Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-09-16

provements which had been made, up t.
that time consisted of the weekly beuefi
system on which the Unity had beel
formed in 1913, the renewable pass wore
agreed upon by the unity as a body il
1910, the code Of general laws adopted il
1915, the Funeral Fund" system adopt
ed in 1916, the three original degrees
with their lectures adopted in 1916, anc
the old charges as revised in 1917, with 6
new Past Grand's charge adopted at thai
time. This information having been i'm
parted, the other members of the Lodgt
were recalled and were instructed in the
mode OF work practieed by the "Inde
pendent Order of Odd Fellows" of the
Manchester Unity. The first person in
itiated in accordance with the new work
was Bro. Ireland, in May, 1919, and he
was registered as No. Is. In September
OF that year the Lodge had only increased
to 10, so great was the opposition to the
order.
About this time the lodge-room was
removed to Thomas Woodward's, and
shortly afterward the spirit OF dissension
arose amongst it's members. Jackson was
ambitious OF being considered the origin
ator of the Lodge and he desired to sup
plant Wildey. who had been elected for
a second term. He sowed the seeds Of
discomfort among the members, but
Wildey was elected by a majority. 1t
was when this contest was at it's height
that P. g. Crowder, of Preston, Lanca-
shire, England, visited the infant lodge
and inspired its members with plans for
future success. At his suggestion an
application for a dispensation admitting
the Lodge into the regular fellowship OF
the order was made. To this application
was added the request that the Lodge
should be clothed with the power to ex-
tend the tenefts of the fraternity
throughout the whole land. The pro-
vision which was the foundation OF the
whole
AMERICAN SYSTEM
Was so little considered at that date that
it provoked no comment nor debate.
Bro. Crowder bore the petition back to
England with him and presented it to
Duke of York Lodge, Of which he was a
member. The Lodge promptly granted
the petition within sixty days after Bro.
Crowder had left Baltimore.
1t was not until year after the char
ter was granted that it reached the lodge,
which had in the meantime experienced
financial trouble, which resulted in the
adoption of the ''strong box" as part OF
the lodge room furniture. The opposi-
ton Of Jackson to Wildey had not died,
and in October Jackson and his followers
Withdrew and formed Franklin Lodge
with the purpose OF overthrowing Wash
ington Lodge by the institution of the or
der in another form. An application for
a dispensation was sent to England, but
the following reply was received: 1.-The
Franklin Lodge is desired to apply to the
Washington tor dispensation. AS Jack
son had Withdrawn from the city when
this arrived, there was no opposition to
the course suggested.
THE GRAND LODGE.
In February, 1927, committee of Past
Grands of Washington Lodge adopted the
following resolution:
"Resolved, That it is expedient and ne
cessary to separate the legislative from
the operative portion of the order, as we'll
business of Odd Fellowship.
Resolved, That Washington Lodge, No.
l, be invoked to surrender to this body
of Past Grands the sole possession of the
charter received by said Lodge from Eng
land"
These resolutions met with stormy
opposition, but the friends of the meas
ure were in the majority, and on Febru-
airy 22d, 1921, the committee of Past
Grands assem- bled at the lodge room and
received from the Noble Grand of Wash
ington Lodge, No. l, the charter. He
then retired, and the committee organized
as THE Grand Lodge Of Maryland and
&c .faI k,EO 1N fon
officers: Thomas Wildey, Grand Master
John P. Entwisle, Deputy Grand Master ;
VIM. S. Couth, Grand Warden; John
Welch, Grand Secretary; John Boyd,
Grand Guardian; and VIM. Larkam,
Grand Conductor.
The first business of the Grand Lodge
was to grant dispensation to Washing
ton Lodge, No. l, of Maryland and at the
session of the Grand Lodge on August
22nd, 1921, dispensation was granted to
Franklin Lodge, No. 2.
1t was not until 1922 that the Man
chester Unity adopted rules and bylaws,
but the infant "Grand Lodge OF Mary
land and the United States" had boldly
adopted written constitution containing
twenty articles for it's own government,
and that of the subordinate lodges.
Three years after the first lodge had been
formed in the United States there were
on its rolls 122 members, and about 80
in Franklin Lodge. In 1928 lodge
which had been formed in Boston, ap-
piled for a dispensation, and on April
18th of that year Massachusetts Lodge,
No. l." was placed in the Union. At
the same time a dispensation was
granted to the Past Grands of
that lodge for "The Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts" This action induced
other lodges then existing in an irregular
manner at New York and Philadelphia
to recognize the authority OF the "Grand
Lodge of Maryland and the United
States" a result which caused new
union in the organization of Sovereign
and Representative Grand Lodge of the
United States; substantially the same
body which has ever since guided the
eventful career of the now mighty sys-
tenn of American Odd Fellowship, and
which will meet in this city tomorrow.
THE FIRST ODD FELLOWS FUNERAL.
The first public funeral under the
auspices of the Odd Fellows occurred in
the early spring of 1928. Andrew Ward,
member of Frapklyn Lodge, No. 2,
while engaged in experimenting shad
fishery on the shores of Chesapeake Bay,
was accidently knocked overheard and
drowned. The time fixed for the funeral
was l0o'clock P. NJ, and at that hour the
lodge headed by band of six or seven