November 6, 2025 - The Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) William Carroll Crawford Chapter gathered to enjoy a meal together on Wednesday, November 5 and to take care of chapter business. After chapter reports were presented, the members enjoyed two programs.
The first was a program on the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce's new Volunteer page on the Chamber's website shelbycountychamber.com. The Volunteer page is a great resource for residents to use for finding volunteer organizations as well as keeping track of their own volunteer hours. The endless possibilities of the website were outlined by DRT member Alease Copelin who has worked with the Chamber to setup the Volunteer resource. Mrs. Copelin who is active with several of the scholarship organizations in the county explained the value of high school students being able to utilize the website to keep up with their volunteer hours. With an account setup, which is free, students can add their volunteer hours and then can create a resume showing their volunteer hours over their high school career.
The next program was brought by Merle Howard, Chapter President. She spoke about the history of the Daughters of the Republic in Shelby County. The William Carroll Crawford Chapter started in 1996 which many of the members are familiar with its history; however, a DRT Chapter was here prior to it. The original DRT Chapter started in Shelby County was called the Oran Milo Roberts Chapter and it was chartered in 1965. The Chapter's name came from the 17th Governor of Texas who was an attorney who moved from Alabama to Texas in 1844 and at one time had a homesite in Shelby County. The Oran Milo Roberts Chapter later disbanded in the late 70s with members transferring to the neighboring San Augustine Chapter. Mrs. Howard shared she has been working on compiling a book for the purpose of preserving our DRT history.
