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General Marquis Calmes Chapter

NSDAR

Versailles, Kentucky






 
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Welcome to the General Marquis Calmes Chapter


At the chapter organizational meeting in November 1923, Mrs. Robert Keene Arnold was elected Regent and  Mrs. Theodore Harris was elected Vice Regent. Mrs. Harris read a sketch of the life and service of General Marquis Calmes, the founder of Versailles, written by her father, the late John Andrew Steele and, at her suggestion, it was decided to name the chapter after the General.

General Marquis Calmes was born in the Shenandoah County of Virginia on February 26, 1755. He was sent abroad to be educated as was the custom of wealthy families of that period, but when the Revolutionary War broke out in October, 1775, he returned home to serve his country. In October, 1775, Marquis Calmes was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Company of Captain Alexander Spotswood. Later, he raised and equipped a company of soldiers at his own expense, and with them, served with distinction. He was Captain of his company and in 1812 was promoted to General.

Marquis Calmes had visited the Kentucky area in 1775 and purchased four hundred acres of land in what would later become Woodford County. By preemption warrant signed by Patrick Henry, Calmes received one thousand acres of land near the town which he would name Versailles. At the close of the war, he returned to this area and built a fine home three and one-half miles from Versailles.  At the age of twenty-seven, Calmes married Priscilla Heale (Hale) and they had nine children. He died February 27, 1834, and his remains repose with those of his wife  in a stone mausoleum at their home.

The organizing officers were Regent Mrs. Robert Keene Arnold, Vice Regent Mrs. Theodore Harris, Registrar Mrs. George Douglas, Secretary Miss Katherine Sullivan, Historian Mrs. Wade H. George, Treasurer Mrs. B.F. Chenault, and Chaplain Mrs Horace Gay. Kentucky State Regent Mrs. William Rodes was present

The General Marquis Calmes Chapter is honored to have had our Organizing Regent Mrs. Robert Arnold to represent the chapter as the State Regent and as a National Officer twice.
 

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