Very Early San Francisco Committee of Vigilance Membership Certificate of Nathaniel Miller 

Dated June 19, 1851. No. 206, indicating Miller was a very early member.  9.75 x 13 in., housed in a 13.5 x 16.75 in. frame affixed on verso with two signed documents from the California Historical Society, ca 1964.

The Committee of Vigilance was formed to combat the lawlessness in the Gold Rush boomtown in the wake of over 100 murders and not a single murder conviction during one stretch in 1849-1851.  It was formed June 9, 1851, and the group hanged its first criminal, an Australian thief, the very next day. The certificate offered here is dated June 19, just ten days after the founding of the organization, and No. 206 of a membership that would eventually total 700-1,000.  The committee organized the lynching of three more men over the next two months, in addition to whippings, forced exiles out of California for American citizens, and deportations to Australia for foreigners.  

The committee served its purpose and therefore became less needed over the next few years, but was resurrected in 1856 with a new focus on government corruption, specifically the policies of the local Democratic Party machine. The vigilantes formed the People's Party, which would control the city for the next decade and was eventually absorbed into the Republican Party. This second movement, however, had many critics, even among those who sympathized with its politics, including William Tecumseh Sherman, who at the time was serving as major general in the San Francisco militia, and disparaged the group in his memoirs. 

Provenance: Descended Directly in the Family of Nathaniel Miller

Creases and partial separation in a few places.  Insect damage in the entire lower right quadrant.