Vallejo Women Struggle to Win the Vote

Over the next few weeks both the Democratic and Republican Parties will hold their national conventions to select candidates for the November presidential election. Other political parties (the Green Party, Libertarian Party, Peace & Freedom Party, etc.) have also recently chosen candidates to vie for the top office. The right to vote for our political leaders - whether conservative, liberal, or elsewhere on the political spectrum - is a right that far too few Americans exercise. And for many Americans that right was only attained after years of struggle.

In Vallejo, as in the rest of the United States, women fought for decades to win the right to vote. The women’s suffrage movement in California was strident, vocal - and ultimately successful. California women gained the right to vote in 1911, nearly a decade before passage of the 19^th amendment granted that right nationwide.

The women’s suffrage movement came to Vallejo as early as 1870. Recently, Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum researcher Marilyn Armstrong uncovered this interesting article from the Semi-Weekly Vallejo Recorder of January 7, 1870:

Lecture On Woman Suffrage

“We listened last evening to a portion of the lecture delivered by Mrs. Gordon at Eureka Hall on the subject of women’s rights. The audience was quite meager showing that our citizens are not duly interested in the movement. The lecture possessed some merit and was delivered in a calm dispassionate and graceful manner, but had evidently been well studied, cut and dried. The object of the lecture was explained fully which was to keep up the agitation of the question. Many of the positions taken by the lecturess were untenable and the conclusions drawn were fallacious. She rehashed much of that nonsense and simple stuff which has long since become ‘weary, stale, flat and unprofitable’ and attempted to answer the arguments which any sensible person who is opposed to woman’s transcending the sphere for which she was intended by nature, could urge. No doubt Mrs. Gordon is a woman of some education and accomplishments but that she has mistaken her calling is apparent."

Questions arise:

Did the otherwise unidentified “Mrs. Gordon” live long enough to exercise her legal right to vote in California nearly forty years later?

Did the editors of the Vallejo newspaper rethink the condescending attitude shown in this article and eventually come around to support women’s suffrage?

Have women’s voices (and votes) influenced the course of American politics since this important right was attained?

The lesson learned?

Get out and vote!

What’s Going On? – California and the Vietnam Era

The landmark exhibition “What’s Going On? – California and the Vietnam Era” is currently featured at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum . “What’s Going On?” provides a timely examination of the impact of the Vietnam War on California life and culture. Home to numerous defense contractors and military training centers (including the Mare Island Naval Shipyard and Travis Air Force Base), the state also served as the primary portal for both returning soldiers and Southeast Asian immigrants following the fall of Saigon. As the epicenter of the war’s home front, California became a hotbed of social and political movements that spread across the county, and ultimately redefined what it means to be an American.

The exhibition focuses on events in California from the 1950s Cold War era to the present, with special emphasis on the tumultuous years from the Vietnam conflict’s escalation in 1965 through its end in 1975. During that time, California was the epicenter of the war’s domestic front. The state was the staging ground for most of the nation’s defense contractors, the location of principal military centers where troops were trained and transported, and the base of legendary peace protests and New Right politics ushered in by Reagan’s gubernatorial election in 1966.

The exhibition includes historical artifacts, photographs, and documents interwoven with oral histories contributed by veterans, activists, and former refugees. Based on a larger exhibition of the same title developed by the Oakland Museum of California, this 1,000 square-foot exhibition provides visitors an opportunity to consider and ask question about this important period in our nation’s history.

The exhibit has been supplemented with material from the collection of the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum reflecting the impact of the Vietnam conflict on Solano County. Much of Solano County’s history has been defined by the strong military presence of the Mare Island Navy Yard, Travis Air Force Base, and the Benicia Arsenal.

The exhibit has been further enhanced by the addition of historical and artistic works by Amerasian artist Ruth Moss, a Solano County native whose work reflects the impact of the era on her and her extended family. Moss’ father served in the US Air Force in Vietnam. Her mother is Vietnamese. After coming to the United States the family helped literally hundreds of Vietnamese immigrants who came to California via refugee camps in Guam, the Philippines, and other locations.

Currently scheduled for installation at more than 10 museums across the state over the next three years, “What’s Going On?” will continue at the Vallejo Museum through September 6^th.

The “What’s Going On? – California and the Vietnam Era” exhibition tour was organized by the California Exhibition Resources Alliance (CERA) in concert with the Oakland Museum of California. CERA is a network of professionally operated museums and cultural organizations that collaborate to create and tour smaller, affordable, high quality exhibitions that enhance civic engagement and human understanding. The Oakland Museum exhibition was made possible with support by the Oakland Museum Women’s Board, the National Endowment for the Humanities, The James Irvine Foundation, The Clorox Company Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.

The Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum is located at 734 Marin Street, Vallejo. For more information call (707) 643-0077.

Photo caption: U.S. Marine and Vietnamese refugees at Camp Pendleton refugee center, 1975. Stephen Peck, photographer

The Ink Bottle House

The Octagon House was an unusual but popular style of architecture in the mid 19^th century. The style was most common in the East and Midwest, but there were also a few examples in the West. Five octagons are known to have been built in San Francisco, and two still survive - the Feusier House and the McElroy House. Vallejo's Octagon was known as the "Ink Bottle House” and stood on the south side of Florida Street, between Marin Street and Sonoma Boulevard. According to the Vallejo Times-Herald in 1936, the unusual house was built around 1865 by "an eccentric sea captain whose name even the old timers have forgotten.” In later years, the Daley and Colton families lived in the house. The octagon was torn down around 1908, though some accounts have it standing - abandoned - into the 1910s.

Vallejo's First 4th of July Celebration

When the young city of Vallejo became California’s state capital in 1852, the future looked bright. The fledgling town, located midway between the bustling port of San Francisco and the gold fields above Sacramento, seemed poised for greatness. But unfortunately the State Legislature departed Vallejo after only two abbreviated sessions in 1852 and 1853. Nearby Benicia became the seat of California’s government and Vallejo was rapidly depopulated.

So by July of 1853 the state legislature had fled Vallejo and the U.S. Navy had not yet arrived. More than a year would pass before Captain David G. Farragut would establish the Navy Yard at Mare Island in September 1854. In the summer of 1853 only two families and a handful of bachelors remained in the struggling town. Vallejo’s future seemed grim.

But those early settlers remained patriotic. In The History of Solano County, published by Wood, Alley & Company in 1879, we find an account of the first 4^th of July celebration in Vallejo:

“On July 4, 1853, we find the first celebration of Independence Day, in Vallejo, by a dinner at the Vallejo House [a hotel] and bonfire. At the former there sat down two ladies and eight gentlemen, Mrs. Robert and Thomas Brownlee, Captain Stewart, Squire Hook, Edward H. Rowe (elder), West Rowe, Lemuel Hazelton, B. F. Osborne, with Robert and Thomas Brownlee. At an early hour Captain Stewart had donned his full uniform and called on all to celebrate the day with becoming ceremony. A few tar barrels had been procured from the dry-dock and dragged up to what is now called Capitol hill; a pile of brushwood was heaped up to an immense height, and ‘lashings of whisky’ had not been forgotten. At dark the hill was ablaze, making the surrounding country as light as day. Success to the Union was drunk amidst much enthusiasm; the glass and merry song went round; speeches were the order of the day, or rather night, while intense loyalty gave place to noisy enthusiasm, to be replaced by morbid toast making, until one by one the heroes who had braved so many dangers sank to rest on the bosom of mother earth in a slumber which the mighty Bourbon had invoked.”

Happy 4^th of July, Vallejo!

Mysterious Death of the Saginaw's Skipper

Two earlier posts (May 24 & 28, 2008) related stories about the sidewheeler USS Saginaw, the first ship built at the Mare Island Navy Yard. During 1868-69 the Saginaw cruised in Alaskan waters, returning briefly to Mare Island for reprovisioning in the fall of 1868. During the first part of that Alaska cruise, the Saginaw was under the command of Commander John G. Mitchell. Unfortunately, during her return visit to Mare Island, Saginaw’s skipper met with an untimely end. The Vallejo Weekly Chronicle of Saturday, October 24, 1868, provided an account of the incident.

Mysterious Affair – Death of Commander John Mitchell

“Commander John Mitchell of the United States Steamer Saginaw was murdered in San Francisco, at the corner of Sutter and Stockton streets, at half past seven o’clock last Wednesday evening. The only witness to the deed was a young lady. She was passing down Sutter street near to the place, when she noticed three men standing at the place before mentioned; loud talk was going on when one of the men struck the man standing in the middle a heavy blow on the head knocking him down. The third man instantly took to his heels. The assailant stopped to strike his victim several blows as he lay on the ground, and then ran off in the opposite direction from that taken by his accomplice. As soon as possible the lady gave the alarm. When assistance came the man was found lying across the railroad track in a dying condition. He was removed to a grocery store near by, where he soon expired. Upon examination, strange to say, no marks of violence were found on his person (contradicting the first report). A gold watch and $29.50 in coin was found in his clothes, showing that no robbery was intended. He left the Navy yard on the morning boat to attend some business in the City. Two men were seen in the company of the deceased, a short time previous to the occurrence. Mitchell had apparently been drinking; he expressed his dislike to the company which was seemingly forced upon him. The whole affair is a complete mystery. A Coroner’s inquest was held on the body Thursday. The two men have been arrested, who gave their names as savage and Elias, which are thought to be fictitious names. Commander Mitchell has been a long time on the coast. He was the executive officer of the Active, under Commodore Alden, on the Coast Survey. On the breaking out of the war he was ordered East, where he took an active part in naval operations, and after the close of the war he came back to this coast as chief officer of the Pensacola. From this ship he was transferred to the command of the Saginaw something over a year ago; and was expecting to be relieved from the latter named vessel in a few days. He was a gentleman and an officer in every sense of the word, not only here, but everywhere his position called him. We are told he was a native of Massachusetts, and he leaves a wife and family in the East.”

Vallejo in 1852

In March 1852 Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion reported on the vast influx of people into the new state of California following the discovery of gold a few years before: “How many poor people have become enriched, and how many have lost their lives in their mad zeal to obtain a hoard of the glittering dust. No modern event has ever been the cause of so much romance in real life...."

The article also described the new capital city of Vallejo: “Our artist presents a very fine view of Vallejo, the new capital of California. It is pronounced by persons who have visited and are familiar with the spot, as singularly accurate and faithful. The members of the California legislature when they first met were compelled to sit on nail kegs, with a board placed across the open head, or upon temporary benches, which now and then broke under the weight of legislative dignity, and let down a row of honorable gentlemen flat upon the floor, to the great hazard of the gravity of the house. This was in consequence of the unfinished state of the capitol. The boarding-houses were not much better prepared for the reception of the public dignitaries, and in many instances members had to take turns in occupying chairs during the night. However, as soon as it was decided that the government would remain at Vallejo those inconveniences were removed…. The State House, on the summit of the hill, the public offices, hotels, and every tenement in the place is presented, together with much of the surrounding scenery, constituting as it does one of the most beautiful points in the entire state of California.”

Old Times

The Vallejo Evening Chronicle of May 22, 1877 published the following column under the heading of “Old Times”

Events of Early Days in Vallejo

"Several days since a number of questions were propounded to the Chronicle relating to early events in the history of Vallejo. We herewith give the desired information in the order of request."

Mare Island

"The tract of land embodying what is known as Mare Island was sold by Victor Castro in the year 1850 to John B. Frisbie and a man named B. Simonds, for the sum of $7,000. About one year thereafter these parties sold the property to Messrs. Aspinall & Birrell, of New York for $17,500 and the latter named sold the Island to the Government for $80,000. The property was taken possession of by the late Admiral Farragut for Navy Yard purposes in 1854."

"The largest number of workmen ever employed on the Yard was in 1869 when there were about 1,750 men on the rolls."

"The Saginaw was built of Pacific Coast timber in the year 1859."

Newspapers

"The first newspaper published in Vallejo was a weekly called the Bulletin No. 1, Vol. 1, of which appeared November 22d, 1855 and was published by Messrs, Eaton & Cox. The latter is resident of Napa."

"There was an amateur journal printed on the Navy Yard about three years subsequent to the Bulletin, by a lad, M. L. Hanscom."

Indians

"Before the settlement of this section by the whites, this immediate section was inhabited by a tribe of Indians called the Soscols. From the best information it is believed there is no remnant of them left."

Political Incident

"James Buchanan was hung in effigy immediately after his election, it was supposed by some members of the Filmore club. The stuffed figure was run up on the flagpole that now stands at Connolly’s corner, and the halyards were cut away. The Democrats had great trouble in getting the effigy down. It remained there for nearly forty-eight hours; several sailors form off one of Uncle Sam’s ships essayed to climb the pole and cut the offending figure down, but all failed. Finally, a young man was found who accomplished the much desired object, and was paid $20 for his work."

Public Schools

"J. G. Lawton was the first Superintendent of Public Schools in Vallejo and the first Board of Education was composed of the following: J. G. Lawton, Chairman; I. S. Halsey, B. S. Osborn, E. M. Benjamin and M. J. Wright, Secretary. Their first meeting was held June 23d, 1870. Prior to this Board the schools were managed under the general State law by three Trustees. The first Principal was G. W. Simonton, both under the Board of Education and under the Trustee management."

Burning of The Old State House

"The old State House was situated on the very summit of the hill back of the Eureka Hall. It was a tall, two story structure, with from forty to fifty feet in up to its eaves, and forty by fifty feet in other dimensions. It was a frame building and had a zinc roof. The Senate used to meet in the upper story and the Assembly in the lower; below the latter was a half-basement, devoted to what purpose we cannot say. The building had belonged to General Vallejo, who gave the use of it to the State. After the removal of the Capitol it reverted to Vallejo, who owned it when burned. At the time of the conflagration, J.B. Frisbie and Burcham had a considerable quantity of hay stowed in the basement. The day before an incendiary attempt on Georgia street had aroused apprehensions among the citizens, and Mr. Topley and some others who had examined the State House with the possibility of a fire there in view, found evidence of the occupation at night of the place where the hay was stored. They nailed up everything securely so that no access was offered to the hay, and left. It was on the next day after-the morning of August 20, 1859, that the building burned. The flames first broke out on the water-side and were seen first by a man in a sloop on the bay. The alarm was given and the people rushed to the spot. But there was no fire apparatus in that day and the building burned to the ground before their eyes. There was a report at the time that those who first reached the burning house found a hatchet lying on the outside and evidences that a way had been forced into the basement nailed up the day before. But this is apocryphal. Anyhow, an incendiary attempted followed the night after, and then the people met and formed a police organization, which saved them from further fires for some considerable time."

Vallejo Rifles

"The Vallejo Rifles were organized in 1861 with J. B. Frisbie as Captain and John King, First Lieutenant."