(FRATERNAL.) UNITED BROTHERS OF FRIENDSHIP. Ritual and Degree Book of the United Brothers of Friendship. Engraved illustrations. 82 pages. Square 12mo, original cloth, worn with about 1/2 of the back-strip gone; paper toned, Text lightly soiled. [Louisville, KY], 1888
Organized on August 1, 1861, by Marshall W. Taylor, William N. Hazleton, Wallace Jones, W. H. Lawson, Benjamin Carter, Charles Coates, W. T. Lewis, and Charles B. Morgan, all colored men, free and slave, nearly all under age, at Louisville. The order functioned as a benevolent association, to care for the sick, bury the dead, etc. Nearly all were pupils in day or night schools, and, under the advice of their teacher, W. H. Gibson, they reorganized the society in 1868. In 1871 the society having been gradually extended throughout Kentucky, a Grand Lodge was formed, and in 1875, membership having spread to neighboring States, a National Grand Lodge was organized. W. H. Gibson, the first State Grand Master, served five years. He was also National Grand Master, and filled that office for four years, distinguishing his incumbency by establishing Lodges of United Brothers of Friendship, as the society was then called, from the lakes to the gulf.
