It all started with “NO!” On April 30, 1890 – National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

Jane Chambers shares with the MDW Chapter that TSDAR was established on December 18, 1892, and has over 6,900 members in 94 chapters across Tennessee.

It all started with “NO!” On April 30, 1890, in Louisville, Kentucky, the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) voted down allowing women to join their society. This exclusion initiated a movement resulting in a new women’s patriotic organization, the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR). Today, NSDAR has a membership of approximately 200,000 Daughters with a complex of buildings covering an entire city block in Washington DC, the largest group of buildings in the world owned and managed entirely by women, and it was organized in four months 11 days by four women: Mary Desha, Eugenia Washington, Mary Smith Lockwood, and Ellen Harding Walworth.

At the Martha Dandridge Washington (MDW), NSDAR chapter meeting, Jane Chambers, a member of the Tennessee Society Daughters of the American Revolution, (TSDAR) State Speakers Staff and the MDW Chapter, presented Determination, a program on the founding of the NSDAR. She described the Society’s history, explaining the events following the 1890 SAR vote, when SAR held another meeting in Washington DC, and the Washington Post published an article about their gathering. Mrs. Lockwood read the write-up and felt the exclusion of women from SAR was discrimination against women and a failure to recognize and honor the heroic women of the American Revolution. She called it “one-sided patriotism” and responded with the story of Hannah Thurston Arnett of Elizabethtown, New Jersey. In Lockwood’s retort, she described Arnett’s courageous stand against her husband and a group of townsmen contemplating accepting amnesty from the British. Hannah’s brave actions resulted in the assembly’s renewed patriotism. Her article started a correspondence between herself and Hannah’s great grandson, Registrar General of SAR, William O. McDowell.

McDowell offered aid in the establishment of a Society for the Daughters of the American Revolution according to Chambers. He requested that “every woman who has the blood of heroes in her veins to send me her name and address.” Only six women answered including Miss Desha. Seeking advice from McDowell on organizing a society for ladies of Patriotic descent, and at his suggestion, a meeting was organized and, with input from Mrs. Lockwood, invitations were sent to interested women. Only five women attended this meeting. McDowell continued to urge the ladies to meet again and sent them application blanks with “Sons” scratched out and “Daughters” substituted along with a proposed constitution. Due to weather, only three ladies attended the next meeting, but undeterred, they made several important decisions. They determined that the Daughters of the American Revolution would be a national organization with chapters in every state, and they created a board of managers, designating Miss Desha as member, Mrs. Walworth as Secretary, and Miss Washington as Registrar.

Chambers described the important meeting at the Strathmore Arms in Washington, DC on October 11, 1890, the date now known as NSDAR’s Founder’s Day – the day to commemorate those who contributed to the Society’s beginnings. Caroline Scott Harrison, wife of U.S. President Benjamin Harrison, was interested in the new society and attended to learn the requirements for membership. Today, a membership inquiry for DAR receives the same response given to Mrs. Harrison – proving lineal descent from a Revolutionary Patriot. Mrs. Harrison consented to be the first president of this new organization on the condition of a unanimous vote and the assurance that someone else would discharge the heavy duties of the presidency as she had many duties as First Lady of the United States. Mrs. William Cabell honored this request. During this meeting, the mission of the DAR was adopted and stands unaltered today: historic preservation, education, and patriotism.

Between October 18, 1890, and December 11, 1890, three meetings were held in which Mrs. Harrison accepted the presidency; blue and white, the colors of Washington’s Headquarter Guards’ uniforms, were selected as the Society’s colors; a constitution was adopted; and a resolution confirmed the building of a fireproof repository for DAR historical objects. Thus, the organization of the Society was complete.

The first business meetings were held at the home of Mrs. Cabell. With the rapid increase in membership – 1,818 members at the end of the first year – the society rented three different buildings before purchasing the current site of Memorial Continental Hall, today’s national headquarters of the DAR located at 1776 D St. NW, Washington, DC.

The first Continental Congress was a high society event held February 22-24, 1892, in the Church of Our Father with Mrs. Harrison and Mrs. Cabell alternately presiding. They resolved that upon hearing the “Star-Spangled Banner,” everyone would rise and stand. At the end of the conference, Mrs. Harrison hosted a reception at the White House and presented to officers the orchids that she grew – creating a tradition of the use of orchids in DAR.

The official founders include Miss Desha, a federal employee and former teacher; Miss Washington, a federal employee and the great grandniece of the former President George Washington; Mrs. Lockwood, a widow and writer; and Mrs. Walworth, a widow and lawyer. These four ladies may have said, “Tell a woman with determination ‘No’ and watch what she can do!”

For information about the DAR, contact MDW Registrar Karen McFarland at (865) 258-8670 or Regent Janet Guyett at (865) 712-8782.