Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW)
This organization was formed by John Jordan Upchurch in
1868 in Meadsville, Pennsylvania. Upchurch, a
mechanic who worked for the Atlantic and Great Western
Railroad (now the Erie Railroad), was prompted to organize the AOUW largely
because he was dissatisfied with the League of Friendship of the Mechanical
Order of the Sun. He wanted an organization that would be more responsive to the
needs of its members. When the AOUW was founded, Upchurch had hoped to form an
order that would unite the conflicting interests of labor and management. This
goal, however, soon (in 1869) gave way to providing benevolent insurance
protection for its members’ widows and orphans.
The word “Workmen” was chosen as part of the new
order’s name because its purpose was to serve and attract men in the
mechanical trades. Only two years after the AOUW was formed, however, the order
broadened its membership requirements to permit other occupations as well.
Through Upchurch, a Freemason, the AOUW took on a
number of Masonic features. Its ritual was secret; the square and compass and
the all-seeing eye were organizational symbols. At first there were four
degrees, but in 1871 the ritual was revised to work only three degrees. The
Bible, as in Masonry, also was an important symbol.
Although most scholars and historians of fraternal
insurance credit the AOUW as being the first fraternal group that introduced
fraternal insurance at the time of its founding in 1868, the society really did
not enter the insurance effort seriously until October 1869. During the
society’s first year or existence there was as much emphasis on ameliorating
unfavorable conditions for workingmen as there was on its insurance fund, which
allowed no more than $500 to be paid to the “legal heirs of a deceased
member.” The real emphasis on fraternal insurance began with Upchurch amending
the founding article on insurance on October 6, 1869. The amended article
stipulated that each initiated new member pay $1.00 to the insurance fund. After
a member died, his beneficiaries received $2,000. Depleted funds were to be
restored by each member contributing another $1.00. This procedure was to be
repeated each time the fund required restoration. This method was known as the
post-mortem plan or the assessment-as-needed plan. If any member failed to pay
his $1.00 fee in thirty days, he forfeited his membership in the order. If a
subordinate lodge failed to forward the amount of the insurance fund in twenty
days, it lost its charter. The change made on October 6, 1869, was approved by
the Provisional Grand Lodge.
To offer workingmen life insurance was indeed a novel
innovation in the late 1860s, especially when the idea of American insurance was
less than twenty years old at that time. Heretofore life insurance really had
been available only to businessmen and manufacturers. In addition, other factors
made life insurance something less than popular. Religious groups opposed
insurance as being sinful and not trusting in God. Then, too, there were
numerous bankruptcies of commercial life insurance firms. Ironically, it was the
latter that convinced AOUW leaders that life insurance would succeed only in
fraternal societies, where overhead expenses would be extremely small.
It should be noted that there is some question whether
the AOUW really was the first American fraternal insurance society, primarily
because some societies were founded before 1868 which later also had types of
insurance programs for their members. The point to
be remembered, however, is that while such organizations were formed before
1868, they did not sell insurance until after 1868.
The AOUW, compared to numerous other fraternal benefit
societies, was quite progressive in its orientation. It was not only the
harbinger of fraternal life insurance, but it also took the initiative of
calling together a number of fraternal benefit societies in 1886. This action
caused sixteen fraternal benefit groups to form the National Fraternal Congress
in that same year. This cooperative association sought to establish uniformity
and sound insurance practices among all fraternal benefit societies. The
National Fraternal Congress is still in existence today with 121 member
societies.
Being the progressively minded organization that it
was, the society revised its ritual a number of times. Every revision sought to
take into account the changes adopted by the society so that the ritual and the
order’s objectives would be in harmony. The religious qualities of the ritual
were deleted from the revision of 1932.
The watchwords of the AOUW are “Charity, Hope, and Protection.”
The order, because of its insurance, has always taken great pride in the latter
watchword, for having been the pioneer in fraternal insurance, providing
protection to its members’ widows and orphans in a novel and distinctive
manner.
The AOUW, which by 1885 was the largest fraternal
benefit society in America, discontinued its supreme lodge structure in 1929. A
congress was established in place of the supreme authority. In 1952 the AOUW
dissolved or merged with various state societies. Washington is the only state
where the society has continued to exist. In other states the order frequently
merged or converted to mutual insurance companies. For example, in Massachusetts
the AOUW merged with New England Order of Protection. In North Dakota the
society converted to a mutual and changed its name to Pioneer Mutual Life
Insurance company. In Texas the order went into receivership. Additional changes
could be cited.
When the AOUW first was organized, its constitution
stated that non-whites were never to join the order.