Native Daughters of the Golden West
Gibson Museum’s display of items used by the Middletown Parlor of the Native Daughter of the Golden West is comprised entirely of items found “buried’ in the darkest closets in the rear of the Gibson Building.
The Native Daughters came to the rescue in 1930, when the Gibson building was freshly dedicated as Middletown’s first public library. Unfortunately, its donor, Chauncey Gibson, had died before the funds he intended to furnish for its operation were authorized. There was no money to operate the brand new library.
Native Daughters operated the library as a volunteer project for more than forty years, until the County of Lake took over in the early 1970s. The Native Daughters mission has always been “to preserve California’s history and better the quality of life through active participation in education and community service.”
Last spring two of our Gibson Museum volunteers, Judy Kauffman and Linda Moran, spent days going through the accretia of 83 years as we began restoring and refurbishing the building for use as a museum. Among bushels of less interesting and less historically significant papers, the items on display were uncovered.
Many of the most familiar and respected surnames in local history are found in these rolls. These were people in the forefront of doing what had to be done to make our community thrive.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West is a fraternal and patriotic organization founded on the principles of: Love of Home, Devotion to the Flag, Veneration of the Pioneers, and Faith in the Existence of God. Only women born in California are eligible to join. The historic mining city of Jackson, Amador County, was birthplace of the order.
About twenty young women met on September 11, 1886. Lilly O. Reichling explained that the object of the meeting was to form an Order of California-born women to be known as the Native Daughters of the Golden West. The Native Sons of the Golden West had been founded in 1875, as a fraternal service organization limited to native-born Californians and dedicated to historic preservation, documentation of historic structures and places in the state, the placement of historic plaques and other charitable functions within California. Between the date of the organization of The Native Daughters Ursula Parlor No.1 and June 1887, seventeen Parlors were instituted.
Chosen for the first Parlor of the Order was the distinctive name of Ursula (meaning "The Bear," suggestive of courage and strength). The first emblem chosen was the spotted fawn, which, however, was discarded for the more impressive emblems of Minerva, the Oriflamme, Sheaves of Wheat.
The local chapter is recorded as Parlor No. 60, established in June 1946 at Hoberg’s by Ethel E. Enos. Our inquiries in trying to locate a local owner of our findings indicated that the last member of the South Lake County group had died a few years ago.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West currently has 127 Parlors throughout California. A parlor in Lakeport, No. 45, is listed on the order’s website as founded in 1889 and Lower Lake, No. 189, in 1911. Both are no longer in existence. The order’s newest Parlor, No. 336, was organized in Colomo on January 24 of this year.
http://www.ndgw.org/
The Native Daughters came to the rescue in 1930, when the Gibson building was freshly dedicated as Middletown’s first public library. Unfortunately, its donor, Chauncey Gibson, had died before the funds he intended to furnish for its operation were authorized. There was no money to operate the brand new library.
Native Daughters operated the library as a volunteer project for more than forty years, until the County of Lake took over in the early 1970s. The Native Daughters mission has always been “to preserve California’s history and better the quality of life through active participation in education and community service.”
Last spring two of our Gibson Museum volunteers, Judy Kauffman and Linda Moran, spent days going through the accretia of 83 years as we began restoring and refurbishing the building for use as a museum. Among bushels of less interesting and less historically significant papers, the items on display were uncovered.
Many of the most familiar and respected surnames in local history are found in these rolls. These were people in the forefront of doing what had to be done to make our community thrive.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West is a fraternal and patriotic organization founded on the principles of: Love of Home, Devotion to the Flag, Veneration of the Pioneers, and Faith in the Existence of God. Only women born in California are eligible to join. The historic mining city of Jackson, Amador County, was birthplace of the order.
About twenty young women met on September 11, 1886. Lilly O. Reichling explained that the object of the meeting was to form an Order of California-born women to be known as the Native Daughters of the Golden West. The Native Sons of the Golden West had been founded in 1875, as a fraternal service organization limited to native-born Californians and dedicated to historic preservation, documentation of historic structures and places in the state, the placement of historic plaques and other charitable functions within California. Between the date of the organization of The Native Daughters Ursula Parlor No.1 and June 1887, seventeen Parlors were instituted.
Chosen for the first Parlor of the Order was the distinctive name of Ursula (meaning "The Bear," suggestive of courage and strength). The first emblem chosen was the spotted fawn, which, however, was discarded for the more impressive emblems of Minerva, the Oriflamme, Sheaves of Wheat.
The local chapter is recorded as Parlor No. 60, established in June 1946 at Hoberg’s by Ethel E. Enos. Our inquiries in trying to locate a local owner of our findings indicated that the last member of the South Lake County group had died a few years ago.
The Native Daughters of the Golden West currently has 127 Parlors throughout California. A parlor in Lakeport, No. 45, is listed on the order’s website as founded in 1889 and Lower Lake, No. 189, in 1911. Both are no longer in existence. The order’s newest Parlor, No. 336, was organized in Colomo on January 24 of this year.
http://www.ndgw.org/