Knights of Honor

The Knights of Honor (K. of H.), a fraternal organization, was founded in 1873. Its principles differ little from those of other beneficent societies, the objects being to care for the sick and pay certain sums to the heirs of deceased members. Some lodges paid sick benefits from the local treasury, but all death benefits are paid by the Supreme Lodge, which was headquartered in St. Louis. The Knights of Honor also held to the theory that true charity should not be confined to any society or creed, and during the yellow fever epidemics in the 1870s and 1880s, large sums of money were disbursed by the agents of the order to sufferers outside of the organization.

The first lodge in Kansas was instituted at Winfield, Cowley County, February 20, 1877. The following September, the grand lodge was instituted at Winfield, with W. G. Graham as grand dictator. Two years later, at the annual meeting in June, 1879, the grand dictator announced that there were then 43 lodges in the state, with a total membership of about 1,200. Sixteen of these lodges had been organized within the preceding year, and during the same period the membership had nearly doubled. After a few years there came a lull in the growth, and finally the order actually declined. On January 1, 1910, there were only 1,234 subordinate lodges in the United States, with a membership of 21,603. Up to that time the order had disbursed $94,945,399 in benefits.