Fraternally Yours, Part 2
And don't forget, newspapers often reported on key events regarding new organizations, particularly dedication ceremonies of new buildings.
Here are a couple samples of the replies that I recieved to my request. My clarification of statements will be found in square brackets [].
SUPREME LODGE KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS
Alfred A. Saltzman, Supreme Secretary
[The national] office does not keep records of individual members in its archives. When inquiries come in about former members, we refer them to the Grand Secretary (State Level) of the state where the former member held his membership. Most Grand Secretaries have records of some sort and quite often they refer to the subordinate lodge in question for whatever information they can get from there.
. . .
We have files of our quarterly magazine going back several decades and we have a complete set of Journals of Proceedings of the biennial conventions since the founding of our Order in 1864. These may be perused in our offices.
General Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star
Betty J. Briggs, Right Worthy Grand Secretary
The only records we have are membership rolls that are submitted to each State, each year. They are often incomplete, and all states do not keep all of their records in one place.
. . . [given that the records are not indexed, and everything is done on a volunteer basis] our records are not a viable source of information.
International Order of Odd Fellows
Don Lang
We have a registration book that the member signs when he comes into the Order. It has the date he joined, the date of his birth, his occupation, where he lives. We also have minutes of our meetings that were held, which are usually weekly meetings. This information is keep at the local lodge level. The name of the member and when he joined is turned in at the Jurisdictional level, usual the state. But this information is hard to find there, unless you know the town where the lodge is.
Best records would be local level, with minimum information at the state level.
I have been sending on the requests to the IOOF Grand Secretary of that state. I give the person the name and address of the Grand Secretary and tell him he can write to him. I do not know what the success of this is. Since I don't hear back from the people, I guess it works at least to some extent.
Latest Articles