Amanuensis Monday: Selig Feinstein and the Progressive Order of the West - Unity Lodge 104

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

I continue my project to transcribe family letters, journals, newspaper articles, audiotapes, and other historical artifacts. Not only do the documents contain genealogical information, the words breathe life into kin - some I never met - others I see a time in their life before I knew them.

Today I’m sharing lists of names of delegates to several annual conventions of the Progressive Order of the West - a Jewish fraternal organization that was founded in 1896 and headquartered in St. Louis Missouri. My maternal great grandfather, Samuel Deutsch, was buried in the Progressive Order of the West section of Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago in 1938. I knew my second great grandfather, Selig Feinstein, was a member of a fraternal order from his son's wedding announcement,  however I didn't know which ones, until finding his name in these lists. While there may have been multiple lodges in the St. Louis area, since I don't know the locations for all of the lodges, I am going to focus on just the lodge Selig was a member of: Unity, 104.

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Progressive Order of the West 7th Annual Convention Delegates

The Jewish Voice, Jan 24, 1902, page 3

Unity, 104

A. Rosentreter, Dr. M.I. DeVorkin, H. Elbert, Jos. Lehr, S. Feinstein, H. German, H. Maizner

Progressive Order of the West 9th Annual Convention Delegates

The Jewish Voice, Jan 29, 1904, page 6.

"Unity" 104

Delegates:

Dr. M.I. DeVarkin

Rev. A. Rosentreter

H. Elbert

J. Lehr

S. Feinstein

M. Zuckerman

A. German

J. Becker

H. Bearken

W. Schwartz

M. Pearl

M. Laski

A. Kristel

Alternates:

M. Weiselman

D. Roodman

H. Hirsch

L. Roodman

S. Cohen

I. Reifler

S. Honeck

A. Rosenfeld

W. Grassblatt

J. Davis

G. Elbert

I. Rosen

J. Sheffer

Grand Lodge Officers - 1913

The Jewish Voice, July 25, 1913, page 8

Following is the list of Grand Lodge Officers for the past term: 

B. Frank, Grand Master. 

H. L. Brody, 1st Deputy Grand Master. 

Abe Levy, 2nd Deputy Grand Master. 

J. Zuckerman, 3rd Deputy Grand Mas. 

N. Koffman, 4th, Deputy Grand Mas. 

Michael Sack, 5th Deputy Grand Mas. 

Morris Shapiro, Grand Secretary. 

Jacob Lasky, Grand Treasurer. 

Sam Kranzberg, Beneficiary Treas. 

Ben. E. Cohen, Grand Counsellor. 

Dr. M. I. DeVorkin. Grand Med. Ex. 

Chas. Schneider, Grand Chaplain. 

D. Reichman, Beneficiary Chairman. 

Adolph Cohen, Chairman of Finance. 

Harry Specter, Committee on Finance. 

Mike Novack, Committee on Finance. 

Ed. Lasky, Chairman on Supplies. 

Max Levy, Chairman of Appeals. 

M. Rubin, Chairman on Reserve Fund. 

Chas. I. Mahler, Chair. State of Order. 

B. Stein, Chairman on Propaganda. 

M. Lowenstine, Chairman of Rituals. 

Philip Fishman, Chair on Disability. 

S. Goldman, First Trustee. 

S. Feinstein, Second Trustee. 

J. Guttmann, Third Trustee. 

J. Jacobson, Grand Sentry.

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Notes

The above indicates my second great grandfather was at least a member from 1902-1913. Selig died in 1915, and was likely a member at his death. M(ax) Weiselman, who was an alternate delegate in 1904, was Selig's business partner. Max was from Zhitomir, Volhynia, and I know the Feinsteins were from Volhynia as well. I do not know if the Weiselmans and Feinsteins knew each other in the Old Country.