Organizing Chapter members of the newly formed Charlotte Parkhurst Chapter, Folsom, CA., gathered on May 5, 2021, for the swearing in of the chapter’s new officers. Carol Ann Nolan, the chapter’s Organizing Regent, welcomed California State Regent, Susan Broderick, State Corresponding Secretary, Emily Boling, and District II Director, Ruth Edmundson Johnson to the celebration.

Searching for a name for the new chapter, DAR members turned to the pages of the wild, wild West. Before completion of the Transcontinental Railroad over Donner Pass in 1868, the only transportation through the Sierra Nevada was by stagecoach driven by skilled and fearless men.

One of the most famous stagecoach drivers, or whips, during the California Gold Rush was Charley Parkhurst who fearlessly drove stages from Carson City to Placerville, and Sacramento to Santa Cruz, even winning accolades and a gold watch from Wells Fargo for his bravery in protecting the stagecoach from bandits.

Except ‘he’ was a ‘she’, a fact not discovered until it came time to bury Charley in 1879! But there’s one more amazing twist to this story: Dressed as a man, she cast her first vote in a national election in 1868, becoming the first woman to vote in the United States, 52 years before Congress passed the 19th amendment giving American women the right to vote!

Her real name was Charlotte Parkhurst, an inspiration to many, then and now. And as it turned out, the perfect choice for our new chapter’s name!

Photo L to R: Edwina Leca, Toni Como, Chapter Regent Carol Ann Nolan, Bobbi Bennett, Kimm Richwine, Sue Mackin, Becky Zsoka, LouAnn Civiletti, Afton Tuveson, Stephanie Ratzburg, Doris Adams, and Ernestine Bolduc.