From the original land grant for his colony given to
Martin de Leon in 1824, the name of the DAR chapter in the present city of
Victoria is derived. The name of the town was first given as Nuestra
Senora de Guadalupe de Jesus y Victoria, "Our Lady of the Guadalupe and
Victoria," but was later shortened to Victoria.
Organization of the Guadalupe Victoria Chapter
began on February 23, 1934, with Mrs. J. W. Stevenson as Organizing
Regent, and was completed on September 14, 1934. Listed on the
chapter as officers were Mesdames J. W. Stevenson, Regent; V. L. Griffin,
Vice Regent; J. J. Tolson, Recording Secretary; Ben Jordan, Treasurer; C.
B. Fallis, Registrar; T. M. O'Connor, Historian; and J. M. Rosborough,
Chaplain.
The charter members were Gladys Field Cole,
Fannie J. Dowe, Myrtle J. Dowe, Selina Lipscomb DuPre, Alice Hunter
Fallis, Carrie Thomas Griffin, Marjorie Steele Frels, Virginia Steele
Higgins, Shelly Chilton Jordan, Kathryn Stoner O'Connor, Carrie Thompson
Rosborough, Genevieve Power Stevenson, Julie Covey Sutherland, and
Gertrude McCord Tolson.
A permanent home for the chapter was received in
1959 as a gift from Genevieve Power Stevenson, Organizing Regent.
This property was deeded to three historical and patriotic organizations
in Victoria of which Mrs. Stevenson was an active member. The DAR
chapter occupies one large room of the Power home, located at 307 South
William Street.
Past Regents of the chapter include Mesdames J.
W. Stevenson, V. L. Griffin, Ben T. Jordan, W. S. Higgins, Janie S. Fly,
Rubin Frels, Joseph Wearden, E. Woody Charske, Mark J. Gregory, W. T.
Browning, J. H. Tolson, S. C. Tucker, E. H. Marek, C. B. Fallis, James R.
Lewis, W. M. Murphy, Sr., L. D. Stuart, A. J. House, C. S. Wofford, L. H.
Von Dohlen, and Mrs. Jackson O. Miller, Jr., serving currently.
Since its origin, Guadalupe Victoria Chapter has
sponsored contest every year in the schools: American History Essay, Home
Making, and Good Citizens. It has a scholarship fund which has
furnished loans to students in need of help. In 1966 it was hostess
for a successful Division meeting.
A marker was placed by the chapter in 1936 at the
northeast corner of the plaza, marking La Calle de Los Diez Amigos, or
"Street of Ten Friends," named for ten men who had stores on Main Street
in the early days of Victoria. |
Excellent support of the DAR Magazine advertising
program has been furnished by the Guadalupe Victoria Chapter. Mrs.
Wm, March, who had been Advertising Chairman since 1956, won a national
award for thee pages in the March, 1968, issue. These pages paid
tribute to the preservation of an historic Texas site, Presidio La Bahia,
by the Kathryn O'Connor Foundation. Mrs. O'Connor was the chapter's first
Historian. Established in 1749 as Presidio
La Bahia del Spiritu Santa de Zuniga, this important fort was the site in
1836 of the massacre of Colonel Fannin and 342 men who had surrendered to
the forces of General Santa Anna. A marker for this National shrine
was unveiled in the late sixties by Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson, then the
nation's first lady.
The chapter's outstanding junior member is Zia
Crowell Miller, who has served as page at two DAR State Conferences and,
as Chairman of National Defense, has handled C.A.R.-DAR liaison, and hs
given many programs and talks for both organizations. She has served
as senior officer and chairman for the Shadrack Barnes Society, C.A.R.,
which is sponsored by the chapter, as well as being very active in church
and civic affairs and a competent wife and mother.
The Shadrack Barnes Society is the chapter's
outstanding project. Many Guadalupe Victoria Chapter members have
served as senior chairmen and leaders, providing encouragement and help to
C.A.R. The Shadrack Barnes Society, a very active and enthusiastic
group, held its organizing ceremony with twenty-six members in June, 1970,
and closed its charter with eighty-one members in June, 1971.
The Society was acclaimed by the national C.A.R.
magazine three times in one recent year as having had the most members
approved of any C.A.R. society in the United States. It has won many
first and second place honors at both state and national levels and in the
DAR room has four large trophies won in parades. Last Memorial Day
the society held a memorial service at Evergreen Cemetery and put flags on
graves.
In all its endeavors, the Shadrack Barnes Society
has been guided and assisted by the Guadalupe Victoria Chapter, which
feels that C.A.R. is the nucleus of future DAR and SAR.
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