Workplace Related
While many of the Fraternal Organizations in this exhibit are focused around social gatherings and community improvement, some organizations over time began focusing on fiscal benefits for their members to the point of becoming fraternal insurance companies, also known as benefit societies. Many of these organizations started out as workplace-related fraternal organizations such as the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of Foresters.
Contrary to its name, Woodmen of the World was not a strictly logger-oriented fraternal organization. Its early origins were in providing life insurance to its members, a focus that it carries into the present as WoodmenLife. Woodmen of the World existed in Eureka, Arcata, Ferndale and Fortuna from the early 1900s to the late 1920s. Woodmen of the World also had an auxiliary which allowed women, in turn enabling women to get life insurance which was not typical at the time.
The Ancient Order of Foresters is one of the oldest Fraternal organizations that provided financial benefits to its members and, in the present, is knowns as the Foresters Friendly Society. It began in England in 1834. There were five of these groups in Humboldt County, specifically Eureka, Arcata, Scotia and Korbel in 1895, with evidence showing the Eureka group still in existence in 1927. There is not much information on what these groups did in Humboldt County besides provide fiscal benefits to their members.
Contrary to its name, Woodmen of the World was not a strictly logger-oriented fraternal organization. Its early origins were in providing life insurance to its members, a focus that it carries into the present as WoodmenLife. Woodmen of the World existed in Eureka, Arcata, Ferndale and Fortuna from the early 1900s to the late 1920s. Woodmen of the World also had an auxiliary which allowed women, in turn enabling women to get life insurance which was not typical at the time.
The Ancient Order of Foresters is one of the oldest Fraternal organizations that provided financial benefits to its members and, in the present, is knowns as the Foresters Friendly Society. It began in England in 1834. There were five of these groups in Humboldt County, specifically Eureka, Arcata, Scotia and Korbel in 1895, with evidence showing the Eureka group still in existence in 1927. There is not much information on what these groups did in Humboldt County besides provide fiscal benefits to their members.