Chapter History

On September 30, 1934, twelve Daughters met to form a new DAR chapter, with Nellie Conger Stewart appointed as the founding regent. The program that day focused on the 1775-1776 expedition of 240 men, women, children, and soldiers from the state of Sinaloa led by Lieutenant Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza to establish an overland route from Monterrey, Mexico to San Francisco, California.

The trek took the group through eastern San Diego County, following Coyote Creek (now called Borrego Springs) that bubbled from the ground and descended from Coyote Canyon. On Christmas Eve, the weary travelers camped in the Native American village of Lower Willows, currently known as Santa Caterina. It was during this stop that a baby boy was born to Maria Gertrudis Rivas, wife of Ignacio Linares, one of de Anza’s thirty-eight soldiers. The next day, the priest who documented the group’s trip, Father Pedro Font, baptized little Salvador Ignacio Linares, believed to be the first child born to non-natives in California. A few miles from this location, near Upper Willows, is the monument commemorating his birth.

Isabella V. Churchill, the chapter’s second regent, made a motion to call the chapter “Anza De Coronado.” Over the first several years, there were votes for various chapter names, including “Juan Bautista de Anza” and “Linares de Coronado.” In 1942, the permanent name of “Linares” was finally chosen. In April 2008, the San Miguel Chapter, NSDAR, merged with the Linares Chapter, NSDAR.

The San Miguel Chapter, NSDAR, was organized on February 27, 1928. The chapter name was taken from the mountain just behind the Sweetwater Valley in San Diego County, Mount San Miguel. This chapter was the first county unit of the DAR outside of the City of San Diego and was organized with sixteen members.

San Miguel is the Spanish name for “Saint Michael” and was first bestowed upon what is now Santa Rosa Island. Since the early 1790s, the name has been identified with the present place. San Miguel railroad station was named in 1886 after the mission, established in 1797, and named for the Archangel, Saint Michael.