This week’s topic is about membership.  I was thinking about my family and what groups they belonged to. My father was a truck driver, and Teamsters member. Then there is my maternal great-grandfather, a member of the Engineers Local, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles in the early 1900’s. I wasn’t familiar with the Eagles, so I looked them up. Their website says the group formed in the late 1800’s in Seattle to develop a solution for a musicians strike. Once they had created a solution to the strike, they created “The Order of Good Things”. The goal of the organization was to lessen suffering, and promote “…peace, prosperity, gladness, and hope.” [1] In 2023, they are now an international non-profit committed to the ideals of the original group.

I know my father’s occupation influenced him joining the Teamsters. I wish I knew the story behind my great-grandfather’s involvement with the Eagles. I feel it clues me in as to who he was even though I never met him. In the end, these are clues that help round out the story of my family.

[1].  “How It Began,” Fraternal Order of Eagles, (https://www.foe.com/About-The-Eagles/History : accessed 21 February 2022).