Let us help you identify that mysterious object you’ve found.
Currently in CHALLENGE mode: If you've got something obscure knocking about, post a picture, and let's see how we do. Please prefix such posts with "CHALLENGE:" so we know we've got a fighting chance.
Found this in the attic of a house built a few years before Oklahoma's statehood. Looks old, but also looks like a reproduction of something old. It's at least old enough to be super brittle and has tannin staining on the back where it was mounted to a piece of wood for a LONG time.
This document seems to establish a Rebekah Lodge in “Indian Territory”.
To explain further: Oklahoma used to be referred to as Indian Territory before the US decided to once again break their treaties with the native people. Rebekah Lodges are the women’s side of the Oddfellows. The Oddfellows are a fraternal order similar to the Free Masons or the Woodsmen of the World. Many fraternal orders have women’s auxiliaries, the Masons have the Order of the Eastern Star.
I’m not qualified to tell if it’s real or not but it certainly looks like it from the pics.
Thank you! I've been trying to piece together an old house's history. This certificate may or may not have anything to do with it, but it's definitely an interesting piece of data to add.
Precursor
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Odd Fellows lodges were first documented in 1730 in England from which many organizations emerged.
While several unofficial Odd Fellows lodges had existed in New York City sometime in the period 1806 to 1818, the American Odd Fellows is regarded as being founded with Washington Lodge No 1 in Baltimore at the Seven Stars Tavern on April 26, 1819, by Thomas Wildey along with some associates who assembled in response to a newspaper advertisement. The following year, the lodge affiliated with the Independent Order of Oddfellows Manchester Unity was granted the authority to institute new lodges. Wildey had joined the Grand United Order of Oddfellows in 1804, then joined its splinter order, Independent Order of Oddfellows Manchester Unity, before immigrating to the United States in 1817.
Foundation
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In 1842, after an elementary dispute on whether the American lodges were to be involved in decision-making procedures, in a split along racial lines, some American Lodges formed with exclusively whites-only membership and a separate governing system from the English Order. In 1843, they changed the name of their organization to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.[8]
19th century
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In the following years, lodges were instituted all over the country, first in the east and later in the west. After rejection from the Independent Order of Odd Fellows due to race, an African American sailor, Peter Ogden, petitioned the Grand United Order of Oddfellows for a charter which was granted.[11] Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America are still headquartered in Philadelphia.[8]
On September 20, 1851, IOOF became the first national fraternity to accept both men and women when it formed the Daughters of Rebekah as an auxiliary organization. Schuyler Colfax (Vice President of the United States (1869–1873) under President Ulysses S. Grant) was the force behind the movement.[12][8] Both the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs have appendant branches known as Encampments and Patriarchs Militant.[13][14]
The American Civil War (1861–1865) shattered the IOOF in America; membership decreased and many lodges were unable to continue their work, especially in the southern states.[15] After the Civil War, with the beginning of industrialization, the deteriorating social circumstances brought large numbers of people to the IOOF and the lodges rallied.
Over the next half-century, also known as the "Golden age of fraternalism" in America,[8][16] the Odd Fellows became the largest among all fraternal organizations (at the time, even larger than Freemasonry).[8] By 1889, the IOOF had lodges in every American state.[17][18] Compared to Masonic lodges, membership in the Odd Fellows lodges tended to be more common among the lower middle class and skilled workers and less common among the wealthy white collar workers and professionals.[19]
In 1896, the World Almanac showed the Odd Fellows as the largest among all fraternal organizations.[16]
By the late nineteenth century, the Order had spread to most of the rest of the world, establishing lodges in the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. According to the Journal of the Annual Communication of the Sovereign Grand Lodge 1922, page 426, there were a reported 2,676,582 members.[20] While this data from 1921 may not be the exact zenith of its membership, the organization experienced a loss in membership of 23.5% between 1920 and 1930, explained in large part by the development of the commercial insurance industry,[21] and has continually declined.
20th century
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Odd Fellows celebrating the 100th anniversary of the American Oddfellowship in June 1919 at Duluth, Minnesota.
The Great Depression and the introduction of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal brought a decline in membership. During the depression, people could not afford Odd Fellows membership fees, and when the New Deal's social reforms started to take effect, the need for the social work of the Odd Fellows declined.[15]
In 1971 the IOOF changed its constitution, removing its whites only clause. In 1979 the Order had 243,000 members.[22]
Some branches of the order (i.e., some countries) have allowed women to join the Odd Fellows itself, leading to the Rebekahs' decline in importance. Also, the appendant branches and their degrees are, in some countries, becoming regarded as less important or too time-consuming, and are gradually being abandoned.[citation needed]
21st century
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Although there was a decline in membership in fraternal organizations in general during the 20th century, membership in the 21st century started to increase.[23]
The Odd Fellows scholarship has extended financial assistance to the youth for their education from time to time.[24]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Order_of_Odd_Fellows
They're a cult.