Miss Gertrude Sprague Carraway was born August 6, 1896 in the home where she spent most of her life at 207 Broad Street, New Bern, North Carolina until her death on May 7,1993 at the age of 96.
     Gertrude graduated from the Women's College of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro; continued her studies in Graduate work at Columbia University in New York;  began her career as an English teacher, and later became a journalist and newspaper editor.  She was editor of New Bern's town newspaper, The Sun Journal, from 1924 to 1937.  Miss Carraway kept the newspaper running with her personal funds during the Great Depression.  Gertrude Carraway is the author of six books about North Carolina history and many other stories, articles, and pamphlets. 
     Gertrude Carraway became a member of the Richard Dobbs Spaight Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) on January 30, 1926.
She was unanimously elected State Regent of the DAR on March 7, 1946 at Charlotte, North Carolina.  During Miss Carraway's term as State Regent, North Carolina won numerous prizes and awards for achievement, and she established a new standard of excellence for North Carolina.  Many of the standards set by Gertrude are the basis for the State Society's achievement criteria today.
As North Carolina's State Regent, among other of her many accomplishments were:
    Miss Carraway was the driving force behind the restoration of Tryon Palace during the 1950's.  She retired from the position of Administrator of Tryon Palace in 1971.
She collected donations of about $2,400 towards the restoration of Tryon Palace, along with a handsome silver epergne, valued at $3,700.  Other restoration projects accomplished were the Hezekiah Alexander house at Charlotte, James Iredell house at Edenton, and Major Benjamin May Chapter House at Farmville.

695 new members to the North Carolina Society, five new chapters were organized and nine other Organizing Regents were appointed, two Chapters were reorganized with a more firm footing. 

She was a strong supporter of the DAR Schools and made Crossnore School one of her major projects.  Five new buildings were dedicated and a sixth started.  Scholarships were awarded to 235 students at the school, 1,058 boxes valued at $26,500 were donated, $12,700 was donated for construction, and other gifts valued at more than $5,000 were donated.

Eighty-five National visitors were her guests at Crossnore for dedications, programs, dinner and breakfast and also overnight at Linville, luncheons at Blowing Rock and Hendersonville, and tea at the home of Mrs. Silversteen in Brevard.
  With the attention during this postwar period on reconstruction, the DAR was eager to renew meetings and socials hampered during the war.
Good Citizens awards increased in record numbers as well as other medals and prizes for good citizenship and historical essays and 3,244 Manuals for Citizenship were distributed.

The 1947 North Carolina State DAR Yearbook listed the names of Revolutionary War ancestors for the first time, with their services and States.

Chapters in North Carolina erected 35 Revolutionary and World War II grave markers, 34 Revolutionary graves were located.
   She was elected President General National Society Daughters of the American Revolution in 1953



    
      In 1949 Miss Carraway was elected a Vice President General, receiving the largest number of votes among all the candidates.
      Miss Carraway personified the objectives of the Society; Historic Preservation, Promotion of Education and Patriotic Endeavor. She modeled these in her daily life and although her dedicated work is still with us, we truly cannot replace her.
  Miss Gertrude Carraway is buried in the Cedar Grove Cemetery, New Bern, North Carolina. 
     Daughters from the Richard Dobbs Spaight Chapter, NSDAR joined with Daughters across the country in honoring Miss Carraway by officially marking her grave with a DAR Insignia on Friday, August 6, 1993.
During her three- year term as President General, NSDAR, she lived in Washington, D.C. and became a friend of Mamie Eisenhower.  During this time she convinced President Dwight Eisenhower to declare one week in September as National Constitution Week. 
National Connection
(NSDAR)
State Conection
(NCSDAR)
Tryon Palace
  During the administration of  Miss Gertrude Carraway of New Bern, North Carolina, as President General, from April 24, 1953, to April 21, 1956 the National Society reached its highest peaks up to that time in membership, Junior membership, financial strength, and practically all activities along historical, educational and patriotic lines. 
    She was appointed by every governor between 1942 and 1967 to serve as member of the executive board of the North Carolina Division of Archives and History, and was one of its original members. 
     A total of 27,565 new members were admitted, a record high for more than a quarter of a century, despite the fact that the application fee was raised in 1955 from $6 to $10 under a complete revision of the Bylaws.  The net membership gain was 11,455.  There were more Junior members than ever before, with a substantial increase each year. 
     An inherited debt of $10,000 for enlargement of the Administration Building was paid.  No new debts were incurred.  For the first time the Society was put on a cash basis, in addition to the fiscal-year bias effected by the preceding administration. All costs were paid in full, even the $175,000 expended to renovate and repaint Constitution Hall, as authorized by the Continental Congress, thanks chiefly to the record revenues from the Dar Magazine.  Staff payrolls were raised 35 percent.
Memorial Constitution Hall
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