Fraternal Organizations

Cooperative associations based on crafts, ethnicity, and mutual aid date back centuries in both Asia and Europe. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, Americans of similar social and economic status often created exclusive and sometimes secretive groups. Many men belonged to a lodge. 19th and 20th century fraternal organizations in Hilo, Hawaiʻi included the Ancient Order of Foresters, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Kilauea Lodge (Free and Accepted Masons), Scottish Rite Masons, and Order of Owls. Hawaiians formed distinct organizations such as the Royal Order of Kamehameha and the ‘Ahahui Ka‘ahumanu (Ka‘ahumanu Society). Immigrant groups and women in Hawaiʻi started similar organizations. 

The Lyman Museum preserves a large photograph collection which includes images of many community organizations. To learn more, the Archives is open for research by appointment: https://lymanmuseum.org/archives/.

Note: Hawaiian diacritical marks comprise just two symbols: the ʻokina (glottal stop) and the kahakō (macron). We use them with Hawaiian place names, but do not add them to proper names if a family or a company does not use them.

Masonic group marching in Hilo, ca. 1890 (Harry A. Wessel Collection). The men are dressed in suits, hats, and Masonic aprons. In 1843, Joseph Marie Le Tellier, Captain of the French whaling barque Ajax started Lodge Le Progres de l’Oceanie No. 124, of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Supreme Council of France, the first fraternal organization in Hawai’i. Masonic groups helped build hospitals, public buildings, and civic improvements in the Islands.
Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831 – 1884), a Princess of Hawaiʻi, was a Dame Grand Cross of the Most Noble Order of Kamehameha I and Dame Grand Cross of the Kalākaua I e Hookanaka (Royal Order of Kalakaua I). Bishop and Princess Liliuʻokalani founded the ‘Ahahui Ka‘ahumanu (Kaʻahumanu Society) in 1864. Named after Queen Kaʻahumanu, the favorite wife of Kamehameha I and the Kuhina Nui (co-ruler, or regent) of his successors. The organization celebrated traditional Hawaiian female leadership and was restricted to women of Native Hawaiian descent. It first focused on nursing victims of a smallpox epidemic and providing respectful burial for the victims.
Lot Kapuaiwa (1830-1872), before becoming Kamehameha V, joined the Masons in 1853, the first ali’i (royalty) to do so. Other royal masons included his brother Kamehameha IV and King Kalākaua, both of whom combined Hawaiian traditions with Masonic symbols. Kamehameha V established the Kamehameha I e Hookanaka (Royal Order of Kamehameha) in 1865, an order of knighthood to promote and defend the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
Royal Order of Kamehameha Certificate for Rufus Lyman, 1876. Rufus Lyman (1842 – 1910) married Rebecca Hualani Ahung Brickwood, a Hawaiian Chinese woman. He worked as a cane farmer, rancher, businessman, a Circuit Judge, and Lieutenant Governor of Hawaiʻi Island.
On December 10, 1879, Sarah Lyman wrote to her son David in Illinois, encouraging him to read what Rev. Charles Finney, an American minister and revival leader, had written on Freemasonry. Like many other religious people, Sarah Lyman viewed the group as decidedly problematic: “Freemasonry is one of the greatest obstacles to the spread of the gospel in this & other Lands. It is strong at these islands as the King & his ministry & officials of any importance are Masons & one who is not stands a poor chance being elected to office or of service in life, and how can the laws be executed when Judge, jewry [jury] & criminals are all masons, as they are under solemn pledge to defend each other on receiving the sign. How can Christian men identify themselves with such an iniquitous system[?]”
The music “Eastern Star Prayer” was written in 1952 by Helen Desha Beamer, a well-known Hawaiian kumu hula, musician, and songwriter. Rob Morris created the Order of the Eastern Star in 1850 for Freemasons and their female relatives. Often classed as an adoptive rite, its ritual borrows symbols from the Bible. Beamer was a Past Worthy Matron of Hawai’i Chapter No. 1, Order of the Eastern Star.
Masao Kubo (1894-1978), a former Hilo dentist, with his masonic cap for the Scottish Rite Mason, Knight Commander of the Court of Honor, ca. 1973.
This 1974 report, Chinese Fraternal Society Sites: Island of Hawaiʻi, documents various buildings and the importance of fraternal organizations started by Chinese immigrants to mutually support their members and celebrate their culture. Some Hawaiʻi Island groups include the Chee Ying Society in Honokaʻa, Lin Hing Society in Hilo, Tong Wo Society and Lok Shin in Kohala, and Chinese clubhouses at Keauhou, Kailua-Kona, and Naʻalehu
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