WOW
- What is it??
In
1883, a man by the name of Joseph Cullen Root organized a fraternal
society in Omaha, Nebraska, called "Modern
Woodmen of America". One of the benefits of being a member was that
upon death, the other members would pass around a hat and donate money
to the widow. Membership was limited to white males older than 18 years
of age. Later when passing around the hat became more frequent and
costly, Root decided to sell life insurance to members. Modern Woodmen
of America became a fraternal benefit society
The Name: In fact, it
came from a church sermon founder Joseph Cullen Root heard as he was
trying to choose a name for the fraternal benefit society he planned to
organize. As he sat listening to the minister talk about
"the work of the pioneer woodmen clearing away the forest," it occurred
to him that this was a fitting analogy for the task of eliminating a
man's financial burdens in the event of his death. Thus, Root chose
Modern Woodmen for the name of his new benefit society. The phrase
of America was added later to signify the group's patriotism
Later, a women's auxiliary started up called "Royal Neighbors of
America. Both the male and female organizations grew steadily and in
five years, Modern Woodmen had a total membership of twenty-four
thousand.
In
1899, several members had a "falling out" with the leaders of the
society, and separated to form a new society under the leadership of
Fred A. Falkenburg, and named it "Woodmen of the World". Shortly after,
tensions were high in the new organization, and Falkenburg moved to
Denver to form, "Woodmen of the World, Pacific Jurisdiction". Today, the
three societies remain as insurance companies. Woodmen of the World
created women's auxiliaries called "Woodmen Circle" and "Supreme Forest
Woodmen", while the Pacific Jurisdiction created an auxiliary called,
"Neighbors of Woodcraft", which still exists as an insurance company in
Portland, Oregon.
The traditional W.O.W.
monument had 4 objects on it. They were the Maul, Axe, Wedge and the
Dove. The motto Dum Tacet Clamat
is Latin meaning "though silent, he speaks". This insurance
company, started in the 1880's, would pay the widow $100 and a free stone
if the logo of the insurance company could be put on the stone. Styles
were very elaborate to very simple. As time passed, the stones got to be
smaller and smaller until they were similar to the conventional styles.
The cost of the hand made marble stones became prohibitive and they were
finally phased out about 1920. These stones are a real eye catcher to the
cemetery visitor or one who registers graves.
