Constitution of the Washington Benevolent Society of the Towns of Mayfield and Broadalbin, and County of Montgomery, Instituted 14th March, 1811 [WITH] Washington's Farewell Address, to the People of the United States. Published for the Washington Benevolent Society
- Albany: Balance Press, 1811
Albany: Balance Press, 1811. Good. Albany: Printed at the Balance Press, No. 30 State-Street, 1811. 12mo (15.5cm.); original sheep over paper-covered scale boards; 8, 36pp.; engraved portrait frontispiece of George Washington commissioned for the Society. Binding quite worn with most of paper covering scale boards perished, shallow losses across top edge of upper cover and bottom edge of rear cover, crude tape repair to the latter, dark damp staining affecting first four leaves, including frontispiece and certificate; a Good copy overall of this unrecorded local chapter.
Frontispiece followed by a certificate accomplished in manuscript certifying that "[Caleb Ackely] has been regularly admitted a Member of the 'Washington Benevolent Society of the Towns of Mayfield, Broadalbin, and County of Montgomery.'" The certificate is also signed by Peter Thomson, Secretary, and James Lord, President.
Chapters of the Federalist Party fraternal club the Washington Benevolent Society first starting appearing in 1808. As David Hackett Fischer describes it, "[A] group of young men in New York City decided to found a fraternal order which would combine the mummery of the Tammany Societies, the benevolent activities of the Hibernian Provident Society, the partisan enthusiasm of the Young Federalists, and the filiopietism of the Washington Society of Alexandria."
Evidently this wild concoction worked and local branches of the Society spread throughout New York, New England, and westward to Pennsylvania and Ohio. One Republican complained that these societies were "sprouting up like mushrooms in the shade." At least 208 such societies have been accounted for, though Fischer surmises that there were many more.
This variant of a local Montgomery County chapter for the towns of Mayfield and Broadalbin not separately catalogued in OCLC as of June, 2025.
Reference: David Hackett Fischer, "The Revolution of American Conservatism" (1965), pp. 115-6.
Frontispiece followed by a certificate accomplished in manuscript certifying that "[Caleb Ackely] has been regularly admitted a Member of the 'Washington Benevolent Society of the Towns of Mayfield, Broadalbin, and County of Montgomery.'" The certificate is also signed by Peter Thomson, Secretary, and James Lord, President.
Chapters of the Federalist Party fraternal club the Washington Benevolent Society first starting appearing in 1808. As David Hackett Fischer describes it, "[A] group of young men in New York City decided to found a fraternal order which would combine the mummery of the Tammany Societies, the benevolent activities of the Hibernian Provident Society, the partisan enthusiasm of the Young Federalists, and the filiopietism of the Washington Society of Alexandria."
Evidently this wild concoction worked and local branches of the Society spread throughout New York, New England, and westward to Pennsylvania and Ohio. One Republican complained that these societies were "sprouting up like mushrooms in the shade." At least 208 such societies have been accounted for, though Fischer surmises that there were many more.
This variant of a local Montgomery County chapter for the towns of Mayfield and Broadalbin not separately catalogued in OCLC as of June, 2025.
Reference: David Hackett Fischer, "The Revolution of American Conservatism" (1965), pp. 115-6.