Our History

If you are interested in joining the DAR, you can contact the Chemeketa Chapter Registrar. 

Chemeketa Chapter was organized in Salem, Oregon, over 90 years ago on November 15, 1915, with eighteen members.  It was the fifth chapter to be organized in the state of Oregon.  The name “Chemeketa” was chosen because it was the original name of the locality.  In the Kalapuyan language, the word signifies home or Council Ground.  The motto for DAR was ‘Home and Country,’ and members thought the name would be appropriate.

The chapter holds two interesting artifacts in its two gavels.  In 1917, the chapter received its first gavel.  It was made with four strips of wood on the mallet head, taken from old oak timbers on the bridge over which the Minute Men marched on their way to fight the Battle of Lexington.  The black walnut forming the handle and the main part of the mallet is from a tree, one of the first planted in Salem, which grew on the present site of the Methodist parsonage on State Street.  The second gavel was made from wood from the Battleship Oregon, and was presented to the chapter by Mrs. Charles A. Sprague, wife of the Governor.

The DAR Insignia is the property of, and is copyrighted by, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Chemeketa Chapter

Daughters of the American Revolution - Salem, Oregon