Sally De Forest, daughter of a Revolutionary War soldier, came with her husband, Platt Benedict, and five children in 1817 to help found the city of Norwalk, Ohio. Of the 24 original members of the Sally De Forest Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, nine were her descendants.
       During World War I, members sent supplies to Camp Sherman, helped support a French war orphan, rebuilt a French town, and purchased war bonds. After the war, they supported a school for immigrants in Cleveland, a school for the academically challenged in Norwalk, gave out 48 citizenship manuals, bought a chair for Constitution Hall in 1926 and another to replace it in 1999.
       William A. Fisher, son of one of the original Fisher Brothers, gave the chapter its own house in 1929, the first in Ohio, and over a period of about 30 years, members built up a library of Daughters of the American Revolution volumes which were given to the public library when the house was sold. During World War II, the house was loaned to the Red Cross for a volunteer headquarters. One member, Evangelene Miller, served in France in the Army Air Corps. 
       After the war, the chapter honored 12 new citizens with a reception. The chapter gave family research to the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution library and 3,000 books to neighboring town Monroeville after it's town hall burned down. Regent Ruth Beiter Young served as Northwest District Director and a number of members have paged at both state and national level.
       A bequest in 1964 provides income for generous gifts to all national projects, helps to fund the Sally De Forest Chapter NSDAR scholarship at Firelands Campus of BGSU, and one pupil per year at the Betty Gerken Early Childhood Center. We helped to restore the tower for the VFW flag, largest flown in the United States, planted a tree, and bought a brick at Veterans Park. Members continue to search for worthy patriotic endeavors to support.