Druids of California

United Ancient Order of Druids

 

Druids of California

ORIGINS

Founder of California Druids
Frederick Sieg

Fredrick Sieg

The United Ancient Order of Druids of California are a fraternal benefit organization established in Placerville in 1860. It has its origins in England, but is not associated with the sacrificial Druids of Stonehenge. The Order is based on the ancient Druids beliefs of benevolence and education and was founded on sound morality.

The origins of the ancient Druids remain shrouded in the dim mists of antiquity, with first trances dating back to 6000 years before the Christian era. Their numbers were greatly decimated by the Roman empire and are thought to be extinct.

The written history began in the 18th century with the founding of the Ancient Order of Druids as part of a movement to recreate the fraternal family of the "wise ones", practice virtue, and unity to assist others. It is a "secret" ritualistic Order only in the manner in which the meetings are conducted. It asks no promises of you that conflict with any religious system or the laws of any civilized country and is a non-political society.

Let me quickly try to describe the events and circumstances that gave birth to the Modern Druids, and other similar organizations.

The year 1781 found Great Britain committed to war of repression against their American kinsman. The Americans making a supreme effort to assert their right of self-government and secure freedom and separation from the mother country. The war was unpopular even in Britain. A large section of the populace openly sympathized with the American colonists. The government adopted very severe measures to keep the people from rebellion. Secret meetings and public assemblies were banned and, whenever discovered, dispersed by the military. The promoters of such gatherings suffered severe rigors of the law.

In addition, there were religious agitations, aimed against the spread of papistry of Roman doctrines, which led to considerable riots. These elements, together with the march of republicanism in France, produced such a state of unrest that it was almost impossible to hold any gatherings on peaceful lines without allusions to politics or religion.

"The bar parlor or the taproom of an inn were the customary meeting places for social intercourse, but the spirit of the times too often disturbed the peace and pleasure of these assemblies. Men of respectability and good manners sought a way out of it by forming private societies, designated by suitable names, where they could meet in peaceful surroundings.

In 1781 a few friends met occasionally at the King's Arms Tavern, Poland and Oxford Streets, London. A gentleman named Henry Hurle stated his feelings as to the best method of improving the tenor of those gatherings. He said: "It appears to me that society lacks the addition of meetings to promote good-fellowship, hilarity and brotherly love. There were of old, men who undertook to enlighten the people of their day and who introduced among the ancient Britons the useful and polite arts, and these were the Druids. My proposition is that we form a society for social feeling and that we assume the title of those learned men." The Ancient Order of Druids was founded.

Henry Hurle began chartering "Junior Primitive Lodges" just two years after the original lodge institution: As the parent Lodge, Hurle's first Lodge was thereafter known as the Grand Lodge of the Ancient Order of Druids. The Ancient Order of Druids stated that the society was, "Established to promote harmony and good fellowship."

The Druids came to America with the first Grove of Druids instituted in the City of New York in 1830. About this time disagreements on the purpose of the Druids had caused a rift in the order. Members with the belief that it should be a more democratic mutual benefit society, about half the lodges in Britain, were expelled and formed a rival United Ancient Order of Druids. The AOD continued as they were and this new UAOD expanded into America with the ongoing migration of the times.

The Druids in England felt the Order would never survive in the new world but 1840 Found George Washington Grove # 1 celebrating its first anniversary with much drinking and singing.

Western expansion soon found Druids in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Louisiana.

The California Gold Rush brought an influx of settlers west to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Among these immigrants were Druids. By 1859 two attempts had been made to establish a Grove of Druids in California but had been thwarted by unforeseen circumstances. In 1860, California Grove No. 1 was instituted at old Hangtown (now known as Placerville) under the leadership of the founder of California Druidism, P.N.G.A. (Past Noble Grand Arch) Frederick Sieg. A Druidic monument honoring P.N.G.A. Frederick Sieg adorns the main street of Placerville. The California Druids acted as a brotherhood united to assist the miners or their families if they became injured or killed in the gold fields of the Sierra Nevada. The Druids buried the dead and took care of the widows and orphans. It spread statewide and became a booming organization. Two hundred sixty-six local Groves have been chartered over the years and membership approached 15,000 in the early years of the 20th century. As with most fraternal organizations membership has dwindled over the last half century.

Point Arena Grove was chartered March fifth, 1908, the same year Point Arena became a city, as the two hundredth Grove in California. Point Arena was not easily reached at the turn of the 20th century. From San Francisco the Grand Secretary at the time, C. A. Gugliemoni, would have had to book passage on the steamship and endure an open ocean voyage into a small harbor 90 miles to the north. Correspondence would travel in the same manner, probably leading to a story found in the local newspaper, the Point Arena Record, dated March 6th telling of the formation of a new Druids Grove in Point Arena the previous evening. The article referred to Point Arena as the 198th grove. Had the writer attended the meeting he would have known Gugliemoni instituted 2 more groves including Fulton Grove #199 in San Francisco, before he left town and thereby made this story incorrect.

Point Arena Grove wasn't the first Druid Grove in Mendocino County or on this piece of coast.

Down the coast we had:

The hall is still there on the Plantation Ranch and has become a museum for that ranch. The collection includes Druid memorabilia that was found in the abandoned hall.

There have been two Druid Halls in Point Arena at this location. The first, a two-story structure, was based on the policy of many fraternal halls, to have rentable retail space on the ground floor and a meeting hall above. This one was built around 1911. Not much is remembered about this building as to what business may have occupied the lower floor. What is known is some event occurred in the early 1930's that required the current building to be built. Whether it was a fire or something else is debatable. Point Arena has a history of destructive fires so this may not be too farfetched. There seems to be a consensus among old timers that much of the building materials came from the old structure. Completion of the current building occurred by 1934. It remained basically unchanged until the 1980's when steps were taken to widen the dining hall to accommodate the Redwood Coast Senior Center which was renting the building. The Druids sold the Hall to the Leonard and Dorthea Winters two years ago and they modernized the kitchen, replaced the drafty windows, and really spiffed the old girl up.

From: The Early Days of Point Arena, A pictorial history of the city and township By Steve Oliff and Cheri Carlstedt

The Druids Hall The Druids were a primarily Italian organization, and chartered in Point Arena in 1908. They met at Jarvis Mazzetta's hotel until they built their own building in 1911. This first Druids building was torn down in the 30's and replaced with th4e current building. The two-story building next to the Druids Hall was built by Henry Halliday in the late 1930's as a store with upstairs apartments. Much later in 1959, the Redwood Motel was built on the site of Newt Howe's blacksmith shop by Chet Ohleyer and Jack Vincent.

From the Point Arena Record

March 6, 1908 - "Point Arena Grove, No. 198, United Order of Druids, was to be organized last night on the arrival of C.A. Guglielmoni, Grand Secretary, in Mazzetta's hall with a charter membership of about 35."

December 29, 1911 - "Point Arena Grove, No. 200, U.O.A.D., have let a contract for the erection of a new hall. The building will be a two story 29 X 80 feet and will be on lower Main just north of the shoe shop. The upper story will be used as a lodge room and the lower as a store."

(It seems obvious they didn't begin building the first building until 1912.)

Sources for this presentation include:

The Early Days of Point Arena, A Pictorial History of the City and Township
By Steve Oliff and Cheri Carlstedt

A Condensed History of the Druidic Order
Druids of California
by C. A. Guglielmoni

Zeni
9-30-2021