Fraternal and social organizations

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FRATERNAL AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS

Fraternal and social organizations were very popular in the United States during the 1800s. Half the population in the 1920s belonged to at least one fraternal organization. Two thousand fraternal societies existed in North America in the mid-1800s.

Evidence of the popularity of fraternal societies can be seen in the number of grave memorials with fraternal symbols. Many fraternal societies that once were popular are now almost non-existent. Here are some of the most common fraternal societies and their associated symbolism:

Freemasons or masons

One of the oldest known fraternal organizations in North America. Masons trace the roots of their origins to the stonemasons guilds of England and Scotland. By 1730, the masons were already well established in the Eastern States. It is believed that they were also established in Canada by the late 1700s.

Masons are ranked on a pyramid of degrees or ranks. After passing the first three ranks a member is accepted in the Masonic Blue Lodge. The common expression to be put through the "third degree" derives from the Masonic ranking system. Masonic meetings and ceremonies include secret rituals, passwords, handshakes and mystical symbols. An interesting feature of masons is the mixture of Christian and pagan symbols they have adopted.

During the 1800s and 1900s, it was common for men to belong to two or three fraternal organizations. Many grave memorials carry more than one organization’s symbol.

The All-Seeing Eye: watchfulness and God. Adopted from Christianity.

Beehive: industriousness and productivity

Open hand with heart: charity, one of the greatest virtues of masons, along with faith and hope.

Woman with cross: faith

Woman with anchor: hope

Virgin standing over open-book: mourning

Two columns: The entrance to Solomon’s temple, sometimes labeled "B" for Boaz (strength), and "J" for Jachin, which means "to establish." Usually seen as gateway columns; common on Masonic graves.

Mosaic pattern: good and evil in life. Commonly seen as black and white tile pattern on grave ledger top.

Square and Compass: reason and faith. The most-recognized Masonic emblem.

The letter "G": God and for geometry, emblematic of the spiritual and material worlds. The most sacred Masonic symbol.

Eastern Star

A five-pointed pentagram star with multiple small symbols and the letters "F.A.T.A.L." represent "Fairest Among Thousands, Altogether Lovely". Masonic organization for women.

Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.)
The Odd Fellows, first organized in the US in 1819, is a popular fraternal/benefit organization. The emblem of the Odd Fellows is usually shown as three links of a chain. A number on the stone is the local lodge number. The three-links of chain are shown with the letters "F.L.T.": The three links represent the three degrees of friendship, love and truth.

Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War,
Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, a similar hereditary group,
Bothe orginizations use the letters FCL, which stand for Fraternity, Charity, and Loyalty.

Woodmen of the World
Woodmen of the World derived from the Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal group which was founded in 1883. Fraternal scholar William Whalen describes it as an insurance society with some fraternal lodge features. Woodmen advertised themselves as an organization for the "Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant, the agnostic and atheist." The Woodmen of the World emblem is a sawed-off tree stump, often with a mallet or beetle, an ax, and a wedge: the motto "Dum, Tacet Clamat" (Though Silent He speaks") usually appears somewhere on the border. These Woodmen emblems are found throughout the United States, but the largest concentration is in the South and Midwest.
It should be noted that not all tree stump monuments are on the graves of Woodsmen of the World members.

Along with symbols for fraternal organizations there are also symbols associated with professional groups. Motifs may be associated with medicine, drama, music or trades such as carpentry and mechanics.
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