Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)


Freedom's Friend Lodge No. 1024
MSA SC 5496-51882
Black Mutual Aid Society; Saint Michaels, Maryland

Biography:

About the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows:

The Odd Fellows is a fraternal society that began in England in the late 18th century.1 The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (GUOOF) is one of the 34 different orders of Odd Fellow societies.2 The history of the GUOOF in America begins in 1843 with Peter Ogden, a Black man who was a member of the Victoria Lodge No. 448 in Liverpool, England.3 After being rejected multiple times by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (a predominately White society), Ogden convinced a group of Black men seeking membership to send their applications to the GUOOF in England.4  Surely enough British Odd Fellows granted the Black men permission to open the first official GUOOF lodge in America,  Philomathean Lodge No. 646 in 1843.5

 

                                                                                                                                        History of Freedom's Friend Lodge No. 1024

On September 11, 1865--nearly four months after the end of the Civil War-- Zerubbabel Lodge No. 1187 in Baltimore was granted permission to open Shealtiel Lodge No. 1024 in Saint Michaels, Maryland.6 A year later Shealtiel Lodge put in a request and was allowed to change its name to Freedom’s Friend Lodge No. 1024.7 This change was likely spurred by the great hope and faith that the end of slavery evoked from the founders of the lodge, many of which were Civil War veterans for the Union Army.8 In 1867 the elected officials of the lodge, including Robert Brown, Joseph Leeds Johnson, Daniel E. Chaney, and William Skinner, were granted a deed for the plot of land on which the lode now rests.9 However, the location of the lodge’s meetings for the first nineteen years is unknown. Perhaps they held meetings in the Union Methodist Episcopal Church, of which a number of their officers were members and even trustees. Maybe there was some smaller house on the property that they utilize? It is possible that the members of the lodge met at the house of Daniel Chaney's father, who lived next door to the lodge in 1860.10  In 1883 the organization finished construction of its lodge.11 On January 14th of the following year the lodge became duly incorporated.12  The present appearance of the lodge is the result of a partnership between the Maryland Historic Trust and the members of Freedom’s Friend Lodge No. 1024.13 After four years of negotiating, in 1991 the Maryland Historic Trust gave the lodge a $46,500 grant to make exterior renovations on their meeting hall.14

Though not the first to be founded, according to the Around Saint Michaels, the Freedom’s Friend Lodge No. 1024 is the oldest standing Odd Fellows lodge in Maryland as well as one of the oldest in the country.15 The lodge is listed as a historic property in Maryland in part because of the antiquity of its architecture.16 Though the lodge has been preserved it no longer serves as a meeting place for Odd Fellows.17 Membership began to dwindle during the 1900s.19 In 1995 the officers of the lodge sold the building.20 Currently, the lodge is owned by Blue Crab Coffee Company, whose coffee—many have said—is pretty tasty.21

Purpose of the Lodge 

“Fidelity,” “Justice,” “Charity,” “Brotherly Love”—these are the words that once hung in the meeting room of FFL. These words precisely represented the purpose of the lodge, which was to serve the community in the form of “a beneficial society for the purpose of assisting each other under certain specified circumstances as provided for in [its] Constitution.”22 Specifically the society was: 

                “1st, To unite fraternally all male colored freemen of sound bodily health and good moral character who are socially acceptable and above the ages of twenty one years. 

                2nd, To give all moral and material aid in its power to its members and those dependent upon them. 

                3rd, To educate its members socially, morally, and intellectually.

                4th, To establish a fund for the relief of sick and distressed members."23

In other words the Lodge was to be a pillar for the community. It aided in the burial of its members, provided welfare for the distressed, educated, and encouraged people to draw strength from their faith in God. In an era before the creation of large public and private insurance companies assuring that a relative would be properly buried and cared for if stricken with illness, the lodge was very important to many people.

Of all the members and officers that devoted their lives to the Lodge, Robert Brown is one man who stands out as a shining example of an Odd Fellows member. He was one of the founding officers of the lodge in 1867 24 as well as an original Trustee to the Union Methodist Episcopal Church in Saint Michaels.25

Community Involvements

The lodge offered its space to various organizations, most of them African-American, in Saint Michaels. For example, there’s evidence to suggest that the FFL No. 1024 gave concert space to the Golden Rule Concert Band, a Black marching band in Saint Michaels.26

In addition to this some scholars affirm that the 1991 renovations were made by a Black business, Gehlsen and MacSorley Contractors, on the eastern shore.27 Also there is some speculation that the company the lodge utilized  to print its membership dues cards, the Sewell Printing Company, was a Black business located in Saint Michaels.28

Remaining true to its belief in God, its strongest community tie was with the Union Methodist Episcopal Church, currently known as the Union United Methodist Church. One of the first officers, Robert Brown, the Nobel Father, was also a Trustee of the Union ME Church.29 In addition to this FFL held their annual Thanksgiving sermon on the second Sunday in May at Union.30

Freedom’s Friend also has its own burial grounds located at the rear of the lodge.31 According to findagrave.com there is only one name, Aretter Brown, listed in the cemetery.32


                                                                                                                                                        The Household of Ruth

The male membership of Freedom's Friend Lodge believed that the benefits of their beneficial soceity should not be solely limited to "brotherly love," but that it should extend to all members of the Black community in Saint Michaels. It is for this reason that the lodge created the Household of Ruth, which was to support the men of the lodge as well as to promote the values and virtues of the lodge.33 The Household of Ruth was to "unite them and their sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands in one great, happy and prosperous family, cemented, strengthened, and perpetuated by the social, sacred, and marvelous influence of the Household of Ruth..."34


Footnotes- 

1. “Structure of the Order,” The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America and Jurisdiction, http://guoofamerica.com/oddfellows_natl/Structure.html.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid. 

6. Brooks, Charles H, The Official History and Manual of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sub-Committee of Management), 97-98. 

7. Ibid.

8. "Oldest Odd Fellows Lodge to be Restored with Historic Trust Grant" (Saint Michaels, Maryland), July 24 to July 30, 1991. 

9. TALBOT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, (Land Record), 6 February 1867, William Green to Freedom’s Friend Lodge No. 1024, MSA CE 90-10, Book STH 73, page 278.

10. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, Talbot County MD, 1850), MSA SCM 7226, 257.

11. "Oldest Odd Fellows Lodge to be Restored with Historic Trust Grant" (Saint Michaels, Maryland), July 24 to July 30, 1991. 

12.  TALBOT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, (Charter Record), 01 January 1884, MSA CM 993-1, CR 10018, 63.

13. "Oldest Odd Fellows Lodge to be Restored with Historic Trust Grant" (Saint Michaels, Maryland), July 24 to July 30, 1991. 

14. Ibid. 

15. Vitabile, Christina, Images of America: Around Saint Michaels (Charleston, South Carolina, Arcadia Publishing, 2007), 31.

16. "Freedom's Friend Lodge" Maryland's African-American Architectual Resources, accessed August 15, 2013, http://www.udel.edu/CHAD/MHT%20African%20American%20Cultural%20Resources/FreedomsFriend.html

17. Ibid. 

18. Ibid.

19.  "Oldest Odd Fellows Lodge to be Restored with Historic Trust Grant" (Saint Michaels, Maryland), July 24 to July 30, 1991

20. "Freedom's Friend Lodge" Maryland's African-American Architectual Resources, accessed August 15, 2013, http://www.udel.edu/CHAD/MHT%20African%20American%20Cultural%20Resources/FreedomsFriend.html

21. "Warm Up with Blue Crab Coffee" Blue Crab Coffe Company, accessed August 15, 2013, http://www.bluecrabcoffee.com/

22. TALBOT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, (Charter Record), 01 January 1884, MSA CM 993-1, CR 10018, 63.

23. Ibid.

24. TALBOT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, (Land Record), 6 February 1867, William Green to Freedom’s Friend Lodge No. 1024, MSA CE 90-10, Book STH 73, page 278.

25. Lift Every Voice: Echoes from the Black Community on Maryland’s Eastern Shore (Wye Mills, Maryland, Chesapeake College Press, 1999), 130

26. Lift Every Voice: Echoes from the Black Community on Maryland’s Eastern Shore (Wye Mills, Maryland, Chesapeake College Press, 1999),  87.

27. Talbot County Historical Society

28. Ibid. 

29.  Lift Every Voice: Echoes from the Black Community on Maryland’s Eastern Shore (Wye Mills, Maryland, Chesapeake College Press, 1999), 130

30. Brooks, Charles H, The Official History and Manual of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Sub-Committee of Management), 264.

31. "Freedom's Friend Lodge Burial Ground" Find A Grave, accessed August 15, 2013, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GScid=2504720&GRid=113998950&CRid=2504720&

32. Ibid. 

33. Needham, James F. (M.V.P.), General Laws and Regulations of the Household of Ruth (Philadelphia, Sub-Committee of Management, 1927), 3.

34. Ibid.



Researched and Written by Tierra Langley, 2013 (Special Thanks to John W. Green, H.D.G.M of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America, for his contributions)  

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