Juliette Gordon Low

Juliette Gordon Low

THE GORDON FAMILY TREE

(Daisy's paternal great-grandparents, her grandfather and his siblings)

Ambrose Gordon (1750 - 1804)
m. Elizabeth Meade (1764 - 1858)

Their children

Margaret Gordon Matthi (1789 - 1854)
Elizabeth Gordon Howard Johnson (1792 - 1856)
Anne Gordon (1794 - ?)
*William Washington Gordon I (1796 - 1842)
Mississippi Gordon Cuyler (1799 - 1833) > twin
Tombigbee Gordon (1799 - 1824) > twin
Julia Gordon (1802 - 1805)

(Daisy's paternal grandparents, her father and aunts and uncles)

William Washington Gordon I (1796 - 1842)
m. Sarah Anderson Stites (1806 - 1882)
their children
Richard Gordon (d. infant)
William Gordon (d. infant)
George Anderson Gordon (1830 - 1872)
Mary Stites Gordon (1832 - 1834)
*William Washington Gordon II (1834 -1912)
Elizabeth Clifford Gordon Stiles (?)
Guliema Clifford Gordon Harrison (1840 -?)

(Daisy's father and mother - her siblings and their spouses)

William Washington Gordon II (1834 - 1912)
m. Eleanor Lytle Kinzie (1835 - 1917)
Their children
Eleanor Kinzie Gordon (1858 - 1933)
m. Richard Wayne Parker
*Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon (1860 -1927)
m. William Mackay Low (? - 1905)
Sarah Alice Gordon (1863 -1880)
William Washington Gordon III (1866 - 1932)
m. Ellen Buchanan Screven (1871 - 1946)
Mabel McLane Gordon (1870 - 1952)
m. Hon. Charles Fredrick Roland Leigh
George Arthur Gordon (1872 - 1947)
m. Margaret Cameron McGuire (1885 - 1957)

THE KINZIE FAMILY TREE

(Daisy's maternal great-grandparents, her grandfather and his siblings)

John Kinzie (1763 - 1828)
m. Eleanor Lytle (1771 - 1834) [see below]
Their children
*John Harris (1803-1865)
Ellen Marion (b. 1805)
Maria Indiana (b. 1807)
Robert Allen (1810)

[Eleanor Lytle was married to Capt. Daniel McKillip, had a daughter Margaret, and was widowed - prior to her marriage to John Kinzie. She was captured by the Seneca Indians as a child and given the name "Little Ship Under Full Sail" - a name that was also applied to her great-great granddaughter Daisy Gordon.]

(Daisy's maternal grandparents, her mother and maternal aunts and uncles)

John Harris Kinzie (1803 - 1865)
m. Juliette Magill (1806 -1870)
Their children
Wolcott (b. 1832)
*Eleanor Lytle (1835 - 1917)
John Jr. (b. 1838)
Arthur (b. 1841)
Julian (b. 1843)
Frank (b. 1844)
George (b. 1846)

(Daisy's mother and father and her siblings)

Eleanor Lytle Kinzie (1835 - 1917)
m. William Washington Gordon II (1834 - 1912)
Their children
Eleanor Kinzie (1858 - 1933)
*Juliette Magill Kinzie (1860 - 1927)
Sarah Alice 1863 - 1880)
William Washington III (1866 - 1932)
Mabel McLane (1870 - 1951)
George Arthur (1872 - 1947)

"Juliette Low's Notes on the Laws, 1912"

"HONOR. This means that a girl is not satisfied with keeping the letter of the law when she really breaks it in spirit.

LOYAL. This means that she is true to her country, to the city or village where she is a citizen, to her family, her church, her school, and those for whom she may work or who may work for her.

HELPFUL. The simplest way of saying this for the very young Scout is to do a good turn to someone every day: that is, to be a giver and not a taker. This is the spirit that makes the older Scout into a fine, useful, dependable woman."

"THRIFTY. The most valuable thing we have in this life is time, and most girls are apt to be rather stupid about getting the most out of it. Health is probably a woman's greatest capital, and a Girl Scout.....doesn't waste it in poor diet.....so that she goes bankrupt before she is thirty. Money is a very useful thing to have....A Girl Scout saves, as she spends, on some system."

"FRIEND TO ANIMALS. All Girl Scouts take particular care of our dumb friends, the animals, and protect them from stupid neglect or hard usage.

PURE. A good housekeeper cannot endure dust and dirt; a well-cared-for body cannot endure grime and soot; a pure mind cannot endure doubtful thoughts that cannot be freely aired and ventilated."

To put yourself in another's place requires real imagination, but by doing so each Girl Scout will be able to live among others happily.

I am like the old woman who lived in the shoe! And now the shoe has become too small for the many children and we must have a building that will be large enough for us all.

I hope that during the coming year we shall all remember the rules of this Girl Scouting game of ours. They are: To play fair. To play in your place. To play for your side and not for yourself. And as for the score, the best thing in a game is the fun and not the result.

Letter to
Girl Scouts of America (10/31/23)
from:
Juliette Low & the Girl Scouts, 1928 Anne Hyde Choate &
Helen Ferris, eds.

"Only thyself, thyself can harm.
Forget it not - and full of peace
Ignore the noise and world's alarm, and wait till storm and tumult cease." Julliette Gordon Low, 1903...

"In a world fraught with uncertainty and fear
our Movement shines out as a golden chain against
a dark background. The chain is getting longer
with each new link and stronger as each country
increases in spirit and numbers."

Savannah Morning News 12/22/86

WEDDED AMONG EVERGREENS
Nuptials of William Mackay Low and Miss Juliette Gordon

A very pretty wedding took place at Christ Church
at noon yesterday [12/21/86]. The bride was
Miss Juliette Gordon, daughter of Hon. W. W. Gordon, and the groom was Mr. William Mackay Low, of New York, son of the late Andrew Low. The church was well filled with invited guests, only those holding cards being admitted.

The ceremony was performed by Rt Rev. Bishop Beckwith, assisted by Rev. Thomas Boone. The chancel was beautifully decorated with evergreens and plants. Lohengrin's march was played as the bridal party entered the church. The groom, attended by his best man, Mr. Fred Habersham, entered by the vestry door and awaited the bride at the chancel.

The bride's dress was white corded silken train trimmed with point lace. Her sash was looped with an elegant crescent of diamonds. Her veil, which reached to the edge of the train, was caught at the side with a diamond star, and she wore a handsome diamond shoulder ornament. She carried in her hand a bouquet of lilies of the valley. The eight bridesmaids were dressed in white silk short dresses in the English style, trimmed with tulle, and wore bonnets of the same material. The flowers were exquisite. Each bridesmaid carried a bouquet of Northern roses. The ushers wore boutonnieres of lilies of the valley.

The bride was given away by her father, Hon. W. W. Gordon. After the ceremony at the church, a wedding breakfast was served (at the Gordon home), at which were only the relatives of the bride and groom.

Mr. and Mrs. Low will reside in the Low residence on Lafayette Square, which the groom has had elegantly fitted for their reception.

Girl Scouting was brought to the United States in 1912 by Juliette Low, a friend of Lord Baden-Powell. The moment she reached her home in Savannah, (from England) Daisy telephoned a friend. "Come right over, Nina," she said excitedly. "I've got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America and all the world, and we're going to start it tonight."

She wanted American girls to have a chance to learn the self reliance and skills that would make it possible for them to be active citizens when they grew up. And she saw Girl Scouting, with its emphasis on individual growth and zest for life, as an ideal way of forming such citizens.-from the Girl Scout Leader's Guide, 1955, and Junior Girl Scout Handbook, 1963.

Juliette loved to have tea parties.

This is one way she encouraged attendance of her first troop members, farm girls from the scattered crofts in the Scotland hills, to walk many miles to attend the troop meetings. In addition to teaching them skills that would enable them to remain in their homes, like chicken raising for the hunting lodges in the remote area, to spinning the wool grown on their homesteads. She had her cook (whom she had "wheedled" away from her Mother's home in Savannah), make meat pasties, biscuits cookies), raisin scones, Lally cake, cream buns and other goodies for their tea at the weekly meetings The delicate cups and saucers, beautiful plates (hand painted by Juliette and her sisters), and the snowy white linen napkins were an additional treat. Because of the obvious and grateful enjoyments of these early troops and the high regard for the tea portion of their meeting, Juliette made the rule early in her scouting days that every meeting should include tea." Refreshment, however meager should be provided."

"What was the name of the first club organized by JGL?" Answer: "Helpful Hands" - formed in the winter of 1876 - a sewing club which she started to give and ad comfort to the world.

(This quote from article in the American Girl Magazine by Juliette Low of childhood memories - in her birthday message - October 1926 - page 10) "Our first job was to make garments for an Italian family who had a fruit stall and whose children were in rags. I arranged to give the club instructions in sewing, and collected the members in a circle about me, each one facing me. By mischance I forced them all to thread their needles
with their left hands! So we got the name of "Helpless Hands." Unfortunately our work was not a complete success, because the Italians were of very warlike tempers, and in one battle which took place in our lane, the sleeves of the watermelon pink calico garment came completely out, and the boy discarded the garment altogether and raced home sans culottes, pursued by the policeman."

In 1865 Daisy came to live with her
Grandparents John & Juliette Kinzie in Chicago for 8 months. While in Chicago Daisy ate chicken for the first time.

Nellie (Juliette Low's mother) had a number of adopted sisters and brothers.

Juliette Low loved to tell ghost stories around the campfire. Some of them were scary.

One of my favorite Juliette Low stories is from Lady From Savannah and it concerns her trip to Egypt. She and her party were guests of some British military officers at dinner, who had arranged for a native band to entertain. As a special "honor" to their guests, the band played "Marching Through Georgia". Daisy and her sister Mabel were so indignant that they started to leave - they finally agreed to stay only if the band would play "Dixie" by way of apology. Since the band did not know "Dixie", Mabel played it on the piano and Daisy whistled it until they caught the tune.

("Marching Through Georgia" is the song commemorating "that debbil" Sherman's march to the sea, that cut a swath through Georgia - the scars of which can still been seen (and felt, if you ask the right people).

Daisy remained true to her "papa's faith, the Confederate faith" as long as she lived.

Daisy once brought some Girl Scout honor pins to a meeting in an old tomato can.

Daisy had a great filing system for her bills that needed to be paid - four envelopes, marked: "This Year" "Next Year" "Sometime" "Never".

According to her brother, Arthur, Daisy was chronically unpunctual. To quote him, "Time meant nothing in Daisy's scheme of things."

Arthur also tells us that Daisy was "deeply religious, quite superstitious, and a confirmed hero worshiper."

Daisy frequently read her Bible, and had "chapter and verse" at her fingertips - often including Biblical quotations in her correspondence.

Daisy once planned a garden party, and when the weather proved too cold for her camellia bushes to bloom, she *tied* other flowers on the bushes.

Daisy spoke French quite well, but was an incredibly bad speller (in any language).

Stephan Bohlin Davis (from the Birthplace) has read many papers of Daisy's and told us that he has seen some where she misspelled her own name "Juliette". According to Stephan, everyone called her "Daisy" and she probably never wrote "Juliette" on anything other than legal documents or equally important papers.

Daisy loved beautiful clothes and designed many of her own.

Daisy really *did* stand on her head to show the official GS shoes to a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Board.

A WWII Liberty Ship was named in honor of Juliette Low, the "S.S. Juliette Low" was launched in 1944. Most war time ships were scrapped after the war, but not the "Juliette".Juliette's namesake survived many a dangerous voyage and was know as "the Lucky ship".

In 1948, the United States government issued a postage stamp in her honor.

In 1983, the Juliette Gordon Low Federal Office Complex was the second federal building approved by Congress to be named after a woman .

Daisy's portrait hangs in the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and a bust of her stands in Georgia State Hall of Fame.

How about the time she was fishing, cast the line, snagged a gentleman's ear, continued to reel in, did not hear his screams...as she was practically deaf. This was as an adult.

During the First World War years, when Juliette was prohibited by British law to take much money out of England, the Girl Scouts of America operational costs were having growing pains. Juliette was paying the rent on office space, salaries, and her own and others' expenses.

"That suitable headquarters might be established for the scouts, Mrs. Low donated for the purpose a piece of property which she owned in Savannah, had the house remodeled to suit the needs of the organization, established athletic and other recreation fields, and employed a secretary to train the girls and to give the necessary impetus to the movement. Mrs. Low has thus far maintained the organization out of her private resources and she will also take care of the national headquarters in Washington until such time as the broader movement has become self-supporting."

"At first Juliette Low paid all the expenses herself. She was not poor, but neither was she extremely rich. In 1913, Mrs. Low opened a national headquarters in Washington for the Girl Scouts although at that time the organization was still very small. But she was determined that it should grow. In 1914 when more money was needed, she sold her pearls to raise money. "Jewels are not important," she said, "but the Girl Scouts are."Juliette sized up the situation, and decided "my Girl Scouts need the money more than I need pearls."

Daisy died on January 18, 1927

Daisy Low wearing the Silver Fish Pin She was buried wearing her full uniform, the silver fish pin, a jeweled "Thanks Badge" from her scouts , and a telegram in her pocket from the head of the Girl Scouts of America saying, "You are not only the first Girl Scout but the best Girl Scout of them all".

One of three Silver Fish Awards bestowed on adult Girl Scouts in the USA by Baden-Powell (this was in the 'early' days of Girl Scouting!) Juliette Low received the first, and she was buried with it. The second and third were awarded to the then President and Vice-President of Girl Scouts--Ann Choate and Helen Storrow. The Silver Fish is The Guide Association's highest award. It is awarded for outstanding service to The Guide Association, in more than one capacity a contribution to world Guiding.A member nominated for the Silver Fish must hold a Commissioner's Warrant Card or an appointment card. (Appointment Cards are held by Rainbow, Brownie, Guide, and Ranger Leaders and are issued to them each time they change Units or Sections or from an Assistant Guider to Guider. They receive a Warrant once they have completed the Adult Leadership Scheme and hold it until they are 65 when they have to come out of uniform). Today's Silver Fish is hung on a navy ribbon with a light blue centre stripe. The Fish itself weighs 22 grams.

Home	Buffalo Time Line	Promise & Law	Juliette Gordon Low
Birdsall Otis Edey	Quotes	Links	Atlanta Convention