This pretty little needlebook with a sentimental
drawing of a mother and child on the cover would have been an attractive addition
to the sewing basket of a home seamstress.
The mother’s clothing is typical of the late 1920s which is consistent
with the 1927 financial data presented inside the needlebook.
 |
| Front |
The Brotherhood of American Yeomen
was founded in 1897 in Iowa as a fraternal organization and was headquartered
in Des Moines, Iowa with local “Homesteads” established across the United
States. The Brotherhood admitted both
men and women and provided death and disability insurance to member as well as
social opportunities and a fraternal structure with rituals based on Walter
Scott’s Ivanhoe. The Brotherhood was reorganized
in 1917 to resolve issues of insolvency in their insurance products and
reorganized as the Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1932.
The advertising inside emphasizes the
solvency of the company and the protection provided by the financial position
of the organization. In the context of financial
challenges in the late 1910’s this was likely designed to reassure policy
holders that they were purchasing insurance from a financially strong entity.
In a
world where illness, disability and death were much more common than
today, in 1926, the Brotherhood of American Yeomen established the City of
Childhood orphanage for the care of
members’ children ensuring that members children would be well cared for and
educated because of their parents’ foresight in purchasing insurance.
 |
| Inside |
The orphanage was envisioned “not as
an institution but as a home where orphans shall live and learn, play and grow,
and later become men and women leaders of a nation.” The City of Childhood grounds
and farm covered 680 acres and provided a “cottage-plan and home-like environment, education, moral and manual
training for dependent orphans of Yeomen.” In 1930, about 50 children lived in
the orphanage. The orphanage closed in the
early 1940s following some financial irregularities.
 |
| Back |
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6. "Brotherhood of American Yeomen." The Manual of Policies and Rates: Plans, Rates, Applications and Policy Forms of Leading Stipulated Premium Companies, Assessment Associations and Fraternal Orders. Eleventh Annual ed. New York: Spectator, 1903. 62-63. Google Books. Web. 16 Nov. 2017. https://books.google.com/books?id=QMtMAAAAYAAJ .
7. Edwards, Alba M., and Mary W. Dillenback. "Table 44: Children Under Care in Individual Institutions Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 1933, Number Received and Discharged During the Year, with Sex, Age, and Color Limitations, by States." Children under Institutional Care and in Foster Homes, 1933: Dependent and Neglected Children under the Care of Public and Private Institutions or Agencies, Not including Juvenile Delinquents. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1935. 74. Web. https://books.google.com/books?id=rnQGAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA74 .
8. Preuss, Arthur. “Brotherhood of American Yeomen.” A Dictionary of Secret and Other Societies: Comprising Masonic Rites, Lodges, and Clubs; Concordant, Clandestine, and Spurious Masonic Bodies; Non-Masonic Organizations to Which Only Freemasons Are Admitted; Mystical and Occult Societies; Fraternal, Benevolent and Beneficiary Societies; Political, Patriotic, and Civic Brotherhoods; Greek Letter Fraternities and Sororities; Military and Ancestral Orders; Revolutionary Brotherhoods, and Many Other Organizations. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book, 1924. 74-75. Internet Archive. 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 16 Nov. 2017. https://archive.org/details/PreussPDF .
9. Sauder, Erin. "Decorative Duck Decoys on Display in West Dundee." Elgin [IL] Courier-News. N.p., 02 Mar. 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2017. http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/elgin-courier-news/lifestyles/ct-ecn-dundee-duck-decoy-st-0303-20150302-story.html .
10. "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XSB9-29V : accessed 12 October 2017), Yeoman City of Childhood, Dundee, Kane, Illinois, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 50, sheet 4B and 5A, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 524; FHL microfilm 2,340,259.