Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR
Santa Fe, New Mexico
The STephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR
The Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR, is the oldest in New Mexico, organized before New Mexico became a state. It was first called the Sunshine Chapter, NSDAR. In 1900 the chapter received its charter from National. This document is in the New Mexico State Records & Archives Center in Santa Fe.
In 1903 Mrs. Ellen (Western) Bascome, Missouri's state vice regent and daughter of Major General Stephen Watts Kearny, visited Santa Fe and was a guest of the chapter. She presented a portrait of her father to the Territorial Historical Society. In 1905, the Santa Fe DAR members voted to change the chapter's name to honor General Kearny.
The Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR, celebrated its 125th anniversary at the Museum Cafe in Santa Fe in October 2023. Mary Catharine Prince (1846-1925), who organized DAR in New Mexico Territory, was a founding member of the Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR, (then called the Sunshine Chapter, NSDAR) the territory’s first, formed in 1898.
Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR, Officers 2025-2027
Regent: Debra G.
1st Vice Regent: Pam S.
Chaplain: Carolyn M.
Recording
Secretary: Constance J.
Treasurer: Tamina P.
Registrar: Eileen R.
Historian: Carol M.
Librarian: Lori S. T.
A Santa Fe Trail marker erected by the DAR.
Photograph courtesy of Rose T.
.
The Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR, Projects
Stephen Watts Kearny, NSDAR and Santa Fe Genealogical Society have a joint, ongoing project photographing gravestones for the Find a Grave website at the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
Every year the Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR, participates in Wreaths Across America laying wreaths on graves at the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
In 1846 during the Mexican American War, General Stephen Watts Kearny led the Army of the West in the American takeover of the Southwest and California, which added almost a third to America's current territory. Not a shot was fired in Kearny's "bloodless conquest" of New Mexico, and the record shows that he was ahead of his time in respecting cultural diversity and human rights. As military governor he established a civil government and instituted a new legal system, the Kearny Code, which incorporated existing Mexican law and a bill of rights and is the basis of New Mexican law today.
On June 2, 2023, Chapter Regent Katina L., Stephen Watts Kearny Chapter, NSDAR, dedicated the 19th Amendment plaque at the Round House in Santa Fe. The chapter spent three years—interrupted by COVID-19 restrictions on the legislative process—before finally pushing it through the 2023 legislative session and the final approval.
© 2025 Stephen Watts Kearny, NSDAR Santa Fe, NM
Last updated December 2025