Text By: Valerie Tucker
The National Grange is the oldest US agricultural organization, with grassroots chapters established in 2,700 local communities in 37 states. The organization formed in the years following the Civil War to improve the economic and social position of farmers and their families. The name comes from the Latin word "granum," or "grain." The Grange movement has evolved to include non-farm rural families and communities.
According to Dennis Sven Nordin, author of "Rich Harvest: A History of the Grange, 1867 to 1900," Grange rituals incorporated a mixture of Greek and Roman mythology and Bible lessons. Titles and rituals also borrowed from the Masonic Order and the old English estate system. The first four degrees are based on the four seasons of the year. Members dedicated themselves to achieving levels of Faith, Hope, Charity and Fidelity. The fifth, sixth, and seventh degrees represent the Three Graces, Pomona, Flora, and Ceres. Pomona was a goddess of abundance of fruit and gardens, and Flora was the goddess of flowers. Ceres was the goddess of food plants, and her name has been incorporated into one of the most common words we use today: cereal.
Responsibilities increased with each elevation on the Grange ritual ladder. For example, all business conducted by local chapters was done by fourth degree members. Members also serve as Gate Keeper, Overseer, Steward, Chaplain, Assistant Steward, Lady Assistant Steward, Secretary, Treasurer, Lecturer and Master. Men and women have corresponding titles of address in each of the first four degrees: Faith - laborer and maid; Hope -- cultivator and shepherdess; Charity -- harvesters and gleaners; Fidelity -- husband man and matron.
Those who have received the first degree are called provisional members. Full membership in the Grange comes from earning the fourth degree. The altar in a Grange hall usually displays an open Bible, agricultural tools, and an American flag. A blindfold statue symbolizes the passage from outer darkness to inner light, and trade implements have mystical and symbolic meaning. The tools of the first degree, for example, are the axe, the plough, the harrow, and the spade. Agriculture is seen as the noblest of occupations, as it began in the Garden of Eden.
Local Granges, called Subordinates in the national Grange hierarchy, have unique assigned names. Franklin County groups are called Excelsior Granges. States with Granges were assigned similarly unique names, and Maine's is Pomona. According to Maine State Grange records, Strong's Aurora (No. 202) Grange was organized by J. O Kyes, with John Dyer serving as First Master.
The Pomona Grange provides the leadership for educational, legislative, and business interests of the many Subordinate Granges. The Grange is also a fraternal Order of Patrons of Husbandry, hence the "P of H" on the organization's logo. The National Grange was one of the first formal groups to admit women to membership.
The Grand Army of the Republic
After the Civil War, Union veterans organized and chartered the first Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) in Decatur, Illinois, in 1866. Within a year, 39 posts had been chartered, and interest spread rapidly to adjoining states. Ten states and the District of Columbia were represented at the first national encampment held at Indianapolis on November 20, 1866.
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) quickly became the best-known veterans' organization, and by 1890, over 400,000 members were registered. Almost every prominent veteran was enrolled, including Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, and McKinley.
Veterans provided a local relief fund for needy veterans, widows, and orphans. Money could be used for medical, burial and housing expenses, and for food and household necessities. Members might help another veteran get a job or secure a loan. The GAR helped establish soldiers' homes in sixteen states and orphanages in seven states by 1890. The soldiers' homes were later transferred to the federal government.
The GAR also had a number of auxiliaries: the Woman's Relief Corps (organized on a national basis in 1883); the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic (1896); and the Sons Of Union Veterans of the Civil War (1881). These three organizations along with the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, and the Auxiliary to the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War still carry on the work begun by the GAR in establishing and improving veterans facilities.
The organization spent much of its time soliciting funds for monuments and memorials, busts and equestrian statues of Union soldiers and heroes, granite shafts, tablets, urns, and mounted cannon. The GAR also encouraged the preservation of Civil War sites, relics, and historic documents.
Cannons and field-pieces were placed in many towns or courthouse squares and parks. The members also gave battle-stained flags, mementos, and documents to local museums.
Members of all GAR posts first decorated veterans' graves with flowers on May 30, 1868. This Decoration Day continues as a national tradition but became renamed Memorial Day.
In its early days, the GAR limited its activities merely to fraternal activities. Members soon began discussing politics, and their growing interest in pensions signaled the beginning of open GAR participation in national politics.
Knights of Pythias
The Knights of Pythias was another post-Civil War fraternal organization and secret society founded at Washington, DC, in 1864. The Knights of Pythias received its charter through an act of the US Congress. It was founded by Justus H. Rathbone, who had been inspired by a play by the Irish poet John Banim about the legend of Damon and Pythias. This legend illustrates the ideals of friendship, benevolence, and charity that are the cornerstones of the order.
Masonic History
Masonry first came to America from settlers who carried the tradition from the British Isles. The early Scottish settlers in Nova Scotia came from the Lodge of Edinburgh. In 1704, Johathan Belcher, later Governor of Massachusetts, was made a Freemason in London. In 1762, the first lodge was granted permission to convene in Falmouth, but the Revolutionary War stymied the establishment of other Masonic lodges.
In October, 1775, the town of Falmouth was attacked, and more than half the town was burned. Over 400 buildings were destroyed and more than 1,000 people lost their homes.
Yet, according to masonic records, from 1775 to 1786, the Grand Lodge either admitted to membership or conferred degrees on 32 additional members. maine was not yet a state, so Lodges were under jurisdiction of Massachusetts.
In 1820, delegates of 24 Lodges assembled at Masons' Hall in Portland to organize the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Maine. The Honorable William King, Governor of the State, was elected Grand Master of Masons. The Governor, accompanied by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, both of whom were Masons, assumed the chair.
Strong had an active Masonic Lodge, but its history has not been well documented. Many Maine Masonic Lodges have consolidated, and the Davis Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, combined with the Phillips Lodge, and the building was sold.