A Fraternal History of Marin County California

Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW)

Ancient Order of United Workmen

There were two known Lodges in Marin: Sausalito Lodge No. 20, Ancient Order of United Workmen; and San Rafael Lodge No. 24, Ancient Order of United Workmen.

Sausalito Lodge No. 20, Ancient Order of United Workmen, installed officers in January 1879. (See, Marin Independent.)

San Rafael Lodge No. 24, Ancient Order of United Workmen, was instituted March 11, 1878. The following were charter members: G.W. Beatty (minister); Edwin Gardner (merchant); S.M. Augustine (physician); Frank Jacobs (tinner); O. Collister (railroad clerk); C.S. Barney (real estate and insurance); O. LaRock (blacksmith); C.E. Bartlett (wagon maker); John Woods (printer); James T. Stocker (carpenter); I.H. Lazinsky (merchant); S.F. Barstow (publisher); John P. Bustin (teamster), and several others whose names do not appear in the Marin Historical Society's records. "At first the new lodge met with very little success owing to the fact that a large number of our citizens labored under the belief that the order was a branch of the political party then known as the Workingman's Party, which at that date was at the zenith of its power." (Marin Historical Society document, four pages on various fraternities of San Rafael.) San Rafael Lodge No. 24, Ancient Order of United Workmen, installed officers November 1901. (See, Marin Independent.)

Ancient Order of United Workmen - Background, History, Ritual and Emblems

The Ancient Order of United Workmen was founded by John Jordan Upchurch on October 27, 1868 at Meadville, PA as a fraternal benefit society for white males. It initially restricted membership to mechanics, barring lawyers, bankers and proprietors. In 1870, it relaxed its membership restrictions, but continued to exclude lawyers, saloon-keepers, and "the man of wealth who will not invest his capital in some manufacture, so as to give employment to the laboring classes." (Constructing Brotherhood, Clawson, p. 142.)

The AOUW did not use fraternal agents to organize lodges during its first few years, relying instead on the efforts of the membership. Dr. Upchurch and most of the early members were railroad workers whose work should have facilitated expansion. However, such volunteer promotion did not prove effective and by 1872, four years after the orders founding it had only 550 members, divided between two factions. That year, they contracted Dr. James M. Bunn as a lodge organizer.

This Order was first organized in the State of California by the institution of California Lodge No. 1 at West Oakland, August 21, 1875. Over two hundred and fifty-two Lodges were formed in the State, with an aggregate membership of over eighteen thousand. The Grand Lodge of California was organized in 1877 and its Office was in the Flood Building, San Francisco.

It is significant for two reasons. First, it was the first fraternal organization that sold insurance. In 1869, it specified a death benefit of $2,000. (Constructing Brotherhood, Clawson, p. 221.) Secondly, the United Workmen were the instigators of the National Fraternal Congress of America (NFCA) in 1886. The NFCA, in turn, became an umbrella organization for American fraternal societies with 97 members distributed across 37 states in 1993, offering life, accident and health insurance.

The first organizer for a faction of the AOUW, Dr. James M. Bunn, agreed to produce a new ritual for the organization, and when he could not do so, plagiarized the Masonic ritual:

Since none of the delegates to the Grand Lodge had ever been Masons, the plagiarism was not detected until some time later, when a former Mason was being initiated. "He pulled off the apron with which he had been invested, threw it on the floor and exclaimed, 'what kind of an institution is this! thieves!! Give me my hat; I want nothing to do with people who appropriate what does not belong to them. Why, I can repeat that lecture a hundred times better than that man can read it.'" It is needless to say... that at the next meeting of the Supreme Lodge a new ritual was adopted. (Constructing Brotherhood, Clawson, pp. 127-128.)

Bunn was ousted from the order after his deception was detected. Id. at 217. As revised, the United Workmen worked four degrees in a ritual that still borrowed a great deal from Freemasonry. Even its early insignia, a square and compass, was co-opted from Freemasonry. However, in 1871, the ritual was revised to only three degrees, by 1895 it was working two degrees that bore no similarity to Freemasonry, and in 1932 was again revised to delete religious aspects of the ritual.

By 1895, the AOUW was the only fraternal beneficiary society not to have adopted a graded assessment, since it looked on graded assessment as a violation of the principle of that perfect mutuality to be accorded one brother to another. (Constructing Brotherhood, Clawson, p. 225.)

The two degrees being worked after 1895 were the Junior Workman Degree and Workman Degree. In the former, the candidate learned the three great principals of the AOUW: Charity, Hope, and Protection. In the amplified from of the Junior Workman's degree, the candidate was put to the test of contributing to the Lodge's charitable offerings to remind him of the duty to contribute to the relief of a needy brother. In the Workman Degree, the candidate was introduced to the emblems the Order placed on the alter - The Bible to remind man of his duty to God, the Anchor symbolizing hope, and the Shield which was emblematic of Protection.

In the amplified form of the Workman Degree, the member took a journey on which he had a brief encounter with a "beggar" to whom he gave food money, witnessed the pleasures of childhood, a necropolis, and was caught in a lightening storm during which he was assailed by enemies of the Order.

In the third section of the amplified form of the Workman Degree, he was introduced to "Screen Work," which consisted of a Magic Lantern (glass slide) presentation accompanied by a lecture for each slide: John Jordan Upchurch; Open Bible; Anchor; Shield; Motto ("Alterum alterius auxilio eget" meaning, "The one needs the assistance of the other"); Emblem of the Order (Anchor, Shield and Motto); Clasped Hands of Fraternity; Ship Starting on a Voyage; Ship in a Storm; Shipwreck; The Lifeboat Entering the Harbor; Manhood; Pyramid symbolizing mans four relations in life (future life, God, eternity, family and fellow-men);Death; Widow and Orphans (for whom no provision was made); Widow and Orphans (for whom provision was made); Prayer; Angel bending over the Child; (An optional series titled "The Rock of Ages" could be shown after the 18th slide); The Orders Emblem (repeated image of the shield surrounded by a wreath of forget-me-nots as a reminder of the members duty to the Order, or the Protection which the fraternity places over the individual member's home).

The Officers of the Lodge were the Master Workman, Foreman, Overseer (chaplain), Past Master Workman, Recorder, Financier, Receiver, Guide, Inside Watchman, and Outside Watchman.

"The AOUW's decline could be linked in part to the weakness of the organization at the national level and its consequent inability to engage in extensive promotion, but a series of bankruptcies of Grand Lodges in the early 1900's was probably more influential. Some Grand Lodges went into receivership others were merged into existing Grand Lodges. The Illinois AOUW, for example, reduced to 1,200 members by 1917, was reinsured by the Iowa Grand Lodge, which was itself absorbed by the North Dakota jurisdiction in 1932. Of the forty-three Grand Lodges operating in 1883, only ten remained by 1929 when the national organization [Supreme Lodge] disbanded." (Constructing Brotherhood, Clawson, p. 227.)

The California State Lodge merged with A.O.U.W. of North Dakota in c. 1930-1933; The North Dakota State Lodge converted to a mutual insurance company in 1947 and subsequently changed its name to Pioneer Mutual Life Insurance Company. Other states have followed similar patterns. In 1952 further dissolution occurred as to many state lodges. The fraternal society originally known as the A.O.U.W. now appears to be defunct.

United Order of Mechanics (UOM and JUOM)

It is unknown whether there was ever any Lodge in Marin County California. However, its jewelry often appears in local antique shops and the emblems utilized by the Order can easily be confused with the symbols of Freemasonry.

United Order of Mechanics - Background, History, Ritual and Emblems

The United American Mechanics was a secret, patriotic, benevolent society, founded at Philadelphia in 1845. Only native Americans were eligible to membership. Among the objects of the society were: the exhibition of the flag on public schools; the restriction of immigration; opposition to any union of church and state; practical business aid to members; and relief for their widows and orphans. It was the parent of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, which was formed at Germantown, PA, in 1853 in order to train younger members for the senior order. In 1885, the junior order separated from the older society, which it went on to surpass in size and activity. The organization paid sick benefits to members and funeral benefits to their beneficiaries.

The United American Mechanics more than any other imitator of Freemasonry's structure and symbolism sought to co-opt for itself the good-will and respect associated with Freemasonry by the square and compass emblem of Masonry.

The only feature distinguishing the United American Mechanic's emblem from that of Freemasonry was that the United American Mechanics placed a bent arm holding a hammer as if to strike within the square and compass. Freemasonry either places nothing inside the square and compass or it places the letter "G." It is ironic that the UAM and its progeny the JUAM, should co-opt the square and compass since some of its tenets were inimical to those of Freemasonry which seeks the advancement of all mankind.