France State Society
The France State Society is the honorary representative in France of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR).
DAR activities in France are organized through the Rochambeau Chapter, NSDAR.
The French American alliance was the key factor that determined the outcome of the American War of Independence (1775-1783).
It was the decision of the King of France, Louis XVI, in 1778, to lend strong military and economic support to the American campaign that led to the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, under the joint leadership of General Washington, General Rochambeau, and Admiral de Grasse.
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, formally ended the War of Independence between the American colonies and Great Britain. The chief American negotiators were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay.
France was the first country to formally recognize the United States of America as an independent nation after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
The DAR in France is committed to preserving the memory of this historical alliance and deepening the ties of French-American friendship that have grown out of shared cultural values over the succeeding generations.
Society Officers (2022 – 2025)
- Regent Marie Laurence de Rochefort-Sirieyx
- Vice-Regent Caroline de Navacelle
- Recording Secretary Béatrice des Rotours
- Corresponding Secretary Frédérique de Beaumont
- Organizing Secretary Camille Priet
- Treasurer Eleanor Mitch
- Registrar Mary McFarland de Swardt
- Historian Agnès de La Rochebrochard
- Librarian Constance de Monts
- Curator Diane de Saint Pierre
- Custodian Katherine de Meaux
- Parliamentarian Marie Françoise de Pesquidoux
History
The ties of friendship between the NSDAR and France can be traced to the beginning of the 20th century.
On the occasion of the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900, the President General of the NSDAR was invited to participate in the inaugural ceremony of two equestrian statues of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. The NSDAR contributed to the conception and financing of these two monumental projects, which symbolize the deep ties of friendship between France and the United States.
During World War I (1914-1918), many members of the NSDAR actively supported the French American friendship, and mobilized relief efforts to reconstruct France and care for its war orphans. The monumental fountain in the town of Tilloloy, in the Somme, commemorates the reconstruction work undertaken to restore the municipal water system, thanks to funds raised by the NSDAR in the United States as early as 1915.
In liaison with the NSDAR, the France State Society was organized in 1926, following the 1923 creation of the Benjamin Franklin Chapter, NSDAR by a group of American DAR members residing in Paris. A second chapter was organized in 1934, the Rochambeau Chapter, NSDAR.
During World War II (1939-1945), a number of DAR members in France relocated to New York City, where they organized relief efforts for orphans in France and operated a cafeteria for members of the French Navy.
After World War II, only the Rochambeau Chapter, NSDAR continued to pursue its activities in France.
State Regents of France
- 2019-2022 Laurence Chatel de Brancion
- 2016-2019 Lucy Williams Morin
- 2013-2016 Dominique Favreul (Madame Hubert Favreul)
- 2010-2013 Stephanie Simonard (Madame Baudouin Simonard)
- 2007-2010 Nicole Merveilleux du Vignaux (Madame Philippe Merveilleux du Vignaux)
- 2004-2007 Christine Malphettes
- 2003-2004 Stephanie Simonard (Madame Baudouin Simonard)
- 2001-2003 Ghislaine Pusy La Fayette (Comtesse de Pusy La Fayette)
- 1998-2001 Stephanie Simonard (Madame Baudouin Simonard)
- 1995-1998 Cecil Pose (Madame Pierre Pose)
- 1992-1995 Jacqueline Szewczyk (Madame Thadée Szewczyk)
- 1989-1992 Hélène Celier (Comtesse Bernard Celier)
- 1987-1989 Nicole Merveilleux du Vignaux (Madame Philippe Merveilleux du Vignaux)
- 1985-1987 Odette de Moulins de Rochefort (Comtesse Louis de Moulins de Rochefort)
- 1983-1985 Adelaide de Montlaur (Comtesse de Montlaur)
- 1981-1983 Ghislaine de Pusy La Fayette (Comtesse de Pusy La Fayette)
- 1979-1981 Jacqueline Maitrot (Madame Alain Maitrot)
- 1977-1979 Chantal Dubois (Madame André Dubois)
- 1975-1977 Elizabeth Brugnon (Madame Stanislas Brugnon)
- 1971-1975 Beatrice C. Coudekerque-Lambrecht (Madame André de Coudekerque-Lambrecht)
- 1969-1971 Marcellac Malartic (Madame Henri Mézan de Malartic)
- 1967-1969 Hildegarde Trocmé (Madame François Trocmé)
- 1965-1967 Geneviève Sanua-Seymour
- 1963-1965 Nelly de Charnacé (Madame Lucien de Charnacé)
- 1960-1963 Mary Koutouzow Tolstory (Comtesse Koutouzov Tolstoy)
- 1958-1960 Edith Sanua-Seymour (Madame Helmi Sanua-Seymour)
- 1956-1958 Jean Mac Jannet Foster (Mrs. Emory Foster)
- 1953-1956 Eleanor M. Row (Mrs. Harlan P. Rowe)
- 1951-1953 Pemela B. Aldersn (Mrs. Barton Alderson)
- 1950-1951 Alice Fitzgibbon (Mrs. Stephen Fitzgibbon)
- 1947-1950 Tryphosa D. Bates-Batcheller
- 1946-1947 Mary Day Watrous (Mrs. Eliot Watrous)
- 1943-1946 Isabel Blake Perrin (Mrs. Charles C. Perrin)
- 1941-1942 Isabel Blake Perrin (Mrs. Charles C. Perrin)
- 1939-1941 Eleanor M. Rowe (Mrs. Harlan P. Rowe)
- 1937-1939 Ada Howard Johnson
- 1935-1937 Alene Hale Shearer (Mrs. Frederic Shearer)
- 1933-1935 Josephine U.M. de Chilly (Comtesse de Chilly)
- 1931-1933 Louise P.S. Connett (Mrs. Albert N. Connett, Jr.)
- 1929-1931 Maude S.W. Conner (Mrs. Benjamin H. Conner)
- 1926-1929 Tobert W. Hanger (Mrs. Henry Hoover-Hanger)
