USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. I > Part 42
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
The early guilds or trade unions also had in common plans for mutual assistance, and the promotion of religion and charity as well as of trade, and these were followed by the Friendly Societies of Great Britain, from which the fraternal system of this country is said to have sprung.
Friendly or Fraternal societies were also carly established in the countries of Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Denmark, and in colonies of the United Kingdom. Conditions in Russia, Austria. and many of the countries of Europe are still such as to make impossible the organization of seeret or fraternal societies along the lines understood in America. Even where they are organized, there is usually no federation or affiliation of local branches or central form of government. Fraternal societies in the United States and Canada have reached the highest known stage of development, and the reforms now under way to strengthen the plans of these societies will create still further stability and financial responsibility.
Many governments encourage and promote the growth of fraternal orders as a strong factor for training in loyalty, patriotism, and self- government, and it is a significant fact that only in the nations having an advanced state of civilization do they prosper.
FIRST FRATERNITIES IN THE UNITED STATES
Among the earliest known fraternal societies were the Masons and the Odd Fellows, and associated with these are the corresponding orders for women, the Order of the Eastern Star and the Daughters of Rebekah.
The Order of Free and Accepted Masons is credited by fable, though without historical basis, as dating back to the Roman empire. to the Pharaohs, to the building of Solomon's temple, or to the Tower of Babel. and even to the building of the Ark. It is known that a society of actual masons and builders did exist in England in the seventeenth een- tury, but modern freemasonry dates from 1717. and about this time free- masonry spread all over Europe.
The first Masonie lodge to be organized in the United States was estab- lished in Pennsylvania in 1727. The first one in Michigan was Zion Lodge organized in Detroit. April 27, 1764. The order now has in Michigan nearly 70,000 members, and maintains a home for members at Alma, Michigan. The first lodge in St. Clair county was Evergreen Lodge No. 9. organized at St. Clair in 1843. Members in St. Clair county now number 1.800. with eight well organized lodges.
The Order of the Eastern Star is said to have been founded in 1776, but there is no positive authority for a date earlier than 1850. Only
352
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Masons or women relatives of Masons are eligible to membership. The Order of the Eastern Star has now 522,970 members, 6,598 subordinate chapters, and sixty-nine grand chapters. The Michigan Grand Lodge was organized October 30, 1867, at Adrian. There were then fifteen lodges in Michigan, and the order now has 47,984 members in Michigan. Capac Chapter was the first organized in St. Clair county in July, 1870, at Capac.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows originated in England in the eighteenth century (first reported lodge, 1745), and in 1814 the various lodges were consolidated into the Manchester Unity. It was the first friendly society introduced into America, of which there is a record. The dispensation was granted by the Duke of York Lodge of the Preston District. England, and its original charter conferred by the annual meet- ing of the Manchester Unity in 1826. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows of America is not now affiliated with the English Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and does not give benefits as does its old world prototype. but provides homes and relief for aged members and for members' widows and orphans. Though the first representative in Ameriea of an English friendly society, it is known in this country as a purely fraternal society.
The United States organization has grown in less than a century to a membership of about a million and a half. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows was first organized in Michigan at Detroit in 1843, and has over 50.000 members in the state, and nine hundred and fifty in St. Clair county where the order was established in 1853, the first lodge being at Marine City. This society maintains one of its homes at Jackson, Michigan, and has paid out altogether in relief considerably over $5,500,000.
In 1859 Mr. Charles Hardwick, an English authority on the subject. says: "Benefit or friendly societies appear to be almost exclusively con- fined to Great Britain, its colonies, and the United States of America." From this it would appear that there may have been many English friendly or fraternal societies organized in America between the year 1820 and the organization of the Ancient Order of United Workmen in 1868.
FRATERNAL BENEFICIARY SOCIETIES
The honor of being the first fraternal benefit society which originated in the United States and which established the basis for what is known as the fraternal beneficiary system of today belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, organized in 1868, at Meadville, Pennsyl- vania, by John Jordon Upchurch.
This was over two hundred years after the first settlement in Mich- igan was made by La Salle at Sault Ste. Marie. and more than one hundred years after the first farm in the county of St. Clair was cleared by Patrick Sinelair.
The constitution of the Ancient Order of United Workmen prepared by Father Upchurch declared its principal objects to be :
353
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
To unite mechanics and artisans.
To settle differences with employees.
To denounce strikes.
To improve its members morally, mentally and socially.
To aid in establishing worthy indigent members in some business to help themselves.
To pay to the lawful heirs of its members not less than five hundred dollars at death.
The Ancient Order of United Workmen, though organized without reference to the science of life insurance or to the experience of the British friendly societies, grew rapidly into favor and at the period of its greatest prosperity. in 1902, numbered nearly half a million members. To Mr. Upchurch and his society is due the respect of every fraternalist. for it accomplished untold good both in its own earlier operations, and in laying the foundation of the fraternal beneficiary system. As its leaders grew in experience and a knowledge of life insurance principles became common property, every effort was made to correet the faults in the organization plans, and the various state bodies of the present day are courageously striving to maintain the integrity of this pioneer society.
A fraternal beneficiary society is defined by law to be "any corpora- tion, society, order, or voluntary association, without capital stock, or- ganized and carried on solely for the mutual benefit of its members and their beneficiaries, and not for profit. and having a lodge system with ritualistie form of work and representative form of government, and which shall make provision for the payment of benefits.'
These fundamentals of fraternal beneficiary societies constitute their greatest advantages. They are carried on not for profit but for mutual benefit, not for personal gain, but for the protection of others. The ritualistic form of work gives order and uniformity. The lodge system minimizes the cost of operation and provides fraternal and social com- panionship. The representative government places control in the hands of the members, and develops powers of self-government. while the benefits given exercise a direct influence upon the economie life of the people.
EFFECT ON CIVIL LIFE AND ECONOMICS
The home is the most sacred of American institutions. It is the bulwark of society and the nation. The protection and perpetuity of the home mean the protection and improvement of society, and in this the fraternal benefit society performs an important function.
Fraternal societies aid the poor, educate the ignorant, teach the well- to-do fraternal brotherhood, and demonstrate the dependence of man. They build up character, relieve suffering, assist members in securing em- ployment, and aid their members to be self-respecting members of society. They are an educational factor in self-government. Young men leaving school, in the forum of fraternal societies gain confidence to enter the larger field of public life. They also teach loyalty, which is the founda- tion of good government. Belief in a Supreme Being and good citizen- Vol. 1-23
354
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
ship are requirements of membership, and those from other lands seek- ing our shores are brought by the fraternal beneficiary order into contact with American principles.
Professor Frank B. Seaborn says those who merely receive occasional relief from the public funds cost $10,000,000 a year to the tax-paying citizen. The distribution of benefits by fraternal orders lessens this burden on the tax payer. It creates self-respecting men and women who provide for their own. By providing homes for the orphans and the aged, the fraternal beneficiary society further decreases the burden of the state. The distribution of the millions by fraternal orders, by pro- viding for the children, enables widows to educate their families and reduces the ranks of poverty and vice.
Through this agency, then, poverty is prevented, crime is lessened, taxation reduced, the brotherhood and sisterhood of man and woman mutually assisting one another, instead of allowing the maintenance of the weak to fall upon the state.
That the fraternal beneficiary society is not simply a factor, but is a powerful factor in the social and economic life of the country may be seen from the fact that there are 182 of these societies in the United States and Canada, with a total membership on January 1, 1911, of 7,471,884.
The total amount of benefits paid out from organization to January, 1911, is the stupendous sum of $1,825,888,958.00. In addition to benefits given, charitable and orphans' homes are established and maintained by the Knights of Columbus; by the Independent Order of Foresters, which has 600 orphans receiving care in their own homes and 50 in orphans' homes ; the Odd Fellows, the Masons and the Order of the Eastern Star, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Woman's Relief Corps, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Sanitaria for tuberculosis have been established by the Independent Order of Foresters, who have 45 patients, by the Modern Woodmen of America, which numbers hun- dreds in its sanitarium at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and by the Royal League, which was the first order to establish such a sanitarium, while many other societies are now taking up this project.
In educational lines also the influence of the fraternal beneficiary society is felt, for the Knights of Columbus has established a scholarship in a Catholic college and a chair of American History in the Catholic University of America, besides establishing libraries and maintaining a lecture course as part of their public work.
DEVELOPMENT TOWARD SAFETY
The criticism which has in the past attached to the fraternal benefi- ciary societies in the matter of rates being too low to admit of fulfilling obligations is no longer applicable.
A reform movement is now under way among the societies them- selves, and many of them have of their own accord faced the situation and have placed themselves on a sound basis for the future by making their rates of collection adequate to pay promised benefits. By the co-operation of these leading safe societies, it has been possible to put
355
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
upon the statute books of many states laws which will in time remove entirely from the system the stigma of unsafeness.
The requirements of the new law are for annual valuation of certifi- cates and publicity, with a provision for improvement in financial con- dition according to a stated ratio until technical solveney is assured. This maintains the societies with their tremendous influence for good and their yearly budget of want and suffering relieved, and gives them time to remedy within themselves any faults in plans. At the same time, that they shall so remedy the defects threatening their own per- petuity and the success of the system is an absolute requirement that cannot be evaded. It is for this that the honest, courageous leaders have long been working.
It is this which will make the fraternal beneficiary system truly fraternal, in that it will no longer be open to the accusation of deceiving the people with promises which cannot be fulfilled. By giving pure life protection that will really protect, but free from the excessive cost of in- vestment features, the fraternal beneficiary orders will vindicate their position as friends of the people, and fraternity and protection will go hand in hand.
FIRST ORDERS IN ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Despite the untoward conditions of the early days, the fraternal societies were not so far as might be supposed behind the settlement of the county. About 1790 the first settlers located on the site of Port Huron, the settlement coming to be called Desmond. Michigan became a state in 1837. Only six years after this, in 1843, the first Masonic lodge made its appearance. Thus the appearance of the fraternal order was practically simultaneous with that of schools, churches, hotels, houses and other signs of civilization.
Later we find of purely fraternal orders in the county the Oddfellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Eagles, the Knights of the Grip, the Daughters of the American Revo- lution and the Red Men. The Knights of Pythias was founded in 1864 and was first introduced in the county as a fraternal order solely, the insurance branch founded in 1877 having been a later development. Auxiliary to the Knights of Pythias is the society of the Rathbone Sisters, founded in 18SS at Warsaw, Indiana, and first organized in St. Clair county at Capac, in 1897. Auxiliary to the Red Men is the order of the Daughters of Pocahontas, and to the Independent Order of Odd- fellows, the Daughters of Rebekah.
Other societies, not strictly fraternal, which were organized early in the history of the county were Sons of Temperance, founded 1842, and organized at Port Huron in March, 1853; St. George's Society, organized at Port Huron in July, 1874; and later, St. Patrick's Society, organ- ized at Port Huron September, 1875; St. Michael's Society, organized at Marine City February 25, 1876; Royal Templars of Temperance (since 1884 this society gives benefits), organized at Port Huron Febru- ary 5, 1879; Good Templars, organized at St. Clair October, 1877; and the Order of the Red Cross, organized at St. Clair July, 1882. About
356
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
1875 several Granges were also organized among the farmers of the county. A society called the Patrons of Husbandry was organized in 1876, with Grand Lodge in Wales township. The Farmer's Protective Society was organized in China township in February, 1874, but seems to have been a commercial enterprise with stockholders.
The War of the Rebellion brought the Soldier's Aid, organized among the ladies of Port Huron in 1862, and whose members after the close of the war formed the Ladies' Library. Growing out of this terrible chapter in the nation's history came also the Grand Army of the Re- publie, founded in 1866. The first Grand Army post in Michigan was established at Quincy in 1876, and William Sanborn Post organized in Port Huron in 1882 was the first in St. Clair county. There are now five posts and 115 members in the county. The Woman's Relief Corps. auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, grew out of the need for woman's assistance in the succor and care for veterans of the great war. It was established in 1879, but did not achieve national organization until two or three years later. Michigan's first branch or corps was organized in March, 1884, and this state now has 8,500 members out of a total in the United States of 164,255. Fully $2,000,000 has been expended for relief by this society of women.
FIRST FRATERNAL BENEFICIARY SOCIETY
The first fraternal beneficiary society to be established in the county of which a record has been obtainable was the Knights of Honor (estab- lished in 1873), of which Port Huron Lodge was organized in October, 1875. Since that time about fifty fraternal orders have organized sub- ordinate branches in the county, some of them being represented in all the important towns. The Knights and Ladies of Honor and the Golden Cross (organized in 1876) were the first fraternal beneficiary societies to admit women to membership.
Port Huron, being a railroad center, has been headquarters for some of the largest lodges of railroad conductors and engineers. including those of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers, and the Railwaymen's Relief Asso- ciation of America, which society was formed of employees of the Pere Marquette Railway for mutual benefits. The first Michigan lodge of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers was organized at Battle Creek.
Moreover. as St. Clair county lies along a great waterway, and its in- dustries are largely marine. there have grown up thriving associations composed of those who "go down to the sea in ships," marine engineers. and shipmasters. At the present time the Port Huron Lodge of the Ship- masters' Association has about eighty-five members in good standing. and the whole membership of the association is about 1,000. This is an association of the purely fraternal character for the mutual benefit of its members, each of whom pays a certain amount into the funds each month. The membership of the society is composed entirely of captains on lake vessels. Auxiliary to the Shipmasters' Association is the Ship- masters' Wives' Club, which is purely a social order, giving no benefits.
357
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Port Huron is also the American headquarters for the Independent Order of Foresters.
The Woodmen of the World, Sovereign camp, has its Michigan head- quarters at Port Huron.
Other societies which are represented by the residence in Port Huron of some of their supreme officers are the Catholic Mutual Benefit Asso- ciation and the Patricians.
The Ladies' Auxiliary of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen or- iginated in Michigan, the first grand lodge being organized at Fort Gratiot in 1889, by Mrs. Sophia J. Granger, who became the first grand president of the society. Golden Star Lodge No. 1 was organized in June, 1889, and the association now numbers about 20.000 members in the entire jurisdiction.
BIRTHPLACE OF THE MACCABEE ORDERS
The fact that stands out preeminent in the history of fraternal bene- ficiary societies in St. Clair county is that this county is the birthplace of the Maceabee orders, which are recognized leaders in this branch of insurance.
The Knights of the Modern Maceabees was instituted in 1881. with Major N. S. Boynton, Alexander Avery, of St. Clair county, and others, prominently interested, and with headquarters at Port Huron. The Knights of the Modern Maccabees has the largest record for membership and benefits in the county, having now 3,562 members in St. Clair county. This society has paid $16,000,000 in benefits in Michigan, and $1,180,606 in St. Clair county alone. At the time it was established (in 1881) there were fewer than thirty-three societies in the United States with a total membership of approximately 500,000. There are now nearly 200. Over $1.825,888.958 has been paid out in benefits in the United States and Canada, and the insurance protection given by these societies is now $8,595,911,685.
The Knights of the Modern Maccabees was at first a part of the juris- diction of the Supreme Tent of the Knights of the Maccabees of the World, first organized in Ontario in 1878. The plans of the original society were so faulty that business success was impossible and although the membership reached 10,000 in less than two years, it was impossible to maintain it on the original basis. In order to save the part that was good, the Michigan members in 1881 assumed jurisdiction over their own affairs, and became the Great Camp, Knights of the Maccabees for Michigan, with territory restricted to that state. This society is now known as the Knights of the Modern Maccabees.
Its auxiliary, the Ladies of the Modern Maccabees, has also a large membership in the county, and has paid in benefits $395.315 into the homes of St. Clair county women. It has a membership of 51.409. of which 44,867 are Michigan members. There are now 1,891 members in St. Clair county. The Ladies of the Modern Maceabees was first organ- ized in Muskegon in 1886, and its headquarters were moved to Port. Huron in 1906. It enlarged its territory to include other states than Michigan in 1903.
The Supreme Tent, Knights of the Maccabees of the World, was re-
358
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
MACCABEES
WORLD'S MACCABEE TEMPLE-HEADQUARTERS OF THE LADIES OF THE MACCABEES OF THE WORLD
359
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
organized in 1883, Major N. S. Boynton, founder of the Knights of the Modern Maccabees, being also instrumental in the resuscitation of the first Maccabee order and becoming its supreme record keeper.
Major Boynton is generally known as the "Father of the Maccabees," and was more than that, one of the greatest men St. Clair county has ever produced, and one of the greatest, if not the greatest, fraternalists the country has known. Successful as a business man, as an editor, and in politics, with a career behind him of military service from private to major, Nathan S. Boynton was yet the fraternalist par excellence. His was the true fraternal spirit. He could reach and touch the hearts of all classes. His organizing ability manifested itself constantly in new ways. He stood a great man even among other great men. Most of all, pre- dominant over all other characteristies, was his broad humanity. "He loved his fellowmen."
The revived society of the Knights of the Maccabees of the World, with headquarters at Port Huron, and with Major Boynton's force and ability to push it, grew rapidly and very soon extended into all parts of the United States and Canada. It is now a leader among safe fra- ternal beneficiary societies for men, with a membership of 283,848, with $10,000,000 in its funds, and $41,321,159 already paid in death and dis- ability benefits.
Mr. D. P. Markey, who in 1891 was elected supreme commander of the Knights of the Maccabees of the World, and long a resident of this county, has been a notable figure in the progress toward safety of the fraternal beneficiary system. A successful lawyer, and in 1897 speaker of the Michigan house of representatives, Mr. Markey brought an un- usual ability to the service of his order and the system as a whole. During his administration the membership of the Knights of the Macca- bees of the World has inereased from 17,000 to 300,000, and its funds from practically nothing to $10,000,000. At the same time Mr. Markey has led the movement for adequate rates of collection in fraternal orders, and has not only suceeeded in having his own order placed on an ade- quate basis, but has been in the forefront of the struggle for legislation to place the whole system on the same safe foundation.
In St. Clair county the Knights of the Maccabees of the World is well represented, and has paid into homes of the county fully $50,000 in benefits, besides the relief given by tents and members locally.
Auxiliary to the Knights of the Maccabees of the World is the Order of the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, also with head- quarters at Port Huron. This society was organized in 1892, and again Major Boynton took an interest in launching the new order, and his help and encouragement were a very real factor in the pioneer work of the first woman's order of magnitude. Founded, built up, and managed entirely by women, the Ladies of the Maccabees of the World has been established on safe, businesslike plans in fifty-four states and provinces of the United States and Canada, and numbers 165,308 members in 2,862 hives. With $9,090,870.37 already paid out in benefits, and a reserve fund of $5,500,000 to protect future contracts, it stands as the greatest financial institution of women in the world. It originated and its headquarters have always been in Port Huron.
360
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
LATER HISTORY OF FRATENRAL BENEFIT SOCIETIES
Since the early days many fraternal beneficiary societies from other states have established lodges in St. Clair county. and have thriving organizations here. Nearly every town has one, and most of them have from six to twelve different societies, each with a good membership.
There have been paid in benefits in the county by fraternal bene- ficiary orders uncounted thousands, and the amount of assistance given by members in trouble and sickness is untold. The value to the county of this voluntary service can hardly be estimated, as it results in an immeasurable saving of expense in the case of the sick and the poor, the orphan and the homeless.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.