Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Pythian Sisters, Loyalist Temple No. 13
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
Local branch organized in 1920
History
The Pythian Sisters were founded in 1904 as an auxiliary order of the Knights of Pythias. The Knights are a non-sectarian and non-racist fraternal organization founded in Washington, D.C., in 1864.
During the fall and the winter of 1920-1921 a group of ladies from Saint John, New Brunswick, headed by Bessie Green and Edith Watters started the proceedings to establish a Pythian Sisters temple. In 1921 a charter was granted and 166 sisters joined (wives, mothers, sisters of Knights of Pythias). The organization was to promote the "moral, mental, social and physical elevation of the members; cultivating a spirit of fraternal love which would permeate and control their daily lives, ministering to the wants of the sick and needy, and daily exemplifying in every possible way, the Golden Rule". (History of the Loyalist Temple by Marjorie Hazen, 1981, page 2).
The Pythian Sisters assisted needy families and gave to charitable organizations such as the Protestant Orphanage. To raise funds they had dinners, teas, rummage sales and sold tickets on crafts.