The Order of the Sons of Hermann (german: Der Orden der Hermanns-Soehne, also known as Hermann Sons ( ''Hermannssöhne'' ), is a

mutual aid society A benefit society, fraternal benefit society, fraternal benefit order, friendly society, or mutual aid society is a society, an organization or a voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit, for instance insurance for relief fr ...

for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

immigrants that was formed in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

on July 20, 1840,Fritz Schilo
"Sons of Hermann"
Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Society, retrieved August 14, 2013."Die Hermann's Soehne: An Order with an Honorable Record for Benevolence: Works of Charity Quietly Done: A Society Founded to Foster the German Language and Customs – A Statue to Hermann, the Teuton Warrior,"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', May 19, 1895, p. 21. (pdf) and remains active in the states of California, Ohio, and Texas today. Open to members of any heritage today, the order provides low-cost

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

and mutual aid and has historically promoted the preservation of the

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

and traditions.

History

Sons of Hermann early 20th century emblem

The Sons of Hermann was formed by Dr. Philip Merkel, George Heiner, John Blatz, A. Auer, R. Schwendel, W. Kohler, and Philipp Germann on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

, in response to

anti-German sentiment Anti-German sentiment (also known as Anti-Germanism, Germanophobia or Teutophobia) is opposition to or fear of Germany, its inhabitants, its culture, or its language. Its opposite is Germanophilia. Anti-German sentiment largely began with t ...

during a period of heavy German immigration to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. One account, published in the '' St. Paul Morning Call'' in 1896, is that the order was founded after the funeral procession for a German was hindered and the mourners insulted by

nativists Nativism is the political policy of promoting or protecting the interests of native or indigenous inhabitants over those of immigrants, including the support of immigration-restriction measures. In scholarly studies, ''nativism'' is a standard ...

, prompting protest meetings of

German Americans German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

, at one of which a speaker said another Hermann (

Arminius Arminius ( 18/17 BC – 21 AD) was a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe who is best known for commanding an alliance of Germanic tribes at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD, in which three Roman legions under the command of ge ...

) was needed to protect the Germans from their enemies.Stevens, p. 283. It was an offshoot of the Odd Fellows. By 1848 the organization had grown to six groups with 800 members, and on December 25, 1848, a national grand lodge was formed in Milwaukee. Hundreds of lodges were organized during the nineteenth century; by 1895 there were about 30,000 members, and in 1896 there were Grand Lodges in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in addition to New York, as well as scattered members in 15 other states with a total membership of 90,000. A German-language account ten years after that mentions affiliates in Canada and in Germany itself. However, renewed anti-German sentiment with the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

led to the order's sharp decline. The order's symbolic colors are black, red and gold, representing German unity: black for ignorance, prejudice and indifference; red for the light and enlightenment spread by German culture and the German spirit; and gold for true freedom, which man arrives at through knowledge and labor. The order never had degrees. It has had rituals since its inception; at one point the Roman Catholic Church refused church burial to members of the Sons of Hermann because of their ritual. But by the 1970s neither the initiation rite nor the burial rite was required. The burial rite mentions that the departed is now with the Almighty, but the order does not limit its membership to believers in a supreme being. German

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s participated fully in the Sons of Hermann; the order's insurance fund was led by Jacob Brandeis and Rabbi Emanuel Gerechter, the former also directing the order's choral group in Milwaukee. At one point the order had a

female auxiliary Fraternal orders often have "side degrees", auxiliaries or appendant (as opposed to primary). Some of these are created as female "sister organizations", youth organizations or side degrees proper which are organizations associated with or within t ...

called the Daughters of Hermann, open to the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters of the Sons. Harmonia Lodge No. 1 in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

was the first Sons of Hermann lodge to offer its members non-profit life insurance (proposed in 1873). Starting on July 1, 1875, the national organization required members to purchase a life insurance policy."History,"
Hermann Sons Fraternal Insurance, 2008. Accessed October 18, 2009. This is now a major feature of membership; ritual initiation is not required.

Minnesota

Hermann Monument, New Ulm, Minnesota

Under the leadership of Julius Berndt, then national secretary, the Sons of Hermann paid for an American monument to Hermann modeled on the ''

Hermannsdenkmal The ''Hermannsdenkmal'' (German for "Hermann Monument") is a monument located southwest of Detmold in the district of Lippe (North Rhine-Westphalia), in Germany. It stands on the densely forested ', sometimes also called the ''Teutberg'' or ''Te ...

'' in Germany. It was completed in 1897 and is located in

New Ulm, Minnesota New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,120 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Brown County. It is located on the triangle of land formed by the confluence of the Minnesota River and the Co ...

, where Berndt was head of the local chapter. Following the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, anti-German sentiment remained in America and the local order disbanded thereafter, donating the statue and grounds to the City of New Ulm in 1929.

Texas

In 1861 the first lodge in

, Harmonia Lodge No. 1, was organized in

. On March 27, 1890, the Texas grand lodge was formed, consisting of Harmonia Lodge of San Antonio and seven other lodges in Austin, Taylor, Temple, Waco, La Grange, Brenham, and Houston, with a combined membership of 242. 92 more lodges were formed in the next year. In 1896 the first sister lodge for women was dedicated in Sherman, and in 1920 the first mixed lodge for both men and women, in San Antonio. In 1920 the Order of the Sons of Hermann in Texas, which by then was wealthier and had more members than all other lodges elsewhere in the United States combined, declared itself independent of the national order. The Texas order phased out the German language (

Texas German Texas German (german: Texasdeutsch) is a group of German language dialects spoken in Texas by descendants of German immigrants who settled there in the mid-19th century. These "German Texans" founded the towns of Bulverde, New Braunfels, Fred ...

) in favor of English by 1937. By 1965 only half the membership was of German heritage, and by 1994 membership was open to all. Membership grew as restrictions were lifted."Order of Sons of Hermann,"
Stichting Argus. Accessed October 18, 2009. The Texas order had 80,000 members in 1995, and had more than 74,000 members in more than 140 lodges. The Texas order has operated a retirement home in Comfort since 1916 and summer youth camps, also on property it owns in Comfort, since 1954. Local lodges offer scholarships to students in their communities.

Sons of Hermann Hall, Dallas

The Sons of Hermann Hall in

Deep Ellum Deep Ellum is an American neighborhood composed largely of arts and entertainment venues near downtown in East Dallas, Texas. The name is based on a corruption of the area's principal thoroughfare, Elm Street. Older alternative uses include De ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

was built in 1910 by the four Dallas lodges and is currently used by two lodges (Columbia Lodge 66 and Dallas Lodge 22) as well as being available for rent. It is a popular venue for the local music scene. A profile of it by

Ray Wylie Hubbard Ray Wylie Hubbard (born November 13, 1946) is an American singer and songwriter. Early life Hubbard was born in the town of Soper, Oklahoma. His family moved to Oak Cliff in southwest Dallas, Texas, in 1954. He attended W. H. Adamson High Schoo ...

appears in ''Pat Green's Dance Halls & Dreamers''. Luke Gilliam, ''Pat Green's Dance Halls & Dreamers'', University of Texas, 2008, .

Notes

References

External links

Hermann Sons Fraternal Insurance
Texas
State Grand Lodge of Ohio

Sons of Hermann Hall, Dallas

*
90th anniversary, Harmonia Lodge No. 1, Order of the Sons of Hermann, San Antonio, Texas, July 6, 1951 : a short history
' *
Neunzehnhundertste Jahresfeier der Schlacht im Teutoburger Walde : Gedenkblätter an das Fest der Deutschen von Californien. San Francisco, 1. und 8. August 1909, unter Leitung der Grossloge des Ordens der Hermanns-Söhne
' Order of the Sons of Hermann. California. Grossloge an Francisco : Order of the Sons of Hermann {{DEFAULTSORT:Sons Of Hermann 1840 establishments in New York (state) Ethnic fraternal orders in the United States German-American culture German-American organizations Mutual organizations Organizations established in 1840