SNIPPET: "Long before the American Revolution, Irish immigrants came together to form societies to allow a bit of the Old World to survive in the new. At first these groups were largely the domain of the prosperous middle and upper classes that emerged in coastal cities north and south, such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Savannah, but as the mid-19th century approached, the fever for organizing spread to all classes, resulting in the formation of hundreds of local Irish societies in large cities and small towns across America. While societies such as the Charitable Irish Society of Boston, independent societies called Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick in both Philadelphia and New York, and local Hibernian societies in Charleston and Savannah toasted Saint Patrick's Day with elaborate banquets in drawing-room fashion, most of the Irish societies that emerged after the Great Hunger in the late 1840s-1850s were composed of laborers and small tradesmen more interested in providing for their families in the event of sickness or death. A few of the local societies developed into national organizations that attempted to link together the far-flung elements of the Irish diaspora, but it was a slow process that took decades to develop. Each branch of the larger Irish societies, such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Father Mathew Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society, and the Saint Patrick's Mutual Alliance, functioned as a primitive insurance organization. The members pooled their limited resources together to allow benefits to be disbursed to members or their families in times of need. Typically one dollar a day for serious illness or between 100 and 150 dollars to a widow in the case of death made thing a bit easier for a member or his family to survive the calamities of 19th century life. Public occasions such as the Saint Patrick's Day parades were used to hammer home the image of just how precarious life could be for the average immigrant. The obligation to turn out on Saint Patrick's Day was often written into the requirements of membership, but it was not mere obligation alone that caused the Irish to demonstrate an almost fanatical desire to trudge along in horrendous storms and freezing temperatures. Just as the Irish societies used parades to preach that they could take care of their own, the long, orderly ranks of Irishmen marching in solemn attire and handsome regalia attempted to show their oftentimes critical non-Irish fellow citizens that the Irish could look every bit as prosperous as anyone else. The fact that so many of the early Saint Patrick's Day parades made a point of marching right by city hall for the official review by the mayor and the political leaders was no accident either. The thousand of disciplined paraders not only made for a pretty sight but strongly hinted at disciplined voters marching to the ballot box on election day as well." -- Born in Brooklyn of Irish immigrant parents from Co. Galway and Co. Longford, John T. RIDGE is the author of several books, including "Erin's Sons In America: The Ancient Order of Hibernians."