Quote:
Originally Posted by thetalady
Come on Vandal!! The non AGDs are waiting for some info!
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Sorry, I had a whole bunch of stuff that took priority.
First thing is that I accepted that 19 03 was not likely a date but that this was an early badge due to the opals on the Alpha and the black enamel of the Gamma. I went to three being Gamma, our very short lived chapter at Wesleyan university in Middletown, Connecticut, and once you and lleduc posted a Charlotte Geer at the same school around the same time, I felt more confident. She graduated in 1903 so that could also be what the 19 03 engraved on the back was for.
Wesleyan was installed as Gamma in 1906, and closed in 1912. Women were no longer admitted after 1909, and were treated horribly by the male students. The information told to me by 'big squirrels" was that these women at Gamma had a squirrel as a local mascot and that was one of the reasons we have
Skiouros, to honor the loss of that chapter. as well as squirrels being smart and industrious lil' critters, and squirrels also fit well with our color motif. There was a local organization founded in 1895 that was mentioned in the 1905 Baird's, Zeta Epsilon.
Zeta Epsilon.—A ladies' society founded at Wesleyan University in March, 1895. The membership to date is about 40. The badge is a diamond-shaped shield, displaying the letters "Z E." The colors are white, green and pink.
I have no idea what their jewels were, if any, so perhaps they were opals which is why this badge is opal. Charlotte Graham Geer Wilcox was born March 8, 1878 so she did not choose her birthstone, as opals are associated with October. Like many organizations badges were often made locally, so there wasn't complete standardization, and while researching Charlotte I found a 1915 edition of
The Quarterly with an advertisement from D.L. Auld stating that company was our official jeweler. However from a historical document at the University of Illinois (Sigma chapter) J. F. Newman of New York is mentioned as the designer of our second badge with a plain Delta, a chased Gamma, and the Alpha in pearls or diamonds. That citation came from Georgia Dickover's written history and being that she is a founder and was our Inter/national Historian I believe that's true. I haven't pinned down when we switched to D. L. Auld aka Burr Patterson Auld aka Herff Jones and we can't forget L.G. Balfour aka Art Carved.
First thing I did was establish I had the right Charlotte Geer as there were many in Connecticut and then her married name, which is Wilcox, and did some cross referencing which placed her in the area. In 1909 in Ida Shaw Martin's
The Sorority Handbook a Charlotte Geer was listed as Treasure of Alpha Gamma Delta Grand Council and living in Middletown, Connecticut (where Wesleyan was located). However she was a teacher and from the Wesleyan alumni publications I was able to track where she went and at that time she was teaching in Seymour, CT ten miles from Middletown. She married Edmund Cleveland Wilcox in 1912, and they had two children, a son Edmund Gillette Wilcox who died in 2002, and Margaret P. Wilcox who I haven't traced to a death yet. Charlotte and Edmund lived in the area where her pin was being sold, as did their son Edmund, and at his death one of his daughters was in the area. Charlotte died in 1971 so if this badge is "estate fresh" perhaps her daughter recently passed or one of her granddaughters. As I mentioned I haven't finished looking for information on her daughter and if she married and if so, kept her last name or if she had children.
When I muddle through that I'll come back and post an update.
Hybrid Mode
