<P> Five years later came the locomotive firemen's turn to establish a fraternal benefits society of their own . This organization, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (B of LF) was founded on December 1, 1873 in Port Jervis, New York by Joshua A. Leach and 10 other Erie Railroad firemen . These men had recently been forced to pass on the news of the fatal accident in a wreck of fellow fireman George Page to his grieving widow the previous month and decided to establish a mutual benefit society for those employed in the locomotive firemen's trade . Other lodges soon followed; within a year there were a dozen functioning local groups scattered about the states of New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana . These met in convention in 1874 and adopted a first constitution for the organization and established a subsidiary institution called the "Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen's Life Insurance Association of the United States . </P> <P> Indeed, the main practical purpose of the organization was its utility as a mutual insurance association, with each member to receive death benefit coverage of 50 cents per member up to a maximum of $1,000 for loss of life on the job . A second optional fund provided for disability benefits . In 1881 the death benefit was pegged at a fixed level of $1,000 in 1883, with no more than 3 settlements per month to be paid, with premiums set at 50 cents per month per member . Total disability through loss of an arm, leg, or eyesight on the job was to be treated the same as loss of life under the revised system . </P> <P> In 1884 benefits were expanded, with the death benefit raised to $1,500 . By February 1889 a total of $1.35 million had been paid out in benefits by the B of LF . A total of 18,000 locomotive firemen were members of the organization at that date . </P> <P> As a general rule in the B of LF and the other similar railroad brotherhoods death and permanent disability benefits were administered by the national organization, while local lodges handled sickness and accident insurance through a separate fund, raised and disbursed independently of the national organization . During the decade of the 1880s, such a local assessment might amount to 50 cents per member per month . Local units also saw to the emotional support of ill or injured members, with committees visiting the bedridden and attempting to provide personal solace to family members . </P>

Ladies society of the brotherhood of locomotive firemen and enginemen