IOOF

Independent Order of Odd Fellows

Type the first or last name of the individual you are searching for in the search bar, then scroll down the list to find the names that match, which will be highlighted in blue. To view all information available about the specific individual, scroll right using the scroll bar at the bottom of the list.

*= dates of buried from C.H. Burden records/(record of death from C.H. Burden Undertaker Records 1890-1953

History:

Odd Fellows started in Columbia in 1854. American Odd Fellowship is regarded as being founded in Baltimore in 1819, by Thomas Wildey, and the following year affiliated with the Manchester Unity. Within a few years the new American separated from the English Orders and formed the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

IOOF Member History: George Nicholas Napoleon (Merchant)

October 12, 1851- Born at Dijon, France. He was the son of Anastasie Georges by her first husband, a Monsieur Bertrand, and his full name thus was originally Georges Nicol Napoleon Bertrand, but the last name was dropped by wife and child after a separation from the husband. Parents were George Napoleon of Paris & Anifticia Georgia of France.

1852- They arrived in San Francisco after a voyage of seven and one half months round the Horn, and came to Columbia shortly after.

1855-Mr. Napoleon was a storyteller. From the lynching of the fancy woman’s man in ’55, Nr. Napoleon’s memory spanned the whole history of the town, and his narration to us filled some seventy-five fascinating hours, with hardly a repetition. Substantial portions of the text are cast in his language; many of its periods were originally punctuated by the shifting of his quid of tobacco, a curving shot over his porch rail, or a bull’s-eye in the coffee can by his stove. He is the source of nearly all material not otherwise credited, including the tales of the French Cook (Chapteri), the Golden Frog (Chapter iii), Madam Louis (Chapter vi), the Fires (Chapter viii), the Trial of Paddy Farley (Chapter xv), the Petition to Make Columbia the Capital (Chapter xiii), the Penance of Pat Shine (Chapter xiv), Women, Plain and Fancy (Chapter xviii), the Lynching of Barlclay (Chapter xix). (from “The Story-Tellers” in Ezra Dane’s GHOST TOWN 1941)

George worked his way through the ranks to become Foreman of Engine Company Number One. He also served on nearly every planning committee for events that took place in Columbia, including the great Centennial Celebration. He became the grand old man whose memory spanned more than 80 years of Columbia’s richest history. (from Then Came The French by Mary Grace Paquette – 1996)

1880-The census shows George N. Napoleon is a 28 Butcher married to Louisa T. Napoleon age 22 with a son George A. Napoleon age 1 and daughter Cora A. Napoleon age 2 months. His wife was a German named Schoettgen. George N. Napoleon worked at her family butcher shop on Main Street during this census.

October 6, 1934- He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on Gold Hill, Columbia.

Picture Gallery of Headstones: (click on a photo to see gallery)