TIP #454 - THE NEED TO BELONG From the days of the Garden of Eden, man and woman have never truly wanted to be alone. Of course, there are those individuals who prefer privacy and aloofness from society, but in the general, mankind has always sought the companionship of others. And, the ideal companionship is with someone of like interest. From the child who cries when the parent is out of sight, to the teenager who joins into basketball, football, baseball teams; to school clubs; to dating. Oh the misery of not having a date for the big school affair. Then, as the teen turns into a young man or woman, the search is on for the "perfect mate", the soul-mate to share lives with each other. People also turn to churches. There is a sense of safety, companionship, a unity of worship that fills the lonely heart. Kentucky is part of the "Bible belt" and churches were established almost from the beginning of statehood. Many times there was no church nearby of the denomination persuasion of the family and they attended and joined a different denomination. Many times they then stayed with that denomination; others withdrew when a church of their persuasion was constituted. Church services lasted most of the day in the early times and it was a time of fellowship, teaching, preaching, singing and getting together to discuss the problems of the day. In most churches, services were only held once a month so the families looked forward for the day their circuit riding minister made his rounds to their church. Lastly, individuals turned to organizations. Many were occupational organizations, many social. By the early 1900's, these organizations were flourishing: American Legion of Honor Ancient Order of Foresters of America Ancient Order of Hibernians of America Ancient Order of United Workmen Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Catholic Benevolent Legion Catholic Knights of America Catholic Mutual Benefit Association Catholic Order of Foresters Christian Endeavor Daughters of Honor (A.O.U.W.) Epworth League Equitable Aid Union Freemasons Grand Army of the Republic Grange, The (Patrons of Husbandry) Improved Order of Heptasophs Improved Order of Red Men Independent Order of B'Nai B'rith Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) Irish Catholic Benevolent Union Junior Order of United American Mechanics Knights and Ladies of Honor Knights of Columbus Knights of Honor Knights of Peter Claver Knights of Pythias Knights of the Golden Eagle Knights of the Maccabees Loyal Order of Moose Modern Woodmen of America National Union Odd Fellows Order of Chosen Friends Order of United American Mechanics Order of United Friends Order of the Golden Cross Patriotic Sons of America Royal Arcanum Royal League Royal Society of Good Fellows Royal Templars of Temperance Sons of Temperance Sons of Veterans United Ancient Order of Druids United Order of Pilgrim Fathers Woodmen of the World Added to the above are many other fraternal, church, and geographical organizations and the list would fill many pages. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list! Was your ancestor a member of any of the above organizations? Do you possibly have some jewelry, identification badges or ribbons from a service connected organization? A good web search will likely help you identify insignia and open up another avenue of pursuit as you try to find out more about your family. One source which I'm sure we all wish we still had - most of the badges could be ordered from the old stand-by --the Sears and Roebuck (c) catalog! As I've said so many time, genealogy is not just names and dates. It is the quest to find the entire picture of where they lived, what they did, who they knew, what church they attended, what they liked and who they associated it. One might be startled to see how many of those interests and personality traits have stayed with us! (c) Copyright 21 August 2003, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html SCKY surname registry sites: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyclinto/reg.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyclinto/forms/SCKYreg.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/