Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War Ellen Spencer Mussey
Tent #1
District of Columbia

Tent / Department History

The Ellen Spencer Mussey Tent Number One was chartered as a Detached Tent in Washington, DC on October 8, 1902. Twenty-four women signed the original charter. Emma Hayward was the first president of the Tent.

The Tent was named for Mrs. Ellen Spencer Mussey, the wife of Civil War Brigadier General Rueben Delavan Mussey. She was the first woman to be admitted to the Bar in Washington, DC.

The Tent engaged in numerous community, patriotic, educational, historical, genealogical and civic projects.

The National organization granted Department status to the Ellen Spencer Mussey Tent in 1977, and in 1978 permitted it to become an independent Department: The Department of the District of Columbia. The group operates under Department rules and has complete representation in the National Body.
 
 
 
Charter Members of the Ellen Spencer Mussey Tent
 
Angelina E. Beckman Alice M. Kimball
Paulina A. Beckman Ella S. Knight
Cornelia Clay Mary LeTryon
Elmira Foley Pearl G. Little
Fanny Gushewsky Mary M. North
Jennie Hamilton
Lillian A. Norton (obit) (FindAGrave)
Katie H. Hancock Anna M. Roberts
Emma F. Hayward (obit) (FindAGrave) Alice O. Sanderson (obit) (FindAGrave)
Alice Henkel Martha Spencer
Honora Jane Hoffleger Gertrude M. Stevens
Lilly Kemi Jennie Marvin Taylor
Hattie Kemi Laura Thompson
 
 
 
 Past Department Presidents of the Ellen Spencer Mussey Tent
 
2023-2025 Feleica Farr
2021-2023
Bonnie Brose
2019-2021
Megan Ryno
2017-2019
Joan B. Trafton
2015-2017
Joan B. Trafton
2013-2015
Patricia Kottemann, PNP (obit)
2011-2013
Dorothy Cloud (obit)
2009-2011
Grace B. Clifford
2007-2009
Patricia Kottemann (obit)
2006-2007
Carolyn Mitchell (obit) (FindAGrave)
2004-2006
Felicia P. Stidham (obit)
2002-2003
Grace B. Clifford 
2000-2002
Patricia Kottemann (obit)
1999-2000
Linda S. Murr
1991-1999
Sherry L. Padalino (obit)
1995-1997
Roena Bayes
1994-1995
Sherry Padalino (obit)
1993-1994
Sallie C. Pusey (obit) (FindAGrave)
1991-1993
Iva L. Di Francis (obit)
1982-1991
Ellen J. Beckman, PNP
1981
Barbara Mook (obit) (FindAGrave)
1977-1980
Iva L. Di Francis (obit)
1976
Argie Sornson (FindAGrave)
1975
Marguerite Harris
1974
Bonnie Moore
1973
Argie Sornson (FindAGrave)
1972
Elsie Allen Shores (FindAGrave)
1971
Marv B. Gordon
1970
Clotida A. Burnett
1969
Grace B. Green (obit) (FindAGrave)
1968
Kate L. Ohi (FindAGrave)
1967-1968
Violet Hopkins (FindAGrave)
1963-1966
Ellen Beckman 
1961-1962
Mildred C. Baruch (obit)
1960
Mary Gordon
1958-1959
Alta Koyl (obit)
1956-1957
Lucetta Hewitt
1955
Thekla Kontos (FindAGrave)
1954
Celia W. Beckman (FindAGrave)
1952-1953
Pearl B. Colecchia (obit)
1951
Cora V. Dorsey (obit) (FindAGrave)
1950
Edith R. Bugbee (FindAGrave)
1949
Man M. Crawford
1948
Alice L. Lippold
1947
Myrtle L. Burke
1946
Laura A. Kane
1945
Edith R. Bugbee
1944
Mary E. Kerr
1943
Anne V. Hausman
1942
Mildred F. Poore
1941
Amelia A. Yoder
1940
Jessie M. Lewis
1939
Lizzie Bassett
1938
Clara Holbrook (obit) (FindAGrave)
1937
Sylvia D. MacLaughlin (FindAGrave)
1936
Eva C. Garis (FindAGrave)
1935
Alice Meade
1934
Lavinia Bashford (FindAGrave)
1933
Esther R. Lippold
1931-1932
Nan D. Slatten Thurber (obit)
1930
Anna Horn
1929
Ellen S. Meyers (FindAGrave)
1928
Olive C. Johnson (obit) (FindAGrave)
1927
Kathryn C. Rahn (obit)
1925-1926
Anna Hage McElroy
1924
Etoile Albright (obit) (FindAGrave)
1923
E. Helen Temple
1922
Katie A. Guiton
1921
Hermione A. Young Sutton 
1920
Almira Ella G. Clements
1919
Rosalie McKee Shelton
1917-1918
Mary Van Ness Fauth
1915-1916
Jennie L. Hamilton
1914
Hester B. Tritipoe Warner
1913
Bella J. Howe
1912
Ella L. Washburn (obit)
1911
Rose M. Sefton
1910
M. Genevieve Spencer
1909
Mary H. Crenshaw Fortier
1906-1908
Anna M. Roberts
1905
Vivienne D. Staley
1904
Lillian A. Norton
1902-1903
Emma F. Hayward