Mary Desha

Desha was born on March 8, 1850, in Lexington, Kentucky, to Dr. John Randolph Desha and Mary Bracken Curry Desha. She was a granddaughter of Kentucky Governor Joseph Desha, who served as a private during the American Revolutionary War and as a major general in the War of 1812. She was also a descendant of Katherine Montgomery, a dispatch bearer during the American Revolution whose husband, Isaac Bledsoe, served as a colonel in the Continental Army. Desha attended the University of Kentucky (at that time known as "Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky"), after which she taught at a private school which she and her mother had founded. ==Career==

After attending the University of Kentucky, she obtained a job with the Lexington public school system until December 1885, when she began work as a clerk in Washington, D.C. A note appeared in the Tacoma Ledger in January 1889, stating, "The Board of Education of Alaska has abolished flogging in the public school. This is a green laurel in the frosty crown of our northerly sister that will distinguish her as a leader in humanitarianism. Flogging school children is a relic of barbarism that casts a sad reflection upon our boasted civilization and scientific achievements." Sons of the American Revolution members Registrar General Dr. George Brown Goode, Secretary General A. Howard Clark, William O. McDowell (SAR member #1), Wilson L. Gill (secretary at the inaugural meeting), and 18 other people also met at the Strathmore Arms that day, but Desha, Lockwood, Ellen Hardin Walworth, and Eugenia Washington are called co-founders since they had held two or three planning meetings in August 1890. ==Legacy==

• At Desha's death the first memorial service ever held in Memorial Continental Hall was held for her by the Daughters of the American Revolution. • The Mary Desha Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution is located in the District of Columbia. ==References==