Brotherhood, Business, and White Male Respectability
Secret Fraternal Orders in Antebellum Virginia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v2i1.38Keywords:
Fraternalism, Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance, FreemasonryAbstract
This article examines the dramatic growth and popularity of secret fraternal organizations such as the Freemasons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Sons of Temperance in Virginia just before the Civil War. Young Virginians who came of age during the antebellum era lived through a time of tremendous economic, cultural, and political upheaval. The spread of a market economy into the cities and towns of the Old Dominion promoted a cultural ethos that rewarded individual ambition, altered long-standing social relationships, and aggravated class tensions between working-class white men and new middle-class businessmen, merchants, and professionals. In a state increasingly pulled between the demands of the growing market and the long-established tradition of unfree labour, secret fraternal orders, played a special role in assuaging class tensions between white working and middle-class men. As the market economy grew and expanded these two groups of men had many reasons to be at odds with each outside of the lodge room. Instead, they chose to join lodges that stressed brotherly love and fraternal bonds. Ultimately, based on these ideals, secret fraternal orders created a civic brotherhood among white men in Virginia that softened class distinctions and carved out a non-political pathway to civic authority for white men.
References
Unpublished Manuscript Records
Albert D. Clarke, Personal Papers Collection, 1843. Accession No. 39662, the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia [hereafter LVA].
Records of Chesapeake Lodge, No. 89, I.O.O.F., Accession 24667, Business Records Collection, LVA.
Records of Covington Division, No. 244, 1849–1852. Sons of Temperance of North America, Grand Division of Virginia, Rare, Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina [hereafter Duke].
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Records of Randolph Lodge, No. 19, 1852–1855, Freemasons, the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia [hereafter VHS].
Roller Family papers, 1837–1911, VHS.
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‘Beware of the Swindler!’ Staunton Spectator. 13 June 1849.
Blue Book for the Use of Subordinate Divisions of the Order of the Sons of Temperance (Cincinnati, OH: Ben Franklin Printing, 1853).
Caldwell, David, Masonry its own Defence: Or, The Freemason’s Apology for Loving his Order, June 24, 1844 (Lynchburg, VA: Toler, Townley & Statham, 1844. Duke).
‘Charles Stedom, or the Wealthy Odd Fellow’. Abingdon Virginia. 12 February and 26 February 1853.
Constitution and By-Laws of Micajah Pendleton Division, No. 410 Sons of Temperance (Lynchburg, VA: Johnson & Woolfolk, 1851. VHS).
Documents Containing Statistics of Virginia Ordered to Be Printed by the State Convention Sitting in the City of Richmond, 1850–1851 (Richmond, VA: William Culley, 1851).
Dove, John, The Masonic Textbook, containing a History of Masonry, and Masonic Grand Lodges, from the Earliest Times: Together with the Constitution of Masonry, or Ahiman Rezon, and a Digest of the Laws Rules and Regulations of the Grand Lodge of Virginia (Richmond, VA: Shepard and Colin, 1847. VHS).
Finley, I. Randolph, An Address Delivered before Naval Lodge, No. 100, Portsmouth, Virginia, On the Occasion of the Public Installation of Officers on the Anniversary of St. John the Baptist, June 24th, A.D. 1857; A.L., 5857 by Rev. I. Randolph Finley, D.D. (Portsmouth, VA: Daily Transcript Steam Book and Job Printing, 1857).
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Kemper, James Lawson, An Address, Delivered at Standardsville, Virginia, June 24th, 1854, by James L. Kemper, Upon the Celebration of the Anniversary of St. John the Baptist, by the Piedmont Lodge of Free Masons (Richmond, VA: C.H. Wynne, 1854. VHS).
Martin, Alexander, Prize Essay on the Principles and Operations of the Order of the Sons of Temperance (Richmond, VA: H.K. Ellyson, 1851. VHS).
‘Look Out for Swindler!’ I.O.O.F. Proceedings of the R.W. Grand Lodge of the State of Wisconsin. Kenosha, WI (1861): 865.
Mandell, D.J., ‘Celebration in Fredericksburg’. Odd-Fellows Magazine (March 1840): 277–87. LVA.
McCabe, James D., Address Before Hawkins Lodge, No. 41, I.O.O.F., and the Citizens of Rogersville, Tenn., On the 4th day of July, 1849, At the Laying the Corner-stone of the Odd-Fellows’ Female Institute, by Rev. J.D. McCabe of Abingdon, Va (Abingdon, VA: Coale and Barr, 1849. Duke).
Minutes of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of the State of Virginia, 1845–1859 (Richmond, VA, 1845–1859).
Myers, Samuel H., Address Delivered by W. Samuel H. Myers, P.M. in the Masons’ Hall, in the City of Richmond, on Thursday June 24, 1847, being St. John’s Day, Before and at the request of Lodge Nos 10, 14, 19, and 36 (Richmond, VA: John Warrock, 1847. UVA).
Proceedings of the Grand Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Virginia [Freemasons], 1838–1845, 1846–1854, 1855–1860. (Richmond, VA: 1838–1860. Grand Lodge of Virginia, Allen E. Roberts Masonic Library and Museum, Richmond, VA).
‘Quid Nunc?’ Independent Odd-Fellow 3 (May 1843): 31–34. VHS.
Rooker, William Y., Oration before the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at the Dedication of the Hall of Winchester Lodge No. 25, October 28, 1846 (Winchester: J.P. Bentley’s Book and Job Office, 1846. Duke).
Rules of Order, Constitution, and General Laws, of the R.W. Grand Lodge of Virginia, I.O.O.F., as Amended up to April Communication, 1860, and A Digest of Decisions of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of Virginia on Questions of Law (Richmond, VA: MacFarlane & Fergusson, 1860. VHS).
Shaver, F.L.B., An Address Delivered before Lebanon Lodge, No. 66, I.O.O.F., in the Methodist Episcopal Church, June 16, 1848 (Abington, VA: Coale and Barr, 1848. UVA).
Strange, John B., Address Delivered at the Dedication of the New Masonic Hall, in Eastville, Northampton County, Va., on the Anniversary of St. John the Evangelist, December 27, A.L. 5848, A.D. 1848, by John B. Strange (Norfolk, VA: T.G. Broughton & Son, 1849. UVA).
Taliaferro, Edwin, An Address, Delivered before the Masonic Fraternity of Williamsburg, Virginia, November 15, 1860 by E. Taliaferro (Richmond, VA: MacFarland & Fergusson, 1861. W&M).
Taylor, Robert J., Temperance Address, Before the Lexington Division Sons of Temperance, No. 45. By Robert J. Taylor. March 27th, 1850 (Lexington, VA: Samuel Gillock, 1850. VHS).
‘To All Odd-Fellows and Others Throughout the World’. Independent Odd-Fellow 1 (September 1841): 92. VHS.
Withers, Robert Enoch, An Address, Delivered at Masonic Hall, in the City of Lynchburg, on the Anniversary of St John the Baptist, June 23th, A.D. 1857, A.L. 5857, by Ro. E. Withers, K.T. (Lynchburg, VA: Virginian Job Printing Office, 1857).
Secondary Sources
Bullock, Steven C., Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730–1830 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1996).
Byrne, Frank J., Becoming Bourgeois: Merchant Culture in the South, 1820–1865 (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2006).
Carmichael, Peter S., The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War, and Reunion (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2005).
Carnes, Mark C., Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989).
Dorsey, Bruce, Reforming and Women: Gender in the Antebellum City (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004).
Eelman, Bruce W., Entrepreneurs in the Southern Upcountry: Commercial Culture in Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1845–1880 (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2008).
Greenberg, Amy S., Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Halttunen, Karen, Confidence Men and Painted Women: A Study of Middle-Class Culture in America, 1830–1870 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982).
Johnson, Paul E., ‘The Market Revolution’. In Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn, and Peter Williams (eds), Encyclopedia of American Social History, Volume I (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993), 545–59.
Kimball, Gregg D., American City, Southern Place: A Cultural History of Antebellum Richmond (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2000).
Proctor, Nicolas W., Bathed in Blood: Hunting and Mastery in the Old South (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2002).
Stokes, Melvyn and Stephen Conway (eds), The Market Revolution in America: Social, Political, and Religious Expressions, 1800–1880 (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1996).
Wells, Jonathan Daniel, The Origins of the Southern Middle Class, 1800–1861 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2004).
Albert D. Clarke, Personal Papers Collection, 1843. Accession No. 39662, the Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia [hereafter LVA].
Records of Chesapeake Lodge, No. 89, I.O.O.F., Accession 24667, Business Records Collection, LVA.
Records of Covington Division, No. 244, 1849–1852. Sons of Temperance of North America, Grand Division of Virginia, Rare, Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina [hereafter Duke].
Records of Madison Division, No. 36, 1849–1853. Sons of Temperance of North America, Grand Division of Virginia, Mss Ms V Mi 18, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia [hereafter W&M].
Records of Marshall Division, No. 3, 1844–1848. Sons of Temperance of North America, Grand Division of Virginia, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia [hereafter JMU].
Records of Mount Crawford Division, No. 19, 1815–1892. Sons of Temperance of North America, Grand Division of Virginia, Accession No. 1014, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Virginia [hereafter UVA].
Records of Randolph Lodge, No. 19, 1852–1855, Freemasons, the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia [hereafter VHS].
Roller Family papers, 1837–1911, VHS.
Published Pamphlets, Speeches, and other Primary Source Documents
‘Beware of the Swindler!’ Staunton Spectator. 13 June 1849.
Blue Book for the Use of Subordinate Divisions of the Order of the Sons of Temperance (Cincinnati, OH: Ben Franklin Printing, 1853).
Caldwell, David, Masonry its own Defence: Or, The Freemason’s Apology for Loving his Order, June 24, 1844 (Lynchburg, VA: Toler, Townley & Statham, 1844. Duke).
‘Charles Stedom, or the Wealthy Odd Fellow’. Abingdon Virginia. 12 February and 26 February 1853.
Constitution and By-Laws of Micajah Pendleton Division, No. 410 Sons of Temperance (Lynchburg, VA: Johnson & Woolfolk, 1851. VHS).
Documents Containing Statistics of Virginia Ordered to Be Printed by the State Convention Sitting in the City of Richmond, 1850–1851 (Richmond, VA: William Culley, 1851).
Dove, John, The Masonic Textbook, containing a History of Masonry, and Masonic Grand Lodges, from the Earliest Times: Together with the Constitution of Masonry, or Ahiman Rezon, and a Digest of the Laws Rules and Regulations of the Grand Lodge of Virginia (Richmond, VA: Shepard and Colin, 1847. VHS).
Finley, I. Randolph, An Address Delivered before Naval Lodge, No. 100, Portsmouth, Virginia, On the Occasion of the Public Installation of Officers on the Anniversary of St. John the Baptist, June 24th, A.D. 1857; A.L., 5857 by Rev. I. Randolph Finley, D.D. (Portsmouth, VA: Daily Transcript Steam Book and Job Printing, 1857).
Hyneman, Leon (ed.), Universal Masonic Record and Directory. Philadelphia, PA, 1860.
Journal of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of Virginia, I.O.O.F., 1837–1859 (Richmond, VA: MacFarland & Fergusson, 1860).
Kemper, James Lawson, An Address, Delivered at Standardsville, Virginia, June 24th, 1854, by James L. Kemper, Upon the Celebration of the Anniversary of St. John the Baptist, by the Piedmont Lodge of Free Masons (Richmond, VA: C.H. Wynne, 1854. VHS).
Martin, Alexander, Prize Essay on the Principles and Operations of the Order of the Sons of Temperance (Richmond, VA: H.K. Ellyson, 1851. VHS).
‘Look Out for Swindler!’ I.O.O.F. Proceedings of the R.W. Grand Lodge of the State of Wisconsin. Kenosha, WI (1861): 865.
Mandell, D.J., ‘Celebration in Fredericksburg’. Odd-Fellows Magazine (March 1840): 277–87. LVA.
McCabe, James D., Address Before Hawkins Lodge, No. 41, I.O.O.F., and the Citizens of Rogersville, Tenn., On the 4th day of July, 1849, At the Laying the Corner-stone of the Odd-Fellows’ Female Institute, by Rev. J.D. McCabe of Abingdon, Va (Abingdon, VA: Coale and Barr, 1849. Duke).
Minutes of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of the State of Virginia, 1845–1859 (Richmond, VA, 1845–1859).
Myers, Samuel H., Address Delivered by W. Samuel H. Myers, P.M. in the Masons’ Hall, in the City of Richmond, on Thursday June 24, 1847, being St. John’s Day, Before and at the request of Lodge Nos 10, 14, 19, and 36 (Richmond, VA: John Warrock, 1847. UVA).
Proceedings of the Grand Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Virginia [Freemasons], 1838–1845, 1846–1854, 1855–1860. (Richmond, VA: 1838–1860. Grand Lodge of Virginia, Allen E. Roberts Masonic Library and Museum, Richmond, VA).
‘Quid Nunc?’ Independent Odd-Fellow 3 (May 1843): 31–34. VHS.
Rooker, William Y., Oration before the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at the Dedication of the Hall of Winchester Lodge No. 25, October 28, 1846 (Winchester: J.P. Bentley’s Book and Job Office, 1846. Duke).
Rules of Order, Constitution, and General Laws, of the R.W. Grand Lodge of Virginia, I.O.O.F., as Amended up to April Communication, 1860, and A Digest of Decisions of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge of Virginia on Questions of Law (Richmond, VA: MacFarlane & Fergusson, 1860. VHS).
Shaver, F.L.B., An Address Delivered before Lebanon Lodge, No. 66, I.O.O.F., in the Methodist Episcopal Church, June 16, 1848 (Abington, VA: Coale and Barr, 1848. UVA).
Strange, John B., Address Delivered at the Dedication of the New Masonic Hall, in Eastville, Northampton County, Va., on the Anniversary of St. John the Evangelist, December 27, A.L. 5848, A.D. 1848, by John B. Strange (Norfolk, VA: T.G. Broughton & Son, 1849. UVA).
Taliaferro, Edwin, An Address, Delivered before the Masonic Fraternity of Williamsburg, Virginia, November 15, 1860 by E. Taliaferro (Richmond, VA: MacFarland & Fergusson, 1861. W&M).
Taylor, Robert J., Temperance Address, Before the Lexington Division Sons of Temperance, No. 45. By Robert J. Taylor. March 27th, 1850 (Lexington, VA: Samuel Gillock, 1850. VHS).
‘To All Odd-Fellows and Others Throughout the World’. Independent Odd-Fellow 1 (September 1841): 92. VHS.
Withers, Robert Enoch, An Address, Delivered at Masonic Hall, in the City of Lynchburg, on the Anniversary of St John the Baptist, June 23th, A.D. 1857, A.L. 5857, by Ro. E. Withers, K.T. (Lynchburg, VA: Virginian Job Printing Office, 1857).
Secondary Sources
Bullock, Steven C., Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730–1830 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1996).
Byrne, Frank J., Becoming Bourgeois: Merchant Culture in the South, 1820–1865 (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2006).
Carmichael, Peter S., The Last Generation: Young Virginians in Peace, War, and Reunion (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2005).
Carnes, Mark C., Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989).
Dorsey, Bruce, Reforming and Women: Gender in the Antebellum City (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004).
Eelman, Bruce W., Entrepreneurs in the Southern Upcountry: Commercial Culture in Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1845–1880 (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2008).
Greenberg, Amy S., Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Halttunen, Karen, Confidence Men and Painted Women: A Study of Middle-Class Culture in America, 1830–1870 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1982).
Johnson, Paul E., ‘The Market Revolution’. In Mary Kupiec Cayton, Elliott J. Gorn, and Peter Williams (eds), Encyclopedia of American Social History, Volume I (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1993), 545–59.
Kimball, Gregg D., American City, Southern Place: A Cultural History of Antebellum Richmond (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2000).
Proctor, Nicolas W., Bathed in Blood: Hunting and Mastery in the Old South (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2002).
Stokes, Melvyn and Stephen Conway (eds), The Market Revolution in America: Social, Political, and Religious Expressions, 1800–1880 (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1996).
Wells, Jonathan Daniel, The Origins of the Southern Middle Class, 1800–1861 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2004).
Published
2011-05-22
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Pflugrad-Jackisch, A. (2011). Brotherhood, Business, and White Male Respectability: Secret Fraternal Orders in Antebellum Virginia. Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, 2(1), 38-59. https://doi.org/10.1558/jrff.v2i1.38
