Exploring the Backroads Brings Light to a Forgotten Order

Tom Hughes

Sergeant Major
Joined
May 27, 2019
Location
Mississippi
cemetery.JPG

A "modern" two lane U.S. highway lies just out of this picture in my Mississippi town.
The "old" road leading to downtown used to go past this cemetery.
I bet if you polled the residents, 90%+ probably don't know anything about this unique last resting place.
It is a cemetery strictly for the burial of those belonging to the Odd Fellows fraternal organization.
Membership in fraternal organizations was both secretive, sacred, and strong in the 19th century.
As a matter of fact, after the civil war, the time period became known as the "Golden Age of Fraternalism" in America.
During this time, the Odd Fellows were even bigger than Freemasonry.
These organizations connected people to purpose and social development - another of the traits that have been lost as the centuries pass.

cemeterytablet.JPG

This tablet sits on the edge of the cemetery and safe within the iron gate, as if it needs protection from vandalism.
It spells out the history of the organization, the cemetery, and the persons buried there.
Very interesting to those simply willing to stop along the side road and learn about the history of our citizenry of years past.

deathhead skull.JPG

This copper skull relic is something I dug up at an old house place while relic hunting several years ago.
It is known as a Death's Head Emblem and it obviously belonged to a member of the Odd Fellows.
You see, the skull was a symbol of mortality. This was a treasured relic used by the Odd Fellows in one of their most solemn and secret of rituals: Initiation.

Today, I don't know anyone in my town that belongs to any fraternal organization.
That would simply not have been the case 100 years ago, as fraternal groups made up the fabric and shaped the social bounds of the town.

I'm glad I stopped by this cemetery today. I've passed it a thousand times. Only today did I stop long enough to read the sign and learn a little more about the history of the people that came before me.
 
Nice find, Tom. The symbol is what is called memento mori and has Christian roots as well as fraternal roots!!

I know exactly where that cemetery is but have never walked around it. I always wondered why it was separated from the main cemetery in Clinton. Now I know, thanks!!!
 
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