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On April 17, 1953, 18 women gathered at the Congregational Church parlors at Eighth and G streets in Eureka to celebrate their Golden Jubilee luncheon. With much hilarity they convened around the luncheon table in the same room where they had formed the club more than 50 years earlier. The table was decorated with red camellias and golden primroses. The dinner was prepared for these veterans of the Bachelor Girls by the Young Mothers’ Club of the Church. Much had changed in these women’s lives and they felt it appropriate to celebrate those changes and remember the events of the last 50 years.

Many had broken their vows and had married, yet they continued to meet once a month, sometimes with a full compliment of members, sometimes with only a few in attendance.

The charter members, carefully recorded in the minutes book, included: Susie Pasco, Edna Rogers, Lizzie Simpson, Hattie Tracy, Helen Davis, Edith Rogers, Josephine Stinson, Ethel McClellan, Harriet Woods, Mabel Frame, Annie Woodcock, Clearie Sembower, Alice Way and Grace T. Brown.

The original Bachelor Girls were members of the Eureka Congregational Church Choir, slightly bored with life and looking for something more exciting than school to enliven their lives. Temporarily, they elected Alice Way as president, Grace T. Brown, secretary, and Hattie F. Tracy, treasurer. Meetings were designated to be held every month.

Their vows included the promise that they would never marry; a fine of $5 would be imposed on anyone who broke that vow. No idlers would be allowed. Their time would be spent on needlework. Ten cents, payable in advance, were the dues, 25 cents was the initiation fee. The dues never changed.

At their first meeting they admitted three more members to their club: Hattie Chapman, Ethel Tracy and Louise Hannah. At this meeting they also changed the names of their officers. The president was to be called Most High & Mighty Presiding Spinster, the secretary became Most Honorable Penholder, and the treasurer, Most Trustworthy Moneybags. Four more officers were added to the list: Stariana Protector, Grand Quizzer, Strenuous Estoquer and Dummy.

Initiation rituals were grand affairs. They included the “Vow,” the chant, “Red and yellow, catch a fellow,” and a quiz especially designed for each member. For instance, in the instance of candidate Bessie Weatherby, the following “accusation” was made: “The parrot says the owl saw the candidate out walking with Ernest Pape the other Sunday.”

Confession: “It is true.”

Accusation: “The parrot says the owl knows that the candidate doesn’t come to Sunday School so often since Mr. Gordon left.”

Confession: “Not true.”

Candidate: “The parrot says that the owl knows that the candidate winked at Mr. Albee in the laboratory during physics.”

Confession: “Not true.”

These initiation rites went on and on until the whole club was duly admitted to the Bachelor Girls’ Sewing Club. The girls then turned to their needlework until it was time for a dessert of cake and lemonade.

So progressed the meetings of the Bachelor Girls. New members were admitted while others drifted away. They decided that, all total, 30 members would be admitted to the Bachelor Girls.

Since there were not enough Congregational girls to fill that compliment. others were invited to join, mostly Episcopalians and Presbyterians. But the core of the group remained the same. They worked hard at their sewing to earn money to donate to such worthy projects as the mortgage on the church, the Armenian Relief Fund and to church bazaars.

The marriage of a Bachelor Girl was of intense interest. Each time someone announced her engagement, the gentleman in question gave a $5 gold piece to the treasury, and the young lady was honored with a particularly spectacular luncheon.

Food and talk and trips to visit those girls who had set up housekeeping on their own was the order of the day. Only one member left the country permanently — Alice Way Bell, their first president, moved to Lancaster, England. She kept up a lively correspondence with the girls and in return the girls sent her boxes of much needed clothes and food, during and after World War II.

As the years slipped away, the Bachelor Girls continued their monthly meetings. Occasionally a new baby would appear to be admired and given the status of Bachelor Girl Child. While their first meetings were held at the church, as new members were initiated, they found it preferable to meet at the member’s home. As an adopted Bachelor Girl Child, I distinctly remember delicious meals prepared by Alice Ross Moxon at her ranch in the Arcata Bottoms, and by Alice Dinsmore at Dinsmore Lodge. Another favorite spot for the girls when they first formed the club was a trip out to “Forest Park” (now known as Sequoia Park) on the “cars.” At one time Alice Moxon and Belle Minor lived at Samoa, which entailed exciting trips on the Antelope to play on the beach and eat simple fried chicken lunches.

As they become older, the girls dispensed with luncheons in their homes and began to explore the newest restaurants in town, and, incidentally, gave up needlework and turned their attention to a “gabfest” and food.

They fully enjoyed their luncheons at Weatherby’s, Walt’s and the Flakey Doughnut Shop. They would then adjourn to a member’s home for more gossip and perhaps a bite of dessert.

The Bachelor Girls continued to meet regularly until May 1968. It was then that Clearie Sembower Reed brought me the minutes books and photographs. “You take them,” she said. “Maybe someday you can write a story about us for the Humboldt Historian …”

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The piece above was printed in the March-April 1988 issue of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.