The Story of Juliette Gordon Low and Girl Scouts

Juliette was born on Oct 31, 1860 - Halloween

Juliette was born in Savannah, Georgia

Her uncle took one look at her and said, “She looks like a Daisy” – this nickname stuck with her for the rest of her life

Oldest Photo of Juliette Gordon, Approximately Age 6

Juliette’s father, William Washington Gordon, was a Confederate Captain in the Civil War. Her mother was Nellie Kinzie. This is a painting that Juliette did of her mother.

She was the second of six children. Daisy is the one standing in the back. Circa 1876

Juliette’s great‐grandmother who was captured by Native Americans. Even though she  was a captive, she was always joyful, so the Native Americans started calling her  “Little‐Ship‐Under‐Full‐Sail”. She was the adopted daughter of the Seneca chief  Cornplanter in the years she dwelt with the tribe. Eventually, the Seneca said they’d  give Juliette’s great‐grandmother whatever gift she wanted, and she chose to go back  home. The Seneca let her go when she was 13 years old.  The shorter version of the nickname “Little Ship” was bestowed on young Juliette  when she was living with her grandparents in Chicago during the Civil War.  Her grandfather, John Harris Kinzie, was a Native American agent and young Juliette  often played with Native American children.

Cornplanter

Juliette and her siblings had not tasted sugar until Daisy was 4 or 5. General Sherman brought it to their house when he stayed there during the Civil War.

Daisy was an excellent swimmer and at the age of 8 rescued a two-year old boy who had fallen in the water. Photo of Daisy at age 10.

At age 13 Daisy left home to go boarding school where she liked drawing and reading; she was awful in spelling and math. She loved to draw and paint pictures so much, that she created children’s magazine with all of the articles and pictures done by children.

As a girl at home and school she loved to start clubs, plays and games. The first club she started was called The Helpful Hands, a sewing club to help the weak and unfortunates, but she couldn’t sew, so her brothers named the club The Helpless Hands.

Daisy attended boarding school at Virginia Female Institute (now Stuart Hall School) in Staunton, Va. in 1874-75 and other schools in Virginia and New Jersey. She later attended Mlles. Charbonniers, a French finishing school in New York City. While at boarding school, Juliette learned French. She used to write letters home to her parents in French. (Picture of Daisy at age 12)

As a girl and woman she loved parties, wore long dresses and attended many teas and balls. She attended finishing school and was “presented to society” as a debutante and “Savannah belle”, where she had many young men admirers.

Daisy grew up in the Victorian period. She wore beautiful gowns with bustles in the back, carried a fan and a parasol. She once had stand in line to visit the Queen. It was such a long wait that she placed her bouquet of flowers on the bustle of the girl standing in front of her. Photo of Juliette circa 1880.

Daisy loved animals, especially dogs and mocking birds, and one of her favorites was a parrot named, Polly Poons. She would bring home stray cats and dogs which she nursed back to health. She and her cousins created a club, TAC, “The Animal Catcher” to take care of the animals that they had rescued and already had. Her parents gave her a stall in the stable next to her horse to hold all her animals. (Picture of Juliette with Polly Poons)

Once while out driving, Daisy found a dead dog in the road. Now remember, this was after she was grown. She took the dog home and put it in her mother’s bed, hoping he’d come back to life. HE DIDN’T.

Juliette loved fishing, in fact she would go out with the men after a formal dinner. It was not unusual for her to go fishing in her evening dress.

Juliette was friends with Rudyard Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book.

Juliette was a talented artist. She painted, did blacksmithing, sculptures, china painting, writing poetry, knitting, and spinning. The iron gates she forged with her own hands can still be seen at the “Birthplace” in Savannah, Georgia. Because of doing this heavy demanding iron work, her muscles in her arms got very large. She had trouble making her evening dresses fit over the muscles.

She was married on December 21, 1886, which happened to be her parents’ 29th wedding anniversary to William Mackay “Willy” Low.

Some of the rice thrown at their wedding became lodged in Juliette’s left ear, causing her to become deaf in this ear.

Juliette and Willie both loved adventure, so together they decided to move to England in 1887. They had a home called Wellesbourne House in England and a castle in Scotland called Lude. Willie passed away while they lived in England. (Photo of Daisy in 1895 in England)

Juliette climbed the Great Pyramid in Egypt and rode elephants in India. She also flew in an airplane. She once went on safari and shot a huge tiger.

Juliette Low Flying a Farman Biplane with Pilot Lawrence Diggs.

Even though Juliette lived in a time when tea was served regularly, she spent 6 months drinking water (instead of tea) as a bargain with her butler to help him quit drinking.

Claiming decapitation was inhumane, Juliette chloroformed the Thanksgiving turkey. It was plucked (feathers pulled out of it) and put in the icebox (refrigerator). The next day when the refrigerator was opened to prepare it for dinner, it jumped out and scared the cook.

Juliette once approached a man to help her across a raging stream. Although the man argued with her, she pretended not to hear and grabbed his arm, starting him on the log. The man inched along tapping with his cane. They inched along with Juliette’s eyes closed and her hand on his shoulder. Once across, she asked him what he was trying to tell her. “What I was trying to tell you,” the man yelled, “is that I am BLIND!”

Juliette loved to tell ghost stories.

Juliette’s favorite watch only had one hand.

Everyone got out of the way with Juliette was driving. She was always driving on the wrong side of the road. Once she drove through the wall of a house right into the dining room, where the family was eating. (No one was hurt). Photo is of a 1903 De-Dion Bouton which was a car that the Lows owned.

After Willie died in 1905 Juliette met Lord & Lady Baden-Powell in 1911. She very much enjoyed what they had done with the Boy Scout movement

Juliette loved spending time in England and Scotland. She had troops in both places at one time before coming home to start Girl Scouts in the United States. She taught the troops in Scotland to spin wool.

In 1912, Juliette returned to Georgia and made the famous phone call which was heard around the United States, “Come on over to my house tonight, we are going to hold the first Girl Scout meeting!”

My name is Nina Pape. I am the woman on the other end of the phone when my Cousin Juliette Gordon Low made her famous phone call. I had started clubs for adolescent boys and girls in 1908, offering folk dancing, games and nature studies. These were the foundation for what came in 1912 when Juliette Gordon Low called me with her idea for a girl’s club which became the Girl Scouts of America. The first two Girl Scout troops in the US were at my school Pape School’s where sixth and seventh grade girls participated in two Troops named the White Rose and Carnation troops. I was active in training and organizing leaders and keeping the Girl Scout movement alive.

Girl Scouting in the USA was born on March 12, 1912 with a troop of 18 girls. Juliette was 52 years old when she started Girl Scouts in the United States.

Girl Scouts is  born March 12, 1912!

Pictured here is Margaret “Daisy Doots” Lawrence, Juliette’s niece and the first registered Girl Scout.

Juliette Low encouraged all girls in scouting to be well-rounded individuals. She helped create a handbook in 1913 to aide them in becoming leaders, explorers, artists, and teachers.

The first Girl Scout Handbook had instruction on how to tie up a burglar with 8” of rope and the rules for Basketball. Make a slip-knot at each end of your cord. Tie the burglar’s hands behind him by passing each loop over his little fingers. Place him face downwards, and bend his knees. Pass both feet under the string, and he will be unable to get away.

As with all Girl Scout troops, money was needed to keep the program running, so in 1914 Juliette sold the pearl necklace Willie had given her for a wedding present for $8,000.

Snack is served at meetings because Juliette loved tea parties. She said “refreshment, however meager, should be provided.” This is how she got her first troop members in Scotland to walk many miles to attend their meetings.

Girl Scouts started as girls 10-17 years old. In 1927, Brownies were added for girls 7-9 years old. And in the 1983 the Daisy Girl Scouts program was launched for girls in Kindergarten. Today there are six levels of Girl Scouts – Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette, Senior and Ambassador (which was added in 2006).

Scouts began selling homemade cookies as early as 1914. The first commercially baked cookie sale was held in 1936. Today cookies are still but only 2 bakeries can make them. The bakeries HAVE to make thin mints, shortbread and peanut butter sandwiches. The first sold in our council for 40 cents per box in 1963.

Girl Scouts helped with the war effort in many ways. They collected waste fat and scrap iron, grew Victory Gardens, and sold Defense Bonds.

In 1918, the Golden Eaglet, the moving about Girl Scouts was made and shown in movie theaters across the US.

In 1926, Girl Scouts and Girl Guides from over 31 countries came to New York for a week-long campout. World Thinking Day was created at this conference (WAGGGS).

Juliette Low died of breast cancer on January 18, 1927 and was buried in her scout uniform at the Laurel Grove Cemetery located in Savannah Georgia.

The Juliette Low World Friendship Fund was established in 1927 to honor Daisy’s life and her dream of world peace and international friendship.

A recipe for Some Mores (later known as S’mores) is published in Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.

Juliette was one of a very few people EVER outside the United Kingdom to be awarded the Silver Fish award. This is the highest award in Guiding in England.

During World War II, there was a Liberty ship named in her honor.

In 1948 President Harry S. Truman signed a bill authorizing a stamp in honor of Juliette Gordon Low. The stamp was one of the few dedicated to women.

In 1953, Girl Scouts bought Daisy’s childhood  home in Savannah and restored it. Today you can visit her home.

The Extra Mile Points of Light Volunteer Pathway  pays tribute to great Americans who built their  dreams into movements that have created  enduring change in America. The monument‘s medallions, laid into sidewalks  adjacent to the White House, form a one‐mile  walking path

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest honor a president can bestow on a civilian. The purpose was simply to recognize and honor citizens who made exemplary contributions to American “security or national interests,” to “world peace,” or to “cultural of other significant public or private endeavors.” President Barack Obama said, “Juliette Gordon low was not exactly typical. She recognized early on that in order to keep up with the changing times, women would have to be prepared. A century later—almost 60 million Girl Scouts have gained leadership skills and self-confidence through the organization she founded.

(Photo is of Richard Platt, a great-nephew of Juliette.)

In 2012, Girl Scouting in the US celebrated 100 years. Councils around the US held special events. As part of the celebration, a Centennial Silver Dollar has been issued by the U.S. Mint and a Postage stamp was issued to celebrate 100 years of scouting.

Today we celebrate three special days in scouting.

Juliette Gordon Low’s Birthday, or Founder’s Day, October 31. Juliette Low’s birthday is officially designated as Founder’s Day in 1920. World Thinking Day, February 22 -- celebrates the birthdays of Girl Guides/Girl Scouts founder Robert, Lord Baden-Powell (1857-1941) and World Chief Guide, Olave, Lady Baden-Powell (1889-1977). Girl Scout Birthday, March 12 -- commemorates the day in 1912 when Juliette Gordon Low officially registered the organization’s first 18 girl members in Savannah, Georgia. March 12 is designated as the official Girl Scout Birthday in 1932.

Today there are over 3.2 million Girl Scouts in America and 10 million girls and adults in the rest of the world. Famous Girl Scouts abound – Princess Kate, Lucille Ball, Taylor Swift, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Martha Stewart, Queen Elizabeth II, Honey Boo Boo (Alana Thompson), to name just a few. Some people say that over half of the women in Congress were former Girl Scouts.

And do you know the very best part???? Now you are a Girl Scout too!!!

The Story of Juliette Gordon Low and Girl Scouts