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The Order of Owls is a secret fraternal order founded in 1904 in South Bend, Indiana, USA, by John W. Talbot. According to its literature, the purposes of the society is "to assist each other in business, to help each other in obtaining employment, to assist the widows and orphans of our brothers, to give aid to our brother in any way that they may need, and assemble for mutual pleasure and entertainment." Its "catechism" said "Owls do good, speak kindly, shake hands warmly, and respect and honor their women".
The order originated among a group of men who engaged in different businesses and periodically met for mutual assistance. This group included John W. Talbot, Joseph E. Talbot, George D. Beroth, J. Lott Losey, John J.Johnson, John D. Burke, William Weaver and Frank Dunbar. They got around to discussing the teachings and methods of different fraternal orders and decided to create a new one, named after the owl. After several months of planning by "the best constitutional lawyers in the Middle West", the constitution was adopted and the order was founded at the law offices of Talbot and Talbot on Nov. 20, 1904 in South Bend, Indiana.
The local units of the Order are called "Nests" and include officers such an "Invocator" who served as chaplain. The central organization was evidently the "Home Nest" in the early twentieth century, but it was reportedly called the "Supreme Nest" in 1979. The head of the organization was the Supreme President.
The headquarters are called the "Supreme Offices" as late as the 1920s, but had moved to Hartford, Connecticut by the 1930s.
Membership was open to men regardless of their religion. At least as late as 1979, though, membership was limited to white males.
The Order of Owls worked four degrees and had a secret ritual, signs, grips and passwords. The initiate was required to recite a lengthy obligation, before he could join the order. An Owls circular in the early 1920s stated that "We have a beautiful ritual, but no religious observances. Nothing in the ritual is offensive to any man's religion or irreligion."
In 1912, it was reported that the Owls' motto, penned by Frank Dunbar at the initial 1904 meeting, was:
There's so much bad in the best of us
And so much good in the worst of us
It hardly behooves any of us
To speak ill of the rest of us.
The same article goes on to state:
The Owls in their mottoes have gone the Hoo-Hoos one better in the rescue of a good old but sadly abused Latin derivative. Out of deference to non-members we will use the customary dash in the one quoted, which is offered in evidence of fact that the Owls, while going about in a serious way to sandpaper the splinters of the helter-skelter of life, are firm believers in the play spirit. The motto is DON'T TAKE YOURSELVES TOO — SERIOUSLY.
A group called the "Afro-American Order of Owls" was founded in Maryland in 1911. They were sued by the Order of the Owls over the use of the name. In 1914 the Maryland Court of Appeals issued a split decision allowing the Afro-American Order of Owls to continue using the name, but not the initials "A.A.O.O.O." symbol, as it was too close to the white organizations "O.O.O." symbol.
On August 9, 1912, the Grand Rapids "Local Nest" seceded to form the Order of Ancient Oaks, saying, "The Order of Owls is governed by one John W. Talbot and four associates, at South Bend, Ind. who run things to suit themselves and give no account of the moneys received. The Order has no legal standing anywhere in the U.S. and is careless in admitting new members." This had all come out in an investigation by the Grand Rapids Nest and several other dissatisfied Nests. According to the Grand Rapids Herald the Owls had suffered no less than 40 secessions, the revolters taking various names. On May 27, 1921, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that 200 members had left the Order of the Owls to form the Supreme Order of the White Rabbits. Lodges of the White Rabbits were located in Missouri, Kansas, Illinois and Ohio.
A Loyal American League was founded circa 1912 in Des Moines, Iowa by William. B. Jarvis, a former organizer of the Owls to "combat Puritan intolerance." The group didn't seem to last long.
In 1921, Supreme President John W. Talbot was convicted under the Mann Act.[29][30] He was sentenced to five years in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary and a $5,000 fine.[31] This was his second offense.
Some supposed Nests operated into the early 21st century in such places as Duluth, Minnesota, Perkasie, Pennsylvania and Parkersburg, West Virginia. One alleged Nest in Baltimore, Maryland was raided in 2005 as "an illegal poker tournament."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Owls#:~:text=The%20Order%20o....