Mary McCoy Baines Chapter was organized April 13, 1960.  The organizing regent was Lucille Hill Walker.  In honor of Mrs. Walker, the chapter was named for her great great great grandmother, Mary McCoy Baines.

Mary McCoy Baines, born in North Carolina in 1783 of Scots lineage, married Thomas Baines, also of Scots descents, in 1808.  Mary McCoy Baines was the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier.

She became the mother of pioneer Americans who settled in Texas on land grants and fought in the wars for independence from Mexico.  One son distinguished himself as a minister and educator.  He was friend and advisor of General Sam Houston and served as an early-day president of Baylor University.

Leaders, statesmen, educators and doctors are numerous among her descendants, the most distinguished of these having become the 36th president of the United States of America.