Information Sheet

 

 

R         Knights of Pythias.  Ironton Lodge No. 244 (Ironton, Mo.).

700                  Record book, 1905-1931.

                                    One volume.

 

MICROFILM

 

 

 

This is the minute book of Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 244 in Ironton, Iron County Mis­souri.  Minutes include rolls of officers, membership applications, work in the various ranks, pay­ment of sick benefits, and financial statements.

 

The Knights of Pythias was founded in 1864 to promote the principles of friendship, charity, and benevolence.  Like other fraternal organizations, the Knights of Pythias has various ranks or degrees, including those of Page, Esquire, and Knight.  Each rank has its own requirements, ritual, and initiation.  The organization distributed sick benefits for members, and developed a life insur­ance program.  Local lodges, dubbed “castles,” often maintained Knights of Pythias cemeteries.

 

The minutes of meetings or “conventions” of Ironton Lodge No. 244 begin on 14 April 1905 and continue through 11 November 1931.  The records for each meeting list the officers in atten­dance, membership matters such as applications, suspensions, and expulsions, work in the differ­ent ranks, distribution of sick benefits, and financial records.  One unusual entry, on 9 June 1905, was the vote on whether to appropriate one hundred dollars to the Iron County sheriff as a reward for the arrest of the murderer of John W. Polk, a member of the lodge.

 

Rolls of officers are at the front and at the end of the volume.  Among the leaders of the lodge were Ira A. Marshall, Jno. Conway, Charles Downey, Jessie [sic] Hawkins, Charles New­man, William Schwab, Robert Rashe, M. Madigan, Marcus Yount, M. D. Young, and L. R. Miller.

 

 

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