Monthly Archives: March 2021

Historic Preservation

Utah DAR Monuments & Markers Series Part XII: Escalante Flagpole and Monument

A thirty-foot flagpole and striking red rock monument were dedicated on Friday, November 10, 2016 at Escalante, Utah in remembrance of Utah DAR member Winnie Washburn.
That day would have been Winnie Washburn’s 99th birthday. Winnie Washburn was a member of the Bald Eagle Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and Past Utah State Chaplain.
The dedication ceremony was presented by State Regent Brenda Reeder.  Honorary State Regent Pat Fullerton and Harriet Priska, daughter of Winnie Washburn, assisted with the dedication.
The Flagpole and Monument are overseen by the Bald Eagle Chapter in Cedar City, Utah.
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Gold Star Mothers Remembered

Hello Friends,
As we continue to celebrate Women’s History Month, I would like to call attention to Honorary State Regent Susan Holt and her State Regent’s Project. Her project began in July 2018 to restore the Gold Star Mothers’ Memorial on Gold Star Hill at Memory Grove Park in Salt Lake City.
After months of research, Mrs. Holt was finally able to ascertain the names of the plaques that were missing from the Memorial.  Five plaques had been lost or destroyed. The rest of the Memorial had been damaged by flooding, neglect, and time.
New replacement plaques were fashioned.  The women whose plaques were restored were  Lucy R. Donnelly Garvin, Mary Gertrude Thomas, Martha Alice Davies, Isabella Woodward Knight Halton, and Antoinette Elizabeth Brown Kinney. These women were founding Memory Park Committee members; members of War Mothers, the Service Star Legion, and the Gold Star Mothers Association; and there was even a DAR member amongst these new plaques.
In addition, the large star was added in the center of the amphitheater with brilliant colors of gold and yellow. The wall was also repaired with additional landscaping to deter walkers and joggers from cutting through the memorial.
On June 5th, 2020, the unveiling ceremony took place. Mrs. Holt presided over the presentation and was accompanied by several Utah State DAR Executive Board Members and other Chapter Officers.
Mrs. Holt laid a bouquet of yellow roses, on behalf of the Utah State Society DAR, in remembrance of the sacrifice of these Gold Star Mothers and those mothers whose sacrifice had never been honored.
The video that was live streamed due to the COVID-19 pandemic can be viewed, with this link, on our public Facebook page.
In reverence and gratitude for the Gold Star Mothers’ sacrifice,
Kathryn Asay,
Utah State Regent
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Utah’s Real Daughter

Hello Friends,

The month of March has been designated as Women’s History Month. This Regent would like to discuss one of our State Society’s founding members.

Harriet Jacques Wetmore Sells was a Real Daughter. A Real Daughter is a daughter of a Patriot who fought or assisted the American Revolution. She suggested the name “Spirit of Liberty” for the original Chapter in Utah. Mrs. Sells was also the Organizing Regent for the Spirit of Liberty Chapter; however, the Chapter was disbanded in 1976.

This photograph is Harriet as a young woman.

This photograph is Harriet in 1909, a mere seven years before her death.

Her father was Bela Wetmore, a soldier in the Revolutionary War, that served as a sixteen-year-old volunteer. He was a Private in the Third Massachusetts Regiment. He served until the end of the war in 1783.

Mrs. Sells died in 1916 and was laid to rest in the Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City. She was age 79 at the time of her death. Her original monument, shared with her husband, Elijah B. Sells, has a bronze Real Daughter plaque that was affixed to the side near the time she was buried.

Our Honorary State Regent Brenda Reeder restored Harriet’s headstone as one of her State Regent’s Projects.  The new marker sits at the base of the monument and was dedicated in 2018.

Remembering the “Legacy of Love” that Mrs. Sells left for our Society today,

Kathryn Asay,

Utah State Regent

Historic Preservation

Utah DAR Monuments & Markers Series Part X: Miller Park Plaque

The plaque details the importance of Red Butte Creek in the establishment of Fort Douglas and recognizes Minnie Miller for her generous contribution of land.
The land where the Miller Bird Refuge and Nature Park sits was given as a wildlife refuge in 1935 by Minnie Viele Miller in honor of her late husband, Lee Charles Miller.
Mrs. Miller was the Utah State Regent, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution from 1915-1920 and an original member of the Spirit of Liberty Chapter, Utah’s first chapter.

Red Butte Creek was a source of potable water for local use. During the 1869 grasshopper invasion, the stream was used to facilitate the destruction of the insects.

The plaque was placed in 1997 during the Centennial Year of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Utah. On Flag Day in 1998, the plaque dedication was overseen by State Regent Sue Anderson Ball.

The Plaque is overseen by the Uintah Chapter in Salt Lake City, Utah.