Benefit Societies Organized by Black Residents Near Parkers Creek
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Introduction
Benefit societies, sometimes called mutual aid societies, are voluntary associations that provide members with aid or relief from ill health, loss of income, or other difficulties. Many such organizations also promote self-reliance and moral improvement. Benefit societies provided critically needed social welfare in the United States prior to the 20th century, when governmental welfare programs and the regulation of working conditions began to reduce the need.
In the United States, benefit societies represented ethnic, religious, or occupational groups, e.g., German Friendly Societies, Hibernian Societies, Hebrew Benevolent organizations, and Mechanics' Associations. One early example supported Black Americans. The Free African Society was established by two formerly enslaved men, Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, in Philadelphia in the late 18th century.
The Parkers Creek area was home to three benefit societies that served Black residents: the Grand United Order of Galilean Fishermen, the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, and the Household of Ruth. The latter organization was the women's corollary to the Odd Fellows. Near Parkers Creek, the membership of the Galilean Fishermen and Odd Fellows overlapped with that of Brown's Methodist Episcopal Church (after a 1968 denominational merger, Brown's United Methodist Church), reinforcing the synergy between the societies and the church.
Grand United Order of Galilean Fishermen
The Grand United Order of Galilean Fishermen, which admitted both men and women, was founded in Baltimore in 1856. Groups at the local level were called tabernacles and wings. Most were in Maryland, although tabernacles in other locations indicate the order's success in creating a national organization. In August 1887, the Baltimore Sun reported on a convention of the leaders of Galilean Fishermen in Providence, Rhode Island:
The National Grand Tabernacle is the supreme head of the order and is composed of about 400 delegates, elected to represent . . . tabernacles located throughout the States of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. (From Theda Skocpol, https://african-american-fraternal-orders.org/fraternal-order/grand-united-order-of-galilean-fishermen/, consulted 20 September 2025)
No objects from the Parkers Creek-based Tabernacle 809 have been found.
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Ribbon is from another Calvert County unit, founded in 1906. Carter T. Gray collection, CCHS copy.
Ribbon associated with a Galilean Fisherman convention in Norfolk, Virginia, 11 February 1896. Theda Skocpol collection, Harvard University.
The Galilean Fishermen built halls, including one in Prince Frederick that provided space for meetings by the order itself and by allied groups. The start of the hall's construction in 1895 was noted in the Calvert Gazette. The Reverend A.A. Murray spoke at the event. Murray was a Methodist clergyman whose circuit included Brown's Church.
The G.U.O. of Galilean Fishermen will turn out in full regalia and lay the corner stone of their hall Sunday. July 28, at 3 P.M. A special sermon on the occasion will be preached by Rev. A.A. Murray; the subject, "Christ the only foundation and corner stone." (Calvert Gazette, 20 July 1895)
From the 1890s to just after the First World War, the Calvert Gazette carried several notices about the Galilean Fishermen and other groups who met at the Fishermen's Hall in Prince Frederick.
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1894, June 30: "A picnic is announced to be given by the 'Juveniles' July 4, at Galilean Temple, in the First district. The managers promise to spare no pains to make it a day of enjoyment. Addresses will be made by local orators, and a band of music will also enliven the occasion." [Endnote 1]
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1911, April 22: Citizens meeting at the Galilean Fishermen's Hall in Prince Frederick "formed an organization to be known as the Negro's Business League of Calvert County."
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1911, June 10: At Galilean Fishermen's Hall in Prince Frederick, meetings of the Negro Business League.
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1911, June 24: see clipping
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1911, July 22: The annual turnout of Morning Glory Tabernacle No. 809, of the Order of Galilean Fishermen will be held at Browns M.E. Church Sunday, July 23, at 11 A. M. All the tabernacles of the county are invited to attend.
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1911, September 2: Galilean Fishermen's Hall in Prince Frederick, Negro Business League, plans for a Grand Outing.
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1914, April 25: Galilean Fishermen's Hall in Prince Frederick, colored United Republican Club; officers John W. Scales, James Sewell, James H. Brooks, William A. Harris.
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1915, April 6: Galilean Fishermen's Hall in Prince Frederick, colored United Republican Club.
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1919, June 21: Galilean Fishermen's Hall in Prince Frederick, "the colored voters of Calvert county . . . decided that, in view of the very valuable part they had played in the [First World War], they felt themselves entitled to some political recognition . . . and endeavor to put a colored man on ticket this fall."
Morning Glory Tabernacle 809 was active near Parkers Creek, and the newspaper announcement dated July 22, 1911 (summarized in a bullet above), indicates that some of its meetings were held at Brown's Church. In 1919, the tabernacle's trustees planned to build a hall of their own north of the creek. The organization purchased a half-acre lot from the heirs of Joseph Wallace, a Civil War veteran who owned about 300 acres on the north-south road that crossed the creek. (Land record AAH 04/12) Daniel Wallace, one of Joseph's sons, was a trustee of Tabernacle 809, as were Albert McCormick and Ephrim Harrod. We have found no indication that a building was ever constructed.
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An asterisk marks the approximate location of the half-acre lot purchased in 1919 by the trustees of the Grand United Order of Galilean Fisherman Tabernacle 809.
The red property outline marks the 125 acres inherited by the widow Arabella Wallace and her children in 1909, after Joseph Wallace's death.
In 1919, the 4.5-acre tract outlined in light green was sold to family friend Albert McCormick, also one of the Galilean Fishermen trustees.
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Green dashed lines are ACLT hiking trails.
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PCHT maps are "best efforts" based on careful study of all available information. PCHT property research by Art Cochran, map delineation by Exa Marmee Grubb.
Grand United Order of Odd Fellows and the Household of Ruth
In the 1840s Black men were not admitted to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, one American extension of the British Odd Fellows, in existence since the 1730s. The Independent Order's discrimination motivated Peter Ogden, a Black man born in the West Indies, to work with British cohorts during the 1840s to establish the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in New York.
No objects associated with the Parkers Creek-based Grand United Order of Odd Fellows Lodge 4865 have been found.
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Ribbon from Lodge 3905 in Malden, Massachusetts. The inclusion of the British Red Ensign (flag) signifies the connection between the GUOOF and the British Odd Fellows society that authorized them.
Convention badge for the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows and the Grand Household of Ruth, Washington DC, 1916.​
Ribbon with the slogan "Band of Love" from the Household of Ruth No. 323, Pocahontas, Virginia. The abbreviation PMNG identifies the wearer as a Past Most Noble Governor of the organization.
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All items, Theda Skocpol collection, Harvard University.
The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows Lodge 4865, near Parkers Creek, had a building of some kind as early as 1898, when they invited the public to join them for Independence Day, as described in this clipping.
Calvert Gazette, 24 June 1898
Fundraising for a new building was under way by 1908, when this picnic invitation was published. Beniah Bowen's store, the site for the event, was in the center of Port Republic, a store later operated by Eddie Bowen and, by the 1940s, Earl Ogden. (Today the site serves several small businesses and offers a venue for weddings and other events.)
Calvert Gazette, 5 September 1908
In 1915, the trustees of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 4865, purchased a half-acre lot south of the creek, not far from Brown's Church. (Land record GWD 16/250) The seller was Dina (sometimes Dinah) F. Bell, the widow of Alonzo Bell, who had passed away shortly before the sale. The trustees were three men who lived near Parkers Creek: Isaac Kelson, Edward Wall, and Cornelius Harrod. We have found no information to indicate that a new hall was constructed.