The Santa Rosa Chapter NSDAR members are vibrant, active women who are passionate about community service, preserving history, educating children, as well as honoring and supporting those who serve our nation. This project, Finding Robert and Elizabeth, is a part of DAR's historical preservation committee. The chapter has adopted the grave site of Robert and Elizabeth Thompson. Adoption means that chapter members agree to keep the grave site, located at the Rural Cemetery of Santa Rosa, California, neat and tidy by pulling weeds and cleaning the gravestones, as necessary.
What is Historic Preservation?
The Historic Preservation Committee was established as a national committee on March 1, 2008, and functions at the chapter, state, division, and national levels. The primary objectives of the committee are to assist members of the National Society in historic preservation; to encourage recognition of significant volunteer efforts in historic preservation at the community, state, and national levels; and to catalog historic sites and properties that are owned, maintained, or operated by DAR chapters and state societies.
As members of the Santa Rosa Chapter Historic Preservation Committee volunteered at the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery they learned that two of the plots that included the Thompson family, pioneers of Santa Rosa.
Rural Cemetery of Santa Rosa
"The Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery is a 17-acre historic landmark located in the heart of Santa Rosa. It was a burial site for early residents primarily from the 1850s through the 1930s.
"Painstakingly restored from decades of neglect by a group of volunteers over the past 20 years, the wooded paths and knolls are now enjoyed by walkers and by participants in a variety of docent-led tours and events that highlight local history and the many town pioneers who are buried here."
Elizabeth Page West Thompson Project
Established December 1925, the Santa Rosa Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is proud to provide this glimpse into one of the pioneer families of Santa Rosa, California. What makes this family so interesting to DAR is its connection with the first person to publicly read the Declaration of Independence on the steps of the Independence Hall (Pennsylvania State House) on July 8, 1776.
Once the investigation began to link Colonel John Nixon to Robert and Elizabeth Thompson, who are buried together in the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery plot #148, an exciting story evolved about the four generations.
Elizabeth Page West married Robert Augustine Thompson, Jr. in 16 Apr 1861. Elizabeth's great grandfather was Colonel John Nixon, reader of the Declaration of Independence and a prominent Philadelphian. Follow us as we uncover these four generations from Elizabeth back to her great grandfather John.