A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
On the ninth day of January 1908, Louise Barnum Robbins (Mrs. Richard), of Adrian, Michigan, was entrusted, by the State Regent of Michigan, with a Commission to form a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This Commission was approved by the National Board of Management in Washington, DC.
Mrs. Robbins worked hard and diligently to gather the required number of members for this patriotic organization. Her efforts were rewarded when the newly formed chapter held its first meeting at her home on the southwest corner of Broad and Toledo Street in Adrian, Michigan, on the 19th of April, 1909. Members present wanted to name the organization after Mrs. Robbins, but were informed by her that National DAR rules did not allow a chapter to be named after a living person. She responded by thanking them for their esteem, and if they had no objection she would think of a name and report at the next meeting.
Mrs. Robbins welcomed the ladies with an address stressing the work and duties of members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and giving some history of the organization of the original society. Each member was reminded of the sacrifice her ancestors had made to form this great Republic of ours.
The appointment of Mrs. Robbins as Chapter Regent was confirmed and she was instructed to appoint the officers and the committees.
May was selected as the Annual Meeting for the election of officers and annual reports. The third Monday, at 3:00 p.m., from October through May, was set for the regular meetings.
Mrs. Robbins then declared that the preliminaries had been met and proclaimed: “by the power vested in me that this Chapter is duly and formally instituted.” She then congratulated the ladies upon being “participants in the formation of so fine a Chapter.” At that first meeting twenty-nine ladies were present with a total of forty-seven as Charter Members.
The program was dedicated to the remembrance of Lexington Day, April 19, 1775, after which the Regent presented a memento of the day to the members. This was in the form of a souvenir booklet about Lexington, which she had procured directly from Lexington, Mass.
The second meeting of the new chapter was held on May 17, 1909, at 3:00 p.m., at the home of Mrs. Robbins, 25 Broad Street. It opened with a prayer from the DAR ritual and the singing of “America”, led by Miss Josephine Lambie. Twenty-seven members answered the roll call.
Mrs. Robbins announced that the time had come to name the Chapter, and she requested that it be named “Lucy Wolcott Barnum”. The motion was made and carried unanimously. The Regent was deeply touched and thanked them for the honor and distinction conferred upon her, in naming the Chapter after her great-grandmother, a woman whose father, Samuel Wolcott, and brother, Samuel, Jr., and husband, Stephen Barnum were Revolutionary soldiers.
She served on the Board of Trustees of Adrian College until her death. In 1896, the college conferred on her an honorary Master of Arts degree.
She died at her home on Broad Street, in Adrian.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
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