Brotherhood of American Yeoman (B.A.Y.)

BROTHERHOOD OF AMERICAN YEOMAN (B.A.Y.) -  A fraternal insurance society founded in 1897.   Membership was open to both men and women. Membership stood at 26,203 in 1908 and 43,212 in 1917.   In 1923 it had 208,782 benefit members and 7,607 social members 3,191 lodges or "Homesteads".  The Juvenile Department had 5,607 members.  The B.A.Y was spread across the United States and into parts of Canada.  The supreme office was known as the "Castle".   Officers included the "Grand Foreman", "Grand Master", "Chief Correspondent" and "Grand Master of Accounts."   The highest governing body was the "Supreme Conclave."  They published a periodical called the The Yeoman Shield and followed rituals based on Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.  It also stated that chivalry and yeomanry were synonymous and that the English language and the Magna Carta were the two most important accomplishments of man.   It became the American Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1932.