On December 16, 1773 a group of men, all members of the Sons of Liberty, met in Boston to protest the tax on tea imposed by England. When their protest went unheeded, they disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians, proceeded to Boston harbor, and dumped overboard 342 chests of English tea.
During the Revolutionary War, members of secret societies quenched their council fires and took up muskets to join with the Continental Army. To the cause of Freedom and Liberty they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. At the end of the hard fought war the American Republic was born and was soon acknowledged among the nations of the world.
Following the American Revolution many of the various secret societies founded before and during the conflict continued in existence as brotherhoods or fraternities.
For the next 35 years, however, each of the original Sons of Liberty and Sons of St. Tamina groups went their own way, under many different names. In 1813, at historic Fort Mifflin, near Philadelphia, several of these groups came together and formed one organization known as the Society of Red Men. The name was changed to the Improved Order of Red Men in Baltimore in 1834.
Their rituals and regalia are modeled after those used by Native Americans. The organization claimed a membership of about half a million in 1935, but has declined to less than 38,000. —-Wikipedia
The Local Tribe at Marion
Wigwam of Modoc Tribe, No. 173 in Marion was organized in 1901 with 29 charter members, and in 1904 had a membership of 87. Its Officers are: B. F. Jeter, Sachem; Joseph Dixon, Senior Sagamore; J. H. Younkins, Junior Sagamore; William Schroeder, Prophet; Paul C. Smith, Chief of Records; John B. Fry, Keeper of Wampum.
Total receipts for the year 1904 for the whole Order was $2,362,002,32; paid for relief of members, $611, 003.75: widows and orphans, $9,329.15: burial of the dead, $171,017.55.
It’s fairly certain that a number of members joined for the security of having disability payments, should they be injured and unable to work, or their burial covered, should they die, in a day when insurance wasn’t prevalent or available to a large number of people. There was an auxiliary organization called Pocohantas attached to this organization.
According to the Red Men Museum and Library, the Marion Tribe went defunct in late 1906 or early 1907 and the Illinois Red Men were defunct in 1964. It is likely that it fell out of favor as insurance companies came into prevelance in Marion much as other ogranizations like Ben Hur.
(Data from Wikipedia and 1905 Souvenir History , WCHS; Red Men Museum and Library; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 05/13/2013)