Sons of Hermann

The Order of the Sons of Hermann, also known as Hermann Sons and by its German name as Der Orden der Hermann's Soehne or Hermannssöhne, is a mutual aid society for German immigrants that was formed in New York City on July 20, 1840. The order provides low-cost insurance and mutual aid and has historically promoted the preservation of German language and traditions.

The Sons of Hermann was formed by Dr. Philip Merkel, George Heiner, John Blatz, A. Auer, R. Schwendel, W. Kohler, and Philipp Germann on the Lower East Side, in response to anti-German sentiment during a period of heavy German immigration to the United States. One account, published in the St. Paul Morning Call in 1896, is that the order was founded after the funeral procession for a German was hindered and the mourners insulted by nativists, prompting protest meetings of German Americans, at one of which a speaker said another Hermann (Arminius) was needed to protect the Germans from their enemies. It was an offshoot of the Odd Fellows. By 1848 the organization had grown to six groups with 800 members, and on December 25, 1848, a national grand lodge was formed in Milwaukee. Hundreds of lodges were organized during the nineteenth century; by 1895 there were about 30,000 members, and in 1896 there were Grand Lodges in California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington in addition to New York, as well as scattered members in 15 other states with a total membership of 90,000. A German-language account ten years after that mentions affiliates in Canada and in Germany itself. However, like all things German, the order declined sharply in popularity with the outbreak of World War I.

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