Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/864

* ODD FELLOWS. 734 ODD FELLOWS. vened; it was composed of past and present olUcers of districts and lodges, and had the power to adopt or reject laws proposed by districts. In tile same year the Loyal Saint Olive's Lodge, in alliliation with the Manchester Unity, was opened in London. In Liverpool considerable dis- cord marked the early operations of the various Odd Fellow lodges until about 1820, when they came under the authority of the Manchester Unity. The order was intnxluced into Wales in 1820. and into Scotland in 1838. The formation of lodges in Ireland, Germany, and Australia was effected in 1840, and the following year in the Isle of Man. The first lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in the Inited States was formed in ISly. Thomas Wildey and another, both Eng- lish Odd Fellows, arrived in Baltimore in 1818, and in the spring of the following year asso- ciated with three others to form 'ashington Lodge Xo. 1 in Baltimore. Wildey was elected Noble Grand. Franklin Lodge No. 2 was created in the same year, also in Baltimore. On Feb- ruarj' I, 1820, Wildey and his companions re- ceived a charter from one of the English lodges, the Duke of Preston Lodge, constituting it the 'Washington Lodge, the Grand Lodge of Mary- land and of the United States of America of the Independent Order of Odd Fellowship.' It thus bore the character of both a subordinate and a grand lodge. The dual character of this char- ter did not commend itself to the order, and in 1821 it was surrendered, and Washington Lodge became merely a local lodge. Steps were taken to model the government of the order in America after the i)olitical system of the United States. The management was to be vested in the representatives of each State Grand Lodge, who together with the past grand masters of the Maryland (irand Lodge were to constitute the governing body of the onler. Five of these latter were authorized by charter, dated February 22, 1825, to form a grand lodge for Maryland to take the place vacated by 'ashington Lodge in 1821. The titles of the chief oliicers were changed from grand master and de[)uly grand master to grand sire and deputv grand sire in 1829. A German lodge, William Tell Ix)dge, chartered in 1827, was the first lodge formed for work in the fJerman language, and became the mother German lodge. The order was incor- porated by the ilaryland Legislature in 18.33. In 1843 all connections with the Jlanchester Unity were severed, and it was resolved 'that to the Grand Lodge of the United States belonged the exclusive authority to erect lodges and en- campments of Odd Fellows upon any part or section of the globe." Meanwhile Odd Fellowsliip was being estab- lished in New York without any knowledge of the previous establishment of the order in Amer- ica. Solomon Chambers and his two sons, mem- bers of the Loyal Westminster Independent Lodge of Odd Fellows, England, came f" New York in 1800, and, meeting two other Odd Fellows, organized Shakespeare Lodge of Odd Fellows in New York. This lodge lasted only about four years, when it dissolved. Several other self- instituted lodges sprang into existence during the next ten or twelve years, when Shakespeare Lodge was revived. A lodge was established in Brooklyn — Columbia Lodge — which held a dis- pensation from an English lodge, the Duke of Sussex, and for some years there was a struggle for the mastery between the New York and Brooklyn lodges, which were in alBliation with the Manchester I'nity. The contesting lodges were finally Ijrought to acknowledge the au- thority of the Grand Lodge of the 1,'nited States, from which a charter for a New York Grand Lodge was subsecjuently obtained. Dissension and division, however, did not cease until lSt).3. lliere is no record of Odd Fellowshi[i in Canada before 1815. although it is stated that what are known as "Prehistoric' lodges were to be found at various points. In September. 1843, Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1 of British North America was instituted at Montreal under a charter issued by the Grand Lodge of the United States. The following year a Canadian Grand Lodge was created, and in September, 1846, the Canadian branch of the order was declared free and inde- pendent by the Grand Lodge of the United States, which issued to the Canadian lodges a charter under the title of the Grand Lodges of British North America. B3' 1852, however, this Grand Lodge had practically died of inanition, and in 1853, the Montreal lodges having formally dis- banded, the Grand Lodge of the United States recalled the Canadian charter and resumed juris- diction over the order in Moijtreal. In 1868 Australia was added to the domain of the Grand Lodge of the United States, and from time to time other countries have been entered with more or less success. ^lexico, the West Indies, Chile. Cuba, Peru. Japan, Denmark, Germany, England, France, Italy, Holland, etc., have been admitted, but the continent of North America has proved the best fi(Jd for cultiva- tion. In 187!l the Grand Lodge of the United States, recognizing its undisputed sway in the world of (id Fellowship, changed its title, and is now known as the Sovereign (Jrand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Three degrees are conferred in the subordinate lodge, and any Odd Fellow who has attained the third degree is eligible for membership in an en- campment, a ^brahch or department chartered within the order by the C.ranil Lodge of Maryland in 1827. The encampment confers three degrees, the Patriarchal, the (lolden Rule, and the Royal Puriile. The Patriarchal is ;in English degree, and the others are .merican. The first Right Worthy Grand Encampment was created and oliicers in- stalled in Baltimore in 1831. Membership in an encampment is dependent on good .standing in a lodge, but otherwise the two are independent. The Patriarchs Militant, a uniformed degree of the order, came into existence in 1884. For many years the desire for greater display had been manifest throughout the order, although the more conservative element had opposed it. A resolution was adopted at the annual conven- tion in 1874 delegating to grand eneam|)ments the power to permit encampment members who had taken the Royal Purple degree to wear a unifiu-m for street parades. The wearing of the uniform was optional with the members. The agitation was continued until 1880, when the Sovereign Grand Lodge finally refused to permit the organization of regular uniformed encamp- ments. This refusal resulted in the establish- ment, a year later, of the Patriarchal Circle, a liody composed of Oild Fellows who had taken the Royal Purple degree. This body was inde-