The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1899-11-10
A.o.U.w. THIRTY-oNE YEARS OLD
Owosso Lodge No. 48 Celebrated the
Birthday of the Order Tuesday Evening

The Ancient Order of United Work
men, the oldest fraternal insuIa nce or
der in the world, as is proudly claimed
by its members, completed thirty-One
years its existence Tuesday. AS the
order has always been one of the most
conservatively managed and most solid
of all the insurance orders and is the
Nestor of them all, it is only natural
that each succeeding year should be
hailed with considerable family pride
by the members of the brotherhood in
as-much as this order is still apparently
as solid as it was in the early years of
its life. 1t is no disparagement to the
other insurance organizations to say that
the Ancient Order of United Workmen
has More reason to be proud of its re.
cord and of the position it now occupies
than has any other today and there is
no small number of them which have
splendid records and seem to have
brilliant futures before them. To the
A. o. U. w. however belongs the credit
of going ahead and inaugurating their
| work when there was no precedent to
teach them the ways in which it should
be done. The other orders have had
the privilege of following all that was
best in the examples set by them and
have had the way to success marked
out by them. 1t was the A. o. u. w.
however which first had the courage to
60 ahead and prove to the world that
fraternal insurance was feasible, abso-
lutely safe, and much less expensive
than other kinds.
The standing of the order today may
perhaps be best understood when it is
said that there are but three insurance
organizations in existence which carry
larger amount of risks than the A. o.
u. w. These are the three big New
York old line companies. This or
ganization has paid out to beneficiaries
over ninety millions of dollars and of
this amount forty-four thousand dollars
has been paid out in Owosso alone
There are now over four hundred
thousand members of the order in the
United States and some twenty. one and
half thousand of these are Michigan
members. The Owosso lodge at present
numbers one, hundred eighty active
members
The Ancient Order of United Work
men was founded in Meadville, Penn
sylvania, November 7, 1868, when four
teen working men met at the home OF
John j. Upchurch and organized a
society under that now we'll known
name. The object of the society was
social from the start. 1t also aimed at
aiding the members and in looking
closely after their interests. 1t was also
educational in its purposes and sought
to elevate the morals of its members
1t contained an insurance clause pro.
viding that the order should give its
members insurance as soon as the mem
bership reached one thousand. This
was the humble beginning which has
| since spread over the world until thil
order numbers, as has already beer
noted, over four hundred Thousand
, members, while the other orders or
ganized through its example alread.
} are some eighty in number and al
, together in the world it is estimated
that there are many hundreds o
thousands of men interested in som
way or other in such societies.
5 The OwOsso lodge was organized
twenty-one years ago the fourth day o
last June, with twenty.three charte
members, tho the charter was KEEP
open until SEINE forty were enrolled
f; Since then there have been thre
f; hundred sixty-tive names added to tn
rolls. Many have dropped out, man
t have moved away and transferred thei
membership to other lodges. Other
+ have moved away but retain their mem
t bership here, while there are on
t hundred eighty now on the rolls a
{ active members.
q lowed business meeting of the lodge
was delayed by the non.arrival of thos
s who were to take part, until quite min
2 o'clock when a piano solo by Mis-
] Gertrude Wicking opened the exercises
( During the remainder of the evenin
! music was furnished by the Beehle
{ orchestra. The rest of the program
| was carried out as had been announced
except that Mr.. I. M. Wiley failed +
appear before the audience The tire
doctors were present as announced
however, tho DIR. j. Ii Waite was de
tanned until the latter part of the even
ing
Dr. Mccormick was the first speaker
called upon and he paid his respects t.