Part 20 (2/2)
The first lodge of Odd Fellows organized in Fredericksburg was in the year 1839, and was known as Rappahannock Lodge, No. 14. It continued a working lodge only about three years. The last report it made to the Grand Lodge showed a members.h.i.+p of thirty-nine. Its suspension seems to have been brought about by some unruly, if not unworthy, members who had brought strife and discord into the lodge. In the year 1847, on the pet.i.tion of five members of the old lodge--Wm. Baily, Wm. Smith, George Waite, Wm. T.
Lowery and A. B. Adams--a charter was granted for inst.i.tuting Myrtle Lodge, No. 50, and which has continued in active operation to the present.
It has a large members.h.i.+p, composed of our best citizens. The charter of this lodge was signed by Major J. Harrison Kelly, who then lived in Charlestown, now West Virginia, and who was Grand Master of the State. In after years he became a citizen of Fredericksburg and ended his days in this town.
The meetings of the lodge were at first held at private houses, and at one time in Haydon's Hall, on Charlotte street, in rear of Wheeler's livery stable. After the Civil war the meetings were held in the room immediately under the Masonic lodge-room, and continued there until about 1892, when the Odd Fellows, in connection with the Knights of Pythias, erected the splendid hall on Main street, where they held their meetings for some years, but, believing it to be to their interest to dispose of their stock in the new hall, they did so and moved the lodge to the third story of the Bradford Building.
In 1903 a second Odd Fellows Lodge was organized under a charter from the Grand Lodge, known as Acorn Lodge, No. 261. Although young, this lodge has grown with great rapidity and has a large members.h.i.+p. It was organized in the Masonic lodge-room, and afterward rented the hall under the said Masonic lodge, where it now holds its meetings. Among the members.h.i.+p of these Odd Fellows lodges may be found many of the most substantial and progressive citizens of the town.
THE BENEVOLENT ORDER OF ELKS.
The Order of Elks now stands as the youngest of the three prominent secret orders on this continent, and since it came into existence, in 1868, has shown one of the most phenomenal growths that has ever been recorded for a similar benevolent order. It has for its teaching Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity, and for its motto ”The faults of our brothers we write in the sand, and their virtues upon the tablets of love and memory.” Five years ago a few progressive spirits of Fredericksburg, catching the inspiration the order of Elks taught, met and organized a lodge of Elks. A lodge was organized on the 23rd of June, 1903, under the name Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 875, Mr. O. L. Harris being the first presiding officer. The lodge now has ninety members, C. Ernest Layton being the present exalted ruler.
There are also in Fredericksburg a number of other benevolent and charitable fraternities, whose origin is of a more recent date than the Masons, Odd Fellows and Elks, under the various names of Knights of Pythias, Knights of Honor, Royal Arcanum, Senior and Junior Orders of American Mechanics, Laboring Men's Union, Heptasophs, Maccabees, Sons of Sobriety--a temperance order which originated in Fredericksburg and was first organized as a moderate drinking society--Red Men, Knights of the Golden Horseshoe, Good Samaritans and others, all of which are in a flouris.h.i.+ng condition and are doing a good work in dispensing charity, in providing cheap life insurance and endeavoring to elevate their fellowmen.
THE MARY WAs.h.i.+NGTON HOSPITAL.[81]
The need of a hospital in Fredericksburg had long been felt, and in January, 1897, a band of ladies, led by Mrs. W. Seymour White, invited the physicians and ministers of the city to meet with them and consider the feasibility of undertaking such a work. The medical fraternity p.r.o.nounced it a necessity and the ministers heartily concurred.
The late Hon. W. Seymour White, at that time Mayor of the city, was deeply interested in the scheme from the beginning and drew up a charter, const.i.tution and by-laws. The formal organization was effected in February, 1897, at a large, general meeting held in the courthouse. Mrs.
W. S. White was elected president; Miss Rebecca Smith, vice-president; Miss Bertha Strasburger, secretary; Mrs. C. W. Edrington, treasurer.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Entrance to the Confederate Cemetery at Fredericksburg.
(See page 185)]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Lodge Room of Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4, A. F. & A. M.; the Lodge that made Was.h.i.+ngton a Mason. (See page 217)]
Mrs. White served as president for three terms, when she resigned and her place was filled by Mrs. Walter C. Stearns. The present officers are Mrs.
Judge John E. Mason, president; Miss Virginia Knox, vice-president; Mrs.
Maurice Hirsh, treasurer, and Mrs. D. C. Bowman, secretary. There is a board of lady managers and an advisory board of seven gentlemen, of whom the Mayor of the city is always one. The members.h.i.+p fee is one dollar per year and there is a large number of names on the roll.
Immediately after the organization of the inst.i.tution the city was thoroughly canva.s.sed and both money and furnis.h.i.+ngs were contributed generally by our people, besides by a number of persons living at a distance. As soon as the amount justified the action, a large and suitable building lot, situated on the corner of Fauquier and Sophia streets, was purchased. This lot has a beautiful river view and is directly opposite Chatham, the old historic place, famous both in colonial and recent history.
The one inflexible rule, laid down from the beginning of the work, was that there should be no debt incurred, and the work of raising the necessary funds was a tedious undertaking. Every lady appealed to her friends, and the amount thus collected, together with that realized through holding bazaars, ice cream festivals, entertainments and lectures, was carefully deposited until the sum of fourteen hundred dollars was acc.u.mulated, which the ladies thought sufficient to erect a small building.
The plan was donated by Mr. George Was.h.i.+ngton Smith and proved acceptable.
The corner-stone was laid April 14, 1899, this day being chosen to commemorate George Was.h.i.+ngton's latest visit to Fredericksburg and his dying mother. The corner-stone itself is a portion of the old Mary Was.h.i.+ngton monument, begun in 1833, and never completed, and was donated by Mr. John H. Myer. It was laid with imposing Masonic ceremonies by Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4, A. F. and A. M., in which George Was.h.i.+ngton was made a Mason, District Deputy Grand Master James P. Corbin presiding, Rev. F. P. Ramsey, D. D., of Fredericksburg College, making an impressive address on the occasion.
The hospital was completed the summer following, and all the money in the treasury was expended. The house faces the east and is a modest structure, with a porch in front and an extension on the west end. Two rooms open upon the entrance hall, one of which is the operating room, the other the especial room for a single patient. Back of this is a hall, running north and south, beyond which is the kitchen, matron's room, bath-room and store rooms; cellar beneath for wood and such articles as can be kept there. In the extensions are respectively the two large, well-lighted and ventilated rooms for the men's and women's wards.
The capacity of the hospital is small, but there is plenty of room for any additions which the future may warrant being made. With the faith that characterized the movement from the beginning, the ladies met on September 25, 1899, elected a matron, Miss Virginia Aldridge, and appointed Wednesday, October 4th, ”Donation Day.” Their confidence was rewarded and donations poured in from every one, rich and poor. Among so many it would be invidious to mention names, but Mr. Spencer, of Snowden, a new comer to Fredericksburg, liberally furnished the single room with every appliance for comfort in illness, and the ladies gratefully named it, for him, the Spencer room. From the druggists came a generous donation of accessories, and everything--chairs and china, beds and other belongings--came in abundantly.
On Sunday, October 8th, the building was formally dedicated, Rev. W. D.
Smith, rector of St. George's church, presiding, all the ministers having been invited to partic.i.p.ate in the ceremonies, which were simple, but appropriate. The first patient was received in December, and since that time there has been continued service in the hospital. There is no endowment, and it is hoped that, seeing the work, some humanely-disposed individual may be moved to undertake this n.o.ble charity.
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