Carolyn Gregg, who teaches education and research at Tusculum College, has compiled a history of the Nolachuckey Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The photo behind Gregg is of the Tusculum class of 1910, three members of which were charter members of the chapter. (Tusculum College photo)

Tusculum professor documents history of the Nolachuckey DAR

In the classroom, Tusculum College professor Carolyn Gregg teaches her students about research, and the results of one of her own research projects have been recently published.

The book, published by the Daughters of the American Revolution, traces the history of the Greene County-based chapter, provides information about founding members and presents genealogical information about members' ancestors. The Daughters of the American Revolution is a national volunteer organization focusing on historic preservation, promotion of education, and patriotic endeavor. Women who have a lineal ancestor who helped the United States gain independence are eligible for membership.

Gregg, herself a member of the Nolachuckey chapter, researched meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, information from family members, and archived material to tell the history of the chapter. She also contacted other chapters and individuals.

"It was fun for me, and I really enjoy research of any kind," Gregg said. "It was something that needed to be done. When we contacted the state chapter about whether we could legally publish such a book, we were told that it was something that all local chapters should do."

The book consists of four sections: a history of the chapter, biographical sketches of the founding members, a listing of members and their Revolutionary War-era ancestors, and an ancestral file listing the veterans, what they did, and their children.

Gregg found numerous ties between the Nolachuckey DAR and Tusculum College. The chapter was started at the college in 1921. Charter members included Mrs. Charles Oliver Gray, wife of the Tusculum president at the time, and Carrie Clemmons, who had graduated from the college in the 1880s and whose husband was a faculty member. Several other alumni were also charter members of the DAR chapter.

The women who started the chapter sought a constructive activity, Gregg said. "This was when many women were mothers who did not work outside of the home, although there were many members who did work," Gregg said. Members of the chapter have ever since been busy in the organization's many projects to help better the community, including starting a library downtown, building Greeneville's Olde Towne Gate, saving historic Old Harmony Cemetery from ruin, and providing scholarships for deserving young people.

Gregg's responsibilities at Tusculum include teaching, co-directing the Warren W. Hobbie Center for the Civic Arts, and providing musical accompaniment for many of the student and community productions done through Tusculum's Arts Outreach program. How did she find to time to fit researching and writing a book into her busy schedule?

From January to April of last year, Gregg's teaching schedule did not include evening courses, and an Arts Outreach play last spring was not a musical, so she was free to devote time to the project.

The project began the previous fall when Gregg helped move the DAR's records from the Greeneville-Greene County Library to the library's new genealogical center. The Tennessee DAR chapter had sent out its request for information about members who had joined in the past 15 years. Gregg said she decided to keep the files to submit this information before taking them to the new genealogical center.

The Tennessee chapter prints a book each 15 years listing members and their ancestors, but only includes those members who have joined chapters statewide in that time period. If a person looks for genealogical information through a member, but that member had joined prior to the past 15 years, the previous volumes have to be searched, Gregg explained. Deciding it would be of benefit to have the Nolachuckey chapter's information in one volume, she set about to create that volume.

One of Gregg's challenges was finding photos of many of the charter members of the organization, formed at a time when not many people had cameras or had photos taken.

Looking through archived Greeneville Sun newspapers, Gregg discovered obituaries for many of the early members. These contained needed information, but not that desired picture. "The obituaries were beautifully written … but there were no photos," she said.

Scrapbooks of the DAR provided much material and photos, and Gregg spent much time looking through material on microfilm. Friends and neighbors such as Betsey Bowman, Elizabeth Orr, and Elizabeth Tallent gave information about their family members in the DAR, she said, and people such as local historian Richard Doughty provided other details.

One photo has proven a bit of a mystery. In 1918, a celebration was held to mark the placement of a monument in the courtyard of the Greene County Courthouse by DAR ladies in Greeneville and the Morristown chapter. A photo taken at this celebration has members of the Morristown chapter named. Only a few of the individuals from Greeneville are identified, and Gregg has not been able to find anyone who is able to idenify the rest or any information listing the rest. Among the few Greenevillians identified are the hosts of the celebration, Mr. And Mrs. Andrew Patterson (seated on the porch); and Roby Fitzgerald, Hassie Hacker Doughty and Lucy Piper Ridgway, standing on the steps at the left. Mrs. John Helms, regent of the Samuel Doak Chapter, is on the landing.

The book is now on sale at the T. Elmer Cox Genealogical Center of the Greeneville-Greene County Library and at Dixie's Christian Bookstore. Proceeds will go to the DAR, with a share going to the genealogical center.