#52 Ancestors, Week 12: Memberships

Kristian (Christian) Nilsson Wedberg is my great great grandfather, and he is the reason why I am familiar with Woodmen of the World.

I first encountered mention of the organization when I was looking at Kristian’s headstone on Find-a-Grave. I remember asking my mother if she knew what it meant.  She didn’t, but she looked quite mortified at the idea that he was somehow part of some secret society.  

Ultimately, I found out that Woodmen of the World wasn’t anything sinister.  It is simply a fraternal society, founded in 1890 in Nebraska, that practiced philanthropy and spearheaded community outreach projects. As with many other fraternal societies from this time, it offered private life insurance as a benefit of its membership. Also, until the 1920’s, Woodmen of the World provided each member with a tombstone.  Based on the cost of modern tombstones, I imagine this had to be a nice perk of membership. Some of the provided headstones were quite ornate as evidenced by the picture below (Wikipedia).

In later research of a different (but similarly Scandinavian) line, I discovered a newspaper article that discussed the wedding of my great great grandparents. Hugo Robertson and Signe (Johnson) Robertson were apparently members of something called The Independent Order of the Svithiod. Like Kristian, Hugo and Signe were in my mother’s direct line, so I questioned her again, and again, I was aware of a slight mortification.  She apologetically explained that my grandfather was a member in good standing with a society whose name she could no longer remember.

At any rate, being a part of the Svithiod wasn’t any more embarrassing than being attached to Woodmen of the World.  My great great grandparents were simply part of a community of Scandinavians devoted to preserving Scandinavian culture, heritage, and education. For a bit more information on this order, visit their website: https://www.svithiod.org.

I’m sure there are some questionable memberships out there, but until you’ve done some research, don’t assume they are anything of which you should be ashamed!