Oddfellowship Thoughts?

I'm a master mason and am looking into becoming an oddfellow...

is the process just about the same...

I am a young man and have also heard they are dying out...I know they are based out of Winston Salem, NC and being from that state and rarely hearing about them cannot be a good sign of things to come...

thoughts or advice?

reply to post by Richardfromoxford


I was interested in joining the Oddfellows myself a bit ago.
I just liked the name of the group to be honest. No nearby lodges for me to meet with, kind of lost interest after awhile.

There is one in my college town...only a P.O. address and I haven't seen a lodge for it...

I just was wondering if it was anything like masonry? I mean I have read up on it...just looking to see if anyone with any personal exp.?

reply to post by Richardfromoxford

I wonder about it too ! But I have not read a lot as you have. Can you send me info please?

reply to post by scooterstrats



www.ioof.com

I think that is the sight for it.

My father is a long time member.
He seems to have a jolly time with the rest of the old-timers

Some times I find strange artifacts, like medallions and stuff, around their appartment. Nothing sinister though.

Why would you like to join?

Just fraternal ideology and brotherhood are the main points that I love...

I also am very fascinated with ritual and storytelling through symbolism and different things...

reply to post by Richardfromoxford

Then check This site www.ioof.com
This has it all there.

I think www.ioof.org... might be the site you're looking for.

The dot com site is for a retirement home in Ontario.

reply to post by Shaker
Sorry, I used the site supplied by the troll here who supplies it as their source of info. I was duped .

r

What is a troll?

Little early to be getting pugilistic isn't it?

reply to post by Richardfromoxford


So you've read about a retirement home in Ontario? Therefore, you have read all about the IOOF. And a troll is someone who feels that they must post in every topic on a given board within a site while providing no relevant or cogent additions or pertinent commentary. Um, pardon me, what is your addition to this site?

I have been in a college fraternity, a collegiate secret society, and am a master mason...

I feel more than qualified to post in any of these forums...

what are your qualifications? are you inquisitive or can you speak from a personal perspective?

I feel that addition is way more than pertinent.

Technically a troll is someone who puts flammatory remarks on a site in order to troll for responses.

Rich, I'd recommend going to a Masonry forum, or a Oddfellows forum if you can find one.

President Franklin Roosevelt was a IOOF member of park lodge No. 203 located in Hyde Park New York. If my memory serves me well wasnt he also a mason?

reply to post by chaoticwolf88


Yep.

* Franklin Delano Roosevelt, U.S. President. Holland Lodge No. 8, New York 1° October 11, 1911, Holland Lodge No. 8. First Honorary Grand Master of the Order of DeMolay, April 13, 1934

Huh. Did he ever receive his Master Mason degree? Couldn't find anything saying he'd received the third degree, just a few articles stating he'd participated in several ceremonies and visited Lodges internationally.

Originally posted by RuneSpider
reply to post by chaoticwolf88

 

Yep.

* Franklin Delano Roosevelt, U.S. President. Holland Lodge No. 8, New York 1° October 11, 1911, Holland Lodge No. 8. First Honorary Grand Master of the Order of DeMolay, April 13, 1934

Huh. Did he ever receive his Master Mason degree? Couldn't find anything saying he'd received the third degree, just a few articles stating he'd participated in several ceremonies and visited Lodges internationally.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President, 1933 - 1945, made a Mason November 28, 1911, in Holland Lodge No. 8, F. & A.M., New York, New York, the same Lodge in which George Washington, the Nation's first President, held Honorary membership.

www.calodges.org...

About 6 weeks after his 1st degree, he got his 3rd. That's not unreasonable by today's standards.

Rich

Just out of interest, why Oddfellows rather than a new Masonic side degree?

There aren't enough nights in the week for all the side degrees I'd like to join, let alone a different society!

I agree. As was pointed out to me a few days ago, this poster as well as what seems to be a new poster are trying to occupy all of the last 2 years worth of threads in this forum, are merely trolling for enough points on the forum to start making posts. To what end, who knows. Just beware people who have registered today and have replied to 20 or so posts with really superficial, useless, and IMO disingenuous comments. Keep an eye on these.

reply to post by scooterstrats


I joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) in 1992. There are four Subordinate Lodge Degrees, although they are called The Initiatory Degree; First Degree, Second Degree and Third Degree. The three numbered degrees are based on teachings of "Friendship, Love and Truth" which is what the letters "F.L.T." in the three-link emblem stand for.

Like Masonry, there are degrees beyond the Lodge. The Encampment confers three additional degrees and the Patriarch's Militant provide a degree with a "Templar-type" uniform, etc. Additionally for the ladies AND men, there is the Degree of Rebekah. For the male youth there is the Junior Lodge and for the female youth the Theta-Rho Club.

Not to be outdone by the Shriners, there is the befezzed group called the "Ancient Mystic Order of Samaritans" (A.M.O.S.)

The degrees have striking similarities to Freemasonry and some say they originated with Freemasonry; I've read no proof, though.

Another thing to point out is that Like Freemasonry, each state or jurisdiction has a Grand Lodge that controls her Subordinate Lodges, but UNLIKE Masonry, there is a SGL that is, well, Sovereign, over the state Grand Lodges.

Interestingly a few years back a group of women who were Rebekahs threatened to sue the Sovereign Grand Lodge for membership and the SGL bowed to them and now both men AND women can be members. "Odd Fellows" indeed.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this change, so I won't comment. I haven't been to an IOOF meeting in about 12 years because there's no Lodge nearby any more. Our little Lodge died out a while back, so each year I pay my dues to the State Grand Lodge. It's only $15 and gives me the right to carry a card with proof that I'm an "Odd Fellow" (like my friends didn't already know that!)

Also, Richardfromoxford; You sent me an e-mail asking about the Odd Fellows and I completely forgot until I saw this thread. Please accept my apologies.