Vanessa WoodI’ve run into fraternal organizations recently while working on early twentieth century genealogies. They were called lodges, societies, orders, leagues, legions. Fraternal groups were popular in the late 1800s into the early twentieth century. They offered a social group, some were politically active.
Fraternal organizations were so prevalent in the early 1900s in Buffalo, New York, a news page was was dedicated specifically to their members.1 The news included the following groups: Improved Order of Red Men, Woodmen of the World, Order of aturn, Odd Fellows, National Protective Legion, Knights of Pythias, The Fraternal Baseball League, Mohawk Council, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Protected Home Circle, Tribe of Ben Hur.
Some groups like the Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America, and the National Protective legion were fraternal insurance organizations. They provided support for sick members, and even burial. A fraternal insurance company is a not-for-profit, member-owned organization offering insurance as a primary benefit to its members. They are known for putting their members’ needs first and providing them with superior products…2
Since these organizations were so popular I wondered if my own family had ties to them. I remember my mother used to receive newsletters from one of the Woodmen organizations—Modern Woodmen of America or Woodmen of the World. My grandfather and an aunt were members of the Order of Red Men (see Image). The Red Men claim to trace their origins to the Sons of Liberty, so I find it interesting that my immigrant grandfather chose this organization.
Image: Order of Red Men, ca. 1950
“Order of Red Men ca. 1950,” photograph, author’s collection. FRONT ROW SEATED: 4th from right Anna Lee (Paulson) and first on right Harold Paulson.
What We Can Learn from Fraternal Organization Membership
Ancestors are often names in a book or an old photograph. Finding membership in a fraternal organization reveals more about how they lived, who they associated with and their values. Membership may show,
- The need for people to gather and socialize
- Our ancestors values
- Even when we can’t find an ancestor in the newspapers the activities of their organization may be documented.
- If buried in an organization’s graveyard, our ancestor valued burial and was probably a lifetime member of the organization
- If they held a position in the organization, it shows the ancestor had leadership qualities or they were charismatic.
FEATURED IMAGE: Ian Poellet, “Odd Fellows Building – Adams Oregon.jpg,” photograph, 2009; digital image, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odd_Fellows_Building_-_Adams_Oregon.jpg).
- “Breezy Gossip of All Fraternal Societies,” The Buffalo Illustrated Times (N. York), 7 April 1907, p. 35, digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/image/441736345/ : viewed 16 February 2024).
- “What Is a Fraternal Insurance Company?,” 18 October 2023, BetterLife (https://www.betterlifeins.com/what-is-a-fraternal-insurance-company/ : viewed 16 February 2024).
