Early History* of Dolly Madison Tent No. 6
"Dolly** Madison Tent No. 6, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil
War 1861--1865,
was organized November 12, 1921, in the Bickner Hall,
at St. Johns, Oregon. The institution (perhaps "installation" was the word intendend) was by Mrs. Frances McLeod of Coos Bay, who was the President of the Dept. of Oregon, D.U.V. Mrs.
Mary Chaney served as her assistant.
Thirty-one members signed the Charter: Jessie Maud Jannsen,--Aminda
Whitmore,--Ruth E. Bigler,--Mabel L. Wooley,--Nora E. Dunkin,--Alice M.
Lehmen,--Mary S. Horstmen,--Lucy S. Luce,--Nellie A. Martin,--Luvicia
Causline,
Lurley L. Flinn,--Artie Coffey,--Alice M. Weimer,--Rachel
Shatto,
A. Lucinda Porter,--Cordelia J. Smith, --Alice A.
Peunell,--Ella Chambers Lowry,
Alice M. Pringel,--Rose Robinson,--Mary
L. Chaney,--Margaret Larkins,
Minnie E. Plasket,--Oneda Buesy,--Jennie
V. Chaney,--Gladys L. Smith,
Clara C. Cole,--Grace J. Cole,--Celestia
Cole,--Eva A. Jones,-- Susie Rogers.
The name of Dolly Madison was given the Tent after a vote by the
members. Dolly Madison** was the wife of James Madison, President of the
United States during the War of 1812.
Mrs. Cordelia Smith (now of the Washington Dept.) was our first Tent
President. Our first Department President, Mrs. Lucy Luce, was elected
in 1924 at the State Convention in Oregon City, Oregon.
Since our organization, we have moved many times. A fire in the old
Bickner Hall destroyed nearly all of our Tent regalia. From there we
moved to the Odd Fellows Hall in St. Johns, to a Hall at Lombard and
Portsmouth, to the Odd Fellows Hall at Fiske and Lombard, and then to
the Portsmouth Community Hall on Hereford Avenue.
Our next move was to
the Multnomah County Courthouse. When the Patriotic orders were asked
to vacate their Headquarters in the Courthouse, we moved to the Knott
Street Community Center, 77 N.E. Knott Street.
Three of the original Charter members; Mrs. Lucy Luce, Mrs. Nellie
Martin Kahre, and Mrs. Margaret Larkins are still members of the Tent."
*The above is quoted exactly as written from a history in the tent scrapbook. It is thought that perhaps Gladys Thompson in about 1961 wrote this for the 50th Anniversary of Dolly Madison Tent #6.
**Note that currently the accepted way to correctly spell the first name of the wife of former President James Madison is Dolley. At the time that the tent was chartered in 1921, "Dolly" was the accepted way to spell the first name of Mrs. Madison.
Richard C. Cote - writer and historian - says in Strength and Honor - The Life of Dolley Madison "...for many years Mrs. Madison's first name was spelled incorrectly as 'Dolly' and not as 'Dolley'. This happened through her biographers and in early encyclopedias."
Cote, Richard C., Strength and Honor - The Life of Dolley Madison, Published by Corinthian Books;
Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina 294565-1895
First Printing, Sept. 2004; 2nd Printing Jan. 2005
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