Odd Fellows

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) is a fraternal organization derived from English Odd Fellows orders of the mid-1700s. more...

The Patriotic Order in England was followed by the Union of United Orders and the Loyal Order. In 1813, various lodges of the Union Order organized the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows. Several unofficial lodges existed in New York City, but American Odd Fellowship is regarded as being founded in Baltimore in 1819, by Thomas Wildey, and the following year affiliated with the Manchester Unity. Within a few years the new American separated from the English Orders and formed the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Its ladies' auxiliary is known as the Rebekahs. Both the Odd Fellows and Rebakahs have higher branches known as Encampments and Patriarchs Militant.

Today, some branches of the order (ie: some countries) allow women to join the Odd Fellows itself, leading the Rebekahs to have declined in importance. The higher branches and their degrees is somewhere regarded as being of less importance, or too time-consuming, and are (in some countries) gradually being abandoned.

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