Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-09-16
L. 0. 0. f. HISTORY.
Fables Relative to the Origin
of the Order.
GROWTH IN THE UNITED STATES
Its Rise and Progress in the State
of CalifOrnia-ListO of Repre-
sentatives.

Fellowship date no one will ever know
nor will the date of the first organiza'
ton of society with these as founda.
tion ever come to light. The start oi
Odd Fellowship is shrouded in doubt and
there is nothing but tradition in reference
to it until the story comes down
ent century while of the beginning,
and subsequent growth, Of the
reconstructed Order, known as the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows,
there is an unbroken record. But,
before speaking of the history of the
Order, as it now exists, it will be as well
to cay something of the traditions of the
old Order. They are believed in by
many who belong to the Order and who
have not studied its history sufficiently to
be able to see where legendary romance
ends and authentic history begins. Most
OF these fables were formulated after the
Order had become large and influential,
and had taken it's place among the great
societies OF the world. This was caused,
probably, by the feeling which induces
those who have risen from obscurity into
q position of wealth and consideration,
to wish for family tree and heraldic
devices and to trace their family back to
some cook or scullion who had been
ennobled by William the Conqueror, for
inventing some dish which pleased the
palate of that gormandizing monarch.
The legends are many, and of some there
remain but the intimations, as in the case
of the most ambitious of them all, which
seems to have claimed for the Order as
old history as the human race. An
emblem was presented to Brother Thomas
Wildey, when he was in England that
seemed to claim this. 1t is now preserved
in the Grand Lodge of the United States
and represents Adam and Eve laying the
foundation stone of the Order. 1t is
rather
AN AMUSING IDEA,
That of our first parents forming them
selves into benevolent society, at time
when there was no one to help, and the
only excuse for such an idea would be in
the fact of their having donned regalia at
a time when any such decoration seemed
rather unnecessary. 1t is probable that
the emblem was only symbol of the
society which was started by, and has
been essentially an organization of the
mechanical and laboring classes, and
since Adam and Eve were obliged
to earn their bread by the sweat
of their brow, Adam digging and
Eve spinning, their forms may have been
thought to properly symbolic working
mans Order which had been started in
the interests of labor. Among the oldest
traditions, and the one to which those
who believe that there is something grand
in antiquity probably most fondly cling,
is that which tells of the Order having
been founded among the Hebrews when
that historic race was held captive in
Babylon. 1t is said that the Order was
started by the Hebrews for the purpose
of making united effort to circumvent
their oppressors, and maintain fidelity to
their religion, that the Order was kept
UP until their subjugation by the Ro-
mans, and that the rites and ceremonies,
as also the gradation OF degrees, as oper-
ated by this Hebrew Order, show great
similitude to those of the present Order
of Odd Fellows.
The legend goes on to say, that some
members of this Order were formed into
a Roman legion in A. D. 70, and having
proved faithful and trustworthy, the
Emperor named them Fellow Citizens,
and Odd Fellows, and gave them dis
with emblems of mixed Jewish and Ro-
man ideas. This same legend is also told
with the difference that the other fabul
ist claims that the legion was composed
of early Christians. 1t is also claimed
that the Order was, in A. D. 9S, intro.
duced into Britain by the Romans, and
the evidence of its existence in the prac-
tice of some of its rites remained there to
Saxon times, when they disappeared.
ANOTHER STORY
Is that Odd Fellowship existed among
the Goths and Huns and other northern
nations in the fourth century, and that
it was established in Spain in the fifth
century, in Portugal in the sixth, in
France in the sixth, and in England at
about the same time. This story is little
more than a tradition of old benevolent
orders, from which the fancy Of some
writer has developed the modern organi-
zation. 1t is, no yever, another illustra-
ton of how old and how nearly univer-
q Il are the principles of Odd Fellowship.
It suggests, too, that there was for man.
kind a little of the relief of kindliness
amid the harshness and the darkness of
the middle ages. 1t may not be gener.
ally known that it is claimed for Odd
Fellowship that it had its germ in the
first idea Of municipal government ;
that the idea of the Order of Odd Eel
lows, which was the banding together Of
the mechanics and skilled laborers fol
mutual protection and for the relieving
of distressed and the nursing and sup.
porting Of sick members, had its first
start in the 'guilds" of England, which
were the forerunners of the present
Trades Unions. These guilds date bach
as far as the Norman conquest, and were
organized societies of the different trades
for the purpose of protecting themselves
in their rights, as against trade combina.
tions. and encroachments by the Gov
ernment, assisting handicraftsmen in
perfecting themselves in their trades
helping sick members, and watching
generally over the interests OF their class
Prior to the formation of municipal gov.
ernments, these guilds took the place o
Boards Of Aldermen and other off
GERS in the different municipali
ties. After the necessity fol
these societies, so far as the protection O
the rights of trade was concerned, ha6
passed away, they became merely benev
olent orders, and afterwards degenerated
into convivial clubs, and it would seen
that traces of the Old Adam have re
NAMED both in the municipal govern
ments and their later offshoot, the Ordel
of Odd Fellows, at least So far as the be
ginning of the latter organization is con
cerned. 1t is claimed that after thu
IacoIonoa of tho n,,;l5c-iD pnipt Of Vir