Register of the Lockeford (Calif.) Charitable & Temperance Papers, 1860-1895

Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University Library, University of the Pacific

Stockton, CA 95211

Phone: (209) 946-2404

URL: http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections.html

Register of the Lockeford (Calif.) Charitable & Temperance Papers, 1860-1895

Collection number: Mss112

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University Library

University of the Pacific

Contact Information

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
University Library, University of the Pacific
Stockton, CA 95211
Phone: (209) 946-2404
URL: https://www.pacific.edu/university-libraries/find/holt-atherton-special-collections

Processed by:: Don Walker
Date Completed:: March 30, 1994
Encoded by:: Don Walker

Descriptive Summary

Title: Lockeford (Calif.) Charitable & Temperance Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1860-1895

Collection number: Mss112

Creator:

Extent: 1 linear ft.

Repository: University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

Stockton, CA 95211

Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Lockeford (Calif.) Charitable & Temperance Papers, Mss112, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Biography

The first temperance society in the Lockeford area, The Dashaways, was established there at the instigation of Dr. Dean Jewett Locke in the late 1850s. This society had been founded by Frank Whitney, a San Francisco fire chief, and An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County (1890) asserts that Dr. Locke had been a San Francisco member since 1850. The impetus for founding a local chapter may have derived from a rash of alcohol-related killings that had taken place in the Lockeford area in 1855. The Dashaways are represented in this collection by one songbook. Their order was supplanted in January 1860 by the creation of the Live Oak Division no. 29 of the Sons of Temperance.

Most of the material in this collection relates to the activities of the Live Oak Division of the Sons of Temperance. It consists of minutes and account books of the order, correspondence, and published materials such as by-laws, tracts, and rituals.

The Lockeford division of this national temperance organization, was launched in 1860 by John Griffith, Dr. Dean Jewett Locke, and Dr. William Kerr. The group began with nineteen members, and, at their second meeting, six women were brought into the regular order.

A second chapter, New Era Division no. 71, was founded in 1861 at Athearn's School near present-day Clements. This group is represented in the collection by an 1861 minutebook. The New Era Division was probably absorbed into the Live Oak Division in 1862. Also represented by minutes in the New Era minutebook is the U.S. Sanitary Commission's Soldier's Aid Society of Lockeford, which flourished briefly in 1864-65.

The Live Oak Division met irregularly in the Lockeford Granary Hall, where they heard pro-temperance speakers, disciplined back-sliding members, and debated questions such as whether gambling ought to be condemned by their membership. At one meeting the Division passed a resolution forbidding the use of medications containing alcohol.

The Sons of Temperance also functioned somewhat like a fraternal order. They sang and chatted, undertook charity work, sported uniforms at community celebrations, and assisted members when they suffered illness, injury, or business reverses. The Lockeford organization lasted for five years.

In 1865 a chapter of the Independent Order of Good Templars replaced the Sons of Temperance. The Order of Good Templars operated in Lockeford as Rescue Lodge no. 115 for more than thirty years. This group included children in its activities. The juvenile auxiliary organization was known as the "Band of Hope." This group is represented in the collection by a volume of minutes (1868-1870). By 1874 most of the members of the Good Templars were juveniles. The adult organization is represented in this collection by a songsheet.

In 1889 Lockeford women established a chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. This organization was sufficiently active between 1891 and 1895 to operate a reading room in Luther Locke's butcher shop. The group sponsored speaking contests to popularize its views and organized a children's auxiliary. The WCTU is represented in this collection by a printed report (1892).

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of two boxes. Box one contains minute books & account books for the Sons of Temperance Live Oak Division Number 29, dated 1860-1865. Box two contains correspondence and printed matter, including ritual books, circulars and “admission cards,” among other business-related documents and publications relating to the temperance movement.

Box 1

MINUTE BOOKS; ACCOUNT BOOKS

Folder 1

-Sons of Temperance, Live Oak Div. no. 29. "Record Scribe's Book," 1860-1862. Minutes pp. 1-258 [leather-bound, marked "Day-Book" on spine]

Folder 2

-Sons of Temperance, Live Oak Div. no. 29. "Record Scribe's Book," 1863-1865. Minutes pp. 1-114 "Names of those expelled" p. 507 "Brother Bramhall lectured to us..." and other miscellaneous notes p. 527 "Names of those who proposed candidates" pp. 547-548 List of Officers; Receipts, 1863-1864 pp. 562-572 [leather-bound, marked "Journal" on spine]

Folder 3

-Sons of Temperance, Live Oak Div. no. 29. "Financial Scribe's Book," January 1860-Oct. 1864. Payments, 4/61-10/64 pp. 1-30 Membership rolls, 1/60-10/64 pp. 350-358 Treasurer's recpts., 4/61-9/63 pp. 372-382 [paper covers marked on front cover label: "Day Book of Financial Scribe, Live Oak Division...," etc.; loose covers]

Folder 4

-Sons of Temperance, Live Oak Div. no. 29. "Treasurer's Book," 1860-1864. Accounts pp. 1-35 [small ledger, leatherette covers, marked "Journal" on spine]

Folder 5

-Sons of Temperance, Live Oak Div. no. 29. [Account Book], 1860-1864. Accounts by name pp. 1-197 [lacks covers, alphabetical tab index]

Box 2

CORRESPONDENCE & PRINTED MATTER

Folder 1

1: Sons of Temperance--Rituals [printed on cardboard; 16 copies]

Folder 2

2: S.O.T.--Officers' Duties & Initiation Ceremonies [printed on cardboard]

Conductor [2 copies]

Assistant Conductor [2 copies]

Chaplain [2 copies]

Inside & Outside Sentinels [2 copies]

Past Worthy Patriarch [3 copies]

Folder 3

S.O.T.--"Grand Worthy Patriarch's Letters" [i.e. correspondence from head of Order in SF, 1861- 1864; 6 items, including envelope]

Folder 4

S.O.T.--"Promiscuous Letters" [i.e. miscellaneous correspondence, 1861-1865; chiefly courtesy notices from nearby chapters re expelled members; also including member resignation notes and speaker arrangements; 20 items, including envelope]

**Angry letter from member who resigns because chapter has admitted "illiterate indians"

**Resolution honoring founder Dr. William Kerr, d. 1861

Folder 5

5: S.O.T.--"Admission Cards" [10 items; including envelope]

Folder 6

S.O.T.--Ritual Books

-Blue Book for the Use of Subordinate Divisions of the Order of the Sons of Temperance. NY, 1857. [2]

-S.F. Carey. Ritual for the Admission of Females into the Sons of Temperance. Trenton, N.J.: W.B. Howell, 1859. [4]

Folder 7

S.O.T.--Constitution & By-Laws (1860) [2 copies]

Folder 8

S.O.T.--Misellaneous Business Papers[6 items]

Membership reporting forms [3; 2 completed, 1 blank]

Receipts

Folder 9

Miscellaneous Printed Matter, Other Temperance Organizations

-Songs of the Dashaways. SF, 1860.

-Independent Order of Good Templars Odes, n.d. [printed on cardboard]

-13th Annual Report of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (1892).

Folder 10

Miscellaneous Temperance Literature

-Maine Temperance Journal [advertisement circular]

-Dead River Grand Trunk Railway [tract]

-Plymouth Pulpit (8-27-70) [Henry Ward Beecher publication]

Folder 11

U.S. Sanitary Commission Papers 1864-1865

-Official Statement of the Workings of the Sanitary Commission no. 4 (May 1865).

-O.C. Wheeler, Secty., California Branch to local chapters [4 items] suggests concerts & monthly meeetings to raise funds, 1-65 personal greetings to Delia M. Locke, 1-9-65 suggests using Washington's Birthday as basis for fundraiser, 1-20-65 re fund raising during holiday season, 12-3-65

Folder 12

Journal used by two charitable organizations for different purposes 1861; 1864-1865

-Sons of Temperance. New Era Division no. 71, Athearn School [now Clements]. "Recording Scribe's Book," Apr.-Oct. 1861. Minutes pp. 3-41

-U.S. Sanitary Commission. Soldiers' Aid Society of Lockeford, Nov. 1864-Jun. 1865. Minutes pp. 48-64

Folder 13

-"Lockeford 'Band of Hope' Book of Records & Signatures to the Constitution," Nov. 1868-Jan. 1870.