The California Pioneer Society was organized in August, 1850. The
photograph of their building appears on the cover of this book, W.D.M.
Howard was their first president. Among their early presidents, and
prominent in the days of Forty-niners, were Samuel Branan, Thomas
Larkins, Wm. D. Farewell, and James Lick--who liberally endowed it.
[Illustration: BUILDING OF THE SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA PIONEERS.]
It was organized for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of the
events of those days and for the benefit and mutual protection of its
members. No person was eligible for membership except he had arrived in
California before the 1st of January, 1850, and the descendants of
Forty-niners when arriving at the age of twenty-one are eligible. At the
opening of the World's Fair in San Francisco in January last, in the
ceremonies in the marching of the procession through the streets of the
city, they were received with the greatest enthusiasm and cheers, which
was a marked manifestation of the veneration in which they are held by
the people of California.