Susan Emma Daugherty Banister Chapter, NSDAR
Forney, Texas
About Our Chapter:
The Susan Emma Daugherty Banister Chapter, NSDAR, was organized on May 5, 2024, with 30 members and declared a Lantern Chapter. An organizing celebration was held on June 8, 2024, attended by officers of the Texas Society Daughters of the American Revolution Marcy Carter-Lovick, State Regent; GeorgiAnne Brochstein, State Chaplain; Shirley Bland, State Recording Secretary; Susan Johnston, State Organizing Secretary; and Judy Ditmore, State Treasurer. Also in attendance were Tamara Moler, District 6 director; Anne Harding, District 3 Director; and several state chairs and state vice chairs.
Our chapter is named for a woman who was born in Forney, Texas, on October 20, 1871. Her father, Bailey, who came to the Forney area from Alabama before the Civil War, was murdered in 1878. After her mother remarried, she stayed with her family for two or three years, then went to live with the family of her uncle, where she finished school and obtained a teaching certificate. She married lawman (former Texas Ranger and special agent for the United States Treasury) and widower John R. Banister in 1894, and together they raised nine children. John Banister was elected sheriff of Coleman County in 1914. She served as his deputy. On August 1, 1918, John died and she was appointed to complete his term of office. Newspapers across the country did not fail to notice that a woman, even in the era before woman suffrage, had been made a sheriff in Texas. Under the heading "Woman A Sheriff," the New York World newspaper classed our namesake among "a stock of westerners that do not know fear." She ran the office efficiently by day, answering mail, instructing deputies, replying to inquiries, and managing the prisoners, all while caring and cooking for her own family of nine. She declined the commissioners' offer to place her name on the ballot for a further term in office. At the completion of her term, the family moved back to the farm in Santa Anna. She died June 5, 1976. Her ancestors had arrived from Europe and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, fought in the French and Indian Wars, were on our side during both the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and then migrated to this area and fought for Texas’ independence — her grandmother was one of the first female landowners in the Forney area and became a long-time farmer. Members of the family still live in Forney, Kaufman, and other areas of both Kaufman and Ellis counties.
The Susan Emma Daugherty Banister Chapter, NSDAR, strives to further the DAR objectives of education, service to veterans, women’s issues, historical preservation, national defense, citizenship and conservation.
Chapter Meetings:
Chapter meetings are held September through May.
LAST UPDATED: JANUARY 5, 2026
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