The names of several British pubs today suggest past affiliations with Odd Fellows (or Oddfellows). Oddfellows Arms, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The oldest surviving record of an Odd Fellow lodge however, can be traced back to the minutes of meeting at Lodge no.9 in England circa 1748 (no.9 implying that there would have been at least 8 others before it). The founders of the first American lodge in 1806 were three boat builders, a comedian, and a vocalist – arguably an usual mix of niche professions. It’s been suggested that founding members might have been branded as odd due to the apparent strangeness of following noble values such as fraternalism, benevolence and charity.Īnother theory proposes that the order was formed by individuals who had “odd” careers or exercised unusual trades, and naturally gravitated towards each other socially and professionally, likely evolving from Medieval guilds to form an “odd fellowship”. In the 18th century, with the beginning of industrialization, it was indeed considered “odd” to commit oneself to the principals of charity and communal welfare. Independent Order of the Odd Fellows (IOOF) Temple, 6-26 7th St., San Francisco, CA © Sanfranman59 But not so long ago, such noble values were rare to come by… One of its most prominent symbols known as the “Triple Links” alludes to its motto, “Friendship, Love and Truth” – three words that aren’t hard to get behind in modern civil society. For as long as records show, this has been an organisation solely aimed towards charity and helping the less fortunate. To understand what the “odd” in Odd fellows really means, we need to start with the order’s purpose. The Odd Fellows are one of the earliest and oldest fraternal societies, but the historical details of its foundations went strangely undocumented before the 18th century, creating some uncertainty about its name and origins. So in the interest of uncovering life’s little oddities, here’s what I could dig up on the secret society with a name so alluring, you might just be wondering: would I be odd enough for the Order of the Odd Fellows? The order’s vehement use of esoteric symbolism and highly secretive initiation rituals (involving human skeletons) would no doubt send masonic conspiracy-theorists on an epic tangent. Barnum, Charles Lindbergh, Wyatt Earp and Al Pinkerton were all members, as well as heads of state as high up as Winston Churchill and Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt. Some of history’s most notable eccentrics are counted among its past ranks: Charlie Chaplin, P.T. The Independent Order of the Odd Fellows – a secret society for … odd people? Why had I never heard of it? Never one to resist the pull of a promising rabbit hole, I would soon discover that the international fraternity I’d accidentally stumbled upon had existed for centuries, possibly longer, and at one point during America’s “Golden Age of Fraternalism”, grew larger than the Freemasons. It’s a name that had me instantly transfixed, like something Wes Anderson had dreamt up for his next film.
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