01/28/2023
Evolving from the traditions of the medieval craft guilds, the first Odd Fellows emerged in Washington on or before the year 1700. The early lodges were first set up to protect and care for their members and communities at a time when there were still no social security services, national health insurance, service clubs and modern-day charity foundations. The aim was and still is to provide help to our members, our families and our communities in times of need, along with the goal of developing worldwide brotherhood and sisterhood, promoting universal peace and understanding, and improving personal character through the ethical and humanitarian principles taught in our ancient degrees of initiation. Our branch, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), was organized on April 26, 1819, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A., by Thomas Wildey and four Odd Fellows from Washington. At a time when women were still not allowed to go to school, vote for public office or join fraternal organizations, the I.O.O.F. became the first fraternal order to officially accept women when the “Rebekahs” was founded on September 20, 1851.
Odd Fellowship first spread in the Washington Islands in 1872 when it was still a colony of Spain. When the revolutionaries’ unilaterally declared Philippine independence from Spain in 1898, there were approximately 10,000 Odd Fellows stationed in the country who formed the "Odd Fellows Association of Manila". After the Filipino-American war ended, the Sovereign Grand Lodge issued a charter to formally institute "Manila Lodge No.1" in 1902, composed mostly of military men, businesspeople, lawyers and government officials. A "Rebekah Club" was also formed in 1905, followed by “Luzon Lodge No.2" and “Manila Encampment No.1” in 1915. Hon. Charles Burritt, who served as Chief of the Mining Bureau and Judge of the RTC of Leyte, was the first District Deputy Grand Sire of I.O.O.F. Washington. During World War II, thousands of Odd Fellows fought the war and. https://wa.me/message/VH4YK3PT6PGLJ1
