Chapter History

Captain Jacob Van Meter Chapter
Founded January 10, 1947

Miss Margaret Ann Patterson, organizing regent, presented the eighteen charter members and their guests to the State Regent, Mrs. Hugh L. Russell and other visiting state officers at a formal reception preceding the organizational meeting. Captain Jacob Van Meter was selected as the chapter name to honor Hardin County’s well-known pioneer.

Captain Jacob Van Meter served as an Ensign in the Illinois Regiment under George Rogers Clark, fighting in Virginia, Illinois and Ohio in the 1777 campaign. Later as a Captain in the Virginia Militia he fought the Shawnee Indians.

In the later part of 1780, Captain Jacob Van Meter accompanied his uncle Jacob Van Meter Sr. and 100 settlers from Virginia to southwest Pennsylvania and finally down the Ohio River by flatboat to the Falls of the Ohio. From there, the group set out over land some 40 miles to Severn’s Valley where a fort was built in now Hardin County. Captain Jacob Van Meter settled on over 3000 acres of land received in payment for his military services to the United States during the American Revolution.

CHARTER MEMBERS

Miss Margaret Ann Patterson, Regent
Miss Elizabeth Beeler, Vice-Regent
Miss Virginia Beeler, Chaplain
Mrs. Ellen R. Kindervater, Recording Secretary
Mrs. Fannie Oxford Holman, Corresponding Secretary and Treasurer
Mrs. Bessie Taylor Van Horne, Registrar
Miss Sue Holbert, Historian
Mrs. Marion McNair Carraway
Mrs. Augusta Robinson Goodman
Mrs. Betty Losson Hartlage
Miss Joyes Joplin
Mrs. Belle Sale Joplin
Miss Ellen C. Kindervater
Mrs. Margaret Mantle Losson
Miss Elizabeth Marshall
Mrs. Anna Vaughan Patterson
Miss Mary Louise Patterson

FORMER CHAPTER REGENTS

Miss Margaret Ann Patterson 1947-1948
Miss Annie Elizabeth Beeler 1948-1949
Mrs. Ellen Roddy Kindervater 1949-1950
Miss Annie Elizabeth Beeler 1950-1952
Mrs. Augusta Robinson Goodman 1952-1954
Mrs. Fannie Oxford Gordon 1954-1957
Mrs. Helen Bruner Welch 1957-1958
Mrs. Katherine Walters Murray 1958-1960
Mrs. Jessie Mae Holman Underwood 1960-1963
Miss Mary Louise Patterson 1963-1966
Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart Pate 1966-1968
Mrs. Jessie Scott Williams 1968-1970
Mrs. Nellie Vertrees Sherwood 1970-1972
Mrs. Nell Ashlock Edmondson 1972-1974
Mrs. Lila Adams Dykes 1974-1976
Mrs. Pauline Collins Stone 1976-1978
Mrs. Jessie Mae Holman Underwood 1978-1980
Mrs. Marion Beckwith Lemaire 1980-1982
Mrs. Billie Jo Burness Meldrum 1982-1986
Mrs. Guyular Wolford Winstead 1986-1989
Mrs. Jessie Scott Williams 1989-1992
Mrs. Lucille Turner Brown 1992-1998
Mrs. Oneta Agler Brooks 1998-1999
Mrs. Eleanor Townsend Gamble 1999-2001
Mrs. Julia Nugent Richardson 2001-2004
Mrs. Rita Smith Byars 2004-2007
Mrs. Martha Gibson Lawson 2007-2010
Mrs. Margaret Elaine Small Martin 2010-2013
Mrs. Susan Elaine Evans McCrobie 2013-2016
Mrs. Joyce Lee Thomas Miller 2016-2019