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Register of the Lockeford (Calif.) Charitable &
Temperance Papers,
1860-1895
Mss112
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Table of contents
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.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], Lockeford (Calif.) Charitable & Temperance
Papers, Mss112, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of
the Pacific Library
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.