A Fraternal History of Marin County California - Hibernians Orangemen Royal Black Knights

Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH)

Reference to the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Marin has been found in the December 16, 1875 edition of the Marin County Journal. The paid advertisement reads: “Division No. 1 – there will be a special meeting of your Division on Saturday Evening, December 18^th, at 8 o’clock. Delinquent members will take notice and be present. By order of Peter Moran, President. John Murray, Sec.” In nearby San Francisco, the Marian Division No. 5, Ancient Order of Hibernians was instituted. Marian Division No. 5, Ancient Order of Hibernians, was organized in 1903 by a group of prominent San Francisco Irishmen, including Frank C. Sullivan, T.P. O'Dowd, and Frank Drady. T.P. O'Dowd, a well-known tailor, was the first Body Master of Marian Division No. 5, Ancient Order of Hibernians. One significant involvement of the Marian Division No. 5, Ancient Order of Hibernians, was its financial support for the Irish Rebellion of 1916, during which the Division provided $500 ($8,543.94 in 2002 dollars) to the Tipperary contingent of the I.R.A. to fight the Black and Tans. It should be noted that over 1,300 different Irish Societies existed in early San Francisco.

Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) - History, Background, and Ritual

The Ancient Order of Hibernians in America was organized in the United States on May 4, 1836 at New York City. It is the oldest Catholic Lay organization in America, and the largest Irish society in the world with Divisions in Ireland, and 49 of the United States.

The name of the society, which can be traced back to 1641, is derived from Hibernia, the Roman name for Ireland. The legendary founding date of the AOH has been placed as early as 1565 in Ireland: The AOH shares a common purpose and motto with the Defenders of 1565. The declared intent and purpose of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America was "to promote Friendship, Unity and Christian Charity among its members by raising or supporting a fund of money for maintaining the aged, sick, blind and infirm members, for the payment of funeral benefits, for the advancement of the principles of Irish nationality, for the legitimate expenses of the Order, and for no other purpose whatsoever." (1908 Constitution.) When instituted in the United States, the qualifications for membership were follows: All members must be good Catholics, and Irish or of Irish descent, and of good and moral character, and no members shall join any secret societies contrary to the laws of the Catholic Church, and all times and at all places the Hibernian's motto was to be and remains: ‘Friendship, Unity, and True Christian Charity.' Lodges of the Order are termed "Divisions," and members are required "join and belong to a Division in the city or town in which they reside if the Order exists therein or in the nearest locality in which a Division is located." (Ibid.) Besides local Divisions, the Order is then organized into County Boards, and State Boards, which are in turn governed by a National Board elected every two years. The chief officer of a Division or Lodge is styled the "Body Master."

According to Albert C. Stevens, "It may well be doubted whether it met in lodges, with systematized private means of recognition, a ritual, an initiatory ceremony, lectures, and the like modeled (but not copied) after those of Freemasons and the Odd Fellows, until after it was introduced into the United States. This view is reinforced because those portions of the so-called work of the Ancient Order of Hibernians which have been made public in whole or in part, give evidence of having come after the founding of the Loyal Orange Association in 1797-98 and the public discussion of secret society ceremonials incidental to the anti-Masonic agitation of 1827-40. Secret societies were not tolerated by the British Government late in the [18th and early 19th centuries] with the exception of the Masonic Fraternity. The Odd Fellows, Druids, and Foresters had difficulty preserving their identities from 1780 to 1810, and the Orange Association did so mainly through the help of Freemasons, from whom it acquired some of the outward Masonic forms and peculiarities. If one may presume that the Ancient Order of Hibernians, in something like its present form, appeared between 1836 and 1845, its ceremonials, emblems, lectures, examinations, toasts, etc., are easily explained on the basis of what had gone before. To imagine that they were originated in the eighteenth century, and that other secret societies borrowed them from the Hibernians is out of the question." (The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, Albert C. Stevens, pp. 211-212 (Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., New York: 1899). At least one other Catholic organization may have borrowed from the Ancient Order of Hibernians: Purportedly the young Catholic priest who founded the Knights of Columbus, Father Michael J. McGivney, was a Hibernian, who, when he founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882, introduced some of the AOH ritual and ceremony into the newly organized Knight of Columbus. The Emblems of the Order include the clasped hands, the harp, the shamrock, and the three links which have so long been identified with the Odd Fellows, but which parallel the triangle and form one of the most ancient symbols of the Trinity.

All levels of the Order raise money for charitable purposes through dances, concerts, and parades, which also serve to showcase the positive contributions of the Irish to every walk of American life. It is typical for Divisions to support local charities within their geographic areas, and to send contributions to the County Boards, State Boards and National Board to support state, national, and international charities. The Ancient Order of Hibernians has endowed a scholarships at various Catholic Universities, including Trinity College, at Washington, D.C. Historically, the Order's charitable contributions have been significant: During the period from 1884 to 1908, about $8,000,000 was paid for sick and funeral benefits, with an additional $4,500,000 expended for charitable purposes. Some of the most significant charitable works during the period included: The endowment of a $50,000 Gaelic chair at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.; a donation of $40,000 towards Hibernian members who suffered in the San Francisco earthquake; gifts to the Gaelic League and establishment of scholarships in colleges and academies to encourage the study of Irish literature and history. The Ancient Order of Hibernians was instrumental in lobbying Congress to appropriate $50,000 towards the erection of a monument at Washington, D.C., to perpetuate the memory of Commodore John Barry, "Father of the American Navy".

In the United States a women's auxiliary was organized at Omaha, Nebraska in 1894 known as the Daughters of Erin. The Daughters of Erin were recruited from among relatives of members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians to assist the Ancient Order of Hibernians in perpetuating the memory of their forefathers, in promoting love for the mother church and country, in aiding sick and distressed widows and orphans, and to find them homes and employment: It also served to protect young immigrant Irish girls, to assist them in securing employment, to provide social interaction with Irish and Irish Americans to help them from becoming homesick and discouraged.. The Daughters of Erin adopted St. Brigid as their patron saint. After 1906, the Daughters of Erin auxiliary gained a degree of autonomy by gaining authority to elect their own national officers, and to conduct their own affairs generally, while remaining an auxiliary organization. At their 1984 national convention, the Daughters of Erin changed their name to the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians. The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians membership is approximately 56,000 in the United States and the Dominion of Canada. The LAOH have endowed a scholarship at Trinity College, at Washington, D.C.

The genesis for the Ancient Order of Hibernians was persecution against Irish Catholics, both in Ireland and subsequently in the United States. In 1565, the Defenders, whose motto was "Friendship, Unity, and Christian Charity," was organized to protect Irish churches, Irish clergy, their faith and culture. The need for the Defenders arose in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, Henry VIII's conversion to Protestantism (reign 1509-1547, renounced Catholicism, confiscated Church property in his domain, banned all Catholic clergy from his kingdom, and required his subjects in England, Scotland, and Ireland to renounce the Pope and recognize him as their spiritual sovereign on earth when the Pope refused to annul Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon to permit him to marry Anne Boleyn), and the subsequent attacks on Britain's Catholics, including those in Ireland and Scotland.

The 1565 founding date is associated with the publication of an edict against the Catholic religion by the Earl of Sussex (Thomas Radcliffe) wherein he prohibited all monks and Catholic priests from either eating or sleeping in Dublin, and ordered the head of each family to attend Protestant services every Sunday, under the penalty of a fine. Radcliffe was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1562. In response, Irish prince Rory O'Moore of Leix organized his companions into the Defenders, taking up the cause of religion and the protection of the priesthood as well as the defense of their dominions. Under the Defenders protection, priests said Mass on the mountains, in the valleys and in the glens. It should be noted that prince Rory O'Moore's belonged to the Clan Rory of the Province of Ulster; Clan Rory were descended from the celebrated hero, Conall Cearnach, who was the chieftain of the Red Branch Knights at the beginning of the Christian Era. In character with his famous forefather, prince Rory O'Moore beat English forces in many battles during the reigns of Queens Mary and Elizabeth, and recovered the principality of Leix, which he governed until his death in 1578. The Defenders in their cause after prince O'Moore's death and under various chieftains new branches sprang up, including the "White-Boys", so called from wearing a white shirt, the "Rapparees", who received this designation on account of a half pike which they carried, and the "Ribbon-Men", so called because their badge was two pieces of green and red ribbon. In due time there arose also the "Terry-Alts" and the "Fenians". In addition to governmental oppression, these branches of the Defenders opposed Protestant organizations, such as the "Hearts-of-Steel", the "Oak-Boys", the "Peep-O'Day-Boys", the "Protestant-Boys", the "Wreckers", and finally the "Orangemen". It is said that the spirit of these organizations - White-Boys, Rapparees, Ribbon-Men, Terry-Alts, Finians - eventually gave rise to the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

Similar discrimination against the Irish in the United States led to the establishment of the Order in America. While in the 1820's fewer than 54,000 Irish emigrated to America, in the 1830's the number of Irish emigrants rose to 207,000 and in the next decade to 790,000 Irish immigrants. While most were seeking to escape the treachery of 19th Century Ireland, and subsequently the 1846-1852 famine, on their arrival in the United States they were confronted with signs reading "Irish need not apply." Many of these emigrants found themselves blacklisted on arrival and faced unemployment. Hence, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and its system of mutual aid proved itself a means of practical salvation in the face of harrowing conditions.

Molly Maguires

No historical sketch of the Ancient Order of Hibernians would be complete without a reference to the temporary degradation of the Order by unworthy members during the period of 1865-1875. During this period, the AOH was used by men, who afterward turned out to be Molly Maguires, as a cloak for the commission of crimes that included numerous murders. While every member of the Order of Hibernians in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal regions at that time was not a Molly, membership in the Hibernians was a prerequisite to joining the Molly Maguires. Hence, the two organizations were regarded by most as identical. The "Mollies" were also members of the Laborers and Miners' Union of the period, called the Mine Workers Benevolent Association that had been organized by a moderate trade unionist and Irishmen, John Siney in 1868.

The "Mollies" were a "regular" secret society, composed entirely of Irishmen and the sons of Irishmen professing the Roman Catholic faith, having signs, passwords, and other secret means of recognition. (The Mollie Maguires: The Origin, Growth and Character of the Organization, F.P. DeWees (J.B. Lippencott & Co., Philadelphia: 1877).)

The origin of the Molly Maguires is obscure. The original of that name appeared in Ireland in 1843 as an auxiliary to the Ribbonmen, to continue forcible resistance to Irish landlords. In 1852, the Ribbonmen in Ireland were largely broken up, and many fled from the country; purportedly some of these refugee Ribbonmen in 1854 formed a secret society in the Pennsylvania coal region (i.e., Schuylkill and Shamokin) known as the "Buckshots," which society ultimately became the Molly Maguires. (The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, Albert C. Stevens, p. 424 (Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., New York: 1899). The formation of the Molly Maguires led to the creation of the fraternal and beneficiary secret society called the Order of Sons of St. George in 1871, which Englishmen joined to resist the Molly Maguires. (Ibid.)

The name was said to be that of an old woman at whose house the first meetings were held, but other writers claim it was applied to the members of the Irish organization because of their original practice of disguising themselves in women's clothes, masks, blackened faces, etc. According to Stevens, "if there were any, even remote, connection between the Irish Ribbonmen and the Molly Maguires in the United States, it must have been through the Ancient Order of Hibernians, which had an extensive membership in Ireland, England, and this country. …The Ancient Order of Hibernians, at the time it was possessed by the Mollies, in Pennsylvania, nominally professed the purest and most worthy motives, and numbered throughout the United States many good and some distinguished citizens. But it proved a convenient cloak for the Molly thugs and assassins, and notwithstanding there were reports that some Catholic priests in the coal regions sympathized with the Molly Maguires, it, if true, must be attributed to either the fears or perversion of such representatives of the Christian church." (The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, Albert C. Stevens, pp. 423-424 (Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., New York: 1899).

The Mollies reached the height of their power c.1874, when their successful efforts at union organizing for the Mine Workers Benevolent Association culminated in a strike. The crimes and successful union organizing prompted, mine owner Franklin B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company to hire the Pinkerton Detective Agency to infiltrate the Mollies and expose their leaders. Labor spy James McParlan, an Ulster Roman Catholic, employed by Pinkerton accomplished the task, going undercover for three years using the alias "James McKenna" and joining both the Molly Maguires and Hibernians. Several years into the investigation, a Molly Maguire leader named John Kehoe became suspicious of James McParland and began to investigate his past. Tipped off, McParland fled from the area and became the star witness against the Mollys in subsequent trials. Ultimately, twenty members, including Kehoe, were found guilty of murder and were executed.

Controversy surrounds the investigation, trial and convictions: Irish Catholics were excluded from the juries while immigrants who could not speak English were accepted. A number of biased Welsh immigrants, who had for a long-time been in conflict with the Irish in Schuylkill County, found their way onto these juries. Further, the railroad and mining companies that were attempting to destroy the trade union movement employed most of the witnesses, who like James McParland, testified against the defendants. Finally, it is worth noting that most of the murder victims were employees of small coal companies that were later taken over by the Philadelphia and Reading company, leading some historians to suggested that it was the company run by Franklin B. Gowen, and the man who initiated the original investigation, that had the most to gain from these murders and the destruction of the emerging trade union movement. McParlan’s secret reports were released for study in 1947. In 1979, a century after his execution, John Kehoe received a full posthumous pardon because, the courts decided, his conviction had been obtained through collusion between the coal companies and the Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1994, Carbon County Judge John P. Lavelle said: "Historians feel the Molly Maguire trials were a surrender of state sovereignty. A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency. A private police force arrested the alleged defenders, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows."

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fictionalized the Molly Maguire episode and the infamous deeds of the Molly Maguires as members of Vermissa Lodge No. 341, "Ancient Order of Freemen" also termed "Scrowers" in the Sherlock Holmes novel, The Valley of Fear (1915).

Loyal Orange Institution (L.O.I.) & Royal Black Knights (R.B.K.)

The nearest Loyal Orange Lodge to Marin County is Rising Star Lodge No. 537, Loyal Orange Institution of the U.S., located at Petaluma, CA. Rising Star Lodge No. 537 meets at the Sons of Hermann Hall on Western Avenue.

Loyal Orange Institution (LOI) & Royal Black Knights (RBK) - History, Background, and Ritual

The Loyal Orange Institution is a British political secret society to which only Protestants are eligible. It was organized at Armagh, Ireland, in 1795. It was formed by Protestants in commemoration of William III, Prince of Orange's victory over James II at the Battle of the Boyne. In Britain, its objects are not only to champion the religious issues which William, Prince of Orange, represented, but to encourage loyalty to the occupant the British throne so long as he or she shall remain of the Protestant faith; to support and defend the British Government and to maintain the integrity of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The LOI was organized in Canada in 1829.

The United States is the only country outside the former British Commonwealth Nations in which the organization has an existence. It was established in the United States on August 12, 1868 and a Grand Lodge of the Loyal Orange Institution for the Unites States was organized in 1870. In the United States, the LOI's objectives are to promote civil and religious liberty and loyalty to the United States. In this regard, parallels have been drawn between the Loyal Orange Institution of the United States and other patriotic orders, including the American Protective Association, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and the Patriotic Order of Sons of America. In fact, the LOI on at least one occasion (1895) met in a congress with these other orders at Washington, D.C., where the participants adopted a political platform advocating restricted immigration and legislation against certain alleged tendencies of the Roman Catholic church: Notice of this platform was communicated to both houses of the U.S. Congress and to the leaders of the Democratic and Republican Parties. (The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, Albert C. Stevens, p. 308 (Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., New York: 1899). The Royal Black Institution controls eleven degrees: Royal Black, Royal Scarlet, Royal Mark, Apron and Royal Blue, Royal White, Royal Green, Royal Gold, Star and Garter, Scarlet Arrow, Link and Chain, and Red Cross. In California an Orangeman is to be proud of the Protestant tradition, to advocate the continued separation between church and state, and to support secular public schools and freedom of religion. According to Californian Jim Dougan, a Past Grand Master of the LOI and member of Rising Star Lodge No. 537, "We don't have animosity toward Catholics here." The Orange Lodges sometimes paid sick and death benefits, but never made this feature conspicuous. (Thoughts for the Occasion: Fraternal and Benevolent - A Reference Manual, Franklin Noble, p. 567 (E.B. Treat & Co., New York: 1905).)

The ritual of the LOI is based on biblical teachings. While religious in nature, the LOI, like other fraternities, is not a religion nor does it hold itself out as a substitute for organized religion. In 1795, there was only one degree, that of Orangeman, to which the Purple Degree was added in 1796 and later Markman. These were supplemented with the Heroine of Jericho, formerly conferred in the United States as a 'side degree' for Royal Arch Masons and their wives, but which was since anulled. The fifth degree was the Scarlet Degree. (The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, Albert C. Stevens, p. 308 (Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., New York: 1899). It is believed that these degrees have been reduced to two: Orangeman and Royal Arch Purple Marksman. The Orange exhortation is: "Truth, Unity and Concord. No Surrender." Full regalia for members consists of chains, sashes (collarette), medals, dark suits, white gloves, and bowler hats. The sash or collarette for the Royal Arch Purple Marksman Degree is a orange, bordered with purple, with "King Williams Star" located over the breast, an orange-purple-blue rosette with five pointed star over the shoulder, beneath which is a representation of King William III mounted on his horse, beneath which is a representation of the degrees emblems circled by two columns bridged by an arch and keystone.

The degree staff of the Orange Degree are: Worshipful Master, Deputy Master, Worthy Forman, Chaplain, Director of Ceremonies, Two Conductors, Inside Tyler, and Captain to instruct the Degree Staff. The necessary paraphernalia for the Orange Degree is the Holy Bible, United States Flag, Supreme Grand Lodge Constitution, Staff of the Director of Ceremonies, Orange Collars, Gideon's Sheep's Fleece, and a blindfold. The biblical story of Gideon's triumph over the Midianites and the history of William of Orange play important parts in the ceremonies of this degree.

The degree staff for the Royal Arch Purple Marksman Degree are: Worshipful Master, Deputy Master, Worthy Forman, Chaplain, Director of Ceremonies, Two Conductors, Two Lecturers, Inside Tyler, Six Bearers, Royal Arch Captain to instruct Degree Staff. The necessary paraphernalia associated with the Royal Arch Purple Marksman Degree are: Candidate's navy blue flannel shirt and knee pants, blue slipper, pack, staff, blindfold, swords, Ark of the Covenant, candidate's purple ribbon, twelve stones and a bag, Jacob's sleeping stone, river Jordan, Warrant, Arch, alter, bible, ‘Jacob’s ladder,' coffin, mystical three-branched candlestick, whip, serpent, seal, and five pointed star. Costumes are used for six officers representing priests and for an officer representing a King. The biblical references important to this degree include Jacob's journey from Beersheba to Haran, Moses at Mt. Horeb, the Israelites wondering in the wilderness, the Tabernacle in the wilderness, Moses' vision of the promised land, and Joshua's leading the tribes across the River Jordan.

There is also a collateral organization which meets in Chapters or Preceptories, under the title Royal Black Knights of the Camp of Israel (R.B.P.), to which only members of the highest Orange Lodge degree are eligible. The Royal Black Knights was organized in Ireland in 1797. The paraphernalia and ritual of this branch are elaborate, and had their origin or inspiration in so-called higher Masonic degrees. The government of Chapters of Black Knights parallels that of the Lodges and constitutes a wheel within a wheel, the governing Orange influence. (The Cyclopaedia of Fraternities, Albert C. Stevens, p. 308 (Hamilton Printing and Publishing Co., New York: 1899). Despite the appearance of some of the emblems displayed on Black collarettes the Royal Black Institution is not a branch of Freemasonry. These emblems include the square and compass around the letter "G," keystone, cross and crown, monarch's crown, motto "In Hoc Signo Vinces," seven pointed star, red Latin cross, red cross pattee, brazen serpent, equilateral triangle surrounded by twelve lights, skull and cross bones, dove, arrow, and ark. The color black is the predominant color in the apron, sash or collarette worn by a member of the Royal Black Institution, whether on parade or during a meeting of his preceptory. Officers include: Worshipful Master, Deputy Master, Chaplain, Registrar, and Treasurer.

A women's auxiliary was created in the United States in 1876, called the Ladies' Loyal Orange Association (L.O.B.A.). Children may join Junior Lodges and the Loyal Orange Young Britons (L.O.Y.B)

The Loyal Orange Institution annually celebrates as gala days the anniversary of the battle of Boyne, which took place July 12, 1690, and the landing of William III at Torbay., November 5th 1688. These celebrations and public parades, particularly in the United Kingdom and especially in Northern Ireland (particularly at Belfast), often lead to violent confrontations. These parades have not been without incident in the United States: A parade of Orangemen on July 12, 1871 at New York was attacked by Irish Roman Catholics, and the resultant riot had to be suppressed by the military after the loss of sixty lives. (Thoughts for the Occasion: Fraternal and Benevolent - A Reference Manual, Franklin Noble, p. 567 (E.B. Treat & Co., New York: 1905).)

Additional "Loyal Institutions" exist that are not part of the Orange Order. These include: Apprentice Boys of Derry Association (ABOD), or other Loyal Institutions. The business of these other loyal bodies is not discussed during Loyal Orange Lodge or Royal Black Preceptory meetings. Likewise neither the Orange Order nor the Royal Black Knights bar their members from joining other fraternities, including Freemasonry and the Knights of Malta.