Mrs. Mason Briscoe, 1957-1959 State Regent, was born at Union City, Tennessee, on February 11, 1890. At the age of thirteen years, following the death of her mother, she came to Texas to reside with her sister at Edna, Texas, where she attended public school before entering college at Arkadelphia, Arkansas. On June 1, 1926, she married Mason Briscoe of the prominent Fort Bend County family. They made their home on a ranch in that county, where she was very active in civic affairs, including service on the Fort Bend County Library Board and the Fort Bend County Museum Board. She was a member of Calvary Episcopal Church, holding office in the women’s organizations and supporting her church in every way.

Besides her interest in the Daughters of the American Colonists, Grace Lynn Briscoe was Organizing Regent of the Fort Bend Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, of Richmond, holding that office for four years. She was a member of the Colonial Dames of America; Captain James Asbury Tait Chapter, United States Daughters of 1812; and Magna Charta Dames, as well as a Past Worthy Matron of the Order of Eastern Star.

Mrs. Briscoe served DAC in many capacities. She was State Historian for 1951-1953 and State Treasurer for 1953-1955. During her term as State Regent, the Texas Society was divided into regional chapters, a move which has proved to be a contribution for the great growth of DAC throughout the state. It was at this time that Mrs. Briscoe became an organizing member of La Salle Chapter of Houston. She continued to serve the chapter throughout the following years and was hostess for its silver anniversary tea. Mrs. Briscoe died on January 1, 1971.

Mrs. Richard D. Haines was the 1959-1961 Regent of the Texas Society and in addition, was Organizing President of the Texas Society of the Children of the American Colonists in 1962. She worked very actively with the CAC for some years on both the slate and national levels, serving as National President General from 1964 to 1966. As a Past National President General of the CAC, she has been a member of the CAC Advisory Council since 1966.

Mrs. Haines had previously served as the Texas Society, DAC, State  Historian. She was an organizing member of the Louis Guion Chapter of Corsicana in 1958. In addition to active service to her chapter. Mrs. Haines was Southern Section Vice Chairman of the Patriotic Education Committee from 1967 to 1970.

Kathryn Cessna Haines attended elementary and secondary schools in Illinois and Ohio and was graduated from Mount Union College of Alliance, Ohio, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. A professional musician, she appeared as a vocal soloist in several northern cities. She was also employed in responsible clerical positions at the University of Minnesota and the University of Rochester.

Among the numerous organizations in which Mrs. Haines holds, membership are the Daughters of the American Revolution and Children of the American Revolution. She was Regent of her DAR chapter in Temple, has been chairman of state committees, and is a Past Senior President of the Texas Society, C.A.R. Within her home community of Temple, Mrs. Haines has been particularly interested in, among others, the Arno Art League, Community Concerts Association, Cultural Activities Center, Inc., Outdoor Learning Center, Temple Music Club, Woman’s Study Club, Friends of Temple Public Library, and the City Federation of Women’s Clubs, all of which she has served as president. Since 1971, Mrs. Haines has been actively involved with Temple’s Railroad and Pioneer Museum, Inc., in the capacities of board member, president, curator and acting director.

Mrs. Haines and her husband, Dr. Richard D. Haines, raise purebred  Arabian horses, and they are members of several professional associations concerned with this breed.

Mrs. Harry Joseph Morris, the 1961-1963 State Regent, is an author, editor, certified genealogist, heraldist, lecturer, and clubwoman who holds membership in more than sixty genealogical, hereditary, heraldic,    historical and patriotic organizations and societies. A Dallas resident, Mrs. Morris has been a member of John Chew Chapter of the Daughters of the American Colonists since its organization in 1958.

Louise Elizabeth Burton Morris was born in Arleston, Texas, the daughter of Edgar Lee Burton and Myrtle Etoile Black. She attended Oklahoma City University; Oklahoma University at Norman; Samford University at Birmingham, Alabama; and Brigham Young University at Provo, Utah

Among the many organizations which Mrs. Morris has supported actively in leadership positions at the local, state, and national levels are the Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames of America, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, United States Daughters of 1812, United Daughters of the Confederacy, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, National Society of New England Women, National Society of Old Plymouth Colony Descendants, Dames of the Court of Honor, Women Descendants of The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, Daughters of Colonial Wars, San Jacinto Descendants, Magna Charta Dames, Sovereign Colonial Society Americans of Royal Descent, Colonial Order of the Crown, Plantagenet Society, Order of Washington, Descendants of Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, and Descendants of King William I the Conqueror and His Companions at Arms.

Mrs. Morris is the author of numerous books and papers in genealogy, history, and heraldry. Her biography has appeared in Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, Community Leaders of America, National Social Directory, Five Hundred First Families of America, Texas Women of Distinction, Dictionary of International Biography, The National Register of Prominent Americans and International Notables, Royal Blue Book, Two Thousand Women of Achievement, Living Descendants of Blood Royal, Personalities of the South, The Hereditary Register of the United States of America, and others.

Mrs. Richard N. Grammer, State Regent from 1963 to 1965, is a third-generation Texan and a native of San Antonio. She was educated in the Fort Worth public schools and holds two Bachelor of Arts Degrees From Texas Wesleyan College and a Master of Arts Degree from Texas Christian University.

During fourteen years of working with the Children of the American Revolution, Norma Rutledge Grammer held the offices of Senior President of the William Scott Society of Fort Worth, Texas State Senior President, and National Senior Vice President. For six years she served on the State Credentials Committee of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was State Recording Secretary from 1946 to 1949. She is a former director of the DAR Bus Tour to Continental Congress and was the 1957-1959 Regent of the Mary Isham Keith Chapter. DAR, in Fort Worth.

Mrs. Grammer has dedicated many years of service to the Daughters of the American Colonists: as State Corresponding Secretary from 1951 to 1953, as Organizing Regent of the Honorable Philip Livingston Chapter from 1958 to 1961, as Chapter Regent from 1961 to 1963, as State Regent from 1963 to 1965, and as National Registrar from 1968 to 1973. In addition, she has twice been appointed as State Parliamentarian and was elected President of the DAC National Officers’ Club for 1974-1976. Since 1970 Mrs. Grammer has served as national chairman of the Microfilm Committee. Her other national committee assignments have included the Executive, Colonial and Genealogical Records, Golden Acorns, Patriotic Education, and Index of Lineage Books Committees.

Mrs. Grammer also holds membership in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, United Daughters of the Confederacy. Dames of the Court of Honor. First Methodist Church of Fort Worth, the Woman’s Club of Fort Worth, and the Forth Worth Genealogical Society, for which she served as second editor of the society’s bulletin.

Mrs. Grady Kirby, 1965-1967 State Regent, is a native of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Josephine Coombs came early in her life to Texas, the family making San Antonio its home base, though years were spent in other communities, notably Houston. Educated in local schools, she was graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College Lynchburg, Virginia, on whose Alumnae Council she has sat for many  years  as  her  class  secretary. Post-graduate work was completed at Columbia University, and in 1925 she attended an extra-mural session at Oxford University in England. She married Grady Kirby, a petroleum geologist, on December 5. 1925, at Trinity Episcopal Church of Houston, and for the next twenty years they maintained connections in San Antonio, though his work involved extensive travel. The Kirbys moved permanently to Houston in 1945.

With this move, Josephine Coombs Kirby began her long association with genealogical and historical societies, rising to national heights in several of them. She is an Honorary State President of the Colonial Dames XVII Century and has held three national offices, culminating in her election as Honorary National Vice President in 1972. A member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she has been Regent of the John McKnitt Alexander Chapter of Houston, was State Treasurer for 1961-1964, and continues an active interest in its affairs. She was an organizing member of the Huguenot Society of Texas, served as Historian General for six years, and is an Honorary State President of the Texas Society. She is also Honorary State President of the Texas Society, United States Daughters of 1812, and is a Past President of its Association of State Presidents and Charter Members. In addition, she is a member of the Houston Colony, Magna Charta Dames, and a former president of the Parliamentary Law Club of Houston.

Mrs. Kirby joined the Daughters of the American Colonists in 1954 and was named Organizing Regent of the La Salle Chapter in 1958, serving as first Chapter Regent from 1958 to 1960. She was elected State Corresponding Secretary for 1963-1965 before being named State Regent in 1965. She has twice been appointed as State Parliamentarian. serving from 1967 to 1971.

Mrs. Kirby has long been active in the affairs of the National Society, DAC, as well. She served as national chairman of the Colonial and Genealogical Records Committee from 1967 to 1970, when she was appointed to fill an unexpired term as National Organizing Secretary. Mrs. Kirby held this office until 1973, serving as a member of the National Executive Committee from 1971 to 1973. She was chosen Historian of the National  Society’s State Regents’ Club for 1968 to 1970 and was elected the 1976-1978 Treasurer of the National Officers’ Club.

Mrs. Charles R. Perkins, Regent of the Texas Society from 1967 to 1969, was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of John Overton Banks and Winona Barnes. At an early age she moved with her family           to Beaumont. where she was graduated from high school. She attended Kidd-Key College and the University of Texas prior to her marriage to Charles Reagan Perkins. Her family includes a son, Charles Reagan Perkins, Jr.; a daughter, Winona, the wife of Albert Sidney Martin, Jr.; and three grandchildren.

Winona Banks Perkins is a Methodist, a Sustaining Member of the Longview Junior Service League, and is active in several historical and genealogical Societies, through which she expresses her deep interest in    researching family lines.

Previous to her election as DAC State Regent, Mrs. Perkins served as 1965-1967 State Corresponding Secretary, and she was appointed State Parliamentarian for 1971-1973. She was also named the 1970-1973 Southern Section Vice Chairman of the Insignia Committee. Although originally a member of Louis Guion Chapter, Mrs. Perkins transferred to Sabine River Chapter after it was organized in closer proximity to her Longview home. She was elected Regent of Sabine River Chapter for the 1975-1977 term.

Mrs. Perkins has twice been Regent of the Aaron Burleson Chapter of  the Daughters of the American Revolution, has served two terms as President of the R. B. Levy Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, was Regent of the East Texas Colony of the Magna Charta Dames, and organized the John Tilley Edwards Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, which elected her its first president. She is also a member of Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America and Colonial Dames XVII Century.

Mrs. William Foster Gillespie was named 1969-1971 Regent of the Texas Society. She was born in San Antonio, the daughter of Charles Lee Miller and his wife, Stella Foreman. She was graduated from Saint Mary’s Hall, a San Antonio Episcopal school for girls. She attended the University of Texas and completed advanced music study in New York before her marriage to William Foster Gillespie of Dallas.

Gertrude Miller Gillespie has been a member of the James Campbell Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution since 1952 and has been elected to the offices of Chapter Treasurer and Vice Regent.

Mrs. Gillespie joined the John Chew Chapter of the Daughters of the American Colonists in 1961. She served as Chapter Treasurer and Regent and as State Treasurer and State First Vice Regent before her election as         State Regent. She has also been president of the Texas State Officers’ Club and Southern Section Vice Chairman of the National Golden Acorns Committee.

Community organizations which Mrs. Gillespie supports actively include the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Southern Methodist University Fine Arts Previewers, Southern Methodist University Colophon Society, Dallas County Heritage Society, and Dallas Historical Society, for which she is a trustee. She is a member of the Colonial Dames of America and the Craig Class of  the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation.

Mrs. Martin D. Wolfe was Regent of the Texas Society for 1971-1973. The only child of Wait Eli Morlock and his wife, Eliza Virginia Bingham, was born in Collin County in McKinney on November 7, 1905, and was graduated from the Dallas public schools. She attended Southern Methodist University for two years before preparing for a career at Harrell Business College and completing additional coursework in             accounting. She worked as head bookkeeper for Allyn & Bacon Publishing Company and was later named General Office Manager of the firm.

Following her marriage to Martin D. Wolfe, the couple owned the  Dodge-Plymouth dealership in  Arlington,  Texas, and Mrs. Wolfe also operated her own automobile finance company. Now widowed, she is the mother of two sons.

Virginia Morelock Wolfe became a member of the Honorable Philip Livingston Chapter, Daughters of the American Colonists, in 1959. Her immediate active participation in the organization led to her election in 1963 as State Recording Secretary. She also served as the 1965-1967 State Second Vice Regent and as the 1969-1971 State First Vice Regent before being named State Regent for 1971- 1973. She is now a member of John Chew Chapter.

Mrs. Wolfe was Organizing Regent of the Captain Nathaniel Mills Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and has held numerous chapter offices and DAR state chairmanships. Her other memberships include United States Daughters of 1812, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Sovereign Colonial Society Americans of Royal Descent, Magna Charta Dames, and Colonial Dames XVII Century.

Mrs. J. Sterling Crumpler, the 1973-1975 State Regent, has been a member of the Staked Plains Chapter of Lubbock since 1965. She served as Regent of her chapter from 1969 to 1971 and has held nearly every other chapter office, including First Vice Regent, Chaplain, Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, and Treasurer, in addition to serving as chairman of a number of committees and representing the chapter at State Assemblies. At the state level she has been chairman of committees and has been elected to the offices of State Librarian, State Chaplain, State First Vice Regent, and State Regent. She is also a Past President of the State Officers’ Club. In 1976 she was appointed Southern Section Vice Chairman of the Flag of the United States of America Committee.

Thelma Cain Crumpler is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, the daughter of Vollie William Cain and his wife, Ruth Smith. She was educated at Midwestern University in Wichita Falls, Texas, and Texas Tech University in Lubbock. She and her husband, James Sterling Crumpler, are the parents of one son.

Mrs. Crumpler has varied interests as book reviewer, clubwoman, and participant in civic affairs and patriotic organizations. She is a past president of the South Plains Genealogical Society and has taken an active role in the  Daughters of the American Revolution as chapter regent, State Chaplain, and chairman of three state committees. She is vitally involved in the work of the Methodist Church and has taught an adult Sunday School class in Lubbock for nearly thirty years.

Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans, 1975-1977 State Regent of the Texas Society, Daughters of the American Colonists, was born at Corrigan, Texas, the daughter of Dr. Solomon Adams Bergman and his wife, Edna  Beulah Triplett. She was graduated from Livingston High School and from the College of Industrial Arts, now Texas Woman’s University, at Denton. Following six years as a teacher, Evelyn Bergman was married on August 8, 1932, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Robert  Dawson  Evans. They settled at Devers, where Mr. Evans has ranching interests, and there they reared a son and a daughter and lately have assisted with their two grandchildren.

Mrs. Evans has been an enthusiastic citizen of her community and a supporter of the organizations which have helped give it identification. She has served as Regent and Registrar of Libertad Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, and is a past Organizing Secretary for the Texas Society, DAR.

A member and former First Vice Regent of La Salle Chapter, DAC. Mrs. Evans was twice elected State Treasurer, from 1967 to 1970 and from 1973 to 1975, before being named State Regent for 1975-1977. She was    Historian of the National Society’s State Regents’ Club from 1976 to 1978.

In addition to her work in DAC, Evelyn Bergman Evans is a member of the Colonial Dames of America, Chapter VIII; the Captain James Asbury Tait Chapter, United States Daughters of 1812; Flagon and Trencher (Descendants of Colonial Tavern Keepers), the Liberty County Historical Commission, and the Atascosito Historical Society. She also served for six years on the State Democratic Executive Committee.

Mrs. James Edward Crews, Jr., served from 1977 to 1979 as the twenty-sixth State Regent of the Texas Society, Daughters of the American Colonists. A sixth-generation Texan, Mrs. Crews was born in Huntsville, the daughter of W. D. and Annette Turner McAdams. She was graduated from Huntsville High School and from Southern Methodist University, where she earned the Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with high honors and was named outstanding woman student in the College  of Business Administration. She received the Master of Arts Degree from Sam Houston State University and was later elected president of that university’s alumni association, the first woman to hold the office.

Mrs. Crews is also a past president of the Huntsville Parent-Teacher Association, the Huntsville Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, the Huntsville Study Club, and the Huntsville Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha Alumnae.          She served as chairman of the Huntsville Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women and is presently a member of the administrative boards of the Huntsville Public Library, the Oakwood Cemetery Association, and the Walker County Historical Commission. In 1970 she was named an Outstanding Young Woman of America. As co-chairman of the Heritage Committee of the Huntsville Bicentennial Commission, she compiled and edited Huntsville and Walker County, Texas; A Bicentennial History, which was judged by the Texas Historical Commission as the state’s best county history for 1977.

Before her election as DAC State Regent in 1977, Mrs. Crews was Regent of Huntsville’s Captain John Utie Chapter and was elected 1973-1975 State Recording Secretary and 1975-1977 State First Vice Regent. The  Texas  Society’s only Golden Acorn member to serve as State Regent, Mrs. Crews was named in 1978 and 1979 as a Page for the General Assembly. She was Historian of the State Regents’ Club from 1978 to 1979.

D’Anne McAdams Crews is a past president of the President Houston Chapter, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and served as 1977-1979 Corresponding Secretary General. She has held office in her local chapters    of the Daughters of the American Revolution and United Daughters of the Confederacy and is a member of United States Daughters of 1812, the Huguenot Society of Texas, the Huguenot Society of the Founders of        Manakin in the Colony of Virginia, and the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims. She was ‘awarded the Sons of the American Revolution Medal of Appreciation in 1975 by the Captain John McAdams Chapter, named for her Revolutionary Ancestor.

Mrs. Crews is the widow of Huntsville businessman James Edward Crews, Jr., and the mother of two daughters, Kay Allison, a Golden Acorn member of DAC, and Kelly Anne Crews.

Source:

Crews, D’Anne McAdams, comp and ed. Daughters of the American Colonists in Texas—a History of the Texas Society 1930-1979. Huntsville, Texas: n.p., 1979.