EASTERN STAR, Order of the, com posed of members of Freemasonry, their wives,. sisters, daughters, mothers and widows, may justly be termed a monster fraternity. The membership in 1916 was about 800,000, with a trifle over 8,000 chapters, an estimated gain of about 50,000 a year. In addition to the United States there are chapters in Alaska, Canal Zone, Cuba, Hawaiian Islands, Philip pines, Manitoba, New Brunswick,' Quebec, Ontario, Yukon, New Zealand, Australia., Scot land and England. The Order is rapidly ex tending to all parts of the globe. The largest chapter is Peninsular of Grand Rapids, Mich., with 1,073 members. Illinois has the largest membership, viz., 87,000 with nearly 800 chapters, New York has 60,000, with a little over 500 chapters and all other States have a proportionate membership. Miriam Chapter of Chicago, Ill., the oldest chapter known, was organized as Miriam Family No. 111 6 Oct. 1866, and emerged into a chapter 4 March 1869. New York city, however, has the honor of the birth of the chapter system, Alpha Chapter No. 1 beginning 28 Dec. 1868. Masonic his tories state that the Order was introduced into the colonies in New York city in 177$ by, it is supposed, French officers. In the system of 1774 (France) was an emblem of a five-pointed star, presumably copied from 'the Masonic em blem called the Blazing Star. From an old ritual is evidence that certain members on 18 May 1793 in Boston, Mass., met and formulated
a ritual. This work also states Lafayette was interested in the Order. In 1850 Rob Morris, a prominent Masonic lecturer, arranged the degree, calling the bodies constellations. Later he changed the system to families, and still later (1866) the lecture system was adopted. In 1868 Robert Macoy, a Masonic publisher, arranged the chapter system, at the suggestion of certain female members of a society known as ((Alpha Sisters of the Eastern Star," with the first meeting as before stated (Alpha No. 1, 28 Dec. 1868). To show how the Order has gained in the Empire State, in 1880 there were 29 chapters, 1,367 members; in 1900, 41 ci>ap ters, 2,448 members, and in 191038 chapters Y and 38,774 members. In New fork State the Order has a home and an infirmary for indigent and sick members, with a hundred thousand dollars as a reserve fund to maintain these institutions.
The Grand Chapters of 23 States are jointly interested with the Masonic bodies in the main tenance of homes, and every State has its auxiliaries of societies engaged in some special line of charity. The object of the Eastern Star is principally social and about on the same lines with Freemasonry. It is a secret order; the degrees are imparted with great care; 'all modern devices are introduced to make the same attractive and effective.