Our Members
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Welcome to the website of the Betty Allen Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR). We are a diverse and talented group of women who vary in age from eighteen to ninety plus.
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a non-profit, non political, volunteer service organization with over 175,000 members and 3,000 chapters. Chapters are located in all fifty states and in many countries around the world. On October 11, 1890, eighteen women met to officially organize the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) for historic preservation, education, and patriotic purposes. The Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution is a state society which was organized in 1892. Currently we have over 2,100 members in forty chapters located across the Bay State. Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution, is eligible for membership. We welcome new members. To learn more about membership click here. |
Chapter History
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1926
Be it known that Helen C. Sergeant, Anne C. Copeland, Harriet J. Kneeland, Lucy Wright Pearson, Martha F. Gere, Elizabeth A. Crooks, Eve Owen Cochran and Clara P. Bodman have associated themselves with the intention of forming a corporation under the name of the Betty Allen Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Incorporated. Named to honor Elisabeth (Betty) Parsons Allen (25 Mar 1716 to 10 Jan 1800). Born, lived and died in Northampton; had 13 children - seven sons fought in the American Revolution. Betty was a mid-wife "above fifty years, and assisted in bringing 3000 children into the world". The Betty Allen Chapter was organized January 16, 1896, with twenty-one charter members. In 1926 Members of the Betty Allen Chapter purchased the house at 148 South Street in Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, to be used as its Chapter House. This beautiful house is a notable example of early New England architecture, with its fine paneling, fireplaces, and unusually handsome carved stairway, copied from the pulpit staircase in King's Chapel, Boston. Built about 1754 by a member of the Clapp family, it was formerly the home of David Monroe Clapp, a farmer, who "owned the land way back to the meadows". David Monroe Clapp was the grandson of Ebenezer Clapp, a Revolutionary soldier who also fought in the French and Indian War, and the son of Elihu Clapp and Jane Boucher Monroe of Charlestown. He was a direct descendant, on his father's side, of Preserved Clapp, Isaac Sheldon and Thomas Ford, early settlers in Northampton; and on his mother's side he was descended from James Chilton, a passenger on the Mayflower, and one of the signers of the "Immortal Compact". The house was occupied by successive generations of the Clapp family. Upon the death of Miss Harriet Clapp, it passed into the hands of Karl S. Putnam, a well-known architect, who restored it to its original Colonial character. Betty Allen Chapter purchased this house from him and it was dedicated October 15, 1926. |
