Junior Order of United American Mechanics
On Sunday, 20 July 1930, the Junior Order of United American Mechanics ("JOUAM") held a meeting in the Bartlett Yancey High School auditorium. The purpose apparently was to celebrate a membership drive.
The JOUAM had seven councils in Caswell County, including the Bartlett Yancey Council. The council was the local membership group. The winner of the membership drive was the Bartlett Council, with the "prize" accepted by E. F. Upchurch, Jr.
Attendees of some note included: Sam F. Vance (Kernersville); Judge Eure (Greensboro); J. M. Sharpe (Reidsville); John Reynolds (Wentworth); Numa R. Reid (Wentworth); S. F. Nicks (Roxboro); R. W. Duncan (Pelham); and Drake Bobbett (Durham).
"This will likely be one of the largest gatherings and one of the greatest meetings ever held in Caswell County for the cause of Juniorism. Every local council in Caswell is requested to attend with large delegations. All local councils of adjoining counties are invited to attend. The entire public, including the children, are cordially invited to meet with the Juniors on this occasion."
Source: The Bee (Danville, Virginia), 17 Jul 1930.
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Caswell County Names Junior Order Officers
(Special to Daily News). Yanceyville, May 8 [1947] -- The 14th District of Junior order of United American Mechanics, comprising nine councils in Caswell and Rockingham Counties, has chosen the following district officers from Caswell County for the coming year: L. T. Hicks, of Yanceyville, vice-councilor; John O. Gunn of Yanceyville, secretary, and J. H. Fowlkes of Pelham, chaplain.
Source: Greensboro Daily News (Greensboro, NC), 9 May 1947.
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Luther Thomas Hicks (1899-1982)
John Oliver Gunn (1892-1992)
James Hester Fowlkes (1890-1985)
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Junior Order of United American Mechanics
JUNIOR ORDER OF UNITED AMERICAN MECHANICS (JOUAM) - The Order of United American Mechanics was an anti-Catholic American Nativist organization of the mid-19th century. It was founded in Philadelphia amid the anti-alien riots of 1844-45. It originally was called the Union of Workers. Members were required to undertake efforts to publicize and campaign against the hiring of cheap foreign labor and to patronize only "American" businesses. In 1853 it created the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, as an youth auxiliary. This group would eventually become more popular than the OUAM itself and became an independent adult organization in 1885.
A female auxiliary, the Daughters of Liberty, began as a local club to assist members of the Columbia Council in Meriden, Connecticut in January 1875. Other local Councils sprang up across Connecticut, as well as New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. By 1896 there were 30,000 members of the Daughters of Liberty. Membership was restricted to native born, white American women aged sixteen or over, and to male members of the Order of United American Mechanics.
In 1887 the Order created the Loyal Legion of the Order of United American Mechanics as an "uniformed division" which participated in drill and sword exercises and had a ritual of its own which was said to be derived from similar groups within the Oddfellows, Knights of Pythias and Foresters, themselves supposedly derived from the Masonic Knights Templar. The ritual and symboling of the group was said to be heavily influenced by that of the Freemasons. Of the twenty five original founders, four were Freemasons and four other delegates were eventually raised to the Craft. The emblem of the Order incorporated the square and compasses with an arm and hammer in the middle.
Source: https://www.cityofgroveok.gov/building/page/junior-order-united-american-mechanics-jouam [Accessed 27 September 2021]
The Junior Order of United American Mechanics is an American fraternal order. It began as a youth affiliation of the Order of United American Mechanics, but seceded to become its own organization and eventually absorbed its parent order. Originally, it was an anti-Catholic, nativist group, but eventually abandoned this position and became a general fraternal benefit society open to people regardless of creed, race or sex.
In 1923 the JOUAM had 253,399 members in its "Funeral Benefit Dept" and 22,519 "Beneficiary Degree" members. At the time it reportedly had state and local councils in nearly every state in the Union. It also ran a home for the orphans of deceased members in Tiffin, Ohio, which housed 800-900 children. While the Order's purposes were mostly fraternal by this point, membership remained restricted to Protestants, and some of its officers still continued to advocate anti-Catholic positions.
By 1969 membership had dwindled to 35,172, 15,000 of which were social (non-insured) members. By 1979 the number had dropped to 8,500, evenly divided between social and beneficiary members in 400 local councils. The group was then headquartered in Willow Grove, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and held a national convention biennially. It also had a bimonthly news paper, Junior American, which is still published.
Between 1925 and 1932, they constructed the Junior Order United American Mechanics National Orphans Home near Lexington, North Carolina. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Source: Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Junior_Order_of_United_American_Mechanics&oldid=1046052411 [Accessed 27 September 2021].
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See Also:
http://tomrue.net/history/lodge532/hx/jouam.htm
http://www.stichtingargus.nl/vrijmetselarij/jouam_en.html
https://www.jrouamnationalcouncil.org/history-of-the-order.html
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