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Preston Trail Chapter, NSDAR Pottsboro, Texas | Organized in December 2011 |
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Two genealogy workshops were held that summer, at which time any woman interested in joining NSDAR was given individual help in tracing her family lines to search for an American patriot. Trained DAR volunteer genealogists assisted the women in their research. On December 10, 2011, ninety-seven prospective members and guests gathered at Tanglewood Country Club for a formal dinner and meeting. During the meeting, Texas DAR Division II Chairman Marcy Carter Lovick installed the chapter’s first officers: Organizing Regent Joy Vian Martin, Vice Regent Lisa Lettie, Chaplain Michelle Alverson, Treasurer Margaret Alverson, Registrar Luanne Sbarbaro, Recording Secretary Ann Nikirk, Corresponding Secretary Gay Hilbert, Historian Ocia Jeffries, and Librarian Clara Landers. TXDAR State Registrar Margaret (Peggy) Jones installed thirty-three women into NSDAR to become the organizing members of the chapter. The last event of the evening was the announcement of the new chapter’s name, Preston Trail. We invite you to join us!
September 03, 2020 - “The Founding Fathers and the Constitution” — Ken Tooke October 01, 2020 - “Impact of Migration on Genealogy Research” — Marcy Carter-Lovick November 05, 2020 - “DAR Honorary President's General Reflections” January 07, 2021 - “Women of Resilience DAR Service in WWII” February 04, 2021 - “DAR Library” March 01, 2021 - “DAR Memorial Continental Hall” April 01, 2021 - “In Their Words: The Story of the Founding of DAR, Presented at the 125th Continental Congress” May 06, 2021 - Annual Awards Banquet. Honoring Unsung Heroes, Preston Trail Scholarship Winner, and DAR Good Citizen Winners Opening Doors for Our Veterans
We keep our soldiers and veterans foremost in our minds by sending them toiletries, phone cards, clothing, hair products, magazines, and books. We also volunteered at the First Annual Veterans European Pheasant Hunt in December 2014 held at the High Brass Hunting Preserve in Grant, Oklahoma. The hunt is sponsored by The Foundation for Exceptional Warriors (The F.E.W.) and Dreamcatcher Ranch. The event makes it possible for 20-25 veterans and their families to spend the day outdoors visiting and enjoying a friendly hunting competition, lunch, dinner, awards, and prizes. Plans are to make this an annual event. Please contact our chapter for further information. Support Cinderella's Closet Cinderella's Closet provides evening gowns and accessories to military spouses and service women for military balls and special events throughout the year.
Members routinely visit our veterans at the hospital and deliver handwritten thank you notes on holidays such as Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Preston Trail Chapter NSDAR Scholarship Our goal is to award a scholarship to a Grayson County High School senior who has plans to attend college. The scholarship is academics based and every applicant must be a resident of Grayson County. Applicants submit a two page essay describing a U.S. veteran, a family member or an ancestor, who has served our country, and what this service means to the applicant. Contact our chapter for application forms. Ronald McDonald House (Dallas, Texas) Our chapter collects aluminum can pop-tops to offset family expenses while their child is undergoing medical treatment. Here are some of the things we do. We invite you to get involved with us and our community! Promote women's issues by distributing materials on women's health and personal safety; volunteering at women's shelters. Save and donate qualifying clothing and aluminum can pull tabs. Assist in church activities, beautification projects, and community volunteerism.
Observe NSDAR Day of Prayer. Observe National Bible Week. Help teachers promote American History, patriotism and good citizenship. Subscribe to American Spirit Magazine and give subscriptions as gifts. Sign cards for veterans, donate gifts, and visit veterans' hospitals. Fly the American Flag, donate flag brochures and pins, and participate in Flag Day ceremonies. Train as a volunteer field genealogist (DAR designation). Donate books to the DAR Library and our local library. Promote literacy in our community. Participate in planting trees, recycling, and Earth Day activities.
The new trail was named after a young commanding officer of a unit of the Republic of Texas, William Gilwater Preston. At age 23, he was stationed at the newly founded Fort Preston near Preston, Texas, on the Red River. His soldiers were responsible for building a road from Preston to Austin, Texas, and the road was surveyed in 1840.
The ancient trail is said to have extended from Mexico through Central Texas all the way northeast to St. Louis, Missouri. And this Texas Road was in use as early as the 1840s. The route of the Preston Trail in Texas followed the earlier cattle trail that came to be known also as the Shawnee Trail. Cattle swam the Red River at Rock Bluff Crossing, a natural rock formation that served as a chute into the water. The last large herd of cattle moved through the Pottsboro area in 1871. In one six-week period in 1845, roughly 1,000 wagons crossed the river into Texas. Emigrants from the north crossed the Red River just below its confluence with the Washita River at a ford known as Rock Bluff Crossing. By 1870 the main cattle trails were farther west, but the Preston Road was still the most important route for immigrant and freighter traffic in north central Texas. However, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad bridge across the Red River was built in 1872 at Denison, twelve miles downstream from Preston, and, with the major flow of traffic bypassing it both east and west, the road declined in importance. Today, Preston Road is a major commercial roadway
stretching from the heart of Dallas through several suburbs between Dallas and
Pottsboro. There are several statues installed along the road in Frisco, Texas,
depicting the Native Americans, cattle drives, and settlers who used the trail.
The small town of Pottsboro has no
less than four historical markers along Farm to Market Road 120. |
In June of
2011, the seed to create a new chapter for Texas DAR was planted. A month
later, Leta Koch and Gay Hilbert of Pottsboro, Margaret Alverson of Denison,
and Joy Vian Martin of Sherman came together to plan the first invitational
meeting.
Each
year our chapter holds a fundraiser to assist disabled veterans in Grayson
County. The project aims to widen home bathroom doors and replace fixtures with
accessible ones, as needed.
Bonham,
Texas VA Hospital
Enter fiber arts, art sculpture and crafts,
literature, music, drama, and quilts in the American Heritage contests offered
by NSDAR.
Albert Sidney
Johnston, Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas in 1839, sent soldiers
under the command of Col. William Gordon Cooke to build a road from the Brazos
River to the Red River and establish frontier forts to protect settlers from
Indian attacks.
Preston Trail
was a road created in 1841 by the Republic of Texas from Preston, Texas, on the
Red River, near present day Pottsboro, south to Austin, Texas. It was started
near the community of Preston Bend in present