By Kathy Terlesky
The Cabell family has a long and interesting connection with the Daughters of the American Revolution. Several members of the Cabell family have been members of the DAR over the years, but one Cabell by marriage holds a particularly important place in the Society’s early history: Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell.
Mary was among the DAR’s earliest leaders and helped shape the vision and governance of the organization during its first three years. Her contribution is still remembered at DAR headquarters in Washington, D.C., where her portrait hangs in the Administration Building near the Cabell Conference Room.
At the First Continental Congress in 1892, Mary addressed the Society and described her vision for its future headquarters, a “House Beautiful” in or near Washington that would be owned by the women of the DAR and would stand as a lasting symbol of the organization. That vision eventually took physical form. Construction on Memorial Continental Hall began in 1904, and the completed building opened in 1910.
The Cabell family’s connection to DAR headquarters continued through the years. On October 2, 1971, the 15th annual membership meeting of the Cabell Society was held in Continental Hall at DAR headquarters in Washington, D.C., with sixty members attending.
And the connection continues today. At the 135th Continental Congress in June 2026, two Cabell descendants and fellow Daughters of the American Revolution, Amy Harp and Zoe Emdur, found one another in the halls of DAR headquarters and stopped for a quick photograph together.
From Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell’s vision of a “House Beautiful,” to the Cabell Society gathering there in 1971, to Cabell descendants meeting in those halls again in 2026, the Cabell family’s connection with the DAR has endured for more than a century.