Jean Nicolet Chapter
Wisconsin Society Daughters of the American Revolution
De Pere - Green Bay

DAR Objective: Patriotism

Promoting Patriotism has been a high priority since the very beginning of the chapter. In 1916, under the leadership of Regent Margaret Towles Blesch, the chapter formed a War Relief Service Committee, meeting weekly to work for the Red Cross in providing needed items during World War I. Together with the Presbyterian, Lutheran, and St. Boniface ladies, they sewed 60 girls dresses, 42 pairs of trousers, and 42 blouses for Belgian children, and pledged to make a garment a month outside of the work done together at weekly meetings. As a result of Tag Day in 1917 they sent $189.00 to the treasurer of Belgian Relief Commission, Mr. Alexander J. Hemphill of New York. In addition, they worked Tuesday and Friday afternoons to help complete each month’s quota of 6,250 4”x 8” gauze dressings.

When the National Society adopted the French village of Tilloloy near Paris, which suffered heavily during the war, every DAR member in the country was urged to donate fifty cents towards the restoration of the village – raising $2.5 million to help reconstruct the water system in Tilloloy. The chapter contributed toward the $130,000 given by the National Society DAR for the support of 3,600 French war orphans. After the war the chapter “adopted” a French orphan, Marie Du Pont.

During the World War II, the chapter again assisted the Brown County Red Cross with donations of money and spent 3,769 hours in one year making knitted articles. Buddy bags were made and sent to Camp McCoy, and money sent for the War Projects Funds, namely the building of libraries at various hospitals in the United States. The chapter contributed towards the sponsorship by the National Society of fifty landing crafts and sent letters and books to servicemen.

The chapter also contributed to “Bundles for Britain” – a program to supply non-military aid, such as toys, knitted watch caps, cancelled postage stamps, and lots of clothing to British citizens under siege by German military forces, which had begun attacking southeastern England in July 1940.

DAR Service for Veterans

Our chapter has volunteered at Veterans Administration facilities by donating gifts, cash, personal care items, cancelled postage stamps, and hundreds of hours of time in service to America’s veterans. Our chapter members recently donated items for Care Packages making boxes of “goodies,” which we sent to five members of the armed forces, who, by the way, are descended from Revolutionary War Patriots.

In November 2001, our chapter provided the keynote speaker and program at the Veterans Day service sponsored by the United Patriotic Societies. Our members distributed red, white, and blue ribbons to people attending this ceremony.

Our chapter participated in the 2003 groundbreaking ceremony at the Brown County Veterans’ Memorial and purchased a paver brick to help fund the memorial. Several of our members were included in the color guard, along with veterans groups.

On May 30, 2008, the Jean Nicolet Chapter provided the chaplain and keynote speaker, a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, at the Traditional Memorial Day service sponsored by the United Patriotic Societies.

Liberty Bell Project

In 2002 Jean Nicolet Chapter contributed money to the Liberty Memorial Association, which was raising funds to purchase a full-size replica of the Liberty Bell. Whitechapel Bell Foundry of London made the original Liberty Bell in 1752 and agreed to create the replica for the Green Bay community.

DAR Project Patriot

Jean Nicolet Chapter has participated in DAR Project Patriot – providing support to troops involved in America’s worldwide war against terrorism. The first year of this project we cooperated by sending holiday cards, monetary donations, and pocket flags to the crew of the USS Stennis. We sent over fifty items of clothing, DVDs and CDs, postcards, bookmarkers, and dried cherries to Landstuhl Hospital. We have also sent Christmas boxes, holiday cards, valentines, phone cards, and letters of appreciation to members of the military who are related to members and prospective members of the chapter.

In 2008, the chapter made cooling ties similar to those initiated by The Hugs Project, which was started in 2004 in Oklahoma, by Ray and Karen Stark.  The cooling tie is filled with a pellet that holds water.  When soaked in cold water, and wrapped around a soldier's neck, it provides cooling comfort in hot climates. Cooling ties may also be soaked in warm water then placed in a plastic bag to become a pocket warmer when it's cold.

Valley Forge Bell Tower

The National Patriots Bell Tower, completed in 1953, was the gift of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. The Carillon of 58 tuned bronze bells, representing all states and U.S. territories, ranks as one of the worlds’ largest and most beautiful. The bells weigh 26 tons, and from the largest bell of 8,000 lbs. to the smallest bell of 13 ½ lbs., cover a range of nearly five octaves. The bells are living memorials dedicated to the memory of General George Washington.

The DAR built the tower entirely by contribution of its members and chapters and it continues to maintain this national treasure through donations to the Carillon Endowment Fund. The Jean Nicolet Chapter members recently presented the fund with $94.00.

Naturalized New Citizens Ceremony

Shortly after World War I and continuing to the present day, naturalized citizens have been aided and guided into being better Americans through our DAR programs. Jean Nicolet Chapter members have attended every citizenship ceremony at the Brown County Court House. Our members have served as the color guard, provided small flags, the DAR Manual for Citizenship, flag pins, and letters of welcome to each new citizen, and have helped to host a luncheon for them following the ceremony.

Miss Katherine Byram, member of Jean Nicolet Chapter, extended greetings in April 1956 to new citizens in the U.S. Naturalization Court, Circuit Court, Brown County Court House, making some very pertinent remarks as follows:

“Friends, this day we are sure, will remain in your hearts and minds, to be remembered as the day on which you were accepted as citizens of the United States of America.

Many of us who have come here to welcome you have had ancestors who came to this country hundreds of years ago to gain freedom from oppression or dictators, or to worship God as they chose to do.

So, naturally we are citizens because we were born as such. But you are different, for you were not born as such, but of your own free will you have come here and have chosen to become citizens. You have accepted the hand of friend-ship extended to you, and you will now take your place before us and with us.

Daniel Webster said over one hundred years ago, ‘God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.’

Today, as you know, there are many who plot and plan to take away our precious, God-given liberty. But they can never do this as long as good citizens treasure it in their hearts and minds with a loyalty far deeper than words, and pass it on to the children of today.”

In 2008, the chapter welcomed newly naturalized citizens at the Federal Court House in Milwaukee.

Americanism and Flag of the United States of America

Our chapter received good media coverage in the 1970s, when sixteen special American flags for the blind were made by chapter members, under the leadership of Ethel Smith, Jean Nicolet Chapter Flag Chairman.

Regent Mrs. Alyce Herrick presented the flags to local blind students at Chappell School. A hand-made Braille Flag was also presented to the visually handicapped classroom at Franklin Junior High School.

One thousand Flag Codes were purchased for distribution to libraries in Green Bay and De Pere, thanks to one of our generous members. During the United States Bicentennial celebration we prepared a flag theme float for the Green Bay and De Pere parades.

The highlight of 1985 was our July 4th parade to commemorate Green Bay’s 250 year Semiquincentennial. We participated along with our La Baye Children of the American Revolution members dressed as colonial children who marched commemorating The Spirit of 1776. The State Regent and State C.A.R. Vice President rode in the parade.

During Constitution Week, Jean Nicolet Chapter received wonderful cooperation from the Mayor, the Press Gazette, the TV stations, WBAY Radio Station, the libraries and schools. We had Questions and Answers on the Constitution in the paper, spot announcements through TV and radio, and displays of our posters at libraries, and schools.

George Washington's Birthday

For many years the most festive occasion of the year was the Colonial Tea held in February, honoring the birth of our first President, George Washington. Women made their own colonial costumes and invited guests. One hundred and fifty women attended the 1940 Tea, hosted by Margaret Towles Blesch in her home at 149 North Oakland Avenue.

Dressed to the nines, Jean Nicolet ladies went to their 75th Anniversary Tea in high style. They were chauffeured in a beautifully restored antique, 1931 Model A Ford – problem was – about two blocks from their destination the engine quit! That didn’t stop these ladies. All helped push the old Ford the rest of the way to the party on May 2, 1981.

The George Washington celebration continues, as the Wisconsin Society DAR joins with the Wisconsin Society SAR for a luncheon and patriotic program each February.

Tercentennial of Jean Nicolet

On March 9, 1934, the Jean Nicolet Chapter DAR celebrated the 300-year anniversary of Jean Nicolet’s arrival in Green Bay with a Colonial Tea held at the home of Miss Fredericka Heath, 812 Cass Street. The program brought glimpses of the social life of famous women of the Northwest Territory from the past 200 years into the present time.

“Imagine yourself at the old Fort Howard Hospital building, the guest of Judge and Mrs. Morgan L. Martin ‘at home’ to distinguished women forming a procession out of the gracious past into the unhallowed present.

You are seated at a candle-lighted table in front of the great fireplace, and your first caller is Mrs. Augustine De Langlade (Fredericka Heath), the first white woman in Green Bay, and in all of Wisconsin for that matter, who tells about the trips she made here from Mackinac in the early 1700s. Her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Charles De Langlade (Mrs. Charles Hine), wife of one of the most famous men in Northwest history, the ‘bravest of the brave,’ followed. She speaks animatedly of her home, the center of hospitality in the great northwest.

Mrs. Amable Roy (Miss Nan Workman) comes next to tell of the first seven families who colonized ‘La Baye Verte.’ The vivacious Mrs. Pierre Grignon (Mrs. Katherine Byram), married at 13, paints a gay picture of pioneer social life. Mrs. John Lawe (Mrs. G. E. Walthers), of Indian descent, tells of the closing years of the 18th century when commerce began to flourish. Mrs. Jacques Porlier (Mrs. W. T. Ream) describes the cottage, now renowned under the name of Tank, which her judge-husband purchased when they came to Green Bay shortly after their marriage in 1792 on the banks of the St. Croix, following an ardent French courtship.

Mrs. Zachary Taylor (Mrs. Francis T. Blesch) carries on a conversation revealing the highlights of life at Fort Howard around 1817, when the first soiree was held. Mrs. Eleazar Williams (Mrs. P. R. Minahan) relates experiences in her homestead on the banks of the Fox south of De Pere, and carries a cookbook, yellowed by years, containing her favorite recipes. Miss Brevoort, ‘Belle of the Fort’ (Mrs. W. K. Ansorge) in 1822, tells an enviable story of the chivalry of army officers. Mrs. H. S. Baird, another bride of 14, speaks through the mouth of her great-granddaughter Miss Janet Merrill, tracing the relationship of four distinguished generations.

Mrs. Deborah Beaumont (Miss Daisy Dunlap) is a most interesting visitor, recounting the great deeds and experiments of her physician-husband. Ellen Mary McClellan plays a tune on her six-legged piano (now in the home of Mrs. Carlton Merrill), which furnished music for many an evening ‘sing’ among pioneer families. Mrs. Harriet Johnson Boyd, daughter of Joshua, peers from 1832 to 1934 and sees her great granddaughter, Rachel Grignon Twells, a prominent resident of Green Bay. Mrs. Moses Merrill continues the procession, and Mrs. Otto Tank brings the afternoon’s visiting to a thoughtful close, pondering on the change in people and attitudes since she occupied the modest little cottage with her Moravian missionary husband.”

Do have another cup of tea, Mrs. Taylor.” “Thank you, Mme. Tank,” seems to be the dialogue in the imaginary tête-à-tête between two of the most hospitable characters in Green Bay’s 300 year history, characterized by Mrs. Blesch, resplendent in white satin and lace such as the wife of the commander of old Fort Howard might have worn at one of the brilliant soirees for which the fort was famous, and by Mrs. Nau, elegantly prim in blue taffeta dress and bonnet, such as the cultured wife of a missionary might be expected to wear.” (Green Bay Press-Gazette, Saturday, March 10, 1934)

Chapter Programs

Other outstanding programs have included a bus trip to Surgeons Quarters and Indian Agency House, a visit to Ephraim – a Moravian settlement, a tour of Heritage Hill, Hazelwood, White Pillars Museum, and a luncheon meeting at the historic Union Hotel in De Pere. We enjoyed programs on “Copper Culture Indians”; a slide show of historic quilts at the DAR Museum along with a display of cherished quilts owned by chapter members; we listened to Pat Foley’s “Mr. McGuffey and His Readers”; Colonel Jack Rudolph’s “Women in the Revolution and the Battle of Yorktown.”

A program in 2004 about “Homeland Security on the Great Lakes” took us to the Coast Guard station in Door County, followed by lunch at an historic lodge in Sturgeon Bay.

More recent programs included a tour of the Ashwaubenon Historical Society, Community awards and scholarship presentations, a visit to the Wisconsin Veteran's Home in King, Wisconsin, and a panel of longtime DAR members reminiscing about their life in DAR - where the common theme was "you will meet some of your best friends in DAR."

Lineage Workshops

One hundred years ago the Jean Nicolet Chapter began with twelve dedicated women who honored their patriot ancestors by becoming members. In their seventh year the chapter doubled. At their Golden Anniversary in 1956, with Regent Mary Palmer McCrary, membership rose to seventy members.

Since 2000, we have embarked on a chapter-building program, sponsoring several lineage workshops. Two of these were held in a small meeting room at the Brown County Library with chapter members volunteering to work one-on-one with prospective members. We also participated in the Peninsula Genealogical Society Workshop at the LDS Family History Center in Sturgeon Bay, providing information on how to begin and organize your genealogical research.

At a Bay Area Genealogical Society meeting held at the Brown County Library auditorium, Pam Miller spoke about Revolutionary War service, noting research sources available at the Brown County Library and online at the DAR Library in Washington, D.C. A bibliography of Revolutionary War service resources found at the Brown County Library was prepared and presented to the librarian of Local History and Genealogy.

Jean Nicolet Chapter received a National Society DAR Chapter Achievement Award in 2002 and was mentioned in the DAR magazine, American Spirit. Hopefully our chapter will continue to be an organization that is respected and recognized for Preserving History, Providing Education, and Promoting Patriotism.

Please join us for our next Lineage Workshop. The workshop will be held jointly with the SAR on March 7, 2009, at the Brown County Library, Pine Street, Green Bay.

Home   What is DAR   How to become a Member   NSDAR   WSDAR
Chapter History   Patriot Ancestors   Chapter Calendar   More Information & Related Links   
Email: JeanNicoletDAR@gmail.com