Mary ( Miss Molly) Desha was born in the mid 1800s in Lexington, Kentucky. She was from a prominent , prosperous family; her father was a well respected physician and her grandfather was a Kentucky governor. But, difficulties her family incurred during the Civil War ended their comfortable antebellum lifestyle. A relative once said " bred into luxury, she (Desha) tasted the bitterness of poverty."

No longer able to depend solely on family inheritance, Desha began a career in education. Her jobs included helping to run a private school and teaching in public schools. For a short time, she also studied at State College ( now the University of Kentucky).

In 1888 at the age of 38, Desha's career path led her to the frontier settlement of Sitka, Alaska were she was offered a teaching position. Alone, Desha left Louisville, Kentucky August 12th on a train. The cost for her ticket, sleeper and meals from Louisville to the frontier settlement of Sitka, Alaska was $150.00. Upon arrival she wrote to a friend " ...I arrived here last Friday after a most delightful trip of six days... They believe in women's rights out here so there is no separate reception room. But, women's rights have not affected the men for I never was treated with more kindness or consideration in my life..." Although, soon after this letter was written, Desha's wealthy southern upbringing became a wedge between herself and many of the local people of Sitka. She was a good teacher and loved the beauty of the Alaskan countryside. Though she enjoyed the "women's rights" found in this frontier land, she had difficulty extending these rights to people of other races. For example she wrote "..the majority of the white men here are married to Indian women. They don't seem to care what the women were before they married them..." Unique cultures so different from her own confused Desha and she wrote home often disapproving of their activities.

In 1889, she returned to Lexington and shortly thereafter accepted a minor post in Washington, D.C. as clerk in the pension office, and later as a copyist in the Office of Indian Affairs.

In 1890 the Sons of the American Revolution, an organization founded to "offer men opportunities to perpetuate the memory of ancestors who fought to make this country free and independent" voted to exclude women from their organization. Appalled, Desha and two companions organized the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which was officially incorporated in 1891. The DAR's goal is preservation of history and memorabilia from the American Revolution. This organization became Desha's life's work. She was the first DAR Vice President General and designed the DAR seal. She was also assistant director of the DAR hospital corps during the Spanish American War. Desha died in 1911 and was buried in the Lexington Cemetery.

 Source:

Potter, Eugenia K. Kentucky Women Two Centuries of Indomitable Spirit and Vision. Louisville: Four Colour Imports, 1997.