Samuel Huntington Chapter Inc, NSDAR
Huntington, IN

 

 

HISTORY OF SAMUEL HUNTINGTON CHAPTER FROM 1897 TO 1907

PREPARED BY MRS. W. W. HAWLEY, FOUNDER

 

One crisp winter day in February, 1897, as I was returning from church, Mrs. Nancy Scott said to me, “I believe you could be a Daughter of the American Revolution. I see by the lineage book that many of the Sturtevants fought in the Revolutionary War.” She spoke of the work of the Daughters of the American Revolution and said she herself was a member of the Society. This led me to thinking, with the result that inside of two months all necessary information had been obtained both from Maine and the pension department at Washington, and through Mrs. C. C. Foster of Indianapolis (State Regent at the time) I had been recommended to the National Society at Washington and admitted on April 1st.

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In June, very much to my surprise, came the announcement that through Mrs. Foster I had been appointed Regent for Huntington. A certificate much of the style received by each Daughter, and signed by Mrs. Stevenson and the other National officers accompanied the announcement. Having this honour thus thrust upon me, I began to talk of the work of the Daughters of the American Revolution to ladies as I met them in club work or on social occasions.

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The result was that in October I sent away the carefully prepared papers of eleven members. All were received at the next meeting of the National Board. There were now thirteen Daughters of the American Revolution in Huntington and I wished to organize a chapter at once, but on account of the objection of some of the members to the number thirteen the matter was dropped for another month until the papers of three more ladies had been accepted.

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December 16, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the regent called a meeting at her home. Thirteen of the sixteen Daughters were present. It was decided to call the Huntington Chapter, in honor of Samuel Huntington, one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence for whom the city and county are named,

A Committee of which Mrs. E. L. Griffith was Chairman, was appointed to draft by-laws for the Chapter. The regent appointed the following officers for the first year, Vice Regent Mrs. E. I. Griffith; Recording Secretary Mrs. W. C. Windle; Corresponding Secretary Mrs. H. S. Wells; Treasurer, Mrs. J. Y. Alexander; Registrar, Mrs. E. J. Taylor; Historian, Mrs. M. Sessions.

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The secretary was instructed to make out the charter blanks and send them to Washington asking that the Huntington Chapter might be given a charter.

A little more than a month later, January 22, 1898 the Daughters were again invited to the home of the Regent. The by-laws were adopted as prepared by the committee and after a short program the charter, duly signed and framed, was presented by the regent to the chapter, and the Huntington Chapter declared formally organized. A luncheon closed the program of the day.

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The chapter retained its first officers for three years with the single exception of the corresponding secretary who moved to Kentucky.

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The charter members were: Nancy J. Power Scott, Anna Sturtevant Hawley, Mattie M. Kerlin Alexander, Ella Wintrode Griffith, Della Miller Heiney, Louise J. Hawley, Mattie Winter Kelley, Dessie Moore, Sarah M. Sessions, Emma Moore Taylor, Clara Virginia Healey Wells, Jessie Heiney Windle, Georgia J. Kimball Windle, Sarah F. McGrew Dick, Rose Hibbitt Forman Ford, N. Adaline McClaskey Machan.

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In February of 1901 I was delegate to the Continental Congress. At the March meeting she gave an account of the Continental Congress and presented to the chapter a gavel made of wood grown on the Mt. Vernon Estate.

 

****The Samuel Huntington DAR Chapter still uses this gavel at all its meetings to this date****