Welcome to the Dorothea Henry Chapter NSDAR!

Welcome to the Dorothea Henry Chapter NSDAR! We are the second oldest DAR chapter and are still active and growing. Our meeting times are varied so that all members are afforded the opportunity to attend. Please visit our meetings and activities pages and contact our chapter regent for more information.

Dorothea Spotswood Dandridge Henry

Dorothea Spotswood Dandridge was born in Hanover County, Virginia, on September 25, 1757, to Nathaniel West Dandridge and Dorothea Spotswood. Dorothea was the granddaughter of Alexander Spotswood, who was born in the Tangier Garrison, Morocco, in 1676. Dorothea married Patrick Henry and became the "first" First Lady of Virginia. After his term as governor, Patrick Henry moved his family to Red Hill and renewed his law practice in order to recoup his personal fortune which had been spent in support of the American Revolution. Dorothea had eleven children when Henry died in 1799. Henry’s will indicated that Dorothea was to receive nothing if she remarried. She struggled for three years trying to manage the plantations and take care of her underage children. Finally, she married Judge Edmund Winston, and they moved to his estate in Lynchburg. When Judge Winston died in 1818, Dorothea moved to her daughter’s home, “Seven Islands,” in Halifax County. At age 74, Dorothea died and requested burial next to Patrick at Red Hill.

On October 9, 2002, the Dorothea Henry Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) dedicated a DAR Insignia grave marker at her gravesite next to her first husband, Patrick Henry. A courageous woman, Dorothea witnessed the birth of our nation as an insider. As our chapter’s namesake, she will continue to live in the hearts and memories of our DAR members. According to a short history of the chapter written in 1930, founders chose to name the newly organized chapter, Dorothea Henry, in “a moment of frenzied gratitude,” to commemorate the women who maintained homes for their families under the great stress and hardships of the Revolutionary War.