The Brotherhood Being a Presentation of the Principles, of Odd-Fellowship: With a Brief History of Bible Men and Women, Who Developed, in Their Several Lives, the Principles That Have Been Adopted By the Fraternity.

In Three Parts, with an Appendix.

by the Rev. Thomas G. Beharrell

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is one of the largest and oldest fraternal orders in the United States.  Odd Fellowship was founded in England where it grew up during the 18th century. The Patriotic Order in England was followed by the Union of United Orders and the Loyal Order. In 1813, various lodges of the Union Order organized the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows.

In 1890 Freemasonry had 609,000 brothers while the Odd Fellows had over 672,000. Indeed the relationship between the Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship was quite similar and often truly fraternal.  Meeting in taverns to socialize they also pooled their resources to help each other in times of need and for burial fees. That such an “odd” assortment of men would organize for such benevolent purposes was considered “odd” for the times and from which perhaps their name sprang. That they also practiced such broad charity may have also caused these fellows to be considered “odd.” Whatever the origin of the name the first lodge proudly adopted the title and have continued to care for each other for well over 200 years.  Like Freemasonry there were individual Odd Fellows in the United States prior to the first lodge forming in 1819. So successful was American Odd Fellowship that it came in conflict with the Odd Fellow’s “world headquarters” or the Grand Lodge of England.   After the separation in 1843 they changed their name to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and within ten years the number of lodges leaped to 2,941 in 33 states and a total of 193,000 brothers.  Although heavily influenced by Freemasonry’s rituals, symbols and tenets, a large measure of the Odd Fellows’ success came from its dedication to serve its members. Its three secret ritual initiations taught the “three links” of fraternity as “Friendship, Love and Truth” and commanded its brothers to “Visit the Sick, Relieve the Distressed, Bury the Dead, Care for the Widow, and Educate the Orphan.”  The Odd Fellows membership peaked in 1920 at 1.7 million brothers. Today there are still many active Odd Fellow lodges across the country, mostly in small town and rural communities, yet firmly linked by “Friendship, Love and Truth.”