MARTHA WAYLES JEFFERSON CHAPTER
CHAPTER HISTORY
The Martha Wayles Jefferson Chapter NSDAR was organized on July 4, 1897 by Fanny Witherspoon Harrison, a descendant of Thomas and Martha Wayles Jefferson.
The chapter held its first meeting in Lee County at the home of Mrs. Harrison who lived in Gold Hill. Lee County was created by the Alabama legislature on December 5,
1866, and formed from Chambers, Macon, Russell, and Tallapoosa counties. Opelika, which had a population of more than 4,000 in 1866,
was selected as the county seat of the newly created county. The name Opelika in the Creek Indian language means "big swamp." Lee County is
bordered on the east by the Chattahoochee River and the State of Georgia.
The Lee County area was opened to settlement in 1832 by the Treaty of Cusseta. The city of Opelika was established in 1834 . Other towns
and communities in Lee County include Loachapoka and Auburn, the site of Auburn University. In 2005, the Opelika-Auburn Metropolitan Area
had a population of 123,254 .Members of the Martha Wayles Jefferson Chapter come from Auburn which accounts for more than half of its
current membership followed by those who reside in Opelika, and communities in Macon, Russell, Chambers, Clay and Randolph Counties.
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