Amelia Jeanette Betts
Oct. 31, 1907 – May 27, 1984
Amelia Betts was born October 31, 1907. As a girl, she lived in Harveyville, Kansas, which was not far from the Santa Fe Trail. Her grandfather had been a freighter on the Trail and told her exciting stories about his experiences. She graduated from Baker University in 1932. She earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas in 1933. She owned and operated Betts Paint and Wallpaper Store in Baldwin City, Kansas, for over 40 years. The Santa Fe Trail passed close to Baldwin City.
In 1967, Amelia became concerned about a Baldwin area DAR Trail marker which was missing its bronze plaque. She helped organize a group of local citizens to form the Santa Fe Trail
Historical Society of Douglas County, KS. (This organization later became the Douglas County Chapter of SFTA). One of their first missions was to replace the plaque, which could not be replaced with bronze so was duplicated in granite. She then initiated an effort to locate all 96 DAR markers placed along the trail in Kansas. She found that many were greatly neglected, difficult to find, moved, and in some cases, their history lost. She and her friend, Katharine Kelley, began researching the historic significance of each DAR marker as well as repainting the lettering on each stone and cleaning and recording the sites. They wanted the historical significance of each site to be preserved for future generations. In the 1980’s, these ladies placed metal informational markers at each of the seven DAR marker sites in Douglas County, at their own expense.
Amelia dreamed of an organization representing the entire length of the Santa Fe Trail. Unfortunately, she passed away before SFTA became a reality. As Marc Simmons wrote in one of his booklet introductions, “Amelia will be recalled as one of the stalwarts who led the way in commemorating this historic route.”
