Chapter History

Behind the Name

Celebrating nearly 100 years of service to our community, the Kate Waller Barrett Chapter, NSDAR, was originally organized as the Arlington Chapter, NSDAR, on February 21, 1925. It was the third chapter in Alexandria, Virginia. The organizing meeting was held at the home of then Virginia State Regent, Kate Waller Barrett. Following her sudden death two days later, the new chapter changed its name in her honor.

About Kate Waller Barrett

Kate Waller Barrett was born January 24, 1855, in Falmouth, Stafford County, Virginia, the eldest of ten children. In 1876, she married Reverend Robert Barrett, and through his ministries, her compassion and service for unwed mothers and their children developed and grew into a lifetime of service and philanthropy. She was elected state regent of the Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution in 1919 and continued to hold that position till her death in 1925. Later, the chapter regent of the newly formed Kate Waller Barrett Chapter, NSDAR, received from Dr. Barrett’s daughter what is believed to be a copy of her mother’s last known dictated letter. Intended for the Virginia DAR, the letter read: “The DAR stands not so much for what we have done for the past in preserving its memory, but what we are doing at present. Although the work is stupendous, it reaches into the far distant future and we are not only reaching hand backward to the past, but we are also extending helping hands to the future.”