Francis Land Chapter, NSDAR
In the history of Virginia Beach NSDAR Chapters, we honor Francis Land Chapter, NSDAR, active from 1983 until the chapter merged with Adam Thoroughgood Chapter, NSDAR, in 2025.
Francis Land Chapter, NSDAR, was organized by Kaye Frances Walker Mitchell and thirty other women. Francis Land was approved as an NSDAR chapter on June 4, 1983 and was chartered in Windsor, Virginia. Members of the chapter voted to move the chapter to Virginia Beach on September 8, 1984. The first chapter meetings were held in members’ homes.
First Ladies of the Chapter
Mary Amburn
Elizabeth Billmeyer
Sandra Blaher
Wilfrid Booker
Thelma Bye
Maurine Clarke
Margaret Colona
Thelma Eaton
Mary Edgar
Janet Edwards
Ruth Ford
Joan Forinash
Anne Gupton
Sandra Helms
Joanne Johnson
Margaret Joyner
Pearl Lacey
Kathleen McIntosh
Kaye Mitchell
Mellie-Rose Moore
Mary Anne Nixon
Winifred Owens
Maude Parramore
Lillian Rose
Mildred Sale
Roberta Smith
Susan Snead
Anna Spence
Margaret Standing
Nelle White
The history of the Land family-owned property, surrounded by hundreds of acres of farmland, spanned from the 1630s to the 1850s. Francis Land I was among the earliest settlers in southeastern Virginia. Goods and supplies arrived on the docks owned by Francis Land I to be distributed throughout the Tidewater area. The river docks were located on the once-existing Pine Tree Branch of the Lynnhaven River.
Norfolk Court records from 1647 show Francis Land I was made warden of Lynnhaven Parish. His name is on the 1653 parish register as a member of the Eastern Shore Chapel. In 1654, he patented an additional 1,020 acres of land for his plantation in Princess Anne County.
The Francis Land House was built in the period 1805-1810 by Francis Moseley Land VI on the same property owned by Francis Land I. The Land family had lived on this land in Princess Anne County for over 150 years. The brick plantation home features exterior walls of 18-inch double-depth Flemish bond brickwork and a gambrel roof. This house still stands in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
In 1975, the Francis Land House and seven acres of surrounding land were purchased by the City of Virginia Beach and opened in 1986 as a historic house museum and as an example of plantation living in Princess Anne County. The house is listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The name Francis Land was chosen for the new NSDAR chapter’s name in 1983. Two of the original chapter members worked as docents for the historical house museum to share American colonial history with the public.
