Desire Tobey Sears
  Chapter DAR ~ History

Desire Tobey Sears Chapter DAR was organized on April 12, 1924, in Mankato, Kansas. Mrs. Clarence Drake was Organizing Regent, and the chapter name honors Mrs. Drake's Revolutionary ancestor, Desire Tobey Sears.

Called "Desire, the Mother of Patriots" because she had five sons in the Revolution, Desire Tobey Sears was born in 1707 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. On May 28, 1730, she married James Sears, a substantial farmer. They had ten children and sixty grandchildren. She died at Ridgefield, Connecticut, in 1781.

A treasure of the chapter is a gavel made from wood taken from the White House during the construction of 1812. This was a gift by chapter member, Mrs. Hays B. White, whose husband was a U.S. Congressman from the 6th District of Kansas.

The chapter is active in all areas of DAR, and with its long history has seen many changes. World War II brought great change in the focus of the chapter, when historical teas were converted to Red Cross benefit teas. It is rising to the occasion when the patriotic need arises that is the true mark of DAR, and is chronicled in its history of over 110 years.

The chapter placed a marker in the City Park of Jewell, Kansas, honoring early pioneers, and marking the site of old Fort Jewell. Fort Jewell, built in 1870, was a defensive fort built by settlers calling themselves the "Buffalo Militia." The fort walls were built four feet thick and seven feet high, enclosing a space fifty yards square. The walls were built of prairie sod.

The chapter has been honored to have several of its scholarship applicants receive state scholarships. Since its inception, the chapter has looked for ways to serve the community and the DAR in its objectives of Promotion of Education, Historical Preservation, and Patriotic Endeavor.

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