Author: Mark W. Swarthout
Published on: June 22, 2001
We've been talking about fraternal organizations, but there is a counterpart. Up until the last few decades, the world has been a male dominated society. Everything was centered around the male head of the household, but in the late 1800's, women began to be heard. With the appearance of the Temperance movements, women raised their voices and their organizations took on a meaning well beyond the afternoon social teas and occasional croquet matches. Women made up significant portions of the temperance organizations. Because women lacked financial security, the issue of male drunkenness was predominantly a female problem. The temperance cause was an area where women could resist their husbands. The Temperance movement was the primary school for many important suffragists, which became a "legitimate," domestic place for women to enter public activities.
While Fraternal organizations were particularly aimed at the male population, they often had a women's auxiliary associated with them. In some cases, this auxiliary was formed by the wives looking for something to do while their husbands were carrying on with the boys.
Even the veterans organizations had parallel women's groups, primarily to support their male counterpart. Now, with the increased number of women in the military, these organizations, on both sides of the gender line, have had to adjust to remove the line. They now center themselves around more politically correct terms such as 'Veterans' and 'Spouses.'
Some of the 'Sororal' organizations:
The Eastern Star
When some of the Masons determined that all the good of the order shouldn't be confined to men, they founded the General Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. http://www.easternstar.org/index.html
Catholic Daughters of the Americas
The Catholic Daughters of the Americas was founded in Utica, New York in 1903 by members of the Knights of Columbus as a charitable, benevolent and patriotic sororal society for Catholic ladies. It has gone through a number of name changes starting as the "National Order of Daughters of Isabella," In 1921, the name became the Catholic Daughters of America (CDA). Within ten years, they had 170,000 members in 45 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, Panama and Cuba. In 1954, the order changed its name to the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, with 1,450 local "courts" in the United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Saipan, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. Its international headquarters are located in New York City.
Note that the original 'Daughters of America' were the women’s branch of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics--an order known to be anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.
http://www.catholicdaughters.org/
Order of Daughters of Isabella
This is a Catholic benevolent and charitable society that was established in New Haven, Connecticut in May 1897. It presently operates as an independent order. The local units are called "Circles," with State Circles and Provincial Circles governed by an International Circle. Their Headquarters is in New Haven, Connecticut. Its emblem is similar to the Knights Templar. It is a gold crown with the inscription "D. of I" with a red Cross of Christ in its center.
Information above was found at http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmus...
Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
International cooperation was begun in the latter half of the 1800's. One of the more successful groups being the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which was founded in 1874 in the United States.
http://www.wctu.org/
As with the Fraternal organizations, records are normally kept at a local level. If you know the vicinity of your ancestor's homes, you may be able to find the local chapter, and they may have a historian that could provide a few bits or pieces to add to the family history. But, knowledge of the organization can be helpful in knowing what newspaper articles require closer attention, and what sections of the 'Vanity' Histories to search.
And. please, don't limit yourself with what is here! There are many other organizations out there and some of them, such as the DAR, can provide a great deal of help in finding information.