Membership certificate for members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows containing a decorative border of Gothic elements and emblems, vignettes, and scenes representing the degrees, tenants, and activities of the benevolent organization. Scenes show odd fellows assisting the indisposed and enfeebled, tutoring children, and assisting in a burial. Vignettes depict emblems of the five degrees that include the fache, globe, a bee hive, coats of arms, columns, Bible, Moses's rod, the dove, the brazen serpent, skull and cross bones, the moon, the sun, a cornucopia and scale. Also contains the female allegorical figures "Friendship, Love, and Truth" with a small child; the all Seeing Eye below the motto "In God We Trust"; and the seal of the Odd Fellows. Seal includes the motto "Relieve the Distressed, Bury the Dead and Educate the Orphan. We Command You to Visit the Sick." and is bordered by cherub figures., Not in Wainwright., Issued to Thomas Butler, Decatur Lodge No. 33 on June 1, 1859. Signed Wm M. Main, N[oble] G[rand] and Sam E. Crap Sect., Philadelphia on Stone, POSP 116, Historical Society of Pennsylvania: Certificates - Independent
Date
[c1857]
Location
Historical Society of Pennsylvania HSP Certificates - Independent
