As many DAR Chapters originated, Eleanor Wilson, too, began through the efforts of one woman whose dream was to nurture and preserve the freedom and ideals upon which our young Nation was founded. On January 28, 1918, Mrs. James C. Courts met in her home at the Navy Yard, Washington, DC, with eleven friends with whom she shared her dreams. Mrs. Gaius Brumbaugh, the State Regent, presided at the organization of the Chapter. Charter officers were:

Mrs. Lenora McCall Courts (Mrs. James C.), Regent

Mrs. Emma Wilson Noel, Vice Regent

Miss Mary V. Petty, Treasurer

Mrs. Berkley G. Porter, Secy. & Registrar

Mrs. Josephine McCall Hawkins, Historian

Other Charter members recorded were:

Mrs. Mary Smith Kloeber

Mrs. Mary L. Galt Miner (Mrs. J.R.)

Mrs. Lenora Courts Glancy

Mrs. Mary Aileen Hawkins

Mrs. Frances McCall Johnson

Miss Adelaide McCall

Eleanor Wilson, for whom the Chapter is named, came with her husband and three brothers from Pennsylvania to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, about 1760. They were Scotch-Presbyterians arrayed by religious and natural instinct against tyranny in every form. Mrs. Wilson was the mother of eleven sons, seven of whom fought in the continental Army, as did her husband, Robert. Two Chapter members were descendants of Eleanor Wilson: the first Regent, Mrs. Courts, and Mrs. Theodore Morford of Nashville, TN, who was Vice-President General, 1962-1965.

Mrs. Courts continued as Chapter Regent from 1918 to 1936. During 1918-1919, chapter members purchased a total of $4,400.00 in Liberty Bonds as one of their patriotic efforts for World War I. By 1929, the graves of 12 Revolutionary soldiers had been located and marked. Included in this number was the grave of Zaccheus Wilson, Eleanor's seventh son who entered the Continental Army at age 15. His grave was marked in 1920, and in 1921 Mrs. Courts marked Eleanor’s grave.