Ben
Hur Life Association
The Ben
Hur Life Association was founded in 1894 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, as a
fraternal insurance group for persons of both sexes over the age of 18 There
were 15,000 members in 1989.
Founded as the Tribe of Ben Hur by Lew Wallace, Civil War general, politician,
and author of the novel Ben Hur, the Ben Hur Life Association adopted its
current name in 1930 It therefore has the unusual distinction of having its
ritual based on a work of fiction. More importantly, it was an early graded
assessment mutual insurance organization—although instead of having a fixed
benefit with a variable assessment, it had a fixed assessment with a variable
benefit. The assessment was always $1 per certificate per month, but the value
of the certificate dropped according to the age at which you joined. It was
$3,000 for those joining between 18 and 23, but for those who failed to join
before the age of 54 (the maximum age for joining was 65) it was a mere $500.
There were also half certificates and double certificates, but although men and
women were admitted “upon absolute equality,” no man’s life could be
insured for more than a double certificate while no woman s life could be
insured for more than one certificate.
The
lodge structure was Court, possibly Tribe (it is no longer clear), and Supreme
Tribe. The number of degrees is also unclear today, but the rituals
stressed morality, religion, and patriotism.
The main emphasis is and always has been on life insurance, but by 1920 the
Tribe was also awarding annual $500 free scholarships to suitable members, a
tradition that continued for many years As with many other such organizations,
members may be either beneficial (insured) or social. Interestingly, not all
candidates are required to swear an oath upon initiation.
Regardless of their flexibility, the organization has suffered the fate of many
others and has withered considerably, from well over 100,000 in 1910 to about
31,000 in 1979 and about 15,000 in 1990.