The Order turns 137!

How It All Began In 1885, a young 31-year-old Margaret “Maggie” Juliet Franklin, a wife and mother of two, led a women’s Bible study in Manhattan, New York, parish known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This group of women called themselves “Daughters of the King.”  Margaret, seeking a deeper, more passionate relationship with Christ and His church, called a meeting of the group on the eve of Easter. The purpose of the meeting was to “arouse their interest and urge their cooperation as a class of definite workers for Christ and His church.” On that night in 1885, what would become known as “The Order of the Daughters of the King®,” was born.

The class resolved that there would be prayer to God every day of their lives and that He would empower them for His work. Prayer was very familiar to them, but the power of prayer and its reality came to these women anew.

Their mission was simple – to spread the Kingdom of Christ among young women. The Bible class would contact more women and encourage them to come and study the Word of God. They would be “neighborly” to strangers and hand them books. They would get to know these newcomers and established a basis on which they would be attracted to the Kingdom of God.

The idea caught on very quickly and other women and women’s groups who were also seeking a more devout life joined this fledgling ministry and wanted to become “Daughters of the King.”

The rector of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was Rev. James Oatlands Tuttle Smith. He helped found that church in 1862 and served as an Army Chaplain during the Civil War. In 1887 the Rev. Ralph Wood Kenyon became Associate Rector. When Rev. Smith retired in 1888, Rev. Kenyon became priest-in-charge and was later elected rector. After talking with him, the original Bible class members agreed to found an Order, and serve as its Acting Council until 50 chapters had joined them. The Rev. Kenyon consulted his bishop, the Rt. Rev. Henry Potter, for permission to pursue this goal.