5th Anniversary Observance Martha Dandridge Washington Chapter (MDW), National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
5th Anniversary Observance – February 13, 2021
Cecile Wimberley, Regent of the Tennessee Society Daughters of the American Revolution, presented the program for the Fifth Anniversary observance of the Martha Dandridge Washington Chapter (MDW), National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) on February 13. Due to the Covid-19 situation, Regent Wimberley appeared by Zoom.
MDW Regent Jane Chambers called the meeting to order and welcomed members and guests assembled both in person and on Zoom. Special guests included Carol Long, Regent of the Samuel Doak Chapter, NSDAR; Ruth Davis and Wilma Zavona, Past Regents of the Spencer Clack Chapter, NSDAR; and Sharon Nease, Regent of the William Cocke Chapter, NSDAR.
Prior to the special program, TSDAR Regent Wimberley and MDW Regent Chambers presented MDW member Karen Chambers with a graduation certificate and red honor cord for completion of the New Members Course. For her Independent Project, Chambers selected flatware, crystal, and china to set a Missing Man Table to honor veterans who are Prisoners of War or Missing in Action (POW/MIA). In addition, she designed a tote to carry those items along with linens, candles, flower vases, a Holy Bible, a folded American flag, a branch of services flag set, and a POW/MIA chairback cover. Those items are used to set up the table at various patriotic functions. She has already displayed the table for three functions and lent it out for another. If someone would like to schedule Chambers to set the Missing Man Table for a program, contact Regent Chambers at (865) 591-3857.
MDW Regent Jane Chambers presents a certificate and honor cord to member Karen Chambers for completion of the New Members Course.
As Regent Wimberley delved into the beginnings of the NSDAR, she noted that when the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) was established in 1889, its founders decided that the organization would not include women. Mary Smith Lockwood, prolific author and President of the Women’s Press Club, was quite disappointed. She wrote an article about Hannah White Arnett (1733-1823), a patriot from Elizabethtown, Province of New Jersey, who interrupted a meeting of men who were considering proclaiming allegiance to the British. Although her husband tried to get her to leave, she persisted and the men finally refused to collaborate with the British. When Lockwood envisioned the founding of the Daughters of the Revolution, Arnett’s great-grandson, William O. McDowell, offered to help form the society.
Those events spurred the founding of the DAR under the auspices of Lockwood, Mary Desha, Ellen Hardin Walworth, and Eugenia Washington. Lockwood was the visionary whose home was where the founders met to turn the vision into reality. Urged on by her commitment to historic preservation, she wrote articles and books, including her last book, The Historic Homes of Washington, The widow of Henry Lockwood spent most of her adult life in public service in Washington and was the Lady Manager at Large for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Always interested in women’s issues, she was a friend of Suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Although Lockwood was the initial impetus for the DAR, her national number is 28 because it took nearly a year to prove her descent from a Revolutionary War Patriot.
Mary Desha was well-educated and attended the University of Kentucky. For a time, her mother and she ran a school to educate the children of their friends. She taught school in Alaska and brought about legislation to improve the conditions of the native population. She also taught in the Lexington, KY, school system. She later worked in the pension office and the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. Although she never married, she devoted her efforts to others and was an Assistant Director of the DAR Hospital Corps during the Spanish-American War in 1898.
The third founding mother of the DAR, Ellen Hardin Walworth, was also a strong woman. She ran a day school from her home and later worked in Washington, D.C. The mother of eight children was in an abusive marriage and obtained a “limited divorce” from her violent husband. Ultimately, her eldest son rescued her from recurring physical abuse by shooting and killing his father. Her son was given a life sentence for the deed, and she proceeded to earn a law degree to be able to defend him and get his case reviewed. She was later to win his acquittal on the grounds of insanity. Walworth was interested in historic preservation and promoted the restoration of Mount Vernon. She wrote a number of books and was the impetus for the Women’s National War Relief Association during the Spanish-American war.
Finally, Eugenia Washington, holder of DAR national number 1, was a great-grandniece of George Washington and a grandniece of Dolly Madison. She was the caregiver for her disabled father. The night before the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862, she was delayed in evacuating her father because a union officer was brought to her home to be cared for until a surgeon arrived. Once she and her father did escape, they were caught on the battlefield. She sought shelter for them in a cannon trench from which they witnessed the entire battle. Washington spent many years working for the United States Post Office Department in Washington, D.C., where she was affectionately called “Miss Eugie.” Always considered popular and attractive, she nevertheless did not marry. Interested in historic preservation, she was instrumental in the founding of both the NSDAR and the National Society of Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America.
Because the founders of the NSDAR were strong women of vision, one of their goals was to unite women in the North and South in the decades following the Civil War through their shared patriotic history. According to the NSDAR website, Daughters “come from diverse backgrounds and have a variety of interests. Their common bond is their lineal descent from patriots of the American Revolution – any woman, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, who can prove this lineage is eligible to join.”
For information about the DAR, contact Registrar Karen McFarland at (865) 258-8670 or Regent Jane Chambers at (865) 591-3857.
MDW Regent Jane Chambers presents a certificate and honor cord to member Karen Chambers for completion of the New Members Course.
The Missing Man Table
The Missing Man Table, which honors veterans who are Prisoners of War or Missing in Action features the following: china, flatware, crystal, a linen tablecloth and napkin, a bud vase, a Holy Bible, a folded American flag, a branch of services flag set, and a POW/MIA chairback cover.
