This year The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, founded on Oct. 11, 1890, celebrates its 125th year of being a worldwide organization, committed to U.S. historic preservation, education and patriotism. With the motto “God, Home and Country,” DAR boasts over 930,000 members strong and growing. Members have extensively researched their ancestry, tracing their heritage back to the brave soldiers who fought in the American Revolutionary War. The quest continues today to help others realize their legacy and responsibility to our great nation.

History

One hundred years after George Washington’s presidency in 1889, Americans continued to pay homage to their ancestors' valiant struggle for freedom from England. Several patriotic, preservation societies formed across the United States. One such society, the Sons of the American Revolution, refused women as members. Mary Smith Lockwood, a prolific author of her time, was a friend and advisor to women’s rights activists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Lockwood published an article by Henrietta Holdich in the Washington Post on July 13,1890. The account of a housewife, Hannah White Arnett (1733-1823), told of how she stood up to neighbors who were convinced that loyalty to the crown would buy protection. She called the men traitors and cowards including her husband, whom she threatened to leave if he didn’t support the Revolution. Lockwood added as a final query to Holdich’s story in the Post, “Where will the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution place Hannah Arnett?”

That same year, on July 21, William O. McDowell, great-grandson of Hannah White Arnett, published an article in the Washington Post, expressing the desire to form a society called the Daughters of the American Revolution. The first meeting took place on August 9,1890.

Early NSDAR

One of the first tasks undertaken by early NSDAR members, was to erect a statue to the mother of George Washington, Mary Ball Washington, located in Fredericksburg, Virginia. At the first NSDAR meeting, one of four co-founders, Mary Desha, raised $11,000, to help fund Mrs. Washington’s monument. Desha, Lockwood, Eugenia Washington (great-grandniece of George Washington) and Ellen Hardin Walworth were the founding four of NSDAR.

On October 21,1893 a new cornerstone was laid for Mrs. Washington’s obelisk, which greatly resembled the monument to her son, President George Washington, in Washington, D.C. Then on May 10,1894, President General Letitia G. Stevenson of the NSDAR dedicated this monument to an audience in which U.S. President Grover Cleveland was among those in attendance. 

Organizing DAR Chapter in Lincoln County

Boothbay Harbor, Maine, Friday, Aug.12, 1932

Chapter of D.A.R. Organize in this County

Representatives From Several Towns Meet With Miss Elizabeth Reed

The above headline was published in a local paper; we can assume the article below was welcomed news to many readers who revered their forefather’s service in the Revolutionary War:

“An organizing meeting of the Lincoln County Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, was held at the home of Miss Elizabeth F. Reed [now the site of the Boothbay Region Historical Society] of Oak Street on the afternoon of August fifth, the organizing Regent, Mrs. Theodore L. Clarke of Head Tide, presiding.

“Several of the towns of the county were represented by prospective members and each person present gave testimony of the Revolutionary services of her ancestor and her lineal line of descent. Mrs. Maud Clarke Gay of Waldoboro reviewed the objects of the organization and Miss Reed told of the sources of tracing Revolutionary ancestors in Maine records...”

Official DAR in Lincoln County

According to the 1932 Portland Press Herald:

“The organizing meeting for Pemaquid Chapter, the Lincoln County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, was held Saturday, November 27, 1932, at Head Tide, in the birthplace of Edwin Arlington Robinson, the foremost living poet in America today, and the home of the organizing regent, Mrs. Theodore L. Clarke.

“Chaplain, Mrs. Grace Tibbetts Carlisle of Boothbay Harbor, opened the first meeting with a Scripture reading and the Lord’s prayer. 

“Officers of this first Lincoln County Chapter were: Mrs. Theodore L. Clark, Head Tide, Regent; Mrs. William B. Campbell, Boothbay Harbor, first Vice Regent; Mrs. Lydia Morse, Waldoboro, second Vice Regent; Mrs. Amy Colebrook Jewett, Head Tide, Recording Secretary; Mrs. Harry W. Clifford, Damariscotta, Treasurer; Mrs. Mary Kenniston, Boothbay Harbor, Registrar; Mrs. D. Paul Burleigh Conkling, Boothbay Harbor, Historian. Mrs. Danforth State Regent administered the oath of office. Pemaquid was then pronounced a chapter...

“A telegram from Pemaquid Chapter was sent to Miss Elizabeth Reed of New York City. Miss Reed is an associate member and her friendly and guiding spirit has been ever present in the chapter since the first days of organizing.”

Tea was served by women from each town in Lincoln County including Mrs. James Perkins of Boothbay Harbor, Bert Steer of Round Pond, Dorothy Clarke of Head Tide and Mrs. Georgia Nelson Wing of Sheepscott and Mrs. Henry W. Clifford of Damariscotta.

Perhaps the local DAR Chapter, with Boothbay Region historian Elizabeth Reed taking part in its inception, took the name of “Pemaquid” to honor one of the earliest English settlements in North America in 1628. Sieur de Monts had settled Maine’s Saint Croix Island in 1604, followed by the settlement of the Popham Colony in 1607. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, May 4, 1607.

For eighty-three years, DAR Pemaquid Chapter, along with the national organization for 125 years, has honored and acknowledged all U.S. soldiers, marked the graves of Revolutionary soldiers, located and marked places of significance to the Revolutionary cause, which resulted in the birth of our nation, sought to teach American students about their founding fathers legacy to them and strived to be a beacon of hope to those seeking to become U.S. citizens.

Today DAR remains true to its founding charter, which strives to uphold our nation, honor those who serve and protect it and to pass this remarkable history of service on to future generations.