The First DAR Chapter in Washington State
|
The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890. Just four years later, on June 22, 1894, a group of women formed the Mary Ball Chapter in Tacoma, Washington.
“This little band of patriotic women, in the far northwest corner of these United States, remembered that the Mother of Washington had once borne another name in the days of her girlhood. So this Chapter of DAR in the State of Washington had the honored privilege of taking the name… “Mary Ball” and the Chapter, like the Mother of Washington of sterling worth, has even been foremost in the good works of patriotism and charity… a worthy model and guide for the chapters following.” ~From the 1924 WSSDAR History & Registrar, p.28. |
|
Martha Gallup Griggs
In 1894, Mrs. Griggs organized Washington State’s first DAR chapter, named Mary Ball in Tacoma. She went on to serve as Washington State DAR Regent under DAR President Generals, Mrs. Adlai E. Stevenson & Mrs. Daniel Manning from 1897‐1900. During her regency, daughters in Washington State supported the Red Cross and the Emergency Relief Fund. Washington daughters raised funds for the National DAR Hospital Corps and in support of the purchase of a hospital ship tender to give care and aid to wounded soldiers during the Spanish-American War. |
Mrs. Martha Gallup Griggs, Founding Regent, Mary Ball Chapter
|
Chapter Charter Document
|
Mary Ball Chapter Charter Members: (In alphabetical order) Nellie Levering Turner Allyn, Elizabeth Dunster Gibson Foster, Georgiana Stevens Gowey, Jessie Cavender Gribble, Martha Gallup Griggs, Fanny Andrew Taylor Hale, Julia A. Randolph Hardenbergh, Jane Clarke Harvey, Clara Ball Patterson Jacobs, Elizabeth Brooke Lawson Lehman, Evelyn G. Cutter Sherman, Mary P. Shelby Stallcup, Mildred Fuller Wallace |
Today our chapter is comprised of members of all ages and from many different backgrounds. We have members born and raised in Tacoma and many others who have adopted the Pacific Northwest as their home. We have members who work outside the home, professionals in many fields, students, homemakers, young mothers, active duty service members, veterans, military family members, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and retirees.
Mary Ball Washington 1706-1789
Mary Ball Washington Monument
|
Mary Ball married Augustine Washington and became stepmother to his three children. Her and Augustine's first child, George, was born in 1732. The Washingtons in 1738, (now with six children under the age of eight,) moved to Ferry Farm, an estate situated on the Rappahannock River across from Fredericksburg, Virginia. Augustine died leaving Mary in sole charge of her family and Ferry Farm. She was 38 when Augustine died and she never remarried.
Her son George Washington went on to greatness as leader of the Continental Army in the American Revolution against the British, and as a founding father of the United States. Mary died in 1789 just months before George was inaugurated as the first President of the United States. A monument marking her grave in Fredericksburg, Virginia was ordered by the newly formed National Society Daughters of the American Revolution in 1891. The Mary Washington Monument, which echoes the design of the Washington Monument, was dedicated May 10, 1894, before an audience that included President Grover Cleveland and President General Letitia G. Stevenson. "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." -George Washington |
