by Ron Romano

While poking around Dunstan Cemetery recently I noticed that Millard Whitten’s grave has a small metal decorative stake featuring an eagle and some unfamiliar letters. Its banner reads “IMP’D  O.R.M.,” and the shield reads “T.O.T.E.” Searching online I quickly learned what those letters meant. Millard was a member of a fraternal organization known as the Improved Order of Red Men. Members of the I.O.R.M. had a secret password, TOTE (for “Totem of the Eagles”), though the secret seems to be out since it was prominently shown at his grave!

During Millard’s life (1869-1925) hundreds of fraternal organizations existed. Quite popular in Maine were the Masons, the Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias, each serving as social and charitable groups. They limited their membership to white men—from the middle and upper classes—though a few offered women membership in auxiliary groups. Each had its own rules and practices, uniforms and regalia, mottos and symbols, and initials. Symbols and initials were used on flags and printed materials, but also occasionally adorned members’ gravestones. We find them carved onto the stone itself or, as with Millard, on small decorative stakes.

The Masons’ mark features a compass and square, often with the letter “G” (for geometry, “the noblest of sciences”). The Independent Order of Odd Fellows’ symbol has three chain links with the letters “F L T” for “Friendship – Love – Truth.” The Knights of Pythias symbol is more complex, consisting of a knight, shield, bird of prey, weapons, and the letters “F B C” for “Friendship – Benevolence – Charity.”

Millard’s obituary noted him as “prominently affiliated with the Shawakotok Tribe of the I.O.R.M.” The national fraternity claimed to have rituals and practices modeled after Native Americans (thus the local tribes) and was established when Native people were commonly referred to using terms no longer considered acceptable. The local fraternity likely altered the name of the Native village Sowocatuck (present day Biddeford-Saco) for its own tribe name.

Millions joined fraternal organizations in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but they fell out of favor by the mid-1900s. The few that remain today struggle to attract members.

Millard Whitten was a lifelong resident of Saco. He died at age 56 exactly one hundred years ago this month. He was a machinist and later a driver for the Diamond Match Company in Biddeford. He outlived two wives and two of four children. His marriage to Olivia Thurston in 1898 brought daughters Victoria in 1900 and Ida in 1902. Two months after Ida’s birth Olivia died, and one year later 3-year-old Victoria died. Millard married Clara Moore in 1904. Their daughter Eva lived only one day in 1906. Their son Everett was born in 1908. When Clara died in 1918, she left Millard behind to care for his two surviving children, Ida (then 16) and Everett (age 10).

As you poke around your favorite cemetery, you may find the “G,” “F L T,” and “F B C” of the more common fraternal organizations; but also look for less common letters and symbols to learn a bit more about the person buried below.

Ron Romano is a local cemetery historian and author of four gravestone- and cemetery-themed books. He designs tours of historic cemeteries in Maine (including Black Point and Dunstan) and is a frequent lecturer on the subjects of Maine’s old cemeteries, historic markers, and gravestone carvers. He can be reached at roroman@maine.rr.com.