I am loving this Newspapers.com subscription!!!!
In so many ways I could not begin to be a detective as I pay so little attention to almost anything around me; couldn't tell you the color of someone's hair or eyes, or what kind of car they drive. But sometimes when it comes to putting things together I do okay.
For years Barbara told me Grandma Hattie Lines was a member of an order of something, though she wasn't sure what. She thought maybe DAR. She knew she belonged to one because she would go with Grandma Hattie when she went to pay her dues. I searched for fraternal orders in Reading that might have some kind of records still available, but could find nothing. And really, I had no clue what organization I was looking for; Elks, DAR, Eastern Star.
Yesterday I found the funeral notice of Henry W. Siegfried from 1907, above. It had no details about his family but I know from the 1900 census that the Siegfrieds were living at 516 Pearl Street in Reading, and that Hattie Siegfried was not yet married to Elmer Ellsworth Lines and wouldn't be married until 1909. Ergo, this Henry W. Siegfried is our Great Grandfather and Hattie's father.
I thought it strange , since he had brothers and one of them, Zachary, lived in the same house, that he would have pallbearers selected from Veteran Castle, No. 481, K. of G. E. , BUT, I was excited to think that I might have the answer to the question; "To what organization was Hattie Lines paying dues?"
As it turns out, when I plugged in the initials K of G E into a search engine I found
Then, from a 1930 newspaper article I found this:
This article from the Reading Times on Friday, February 20, 1903 notes that Daniel B Siegfried was nominated for captain general.
On the net, at the link below, I found this information for the Mystic Star; there is a pamphlet from the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mystic Star Commandery No 47, published in August, 1914 which has listed as a member
Siegfried, D. (1910's PA)
The full title of this pamphlet is:
Mystic Star Commandery No. 47 1914 Roster A Short History of the Knights of Malta in Reading and Especially of Mystic Star Commandery, No. 47, A. & I. O. K. of M. (Ancient and Illustrious Order Knights of Malta), Reading, Pennsylvania, Commemorating its Twenty-Fifth Anniversay, August the First, 1914.
Mystic Star Commandery No. 47 1914 Roster .
Whether this is our D Siegfried is up for debate, but in 1903 Daniel Boyer Siegfried was definitely a member.
http://www.genealogytoday.com/roots/xweb.mv?fn=&sn=siegfried&yr1=&yr2=&gc=&xc=RootsFinder&xo=source&xn=-1&xr=2364&xt=&xz=gtyDAT&t_rid=&cl=&ftc=&dbid=
In Daniel Boyer Siegfried's funeral notice it does not say if he had any members of the Mystic Star Commandery as his pallbearers.
After Daniel Boyer Siegfried (our GGGreat Grandfather) died, his wife, our GGGreat Grandmother, Rebecca moved from Pearl Street to live with her son Daniel P., and his family on Twelfth Street in Reading. She died two years after her husband
I have read there were very many fraternal organizations around after the Civil War, and they were started for many reasons.
" Some fraternal organizations also sought to provide insurance benefits for
members, a growing concern for wage earners whose families would be left
destitute if they were unable to work because of sickness or death. Beginning
with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, founded in 1868, a large
number of fraternal organizations began offering mutual insurance benefits
to members. "
You can find out more about fraternal organizations, if you are interested, by going to
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/many_fraternal_groups_grew_from_masonic_seed_part_2.htm
where I found this information.
Another link to the Knights of the Golden Eagle
http://millvalleymasons.com/marin_knights_golden_eagle.htm states, interestingly enough,
"The Knights of the Golden Eagle is a currently active, beneficial and semi-military,
secret society that founded its ritual and ceremonies on the history and pageantry
of the crusaders of old. Many fraternal historians erroneously believed and their
histories have stated that the Knights of the Golden Eagle ended as a functioning fraternal organization in the 1960's or 1970's (i.e., The International Encyclopedia of
Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders, Alan Axelrod (Facts on File, Inc., N.Y.: 1997).)
This is not the case. As of August 2001, the KGE was still functioning in three States,
New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania; it is down to approximately 2,000 members.
The Castles from the three states meet three times a year and still perform a host of
good works, including the recent donation of $20,000 to various organizations and
maintaining eighteen college students on four-year scholarships (a program started
in 1930). At its height in 1900, the KGE was active in twenty states, with approximately
20,000 Golden Eagle Knights. KGE membership began to decline in 1943-1944 with
the onset of World War II. The KGE sold its big Philadelphia office prior to 1970, after
which the Secretary's Offices moved to Allentown, Cholfent, North Wales, and
finally to its present location at 248 Avenue A, Doylestown, PA, 18901-3602. During
these moves, much of the KGE's history was unfortunately lost. (Personal correspondence
with Supreme Master of Records, George W. Carver, Jr., dated August 14, 2001; Mr. Carver
has been Supreme Master of Records since 1970.)"
I suppose I could write to the Supreme Master of records, on the off chance that I will find more specific information about Henry W.'s membership. It sounds, though, as if the chances for any positive results from writing would be slim. Still....