Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/121911
Welcome to the spring issue of National Catholic Forester! You, as a part of NCSF, receive a magazine every quarter as a free benefit of membership; but have you ever wondered about the history of fraternalism? ... The countless benefits, both tactile and emotional, that belonging to a fraternal has betowed?! In this issue learn about fraternalism from the past, what it is to be a fraternal benefit society today, and how fraternal benefit societies may change in the the future. By: Board of director Carol Clauson In the beginning, powered by the principle of brotherhood and a belief that each individual has a responsibility for his fellow men and women, fraternal-type organizations developed in ancient Greece and Rome, offering financial aid to their members in times of sickness and death. Although several societies trace their roots back before the Civil War, the origin of the American fraternal benefit system is believed to have been in 1868 when the Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) was formed in Pennsylvania. The American Civil War had been an economic disaster for our young country. Two major depressions soon followed. In these hard times the basic principles of fraternalism – faith, citizenship and the values of human dignity, combined with an insurance plan – attracted thousands of members to the numerous fraternals chartered during the late 1800's. By 1900 America had over three hundred different, and mostly new, fraternal orders – so much so that the Sears and Roebuck catalog of that year featured over eighty pins, charms and watch fobs from 28 different orders. A total fraternal membership of nearly five million is quite significant when you consider that the population of this country in 1896 was only about 75 million. Of those 75 million, it is probably safe to assume that at least half were children – after all, this was an era of large families. Given that, it is not unreasonable to assume that one out of every seven or eight adult men and women belonged to some kind of fraternal order at the turn of the century. Some sources have placed the number closer to one in four. There were orders for Englishmen, Scotsmen, Germans, Poles and Irishmen – and every other nationality that found itself living in this country. There were Catholic orders, anti-Catholic orders, Protestant orders, patriotic and political orders. There were orders for railroad men and traveling salesmen. There were even temperance and prohibition orders. There were orders for women and children. But a common factor in virtually all of these organizations was that they provided life insurance to their members. In fact, most life insurance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was obtained through these fraternal benefit societies. So, fraternalism in general was nothing new in this country. Even the Boston Tea Party was supposed to have been orchestrated from a Masonic Lodge and a good number of the Founding Fathers were Masons. Like the tea, Freemasonry had been imported from England in the 1700's. There were also other fraternal lodge elements at work. The Odd Fellows, another English import, arrived in the early 1800's. The country got its first American-made lodge in 1834 with the founding of the Order of Red Men which supposedly traces its origins back to the Sons of Liberty, a secret order of the Revolutionary War. The fraternal orders of Post-Civil-War America patterned their lodge structure after that of the Blue Lodge Masons, complete with secret continued on page 6 2 The basic principles of fraternalism – faith, citizenship and the values of human dignity, combined with an insurance plan – attracted thousands of members ...