Odd Fellows
a secret order devoted to good fellowship and benevolence. The three links is the well known emblem. The order originated among the workmen of England, where a lodge is known to have existed as early as 1745. The first American lodge, five members, was instituted in New York, December 26, 1806. Lodges were established at Boston in 1818 and in Baltimore in 1819. As early as 1815 there were two lodges in Halifax. The order was opposed at first as British and un-American. The Rebekah lodges, established largely through the efforts and influence of Vice President Schuyler Colfax, are an auxiliary order of the wives and daughters of Odd Fellows with a membership of one-half a million. Less than four per cent of the total membership of the Odd Fellows is found outside of North America.
ODDFELLOWS' STATISTICS FOR 1905.
| Subordinate lodges | 14,345 |
| Encampments | 3,172 |
| Rebekah lodges | 6,876 |
| Cantons of Patriarch Militant | 571 |
| Total membership | 1,716,997 |
| Income for the year | $13,638,791 |
| Property held by the order | $37,645,071 |
| Relief paid in 1907 | $5,112,000 |
See Masons