Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chapter DAR
Worcester, Massachusetts
1899-present
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During the chapter's fiftieth anniversary, Mildred Carver Carpenter, the 1950-1952 chapter vice regent, wrote and published a booklet on the chapter’s history entitled, “1898-1948, Fifty Year Review of Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.” We also recognize and honor the memory of our chapter member, Jean, whose mother was the 1950-1952 chapter regent. Jean provided the chapter with the booklet for reference. Please enjoy edited highlights from the original booklet:
Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chapter was organized December 17, 1898, in the home of Mrs. Theodore C. Bates, 29 Harvard
Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. The organizing regent was Mrs. Bernard Peel Chenoweth. Mrs. Bates, Mrs. Chenoweth, and Mrs. Daniel H. Eames were the pioneers in the movement for organization, and the first four or five meetings were held in the home of Mrs. Bates. Our
chapter was chartered on August 9, 1899, by the National Society of the Daughters
of the American Revolution. Original Charter Members Col. Timothy Bigelow was chosen because of his unfailing service to the cause of American independence. It was on the Worcester Common that Colonel Bigelow trained and led his company of
minutemen for
the march from Worcester to Cambridge in 1775. Please visit our Colonel Timothy Bigelow history page for more information on the Colonel Bigelow’s life and service. Mrs. Chenoweth served as our chapter regent until 1901, when she resigned to organize the Colonel Henshaw
Chapter of Leicester. Later she served Massachusetts State Society as historian and was invited to become the state vice regent, which honor she declined because of other urgent duties. She inaugurated the work of appropriately marking Revolutionary War soldiers' graves
on May 30, 1900. Mrs. Bates was elected National Vice President General in 1908 and Honorary Vice President General for life in 1913. She died October 5, 1929. Our chapter has two other members who have been honored by the National Society for their distinguished services, Miss Isabel Wyman Gordon and Mrs. Frank B.
Hall, each of whom was elected National Vice President General. From its organization, our chapter grew rapidly and soon it was necessary to hold the meetings in the rooms of the Society of Antiquity (now the Worcester Historical Society). In
1903, it was again necessary to have larger quarters, and the
chapter began to hold its meetings in the newly constructed Women's Club.
There the group met until the opportunity presented itself in 1913 of buying the old Paine Mansion,
”The Oaks,” for a chapter house. Our Chapter Real Daughters In 1902, when our chapter was in its fourth year, Continental Hall was but a dream and a hope. The National Society was still young and in that year
the site was purchased at a cost of $50,000 and the ground was broken for our first National Headquarters in Washington. In 1909, our chapter donation to the Continental Hall fund was the largest in the
state for our size, and pledges for a certain amount until the Hall was a reality were
made annually. Soon afterwards Mrs. Fairbanks was instrumental, in the name of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in persuading the Treasury Department to issue the Martha Washington postage stamp.
In addition, our chapter has funded and placed many historical
markers and has published books
and pamphlets in the aid of historic preservation.
Mrs. Caroline Van Deusen Chenoweth Organizing Regent, Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution 1898 Her RevolutionaryWar ancestor was Lieutenant Nathaniel Callender. She served
the DAR for three years as our regent and two years as state historian.
She was also quite active with other civic responsibilities.... Vice Consul of China; Professor of English Literature, Smith College; Editor of Medico Legal Journal, New York; Worcester author of many books.
She resided in Worcester, with a summer home in Leicester. Caroline died May 12, 1917, in Worcester. Following
services at "The Oaks" she was interred in a family lot at Rural Cemetery. Her grave has been placed in perpetual care by Colonel Timothy Bigelow Chapter, which also provided a suitable monument. Many friends from the various
chapters she had served attended her funeral, showing the high esteem in which she was held. She
was included in the Rural Cemetery brochure of prominent persons buried there. Chapter Members photograph, circa June 8, 1908 - 1909 From the Fifty Year Review by Mildred Carver Carpenter 1948 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
