DAR commended for organization’s 100th anniversary in Orleans County
Photos by Tom Rivers: Orleans County Legislator Ed Morgan, right, presents a proclamation on behalf of the Legislature on Tuesday to Patrice Birner, left, and her sister Penny Nice, who are both active members of the Orleans County chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Birner served a state regent for DAR in 2019-2020, leading the organization in New York. She is currently vice president general for the National DAR. Nice is the state chaplain.
ALBION – A patriotic organization is celebrating its 100th anniversary in Orleans County.
The Daughters of the American Revolution continues to meet monthly and maintain the chapter house on North Main Street in Albion. The building at 249 North Main St. is on the National Register of Historic Places.
It was built around 1845. The pre-Civil War site is considered one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in the region.
The DAR chapter maintains a local history museum at the site and a library of historical documents. The chapter has about 70 members.
The proclamation from the County Legislature on Tuesday notes the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) was founded on October 11, 1890, by a group of women who felt the desire to express their patriotic feelings during a time that was marked by a revival in patriotism to perpetuate the memory of ancestors who fought to make this country free and independent.
“Over the past 130 years the DAR objective has been to be an organization committed to historic preservation, education and patriotism,” legislators stated.
Locally, the chapter formed on June 8, 1925 when 25 women met for a luncheon in the Town of Albion. An organizational meeting then followed to create the 156th Chapter in New York State.
“The Orleans County Legislature celebrates the Centennial of the Orleans Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 100 years of serving God, Home and County; and Proclaims June 7, 2025 as DAR day in Orleans County,” the proclamation states.
The DAR building was dedicated as the DAR chapter home on Sept. 17, 1929 and remains the DAR chapter headquarters and a historical museum.
Penny Nice, president of a Patriot House where the DAR chapter meets in Albion, is shown inside the building at 249 North Main St. Nice has been an active member of the local DAR for 20 years. Nice is shown during a tour of the Patriot House last September.
The Orleans County Chapter of the DAR submitted this history of the local and national organization:
Over the past 130 years of active service to the nation, the DAR objectives have remained the same. These objectives are Historical – to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence; Educational – to carry out the injunction of Washington in his farewell address to the American people, “to promote as an object of primary importance institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge, thus developing an enlightened public opinion…”; and Patriotic – to cherish, maintain, and extend the institutions of American freedom, and to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid in securing for all mankind all the blessings of liberty.
Since its founding in 1890, DAR has admitted more than 1,000,000 members.
The organizing of the Orleans Chapter, NSDAR on June 8, 1925…
In 1925, Florence Beach Church, wife of Judge Sanford T. Church, put a notice in an Albion newspaper expressing the desire to form a DAR Chapter in Orleans County. On June 8, 1925 twenty-five women met for a luncheon at the Lone Star Inn in the Town of Albion. Mrs. Charles White Nash, New York State Regent, was guest of honor at the luncheon.
An organizational meeting followed at the Swan Library in Albion, and Mrs. Nash presented a talk on the work of the DAR. The Orleans Chapter was the 156th Chapter in New York State in 1925, and there were 2,082 chapters nationally.
Organizing Members: Gertrude Reed Andrews, Augusta Mosher Bennett, Florence Beach Church, Marjora Cole Coan, Georgia Kelsey Croach, Myra Posson Doolittle, Belle Simpson Fowler, Mary Pells Gray, Lulu Van Scoy Harris, Adelaine Perry Hazard, Ruth Webster Howard
Lois McAllister Larwood, Anna Andrews Newell, Mabel Young Perry, Verna Cornelia Posson, Carrie Pettingill Pratt, Harriet Fitts Ryan, Carrie Rowley Seward, Lois Patterson Small, Laura Cotton Tanner, Katherine Belle Rowley, Daisy Young Tills, Sarah Bloomfield Wilson, Cora Perry Woodford and Helen Banker Yahnke.
