brigade.
JENNIE FRANKLIN HICHBORN.
Mrs. Hichborn, registrar-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is the daughter of Philip Franklin and Mary Bailey Franklin, and was ​ born in southern Vermont. She was educated at Leland and Gray Seminary, Townshend and Glenwood Seminary, Brattleboro, Vermont. At the age of nineteen her attention was called to music, and three years were profitably spent at the Old Boston Music School, after which several years were devoted to church music and teaching the art. Mrs. Hichborn's claim of eligibility to the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution is through Captain Comfort Starr, Captain Richard Bailey, Lieutenant Joshua Hyde and Philip Franklin, the second. At the Congress of 1895, she was elected registrar-general of the society. Mrs. Hichborn is the wife of Philip Hichborn, the distinguished chief constructor of the United States Navy. A son and daughter constitute the home circle.
MRS. LA VERNE NOYES.
The subject of this sketch was born in the state of New York, of New England ancestors. When quite young, her parents moved to Iowa. She is a graduate of the Iowa State College, with a record for scholarship which was not equaled for a great many years. When in college, she was president of a literary society. She married La Verne Noyes, also a graduate of the Iowa State College, who later became widely known as an inventor and manufacturer in Chicago. She lives in one of the beautiful homes of Chicago.
For many years her fields of activity have been manifold in literary, social and philanthropic work. She is one of the directors of the Twentieth Century Club and of the Woman's Athletic Club; was, for years, president of the North Side Art Club; has been active in the Woman's Club; has been regent of Chicago Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, the first chapter organized in the United States, and the largest one, having over 800 members. She is a good writer of verses and an excellent and forceful speaker. During the last Continental Congress, where there were nearly 1100 delegates present, she made the nominating speech for the successful candidate for president-general; a brilliant speech, considered by many the best nominating speech delivered during the Congress. Her felicity and strength as a writer and speaker in this organization made her a vice-president-general, and makes her a strong factor in its management.
In the work of the Daughters of the American Revolution she has been especially active in the Department of Patriotic Education and in the organization of boys' clubs to teach patriotism.
MRS. ROBERDEAU BUCHANAN.
Mrs. Buchanan, a native and life-long resident of Washington City, is the wife of Roberdeau Buchanan, of the Nautical Almanac Observatory. She entered the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution on February 2, 1892, by virtue of descent from her grandfather, Thomas Peters, who was one of the original twenty-eight men of family and fortune who formed the famous First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, November 17, 1774. He served with great distinction at the battles of Trenton and Princeton, under General Washington. Mrs. ​ Buchanan was elected to a vacancy on the National Board of Management as registrar-general on December io, 1894, and at the Congress of 1895 was elected to the office of recording secretary-general.
EMILY TRUE DE REIMER.
Mrs. De Reimer, state chaplain of the District of Columbia, is a Boston woman, educated at Abbot Seminary, Andover, Massachusetts, and the New York Musical Conservatory. She was a teacher at Wilbraham Academy before her marriage. Her father, Dr. Charles De True, a Harvard graduate, was Professor of moral philosophy and belles lettres in Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. Her mother, Elizabeth Hyde True was one of the early pupils of the famous Emma Willard School at Troy, New York. Through the Hyde ancestry Mrs. De Reimer becomes a Daughter of the American Revolution. Her early life was spent in Boston, Middletown, Connecticut and New York City. Returning to Boston she married Reverend William E. De Reimer and went with him to India and Ceylon. Mrs. De Reimer spent ten years in Asia learning an Oriental language and conducted a Hindoo Girls' School. On her return to this country she lived in Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. She started the first Christian Endeavor Society in Iowa and has organized Chautauqua Circles and has taken a great interest in missionary work. After editing a series of Congregational Missionary studies and doing other literary work, she was made a member of the Illinois Women's Press Association. Coming to Washington years ago, she became a Daughter of the American Revolution and was elected chaplain of Columbia Chapter. She has served as state chaplain three times. She has represented the Daughters of the American Revolution at various meetings and congresses of well-known clubs and during the Lewis and Clark Exposition, represented the Smithsonian Institution.
MRS. TEUNIS S. HAMLIN.
MARY C. BEACH
Mrs. Beach, corresponding secretary of the Daughters of the American Revolution, comes of Colonial and Revolutionary ancestry. She is a native of New York and is eligible to membership in the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution on the maternal side through five different ancestors; the Holland Dutch and Huguenot French, who are so closely identified with the history of New York, and on the paternal side from the Scotch-Irish Puritans of New England. She is a member and ex-regent of the Continental Chapter and chairman of the Committee on Neighborhoods, and two classes have been formed in industrial training through her. With the regent of the chapter, she is a frequent attendant at the Juvenile Court and is also greatly interested in the night schools and particularly in the foreign classes, and believes that they deserve the support and co-operation of the Daughters in promoting good citizenship. She was instrumental in forming a new chapter in Telma, Alabama, which was christened "The Cherokee," and at their first meeting she was elected an honorary member.
MARY S. LOCKWOOD.
MRS. JAMES EAKIN GADSBY
Mrs. Gadsby, historian-general of the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, comes of a long line of distinguished ancestry on both sides, who served in Colonial and Revolutionary periods, all of whom settled in Maryland on original land grants. All of her ancestors were of English descent. Mrs. Gadsby entered the society in 1898 for patriotic services in the Spanish American War and assisted Mrs. Dickens in her work for the soldiers' families of the District of Columbia. She also sent supplies of clothing to General Fitzhugh Lee for the hospital he founded at Havana for the destitute women and children. She was a member of the Mary Washington Chapter from 1898 and served as its historian and did special work for Continental Hall. In May, 1907, she resigned from the Mary Washington Chapter and was transferred to the Emily Nelson Chapter. She was appointed by Mrs. Charles W. Fairbanks, a member of the Continental Hall and other committees and was re-appointed by Mrs. Donald McLean. She is a member of the Jamestown and Pocahontas Societies and a member of the Columbia Historical Society. She served as chairman of the Daughters of the American Revolution Press Committee for the District and has been a writer of historical articles for many years and an enthusiast on historical subjects, devoting her time to her office of historian with interest and zeal.
MARY CHASE GANNETT.
Mrs. Gannett, the third historian-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is a New England woman by birth and education, her early home having been in Saco, Maine. Her grandfather on the maternal side, Samuel Peirson, entered the Revolutionary Army when very young and after a short period of active service became Washington's private secretary. Her great-grandfather was Major Hill, who served through the war and afterwards held many positions of trust and honor. On the paternal side Mrs. Gannett is descended from General Frye, an officer who distinguished himself at the battle of Louisberg, and as a reward for his services received a grant of the township in Maine which has since borne the name of Fryeburg. Mrs. Gannett was married in 1874 to Henry Gannett. Her husband is one of the leading men in the scientific society of Washington. He is a geographer by profession and has been for many years connected with the United States Geological Survey.
MARIE RAYMOND GIBBONS.
Mrs. Gibbons was born in Toledo, Ohio, but removed with her parents to California when a young girl and her subsequent life was entirely passed on this coast. In 1871 she married Dr. Henry Gibbons, Jr. She was a member of the Society of Colonial Dames of America and of the Order of the Descendants of Colonial Governors, and eligible to the Society of Descendants of the Mayflower, but her special interest was in the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was the organizer and regent for two years, of the second ​ Chapter of Puerta del Ora. Mrs. Gibbons was eligible to the Daughters of the American Revolution through several lines, but chooses to found her claim to membership upon the services of Captain Samuel Taylor of Danbury, Connecticut, an ancestor of her father, Samuel Augustus Raymond. When, during the war with Spain, San Francisco became a vast camp and the Red Cross Society was established for the aid of our volunteers, the patriotic instincts and the generous feeling of Mrs. Gibbons at once responded to the call.
E. ELLEN BATCHELLER.
Miss Batcheller was born in Freetown, New York. The founder of her family in America was Honorable Joseph Batcheller who came from England in 1636 with his wife Elizabeth, one child and three servants. Miss Batcheller's father, Charles Batcheller was the personal friend and co-worker with Gerrit Smith and Wendell Phillips. Too old to enter the army at the time of the Civil War, he sent his son, who was a martyr to the cause. Miss Batcheller is also eligible through two grandmothers, Rebecca Dwight and Sarah Norton, to membership in the Mayflower, Colonial Dames and Huguenot Societies, but her chief patriotic work has been with the Daughters of the American Revolution, organizing the General Frelinghuysen Chapter and remaining regent until elected state regent, in which position she was eminently successful, organizing nine new chapters in as many months. Few, if any families have more illustrious members—Whittier, Daniel Webster, Caleb Cushing, General Dearborn, Senators Morrill and Allison and many others. A sister of Miss Batcheller married James Jared Elmendorf, a descendant of Sobieski, King of Poland. Miss Batcheller is a staunch Episcopalian, has traveled extensively in her own country and resides in Somerville, New Jersey.
ELLEN SPENCER MUSSEY.
Mrs. Mussey is a woman esteemed for her knowledge of practical affairs and general business capacity. She was chosen by the District Supreme Court as successor to Mrs. David J. Brewer on the Board of Education for the district. For years was active in the business life of the Capital and a genuine factor in the practice of law at the local bar. Organizer of the Washington College of Law. Member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and state regent of the District of Columbia. Descended from Caleb Spencer, who enlisted from Danbury, Connecticut, under Captain Benedict, in the first call for troops.
MRS. ROBERT A. McCLELLAN.
Mrs. Aurora Pryor McClellan is the daughter of Luke Pryor, who was prominent in public life of Alabama for many years, and in 1880 succeeded George S. Houston, his law partner, as United States Senator from Alabama. Mrs. McClellan's mother was Isabella Harris, a descendant of distinguished Virginia families—the Spotswoods and other well-known families of that state. Mrs. McClellan's father was descended on the paternal side from the Blands, of ​ Virginia, and through this ancestry from Governor Richard Bennett, of the commonwealth period in the Old Dominion; on his maternal side from Ann Lane, of Virginia, whose mother, Sylvia Perry, was descended from Judge Freeman Perry, of Rhode Island.
Mrs. McClellan is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames and the Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors. She founded a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Athens, Alabama, and was for four years state vice-regent of the Alabama Daughters of the American Revolution and six years state regent, and is to-day honorary life regent of the Alabama Daughters of the American Revolution.
Mrs. McClellan has devoted most of her time and efforts to securing the adoption of the "Golden Rod" as the national flower. She is to-day second vice-president of the National Flower Association of the United States, and through her personal efforts the National Farmers' Congress adopted this flower in 1890 and recommended its adoption as the national emblem.
Mrs. McClellan is one of the most gifted of Southern women, possessing wonderful executive ability and a strong, clear mind. Her capacity as an original thinker made her a marked woman in the South.
MRS. JOHN H. DOYLE.
Mrs. Doyle was born in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1851. In 1868 she was married to John H. Doyle, of Toledo, Ohio, where her parents moved after the Civil War. Her father served as a surgeon all through the war. Her maiden name was Alice Fuller Skinner. She was the second member to join the Daughters of the American Revolution in Toledo, Ohio, and is now vice-regent of the Toledo Chapter. Mrs. Doyle has always been an enthusiastic and conscientious worker for the Daughters of the American Revolution and in the many philanthropic efforts of Toledo and throughout the state of Ohio. She is a member of the Colonial Dames and one of the board of managers of the Ohio Circle She is also a member of the Colonial Governors Society and has always taken a foremost place in all matters in which she was personally interested and is to-day one of the representative women from the state of Ohio.
MRS. LINDSAY PATTERSON.
Mrs. Patterson is a descendant of the "Fighting Grahams," of Scotland, of whom the Duke of Montrose is the head. Her grandfather, Robert Patterson, fought through three wars, that of 1812, in which he was made captain at nineteen, the Mexican War, in which he was offered the chief command, but refused on account of his devoted friendship for General Scott, and the Civil War. For fifty years he was one of the notable hosts, of Philadelphia. Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore, who married Jerome Bonaparte, was a distant cousin. General Patterson married Sara Engle, a Quakeress, whose father, when a boy, ran away from home and joined the Revolutionary Army. It is through this ancestor that Mrs. Patterson is eligible to be a Daughter. Her father was Colonel William ​ Houston Patterson. Mrs. Patterson is a Tennessean by birth, a Philadelphian by residence and a North Carolinian by marriage to Mr. Lindsay Patterson, who is descended from the older branch of the family that settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Patterson is president of the Southern Woman's Interstate Association for the Betterment of Public Schools, vice-president, of the North Carolina Historical Society, vice-president of the Salem Historical Society and president of the County Association for Betterment of Public Schools.
MRS. CHARLES H. DEERE.
Of Colonial ancestors Mrs. Deere has record of sixty-five who were founders and patriots and fighters in the Indian wars. Six of their descendants marched at the first alarm at Lexington. Mrs. Deere is a member of the Memorial Continental Hall Committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
MRS. A. L. CONGER.
Mrs. A. L. Conger, widow of Colonel A. L. Conger, of Akron, Ohio, is a woman who has devoted much of her life, time and means to charitable works. She is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps, the Daughters of the American Revolution and other patriotic organizations and has from the beginning of the Civil War, done all that she possibly could in the interest of the soldiers and their families. After the death of Colonel Conger she went to Kirksville, Missouri, and studied osteopathy at the Still Institute graduating with honors. She is an enthusiastic osteopathic physician and spent more than two years in the Philippines, giving her services, time and money to the relief of the soldiers of the Spanish-American War. She was in the field at Iloilo-Iloilo and gave all her time to the hospitals. She is deeply interested in Evangelistic work and has contributed largely to Evangelistic and other charitable work in Akron. She has three sons. Her eldest son, Mr. K. B. Conger, assisted Mr. McAdoo when he built the great New York tunnel. Captain A. L. Conger, Jr., is in the United States Army. Her youngest son is engaged in railroading.
MRS. JOHN MILLER HORTON.
One of the most accomplished and representative women of her native state, the great Empire State of New York, and identified with many interests along patriotic, educational and philanthropic lines. She has achieved not only state, but national fame as well, having faithfully performed the duties of the various offices she has been called upon to assume. Mrs. Horton was Miss Katharine Lorenz Pratt, the daughter of Pascal Paoli Pratt, a prominent banker, financier and philanthropist of Buffalo. Being the eldest daughter, Mrs. Horton shared intimately in her father's ambitions for the welfare of Buffalo, and has continued this work, becoming one of the most prominent factors in the social life and civic welfare of the city of Buffalo.
Mrs. Horton was elected unanimously regent of the Buffalo Chapter, ​ Daughters of the American Revolution, for seven successive years, and through her duties as regent has been a prominent figure in the national congress each year of the Daughters of the American Revolution, which meets in Washington. The Buffalo Chapter is the largest in the New York State organization, and the second largest in the national organization. It was through her instrumentality that the New York State Daughters of the American Revolution Conference was held in Buffalo in 1898, which was one of the most interesting gatherings of Daughters held outside of Washington. The Buffalo Chapter has the honor of having on its rolls the names of two real daughters whose fathers served as soldiers in the Army of the Revolution. It is largely due to the energy and generosity of Mrs. Horton, as regent of the Buffalo Chapter, that the graves of over one hundred patriots of the War of Independence, buried in the vicinity of Buffalo, bear markers to tell of their devotion to the cause of patriotism. The graves of these heroes were found, all the records restored and the ceremony of marking these graves and the ritual used in the ceremony being written and the ceremonies directed by Mrs. Horton.
She has been indefatigable in sustaining an active interest in the patriotic educational work of her chapter, and during the winter season two illustrated lectures, weekly, are given to the Italians and Poles of the city of Buffalo on the history of the United States. The lectures arc given in the Polish and Italian language, at the expense of her chapter. Buffalo Chapter was the pioneer in this commendable work of educating the foreign element.
Mrs. Horton was appointed on the Board of Woman Managers of the Pan-American Exposition, at Buffalo, N. Y., and acted as chairman of the committee on ceremonies and entertainments of the Women's Board of the Pan-American Exposition. She was also appointed by the Governor of New York, commissioner to the Charleston Exposition in 1902, and again served on the Board of Lady Managers of the St. Louis Exposition. She was appointed by President Francis of the Exposition, and Mrs. Blair, president of the Ladies' Board, chairman of the Committee on Exposition interests at the National Congress of the Daughters of the American Revolution, held at Washington, February, 1903.
In close touch with all this patriotic work, in New York, there is an organization known as the Niagara Frontier Landmarks Association, of which Mrs. Horton is vice-president, a position which she has held since the formation of the society. The purpose of this society is to mark all important historical sites along the Niagara Frontier with tablets and monuments. At La Salle was erected a tablet commemorative of the building, by La Salle, of "The Griffon," the first boat to navigate the waters of the north; Mrs. Horton drove the stake to mark the spot, and also unveiled the tablet at the ceremonies held afterwards. Later on, when a tablet was placed in the Niagara Gorge to mark the spot of the Devil's Hole Massacre, Mrs. Horton, in the name of the Colonial Dames, unveiled the tablet. When the site of "Fort Tompkins" was marked by the society, Mrs. Horton presided over the program and made the principal address, and on the momentous occasion of placing a tablet to mark the site of the first Court House of Erie County, it was Buffalo's gifted townswoman who presided, gave the ​ address and introduced Judge Haight, the last judge to hold a judiciary session in the old house of justice, and other important and prominent lawyers who were speakers—Mr. Herbert Bissell, and others of the Erie County Bar.
And back of all these praiseworthy undertakings for patriotism and civic betterment, is the president of Buffalo City Federation of Women's Clubs. Because the federation's aims are solely to lend a woman's assistance to the civic authorities wherever it will ameliorate the condition of women and children, Mrs. Horton consented to accept the office of president. During her administration it has brought about the appointment of a woman probation officer, and has established penny luncheons in some of the public schools of the poorer districts of the city, with hopes of further increasing the number of schools similarly located. Medical inspection for public schools of Buffalo is another excellent philanthropy in which the Federation has been successful in securing, Mrs. Horton having made an appeal in its favor before the Common Council of Buffalo, which did much towards securing the appropriation towards this good work, while it has pledged the sum of $2,000.00 towards a scholarship in the proposed Buffalo University Extension for the education of a poor girl, to be won by competitive examination.
At the urgent request of the national officers of the society, Mrs. Horton, in 1904, organized the "Niagara Frontier Buffalo Chapter, National Society United States Daughters of 1812," and was appointed regent. In 1908, Mrs. Horton organized the Nellie Custis Chapter, National Society Children of the American Revolution. Mrs. Horton was appointed president of the national board, and is also vice-president-general of the national society. She is also a member of the following organizations: President of Buffalo City Federation of Women's Clubs; regent of the Buffalo Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution; Buffalo Historical Society; Buffalo Genealogical Society; Buffalo Twentieth Century Women's Club; Buffalo Society Natural Sciences, honorary member; American Social Science Association; Buffalo Society of Artists; Buffalo Art Students' League; Church Home League; Old Planters' Society of Massachusetts; Memorial Continental Hall Committee, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution; National and New York State Daughters of the American Revolution Committee on Patriotic Education; National and New York State Committee on Real Daughters who are living descendants of soldiers of the American Revolution; Women's Republican League of New York State; New York State Federation of Women's Clubs; Federation of Women's Literary and Educational Organizations of Western New York; president. Section 2, Army Relief Association; Trinity Church Society, trustee of National Society of Daughters of the Empire State; regent of Niagara Frontier Buffalo Chapter, National Society United States Daughters of 1812; vice-president Niagara Frontier Landmarks Association; vice-president Order of Americans of Armorial Ancestry; director Women's Educational and Industrial Union; director Women's League of New York State; New York State Historical Association; New York Genealogical and Biographical Society; Buffalo Fine Arts Association; vice-president general National Society. Children of the American Revolution; president Nellie Custis Chapter, National Society Children of the American Revolution; ​
WINNIE DAVIS MONUMENT IN "HOLLYWOOD," RICHMOND, VA.
Erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy.