Twice Told Tuesday - Fraternal Symbols

Twice Told Tuesday features a photography related article reprinted from my
collection of old photography books, magazines, and newspapers.

Catalogue of
FINE MEMORIAL GOODS
H.M. Wendell & Co.
Undated

In Monday's Photo Of The Week, Shades looked at the Mourning Card of Dicy Cannon and the manufacturer of that card, Harry F. Wendell. Today in Twice Told Tuesday a portion of the catalog used to purchase the card will be reproduced with annotations as to the organizations named. Family historians can identify these symbols if found on mourning cards or tombstones.

Any of these emblems may be used on Memorial Cards without extra charge when twelve or more cards are ordered. Twenty-five cents extra will be charged for printing an emblem when less than twelve cards are ordered. Order by number.

America's Oldest Fraternal Organization
The Order of Red Men

The Order traces its origins to certain secret societies founded before the American Revolution. These secret societies included the Sons of Liberty, Sons of Tamina and the Red Men. These societies continued in existence as brotherhoods or fraternities after the Revolution.

Prominent Americans who have been members of the Red Men - George Washington, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Royal League

The Royal League was a fraternal organization providing insurance and other benefits to its members. The organization was established in Chicago in 1888.

Royal Arcanum

The Royal Arcanum is one of the oldest fraternal benefit societies in the United States and Canada, operating under the fraternal system. The organization offers many social and fraternal benefits to its members and is the only surviving founding member of the National Fraternal Congress of America, an organization representing over 90 fraternal benefit societies and 10 million fraternalists.

Masonic

The oldest and largest world wide fraternity dedicated to the Brotherhood of Man under the Fatherhood of a Supreme Being.

Maccabees

The Knights of the Maccabees were a fraternal and benevolent "legal reserve society." The family of a deceased member received benefits in the form of legal-reserve insurance.

The name comes from the Biblical Maccabees -- Mattathias Maccabee and his sons, the leaders of the Jewish revolt against Syrian desecration of the Temple.

Fraternalism activities ceased to exist in 1962 when the Maccabees became a life insurance company.

Knights of Pythias

An international, non-sectarian fraternal order, The Order of Knights of Pythias was established in 1864 in Washington, D.C., by Justus H. Rathbone. They were the first fraternal order to be chartered by an Act of Congress.

Independent Order of Odd Fellows

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows was founded on the North American Continent in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 26, 1819 when Thomas Wildey and four members of the Order from England instituted Washington Lodge No. 1. This lodge received its charter from Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows in England.

Epworth League

The Epworth League was an organization of the young people of the Methodist Episcopal church, formed in 1889 at Cleveland, Ohio, by the combination of five young people's organizations then existing. The purpose of the league was the promotion of intelligent and vital piety among the young people of the church.

Christian Endeavor

The Christian Endeavor movement began in 1881 at the Williston Church in Portland, Maine by Dr. Francis E. Clark, D.D., LL.D. The primary purpose of the organization was to interest young people in themselves and in the church.

Catholic

Symbols that represent the Catholic Church.

Temple of Honor

Temple of Honor and Temperance is based on Christian values and practising complete abstinence from alcoholic drinks. Its purpose is to instill high morals and ideals in its members.

United American Mechanics

The Order of United American Mechanics was an American Nativist organization of the mid-Nineteenth Century, founded in Philadelphia amidst the anti-alien riots of 1844-45. It originally was called the Union of Workers. Members were required to undertake efforts to publicize and campaign against the hiring of cheap foreign labor. They were also to patronize only "American" businesses.

Modern Woodmen

Modern Woodmen of America is the third largest fraternal benefits society based on assets, with more than 750,000 members.

Sources:

H.F. Wendell & Co. Fine Memorial Goods. Catalog. Leipsic, Ohio: Duke University, 2008.

Advertising Ephemera Collection - Database #A0152
Emergence of Advertising On-Line Project
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/eaa/