During Women’s History Month it is fitting to salute Dorothy “Dots” Jones Elgin, for many years considered the ‘first lady’ of Poolesville. In 2019, after a long life spent working and volunteering to make Poolesville a better place, she passed away at the age of 100.
Dots was born at her parent’s farm in Dickerson, attended Dickerson School, and was one of eighteen in the 1937 graduating class of Poolesville High School. Continuing her education, Dots graduated from Union Memorial Nursing School in Baltimore and became a Registered Nurse. She later used those skills to care for ill and aging relatives. Dots was also a teller at the Poolesville National Bank in the Old Bank Building, where she had lost the entirety of her $32 savings in 1930. She married, raised two children, and worked as the school secretary at Poolesville Elementary School for seventeen years.
With her husband Charles, she worked for 53 years as bookkeeper, volunteer, and genealogist for Monocacy Cemetery. She traced her own family and those of many others. Charles was the “mayor” of Poolesville for many years and Dots was considered the first lady. Both Elgins were historians who preserved the history of many area homes. Dots was a history keeper who spent decades collecting and preserving local history, pictures, post cards, invitations, event programs, and news articles in scrapbooks which were the basis for the book she co-authored in 2000 with Dona L. Cuttler, The History of Poolesville [Maryland].
In 2016, she was honored with Historic Medley District’s Whisper Award, which recognizes those who have made major contributions to safeguarding the history of the region.
Dots was a life-long volunteer. She was actively involved in the Ladies Auxiliary of the Upper Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Department (UMCVFD). At St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Dots was actively involved in the Women of St. Peter’s and served as the chairperson of the bazaar committee for many years. The ladies would meet weekly to craft and bake treasures for the bazaar. (Watch for the limited return of the St. Peter’s Semi-Annual Rummage Sale on April 1st and 2nd.)
Dots lived a long life of service to her family, church, and community. Her secret to long life was to “keep going.” We owe her a great debt for preserving our Poolesville history for future generations.