Santa Rosa Chapter, nsdar
Santa Rosa, California

Santa Rosa was named in the year 1828, when Padre Juan Amorós, a Franciscan from Mission San Raphael, baptized in Santa Rosa Creek, a Pomo maiden on the feast day of Saint Rose of Lima. He named the woman "Rosa" and the location "Santa Rosa."

The first step toward forming a chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution in Sonoma County was taken on May 28, 1925, when prospective members were called together by Martha Munsell Granger of Fullerton. Mrs. Granger, who as a member-at-large, had her heart set on having a chapter in her beloved Sonoma County.

Mrs. H. J. Mannhart, State Regent, met with this group of women in the Council Chambers of Santa Rosa, instructed them in the preliminary steps of organization, and appointed an organizing regent, Harriett Van Namee Russell, ancestor of Patriot Abner Van Namee.

We believe Mrs. Russell was born on April 8, 1872. Her untiring efforts throughout the summer made possible the formal organization of the chapter on December 15, 1925, at the home of Mrs. Peter Bussman.

First Home to Santa Rosa Chapter, NSDAR - Google Maps

The first gavel was presented to the chapter by then Treasurer Mrs. Midgley. It was made from the wood of an apple tree growing on Andre Hill near Tappan, New York, where the British spy, Major John Andre, was hanged on October 2, 1780, after his capture by the Americans. The wood when cut showed that the tree had been planted one year before the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.