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Masonic insurance in Wisconsin: 1870 to 1900Masonic insurance in Wisconsin: 1870 to 1900. by Bro. Robert C. Blackburn All petitioners to the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, F.&A.M., are advised that the Fraternity is not an insurance company. This statement is a required part of the interview process - something that must be communicated, but for reasons unclear and sometimes embarrassing for both parties. However, there used to be a point to it. While few today would associate fraternalism with insurance, this was not always the case. Fraternalism and insurance often co-mingled during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Standard insurance policies, if available, were a luxury beyond most people’s reach. Instead, fraternal benefit societies, whether for native whites, blacks, or more recent immigrant communities, were organized to spread financial risk. Some offered access to a general fund. In cases of sickness, distress, or death, members or their beneficiaries could make a claim. Others operated like HMOs, even retaining their own doctors. All had a unique pageantry and ritual designed to attract and retain members. There were once hundreds of fraternal benefit societies (sometimes called “secret” societies) in the United States. Few remain today, and of those, most have abandoned either their fraternal or insurance roots. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, perhaps the first, came to America from England in 1806. As a “friendly society,” the Odd Fellows offered both fraternalism and a subscription benefit fund. Imitators soon sprang up: The Ancient Order of Foresters, based on the Robin Hood legend, in 1832; The Improved Order of Red Men, inspired by Native American “legends,” in 1834; The United Ancient Order of Druids, both England and the United States, in 1835. Others organized on ethnic or religious lines. For example, the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America was established in New York in 1836 to pay death benefits and to advance the causes of Irish nationalism and Roman Catholicism. The first true fraternal insurance association, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, was organized in Meadville, Pennsylvania in 1868. It was the idea of Freemason and railroad machinist John Jordan Upchurch. AOUW members, following a ritual initiation, were able to obtain a $2,000.00 guaranteed life insurance policy for $1 a month. Other fraternal organizers aggressively followed Upchurch’s lead. By 1920, the National Fraternal Congress claimed 200 member organizations with 120,000 local affiliated clubs. Its individual fraternities insured 9,000,000 members and issued life insurance policies totaling more than $9,500,000,000. But this was not all. There were other fraternal bodies operating outside the NFC as well. In 1918, Chicago had 313 non-affiliated fraternal organizations that provided life insurance to its immigrant communities. Still other fraternities offered additional insurance products such as sickness and accident insurance. Participation in fraternal insurance organizations reached a height around 1920 and then rapidly declined following World War II. Many reasons have been suggested for this decline, including loss of community cohesiveness, the rise of the modern welfare state, employee benefit programs, and price regulation. Two such societies that continue to this day, however, are the Knights of Columbus (1882) and the Modern Woodmen of America (1883). Freemasons are known for their charitable giving. Moreover, the Fraternity has long given special consideration to the needs of distressed, worthy master masons, their widows, and orphans. This generosity lies at the heart of Freemasonry and is not a matter of contract. Still, American Freemasonry did take note of competing fraternal benefit societies and even incorporated them into its life. Many 19th and early 20th-century Masons, needing insurance, also joined the Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America, or a similar benefit organizations. Other Freemasons took a more radical course. They established their own “Masonic” insurance companies. These businesses, though not affiliated with any Grand Lodge, used the Fraternity’s name to market a variety of insurance products. Perhaps this, more than anything else, has created the most confusion regarding Freemasonry and the other fraternal benefit societies. The First Annual Report of the Insurance Department of Wisconsin, which included reports on fraternal benefit associations, was released in 1870. Masonic insurance companies do not appear until the Fourth Biennial Report of the Commissioner of Insurance of the State of Wisconsin (which replaced the earlier annual report) in 1890. It must be inferred, therefore, that these business were active in Wisconsin by at least 1889, the year covered by the 1890 report, though at least one, the Masonic Benefit Association of Wisconsin, was clearly operating in the state much earlier (the Masonic Benefit Association of Wisconsin, organized in Madison in 1875, can be seen from period obituaries to have distributed death benefits during the 1880s). The Wisconsin Insurance Commission resumed annual reporting in 1894. The last identifiably Masonic insurance companies appear in the 1900 report. What follows is a list of Masonic insurance companies operating in Wisconsin between 1890 and 1900. The entries include information on state of origin, organization date, principal officers, appearance date in Wisconsin’s insurance reports, and number of Wisconsin policyholders and coverage amounts. It should be noted that, during the first year of reporting, state officials initially grouped Masonic insurance companies with other fraternal benefit societies. Thereafter, the two were treated distinctly. Fraternal benefit societies remained as a separate category. Masonic insurance companies were listed in either the “assessment life” or “assessment accident” categories. American Masonic Accident Association – Minneapolis, Minnesota Iowa Mason’s Benevolent Society – Oskaloosa, Iowa Knights Templar and Masonic Mutual Aid Association – Cincinnati, Ohio Knights Templars and Masons Life Indemnity Co. – Chicago, Illinois Masonic Aid Association of Dakota – Yankton, South Dakota Masonic Benefit Association of Wisconsin – Madison, Wisconsin Masonic Equitable Accident Association of the World – Boston, Massachusetts Masonic Mutual Aid Association – Minneapolis, Minnesota Masons Fraternal Accident Association of America – Westfield, Massachusetts National Masonic Accident Association – Des Moines, Iowa Northwestern Masonic Aid Association – Chicago, Illinois U.S. Masonic Benefit Association – Council Bluffs, Iowa Fraternal benefit societies, along with their colorful rituals, afforded many Americans during the late 19th and early 20th centuries the opportunity to enjoy basic insurance programs at reasonable rates. Their example did not go unnoticed by Freemasons. Officially or not, Masonic insurance companies were created to compete with the fraternal benefit market. In Wisconsin, as many as 5,396 Masonic policies were issued in a single year (1897) totaling as much as $12,520,652 in coverage (1895). Masonic insurance, however, proved short-lived. In less than forty years, these companies vanished, presumably going out of business or merging with standard insurance companies. References: Primary Sources: Fourth Biennial Report of the Commissioner of Fifth Biennial Report of the Commission of Insurance, Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Insurance of the Secondary Sources: Franco, Barbara, “Many Fraternal Groups Grew from Franco, Barbara, “Many Fraternal Groups Grew from Freeman, John T., The Widow and the Craft, excerpted Siddeley, Leslie, “The Rise and Fall of Fraternal Tabbert, Mark A. American Freemasons: Three Centuries About the author: Bro. Blackburn is a plural member of Benjamin Franklin No. 83, Ann Arbor-Fraternity Lodge No. 262, Middleton-Ionic No. 180, and Dalkey Lodge No. 261, A.F. & A.M. of Ireland. He is also the author of “Masonic Middleton: Freemasons and their lodges in Middleton, Wisconsin.” |
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