The real story
In one sense I strongly agree with, while in another sense I respectfully disagree with the “Zero” assessment of the Dixie School District in San Rafael [Hero and Zero, July 22].
I definitely agree in the strongest terms with the need for our societies to continue to discriminate against racism and other forms of personal and institutional bias in every way possible. If District officials are intentionally obfuscating the origin of the name of the District (or just plain wrong) they should be reprimanded and censored in the strongest terms, and (unless they are just plain wrong) should probably be dismissed from the District or forced to resign by the community. My hope, expectation, and presumption is that neither of these is the case.
But if as indicated in the Zero column and as apparently suggested by District officials the true origin of the name is in fact a local Miwok family name, an entirely different story is created. In this case the District may want to clarify the official name publicly to include the given (first) name of the person from which the District name derives.
The real story could be difficult to discover. Evidence presented in the column; that “ … the District was named during the time frame of the Civil War … ” seems troubling. I’m not an expert on history but I’m surprised if there were any public school districts created in that period; if that part of the story is true perhaps the District was created by a local church.
Either way, from what I think I know about California history it seems unlikely a public entity or a church in 1863 would name a school district after a Native American. Nonetheless a notion that the District might have been named in 1863 in solidarity with Confederate States but that the origin of the name was obfuscated over time to be “politically correct” seems especially confusing.
As members of a global society we need to discriminate issues such as this carefully because to do otherwise reduces not only those we wish to protect and respect but ourselves and our global society as well. I am certainly encouraged that as members of society we are asking these questions and are willing to come to difficult conclusions.
—Craig Domeny, San Rafael
Dear Mr. Domeny,
I don’t want to trouble you further, but the Dixie School District was indeed established on November 3, 1863. Allow me to refer you to the historic Dixie Schoolhouse, which was built in 1864 and still stands today at 2255 Las Gallinas Avenue. There are tours of this charming schoolhouse every Sunday and I encourage all Marinites to visit. A couple of tidbits gleaned from their website (www.dixieschoolhouse.org):
1) An 1899 report of the Superintendent of Schools confirms this date. “The District was organized November 3, 1863 and a house was built and school opened in March, 1864.”
2) Mrs. Frances Miller Leitz, granddaughter of James Miller, stated that her grandfather not only donated the land but helped haul redwood from the Nicasio Mills for construction of both school buildings. Mrs. Leitz also uncovered the origin of the school’s name (“Dixie”) when she stated that her grandfather, not being a man to turn down a challenge, named the building “on a dare.” Marin County in 1864 was hotly pro-Northern and the fact that several Southern sympathizers helped in the construction of the first schoolhouse prompted someone to dare James Miller to name the school “Dixie”.
Not to school you any further about the Dixie name, I merely suggest that we encourage the district to change it. Perhaps a name honoring the Miwok that once inhabited the land would be appropriate.
Best,
Nikki Silverstein
And so the debate continues in 2019…
Rededicating the school to Mary Dixie neatly resolves the dispute!
A Miwok named Mary Dixie has a logical connection to James Miller, Founder of the Dixie Schoolhouse. I believe a false narrative was created in 1972 when, hastily, an application was filed to for the Dixie Schoolhouse as a landmark, without fully examining the heirlooms and analyzing the history. The premise of a “dare” was tertiary and speculative. What’s more, the comments of Frances Miller Leitz were ambiguous! Allegedly she said the schoolhouse was named as a “dare” but this is up for interpretation.
To fully understand, in context, you’ll need to learn a little more about who is James Miller and Mary Dixie!
Who was James Miller?
James Miller had ties to the Gold Country (and not the Confederacy). If you will follow history you will know that Irish people faced a major challenge in the United States – racism! Prejudices existed for the Irish for their religious beliefs when they first set foot in America. As tensions built, the Irish immigrant men often joined the army to gain acceptance from Americans; others headed West. Eventually, many Irish men were recruited for the Union Army, because it more closely aligned with their beliefs. Throughout the Union army, Irishmen and their sons served with distinction! Most Irish came after the potato famine of 1845 to New York, though Miller came much earlier by way of Canada. A native of Wexford Ireland, Miller never served the Union Army, but he accepted a Union Captain into his family. Here is his story…
Like other Irish emigrating first to Canada, James Miller made his way to America and settled briefly in Missouri, a hotly contested slave border state. Not satisfied with life in Missouri, Miller and his wife Mary Murphy, headed West through Iowa, a Union state, to meet up with the Martin Murphy family and other Murphys, where the family formed a ten-wagon train and eventually merged with a 40-wagon train to Oregon and California. It was an 8-month journey with an overlay at Truckee Lake.
After hardship in passage through the overland, including a rescue operation for half of the wagon party stuck in Truckee, Miller eventually made home near Mission San Rafael, which was Mexico at the time. Miller named the Truckee River and Lake after a Miwok/Paiute chief who helped him navigate the region. At Mission San Rafael, Miller met his wife’s extended relation, Don Timoteo Murphy, defender of the indigenous people. The Murphys were widespread in California settling from Calaveras County to San Jose. By 1846, Miller accumulated land purchased mostly from Don Murphy and recorded the first deed in Marin. As luck would have it, Miller ranched beef and dairy products and became wealthy by butchering meat for the miners, much like his wife’s relations who founded Murphys. Miller and the Murphys knew it was much more profitable supplying the 49-ers than it was to pan for gold.
Along with his wealth, James Miller grew his family to ten (7 girls and 3 boys). The Latin word for “ten” is Decem, the numeral X or Dixie, which coincidentally is also the baptismal name given by missionaries to Miwok/Paiute, such as Mary Dixie who was born well before the Civil War. As an Irishman, Miller was grateful to the indigenous people and likely aligned with them. It’s highly plausible, as our Miwok historian tells us, that James Miller named the school after Mary Dixie, head of her family. He likely met Mary Dixie in Murphy’s and perhaps her baskets helped him haul supplies. He may have admired her also because he had mostly girl children. Be it known also that Miller and his family adopted at least two Miwok children, perhaps in gratitude for the Miwok/Paiute that helped his family gain passage through the Truckee River!
In short, it’s possible the school was named Dixie in honor of Mary Dixie and for his ten children. The only thing we really know is that the school was named at the cusp of the American Civil war ~ and in that time the Irish were recruited for Union Army. What’s more the Union army benefited from the gold rush and Miller would have had much interaction with Union men in his journeys. As it would be, James Miller’s daughter married Captain John Keys of the Union Army.
Given that his family was Union and that James Miller was sympathetic and grateful to indigenous people, we can be certain that he was neither a racist nor a confederate! We can all confidently conclude that the school was named in the Latin “Dixie” and that the surname Dixie (as in Mary Dixie) applies.
So who was Mary Dixie?
The history of Mary Dixie comes to us from her relative Marge Grow-Eppard, “Sister Who Walks With Bears.” A lineal descendant of the Miwok people, Dixie was born circa 1830, at least 30 years before the Civil War. As mentioned above, her baptismal surname, given by missionaries. In general, surnames evolved as a way to sort people into groups. The Miwok people didn’t have last names, let alone a name for their tribe! As a people, they didn’t believe they had a separate existence as a nation on their own, so perhaps the missionaries forced a name. “MiWok” is the plural form of the word “Miwu,” which means “person.”
Mary Dixie was an exemplary person! She was head of household in her triblet of Miwok, and a skilled artisan living in Vallecito, near Angel’s Camp and Murphys in Calavaras County, as indicated by an Indian Census of 1910. The small parcel of land, where she resided, was an Indian Rancheria called Sheep Ranch ~ this settlement preceded the California Goldrush. She was a centurion and picture with some of her treasured handwoven baskets in her later years. Her hair was cut short in the Miwok tradition indicating she is a widower. Her husband, Joseph Dixie, made a living selling wood and was described as an “industrious and hardworking Indian,” in the Calavaras Prospect newspaper of 1897, “unlike others of his tribe” the paper went on to say. It’s unclear when he passed.
Mary Dixie and her husband certainly experienced such racism in their day, as did James Miller an Irish native, but they also profited from the Gold Rush in selling supplies. Likely Miller met the Dixie’s through the mercantile ~ the Dixie’s with their baskets and wood, and Miller with his dairy and beef. In all likelihood they met in Vallecito, which is near Murphys, where Miller’s wife’s extended family also profited from the gold rush. By the time of the war, the Dixie family perhaps benefited also when fort soldiers marched to join the Union, and in so doing abandoned the forts that were created to control the indigenous people. There are few records indicating any support for Confederates in the region ~ it was Union territory! In addition to fort soldiers, Irishmen were often eager to join Union to help gain acceptance by Americans. Miller didn’t join the Union, but he extended his family to the Union side. One of Miller’s seven daughters was married to Union Captain John Keys. A Confederate never would have allowed that to happen.
And so the Confederate “dare” story just doesn’t hold water! Certainly there were no Confederates in Marin.
In all likelihood, Miller and the Dixie’s met in Vallecito around 1849 ~ and when you think of Vallecito Elementary School, one of the schools in our district, this is an undeniable and logical connection. Sister Who Walks With Bears, Grow-Eppard, who belongs to the Dixie Miwok tribe of Vallecito and our historian, asked us all to reflect on the names of our schools at one of the first board meetings. “Where do you think all these names come from?” she said. “How dare you take that name offensive!”
We stripped the Miwok of their land. We have no reason now to strip the Miwok of the surname, which is the last vestige of the indigenous people in our parts. A surname does not offend anyone. Only people can offend other people. It’s time to put and end to the nonsense. Rededicate the school to the woman named Mary Dixie. She is the name behind our school. I’m hoping you will now associate the surname with Missionaries (and not Confederates). Remember, Dixie is Latin for “I have spoken.”
Sincerely,
M.C. Nygard