Chapter 5
The G.U.O.O.F.
 

A Picnic at the Shawsheen Grove

The headline in the August 24, 1900 edition of the Andover Townsman read, "A Picnic Tragedy." The article went on to describe the "duel" that took place in the Shawsheen Grove at Pole Hill in Ballardvale. The day started on a high note "when pleasure and enjoyment should have reigned supreme," as the Townsman wrote, with a picnic housed by the Harvard Lodge, 1542, of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows.

Odd Fellows in America

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the I.O.O.F., is an altruistic fraternal organization derived from the similar English Odd Fellows service organizations which came into being during the 1700s at a time when altruistic and charitable acts were far less common. The American Order of Odd Fellows was founded in North America in Baltimore, Maryland on April 26, 1819, when Thomas Wildey and four members of the Order from England instituted Washington Lodge No. 1, and the following year officially affiliated with the Manchester Unity. Within a few years the new American lodges separated from the English Orders and formed the "Independent Order of Odd Fellows."

The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows

The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, G.U.O.O.F., is not be confused with the International United Order of Odd Fellows, the I.O.O.F. These are two separate fraternal organization. The G.U.O.O.F. - an African American fraternal organization - was founded by Peter Ogden when the I.O.O.F. would not allow African American members into the group. Ogden established the G.U.O.O.F. as the African American branch of the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows in England. With its connection to the English Unity, the G.U.O.O.F. was independent of the segregated, white-only I.O.O.F.

African American Fraternal Organizations

African American fraternal organizations existed in large measure to defend their right to organize at a time when "white only" was still the rule. African American women had their companion organization to G.U.O.O.F., known as the Household of Ruth.  

"By the turn of the century, fraternal orders had become the most popular form of secular association among African Americans. The largest of these organizations were created...as parallel versions of white groups, to which they...had equal claim, but from which they were excluded. (www.phoenicmasonry.org)

The G.U.O.O.F. was a benevolent organizations with lodges in every state of the union. With their uniforms, marching band, and drill teams, they were a beacon in African American life from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s.   

To be continued, next edition, Aug. 16, 2008