Graveyard Guru 4/15/2010

Woodmen of the World: The Society & Their Tombstones
by Stephanie Lincecum

Most of us that have spent any time in a cemetery have probably seen them. Tree stumps made of stone dotting the landscape. This type of stone without any fraternal affiliation attached often represents a life cut short. Since 1890, this type of tree stone upon closer investigation might also mean the deceased was a member of the Woodmen of the World.

I called my local branch of the Woodmen of the World Insurance Society and spoke with a nice gentleman named George Allen. He confirmed the research I had done on the society and kindly directed me to more information. Thanks for being my graveyard guru for this article, George!

The Society -

Woodmen of the World is the largest fraternal benefit society with open membership in the United States. It is an insurance organization founded by Joseph Cullen Root in Omaha, Nebraska on the 6th of June, 1890.

The first certificate of membership was issued to William A. McCully of Independence, Kansas on the 29th of December, 1890. Six months later, Woodmen paid its first death claim on the life of teenager Willie O. Warner who drowned on the 14th of June, 1891, in Niles, Michigan.

Here are excerpts from two articles about the beginning of this fraternal order in Atlanta, Georgia from March and April 1893 editions of The Atlanta Constitution:

26 March 1893: “A New Order

The Woodmen of the World are receiving a hearty welcome by the citizens of Atlanta. Quite a large list of charter applicants is already enrolled… While in general principle, woodcraft is similar to the Royal Arcanum, and Golden Chain, it has several unique and valuable features such as making its certificate noncontestable, placing the monument over the grave of every deceased member and the paid up policy.

The order is constructed with a careful view of securing the lowest possible death rate and the greatest possible increase of membership. It has thus built in its two and a half years a membership of 17,000, and paid every loss i26 March 1893: “A New Order

n full with an average of six assessments per year.

About the first week in April a camp of 200 strong will be organized.

Consul J. B. Frost, of the Woodmen of the World, attended a rousing meeting of the Magnolia camp at Montgomery, Ala., started a fine list at Columbus, Ga., and at Macon last week.”


9 April 1893: “A New Enterprise for Atlanta

The woodmen of the world have located permanent headquarters of the southern jurisdiction in Atlanta, and all the business pertaining to organization in the south is now handled in their Atlanta office. The citizens are showing their appreciation of this fact and of the excellent plan of the order by rapidly swelling the charter list. The first local camp in the city will be organized this week with over two hundred members.

The woodmen is an order of four degrees, those of morning, noon and night giving social entertainment and educational advantages, while the protection degree affords an insurance at phenomenally low cost.

The policy issued is non-contestable. A monument is placed over the grave of every deceased member.

The certificate is never allowed to lapse while its holder is ill, and in thirty, twenty-five and twenty years the policy becomes paid up and a life membership is given.

Dun's agency gives a favorable report of the fidelity and promptness with which all claims are met and of the integrity and standing of its officers.

The remarkable growth of the order is evidently due to its merits…”

As mentioned, the Woodmen of the World are still active today. From their website (www.Woodmen.org): “As a Woodmen of the World member, you become a part of a fraternal benefit organization committed to helping families seeking insurance protection and financial security. Just as important, you become part of an organization committed to doing good and taking care of families like your own and the communities across the country we all call home.”

The Tombstones -

Early Woodmen of the World policies provided for a death and a monument benefit. Gravestones (usually noted as memorials) were originally furnished to members for free and later were offered to those who purchased a $100 rider.

During the 1920’s the Society stopped providing markers to members when the cost of gravestones increased and cemeteries began prohibiting above-ground memorials for maintenance reasons. For many years after that, members and lodges arranged for markers and monuments on their own. Although the monument benefit is no longer included, the Society does not let graves of members go unmarked.

WOW gravestones actually vary in size and shape. Many are in the form of the aforementioned tree stump, but others found are in the shape of a stack of wood. I have also seen simple granite ledger markers with the Woodmen of the World affiliation noted. Most contain an image of the logo, which includes a tree stump and the phrase “Dum Tacet Clamat.” This translates to “though silent, he speaks.”

According to the Woodmen website, “In one Kentucky cemetery, the gravestones started out as a modest Woodmen stump and grew larger with each additional burial. One gravestone is three feet wide with seven branches.”

WOW treestones are fairly common in my area of Georgia, and they are apparently common enough across the entire South. From The Upland South Folk Cemetery Complex: Some Suggestions of Origin by D. Gregory Jeane:

Monument unveilings in the South were associated primarily with fraternal, or semifraternal, orders. The most significant organization in the South associated with unveilings was the Woodmen of the World Life Assurance Society (W. O. W.). This semifraternal insurance organization had numerous "camps" scattered across the South, and practically every man belonged. Part of the membership creed supported the concept of a right to the dignity of a marked grave. A policyholder could, therefore, arrange to have a monument engraved with the Woodmen of the World logo erected on his grave, the cost covered by a modest rider on the holder's insurance policy.

Woodmen of the World monuments were dedicated and unveiled in formal ceremonies conducted by the local camp, usually on Memorial Day or at a convenient date set by the camp. The unveilings were formal events attended at times by a parade of the camp members to the cemetery and always with a moving eulogy for the deceased member. On Memorial Day flowers would be placed as well on the graves of other camp members. Later changes in the by-laws of the W. O. W. admitted women to the order and they too could have a marker with the W. O. W. logo. By the time women were allowed, however, unveilings had begun to decline precipitously, and no evidence of unveilings for women has been found.

A news note of an unveiling from the 30th of August, 1894 edition of The Atlanta Constitution reads, "The Woodmen of the World will, on Thursday, unveil the monument erected by that order over the grave of Mr. John Dootson. Rev. W. H. Young will read a poem and Mr. T. W. Reed will deliver the oration on that occasion."

Here are some images of what might have been unveiled.