Childhood

Juliette Gordon Low, often called by her nickname Daisy,  was born Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon on October 31, 1860. Juliette spent her early years in Savannah, Georgia, where her home is now a Registered Historic Landmark under the administration of the Girl Scouts of the USA. You can visit the birthplace to learn more about how Juliette and her family lived when she was alive.

Daisy’s parents were William Washington Gordon II and Eleanor (Nelly) Kinzie Gordon. Daisy’s father William was a native of Savannah and his family played an important role in the growth of the city. Daisy’s grandfather William Washington Gordon I served in the Georgia legislature, became Mayor of Savannah, and founded the Central Rail Road and Banking Company. There is even a county in Georgia named after W.W. Gordon I.

Daisy’s mother Nelly Kinzie came from a prominent and wealthy family from Chicago, Illinois. In fact, John Kinzie, Daisy’s grandfather, built the very first house in Chicago on the banks of the Chicago River. Nelly and William gave Daisy five siblings. The Gordon children were Eleanor (Nell) Kinzie, Juliette (Daisy) Magill Kinzie, Sarah Alice, William (Willy) Washington, Jr., Mabel McLane, and George Arthur. Sadly, Daisy’s sister Sarah Alice died in 1880 at age 17. Her death was very hard on Daisy and her family.

Not long after Daisy was born, the United States entered  the Civil War. Daisy had family fighting on both sides of the war. Daisy’s father William Washington Gordon II served as a lieutenant for the Confederacy while her mother’s side of the family fought for the United States. While their father was away fighting the war, Daisy, her sisters Eleanor and Alice, and their mother Nelly struggled like most did on the home front. Food was expensive and scarce and the family often lived far away from their home in Savannah either to be closer to their father or to find safety.

Daisy still lived a privileged life despite the financial troubles the Civil War and Reconstruction brought to her father’s business. Daisy’s mother oversaw her early education and nurtured her talents in the arts. As a child Daisy exhibited a love of the outdoors, a propensity for physical activity, and a desire to help others. All these traits would later become tenants of the Girl Scout movement.

In the book Juliette Low and the Girl Scouts edited by Anne Hyde Choate and Helen Ferris, Juliette Low writes about her childhood in a chapter titled “When I was a Girl.” In this chapter she tells about her fond memories of spending the summers on their plantation in northern Georgia where a governess taught Daisy and a few of her cousins under the walnut trees. Juliette Low also reminisces about the first organization she ever founded, “Helpful Hands.” Unfortunately the Helpful Hands club was disbanded in the summer of 1876 with the outbreak of the yellow fever epidemic in Savannah. Daisy’s father, a member of the Savannah Benevolent Society, remained in the city to care for the sick, but sent Nelly and the children away to avoid the scourge. Below you can learn more about the 1876 yellow fever in Savannah by reading primary sources from the Georgia Historical Society’s manuscript collection.

Just as Daisy had family fighting for both the North and the South in the Civil War, Daisy herself lived in both worlds. Daisy had the opportunity to visit her grandparents in Chicago on many occasions, including during the final stages of the Civil War when women and children were forced to evacuate Savannah. When she turned thirteen, Daisy’s parents sent her to a French boarding school in the North to experience life in New York City. You can learn more about Daisy’s time at Etowah and in Boarding school by reading her letters from the Georgia Historical Society’s manuscript collection.