Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/490

Rh Mrs. Matthew T. Scott is one of the noblest types of American womanhood. Her character in every sense is worthy of emulation by those who come after her.

Miss Washington was born beneath the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains near the romantic and historic Harper's Ferry. Her father, William Temple Washington, a graduate of William and Mary College, educated his daughters at home. About 1859 Miss Washington's father moved to Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, the Rappahannock flowing between. On this debatable land, between the contending armies of the Civil War, the family suffered all the horrors and all the hardships, and the end showed them deprived of all worldly goods. Mrs. Washington soon died and was followed in a short time by Mr. Washington. Miss Eugenia Washington was offered and accepted an honorable place under the government and made Washington her home until her death. On her mother's side she was descended from Charles Francis Joseph, Count de Flechir, and who served in the War of the Revolution. He was the friend and kinsman of Lafayette. On her father's side she was descended from John Washington who, with his brother Lawrence, settled in the northern neck in Westmoreland County, where the Potomac ran strong and ample and there was easy trade with the home ports of London and Bristol. Descended from such illustrious ancestry on both sides, closely allied with the Father of His Country, George Washington, and of lineal descent from so many who served in the war that made us a nation, it was fitting that Miss Washington should be identified with the organization of the National Daughters of the American Revolution. She was one of the founders and the first registrar. Having served the society as registrar-general, secretary-general and vice-president-general she was, in 1895, made honorary vice-president-general, which high position was for life. She was presented by the society with a magnificent jeweled badge, showing the high appreciation in which she was held and that they recognized in her one of the founders of the great powerful organization. Miss Eugenia Washington died at Washington on Thanksgiving Day, 1900.

Miss Desha was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and was the daughter of Dr. John Randolph and Mary Bracken Desha. She was educated at Sayre Institute and the Kentucky State College at Lexington. She was a teacher in the Kentucky public schools for twelve years, until 1886, when she came to Washington to take a position under the government. This she held until her death in 1910. Miss Desha is most prominent as having been one of the three founders—with Mrs. Ellen Hardin Walworth and Miss Eugenia Washington of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In that society she served