Chapter History

 

DAR Plaque The Fernanda Maria Chapter, NSDAR, and other San Fernando Valley chapters of NSDAR placed a plaque on the grounds of the mission in 1970. San Fernando Mission
Cross

The Story of Fernanda Maria

In August of 1797, Padre Presidente Fermin de Lasuen, native of France, set forth from Santa Barbara, the customary one day's journey, to found San Fernando Rey de España, the 17th California mission, and first to be named for a king, Ferdinand III of Castile.

Viceroy Branciforte had christened the site on November 12, 1796, but it was September 8, 1797. before Padre Lasuen blessed the water and the land, planted the cross, and said mass, assisted by Father Francisco Dumetz.  Native Americans witnessing the ceremony offered five boys and five girls for baptism. A small child named Huirarpagina, the daughter of Girirmabit and Huiray, at age six or seven, was the first girl to receive the Holy Sacrament of Baptism and was christened Fernanda Maria.

The baptismal records of that day so long ago still exist in the bishop's archives at the San Fernando Mission, but there is no further record of Fernanda Maria.

Plaque

  

Our Chapter

The Fernanda Maria Chapter, NSDAR, held its organizational meeting on October 20, 1952. Through the years we have been active in local, state, and national DAR events.


60th Birthdaym

Hiss

Photos courtesy of chapter archives

National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

California State Society Daughters of the American Revolution

ons here.