Gleaner Life Insurance Society

Last updated

The Gleaner Life Insurance Society, originally the Ancient Order of Gleaners, is a fraternal benefit society based in Adrian, Michigan.

Contents

History

The Ancient Order of Gleaners was formed in 1894 in Caro, Michigan by Grant Slocum. Articles of incorporation were drawn up by attorney Walter Gamble and submitted to the Michigan Insurance Commissioner on September 2, 1894 and a charter was granted September 25. The Gleaners were the first fraternal society incorporated under Act 119, a law regulating insurance passed by the Michigan legislature that year. At the time the group had 220 members. A newspaper man himself, Slocum published the group's first four-page newsletter that eventually became The Gleaner, a "large and influential farm journal". [1]

Organization

The Gleaners worked on a two tier organizational modal - local lodges, known as "Arbors". Each Arbor had a set of officers - Chief Gleaner, Vice-Chief Gleaner, Secretary, Treasurer Chaplain, Conductor, Conductress Lecturer and Guard. The last five officers had ritual duties. There were 98 active Arbors in 1979. The national structure was called the "Supreme Arbor", which met biennially. The headquarters were in Birmingham, Michigan, as of 1979. [2] In 1981, Gleaner's headquarters moved to Adrian, Michigan, where it remains today. [3]

Membership

Originally the society was limited to farmers, gardeners and people engaged in related activities who lived in town of less than 3,000 people. [4] By the 1970s membership was open to all persons of good moral character, over the age of sixteen who believe in a "Supreme Being, the Creator and Preserver of the Universe". Members were voted on by blackball ballot, with two blackballs sufficient for rejection. There were three categories of membership - Junior, Beneficiary and Cooperative. Cooperative members joined the organization, but without insurance benefits. Juniors were insured from birth to age fifteen and became Beneficiary members after they turned twenty one. [5]

In 1969 the Gleaners had 55,000 members. By 1979 this had declined to 47,000 members. [6] The Gleaners had 43,000 members in 1994. [7] As of 2013, the group claims 74,000 members. [8]

Ritual

The Gleaners had a ritual that worked four degrees - Initiatory, Adoption, Ruth, and Dramatic. The Initiatory degree was required of all members. The names, rituals and ceremonies of the three degrees were based on the Biblical Book of Ruth. The rituals also included prayers and hymns, but omitted any explicit references to Christianity or Jesus Christ. [9]

Benefits and activities

In addition to its insurance benefits the Gleaners sponsor scholarships and volunteers at the Arbor level. Recreational activities include baseball, bowling, square dancing and picnics. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knights of the Maccabees</span> Fraternity

Knights of the Maccabees was a fraternal organization formed in 1878 in London, Ontario, Canada. Most active in the U.S. state of Michigan, the group's fraternal aspects took a backseat to providing low-cost insurance to members. In the society's early years it also provided other final-expense related benefits such as society cemeteries.

The Slovene National Benefit Society, known in Slovenian as Slovenska narodna podporna jednota, and by its Slovene initials S.N.P.J. is an ethnic fraternal benefit and social organization for Slovene immigrants and their descendants in the United States. Founded in 1904, it is headquartered in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA near Imperial. SNPJ publishes a newspaper, Prosveta.

Fraternal Order Orioles is a social and charitable organization that was founded in August 1910. The organization currently consists of about 54 local Nests and affiliated Auxiliaries located in 9 States in the eastern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polish Falcons of America</span>

The Polish Falcons of America is a nonprofit fraternal benefit society, with a strong emphasis on physical fitness.

The Order of Scottish Clans was a fraternal and benevolent society The dual purpose of the Order was to provide life and disability insurance to Scottish immigrants and their descendants, and also to preserve the culture and traditions of Scotland among Americans of Scottish ancestry.

The Improved Order of Heptasophs was a fraternal order in the United States that existed from 1878-1917. It was distinguished from its parent organization, the Order of Heptasophs in that its main focus was on insurance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Order of United Workmen</span> Fraternal organization

The Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) was a fraternal organization in the United States and Canada, providing mutual social and financial support after the American Civil War. It was the first of the "fraternal benefit societies", organizations that would offer insurance as well as sickness, accident, death and burial policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Arcanum</span> Fraternal benefit society

The Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum, commonly known simply as the Royal Arcanum, is a fraternal benefit society founded in 1877 in Boston, Massachusetts by John A. Cummings and Darius Wilson, who had previously been among the founders of the Knights of Honor, a similar organization, in Kentucky. The Royal Arcanum home office is located in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Tribe of Ben-Hur was a fraternal organization based on the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace. In 1930 it became the Ben-Hur Life Association.

Assured Life Association, formerly Woodmen of the World and/or Assured Life Association, having officially changed its name to on January 1, 2015, is a fraternal benefit society based in Denver, Colorado whose beginnings can be traced to the same founder as Modern Woodmen of America and Woodmen of the World in 1890. Today, Assured Life Association is not affiliated with either organization. Aside from offering insurance benefits the organization is a non-profit Life Insurer organized to give back revenues to its member customers through direct benefits such as college scholarships and summer camp grants for youth and through discounts on other products and services. The Society also has a member-directed matching charitable giving program. Four national community service projects are promoted among Society member customers each year.

There have been a number of interlocking fraternal orders known as the beavers. The Fraternal Order of Beavers was created in 1911. The relationships between these and the Beavers Reserve Fund Fraternity, Beavers National Mutual Benefit and the National Mutual Benefit is complex. The North American Order of the Beaver was founded in 1990.

The American Fraternal Alliance (AFA) is an umbrella group of fraternal orders in the United States. It was founded as the National Fraternal Congress of America in 1913, in Chicago and adopted its current name in 2011.

The Degree of Honor Protective Association is a fraternal benefit society. It was originally organized as a female auxiliary to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, but split off in 1910 to become its own independent group. It merged with Catholic Financial Life in 2017.

The Order of Chosen Friends was a fraternal benefit order that existed in North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The group suffered a number of splits during its lifetime, leading scholar Alan Axelrod to call it "almost a parody" of fraternal benefit societies of the time.

The Travelers Protective Association of America is a fraternal benefit and service club in the United States. The organization was originally created by and for traveling salesmen though today it is open to other occupational groups.

The William Penn Association is a fraternal benefit society in the United States. It was created through the merger of a number of Hungarian American fraternal organizations such as the Verhovay Aid Association. Today the organization is open to people of any ethnicity and is licensed to sell insurance in 20 states.

The National Fraternal Society of the Deaf was an organization of deaf people in the United States and Canada modeled on ethnic fraternal orders that were popular at the beginning of the twentieth century.

References

  1. ↑ Victor C. Wood, Sr. "Historical Facts: Excerpts from “A Major Force for Good: The Continuing History of Gleaner Life Insurance Society”" The National Gleaner Forum Vol. 118, No. 2 Spring 2013
  2. ↑ Schmidt, Alvin J. Fraternal Organizations Westport, CT; Greenwood Press pp.142-3
  3. ↑ Victor C. Wood, Sr. "Historical Facts: Excerpts from “A Major Force for Good: The Continuing History of Gleaner Life Insurance Society
  4. ↑ Alan Axelrod International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders New York; Facts on File, inc 1997 p.102
  5. ↑ Schmidt p.142
  6. ↑ Schmidt p.142
  7. ↑ Axelrod p.102
  8. ↑ "Become A Member". Archived from the original on 2013-09-15. Retrieved 2013-07-02.
  9. ↑ Schmidt pp.142-3
  10. ↑ Schmidt p.143
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.