Nancy Hanks Lincoln Tent #5
Our History

Today we remember the founders of our Tent who first met ninety-two years ago last week to organize Nancy Hanks Lincoln Tent #5, National Alliance of Daughters of Veterans. Yes, that was the name of our organization until 1925! On the evening of March 22, 1909 seventeen Sisters and seven Comrades met at the GAR Hall located at 5th Avenue and F Street in downtown San Diego. The Daughters paid $2.50 rent for the Hall.



Incidentally, the intersection at 5th and F Street is in the Gaslamp District and the corners are occupied by the George J. Keating Building, which houses Croce’s Restaurant today. That building is catty cornered from the William Penn Hotel, which advertises they have lofts now available for rent; across F Street is the site of the third Marston Department Store now out of business since the 1960s. (Marston’s was sold to the Broadway chain in 1961.) Across 5th Avenue is a canary yellow building housing a bar called The Bitter End. The intersection is one block away from the F Street entrance to Horton Plaza Mall parking structure. None of the buildings is designated GAR Hall at present.



Perhaps we should explain what the GAR was. The initials stand for Grand Army of the Republic. It was an organization similar to the VFW or American Legion of today. The history of this group of veterans is fascinating, if one has the time, but we can’t go into it here. It is enough to say: they were loyal comrades who had survived the Civil War, and fought for the Union. We may infer from their involvement in what was essentially young people’s groups such as the Sons and Daughters of Veterans that they wished to pass on to their children their own spirit of Patriotism and kinship.



At the first meeting of the Alliance of Daughters in San Diego, these fathers were present: Samuel J. Landgon, the father of Louise L. Barton, our first Guide: George E. Haynes, father of Laura Hammond, first Assistant Guard; Peter W. Beamer, father of Jennie L. Ormand, our first Chaplain; and E. L. Matot, father of Amy V. Vincent, our first Treasurer.



Be it remembered, Sisters, that our tent owes much to Comrade Henry P. Barnum, of GAR Heintzelman Post #33 in San Diego. He was instrumental in instituting our Tent and was one of the first in a line of Comrades who were “Obligated” in our tent. According to the book by Dr. Barbara Palmer “Civil War Veterans of San Diego”, Comrade Barnum’s records at the Heintzelman GAR Post indicate he had been born in Canada, and enlisted in Co. C of the 96th Illinois Infantry in 1862. Dr. Palmer postulated he had been a member of the Waukegan Post, Department of Illinois, but our records indicate her was a member in the GAR from the Michigan Department. The minutes of May 10, 1909 record that he gave us our ballot box which is in the shape of a cannon. Sadly, he died in 1929, and we don’t know where he is buried, but we still have the cannon ballot box.



The ladies who formed Nancy Hanks Lincoln Tent were, of course, what we call “Real Daughters” today. Most of them were married; two were not. Their records were a simple statement of where they had been born, and who their father was. Even though the form had a line on which their age and year of birth were to be put, none provided that information for posterity. The form also contained their fathers’ GAR Post affiliation, but some do not show their GAR history. Perhaps they felt that information was unnecessary if their father’s service was well known to the community. Where the record is filled in, there is a majority of Post 33 men shown, but there are some from the Datus E. Coon Post #172. Later, men from other Posts signed the Roll of Members “obligated” in our Tent.



We can boast that our Tent was formed just before the Department of California/Nevada became a Department in the National Organization. Our first delegate to the Department Convention in Pasadena was Agnes Gillen, who was elected unanimously at the first meeting. Unfortunately, the minutes of subsequent meetings do not show that she reported on that experience.



It may have surprised today’s members to know that our tent was not called “Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War” when it was formed. When the first tent was organized in June of 1885 with the name National Alliance, Daughters of Veterans. We celebrate the birthday of the Daughters for that date...December 12. But March 22 is our very own birthday!



By the time of the first National Convention in Quincy, Illinois, there were 194 members, and there were twelve delegates to that first convention representing tents that been organized in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. The California/Nevada Department was composed of sixty tents by 1933. How many do we have today? Three? Four? Santa Barbara, San Diego, Las Vegas and the new Fallon, Nevada Tent? (The latter hasn’t been admitted yet, but we wish them good luck.) The mid-west continues to be most active, and the cause of that may be because of the new popularity of “Re-enactment” groups.



There are some expressions in the first minutes of March 22, 1909 that we have no definition of today: Does anyone know why the three comrades, Bell, Haynes, and Rogers were called “Tellers”? And, why were all the members “obligated” instead of initiated? Later Minutes provide even more puzzles: what was a Penny Drill, and what was a Penny Social? Who or what was the US Grant Circle? In May of 1912, they sent greetings and an invitation to attend a Memorial Service at the Christian Church. The early tenters held a “Box Social” from which sale they made $9.95. Was a Box Social an auction such as conducted in the mid-west to introduce potential spouses? If so, did the Daughters sponsor that sort of social activity? It appears that they did. In those days the Daughters entertained the Sons, the GAR, the Ladies of the GAR. There were, in turn, invited to their activities. One activity that must have been especially fun was a “Moonlight Launch Ride” to Tent City on a Thursday evening in September 1911. It isn’t clear whether the trip to Coronado’s Tent City would be a boat ride, but a launch is a word for a boat. And cost wasn’t mentioned. Everyone was just urged to attend!



Speaking of fund raisers, in spite of the so-called “Penny drills” every meeting, and the box socials, our Treasury was always very small. On the second anniversary of our tent, we had just $11.84. Things looked better at the May 13, 1912 meeting when total cash on hand was $27.52. Expenditures, besides the monthly rent of the hall, appear to have been for flowers to the sick and for cards, or for Ritual Books.



Our expenses today are for printing, postage, supplies and for participation in the Genealogical Fairs to publicize our organization. We contribute to the GAR Living Memorial, the Veterans’ Hospital, to Galleudet University for the Deaf, and to the Chief of Staff’s project, but we haven’t had a fund raiser in recent years, relying instead, on membership dues to support the aforementioned activities. Is that because our modern members are scattered over a very big county, volunteer for many more projects, travel more, attend classes, have jobs? All of the above? Ours is not the only woman’s service club that has seen a drop in membership in recent decades. Is it too late to resuscitate these clubs? Let us resolve that on the occasion of our ninety-second birthday, the work and effort of Nancy Hanks Tent #5 will live and grow.



(Dates and events were abstracted by the author from the minute books in the possession of the Tent.)