During its first year of existence, the Grand Lodge entered into an agreement with the National Jewelry Company (NJC) of Philadelphia to be the first Official Jeweler of Wimachtendienk. NJC would manufacture First Degree arrow pins and lodge totem pins. These were the only authorized insignia by the Order and pre-date patches.
Richmond Area Council, Richmond, Virginia formed Pamunkey Lodge 3 on November 25th, 1919. Pamunkey Lodge disbanded in the 1920s and lost its charter after not paying dues. In 1945 Richmond Area Council (now known as Heart of Virginia Council) revived the OA. The Council retained its original charter number and became Nawakwa Lodge.
Ranachqua Lodge 4 of The Bronx, New York formed Wimachtendienk’s fourth lodge on August 1, 1920. The lodge was founded by William A. Stumpp, who served as their first lodge chief, a position that he held for mor
e than two decades.
William A. Stumpp was always called “Chief”. Chief Stumpp was a long serving Scout Executive in the Greater New York Councils for The Bronx. He also was Camp Director at Camp Ranachqua, a camp along Kanawaukee Lakes. From that position Chief Stumpp initiated many lodges into Wimachtendienk including founding the Order's fourth lodge, Ranachqua Lodge, in 1920 to serve his own council. Stumpp is credited with starting more lodges than any other Arrowman by spreading the word to the camps around Kanawaukee Lake. Among the lodges Stumpp is credited with starting are Cowaw, Wawonaissa, Pamrapaugh, Chappegat and Shu Shu Gah lodges.
In 1923 Stumpp was elected the third Grand Lodge Scribe. During his term in 1924 he created what is known today as the National Bulletin. On October 31, 1924 Stumpp became the 31st Third Degree (Vigil) honor member. Stumpp’s Vigil name meant “Singing One”. In 1926 Stumpp became the sixth Grand Lodge Chieftain of Wimachtendienk.
While speculation has often been that Stumpp was called “Chief” because he had been a Grand Lodge Chieftain, or long serving Scout Executive or Camp Director, but none of these was the reason. Chief Stumpp was called “Chief” because he was, and always will be, the longest serving lodge chief in the Order’s history. Stumpp became the first chief of Ranachqua Lodge in 1920 when the lodge was formed. That was the custom of the day that the Scout Executive as Supreme Chief of the Fire was often the chief of the lodge. However, long after Scout Executives gave up the position and let other, typically young men, serve as lodge chief, Stumpp continued holding that office. Stumpp finally stepped down as lodge chief of Ranachqua Lodge in 1949 after serving for 29 years. Stumpp was forced to step down after the OA became an official BSA program and adults could no longer serve as lodge officers.
Stumpp was acknowledged for his years of service in 1940 at the National Meeting when he was awarded one of the inaugural 11 Distinguished Service Awards. His certificate recognized Stumpp for his “wise discretion” and “forceful perseverance.”
To the best of our knowledge the Wimachtendienk did not issue membership cards prior to the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1921. However, there is an example of a receipt for dues paid that dates back to 1918-19.
In 1921, the year the Grand Lodge was formed, Unami Lodge issued a beautiful membership card solely for its own members. The card had membership information on the front side and a picture of the lodge that was built on Treasure Island on the reverse. This 1921 membership card is the earliest known local lodge or Grand Lodge issue.
Unami Lodge continued their tradition of issuing their own membership card for many years. Unami was not the only local lodge that maintained their own membership cards throughout the history of the Wimachtendienk/Grand Lodge/National – Order of the Arrow.
Umpah Lodge of Uniontown City Council, Pennsylvania became the Wimachtendienk’s sixth lodge on June 7, 1921. Umpah disbanded in 1925 and formed a non-Wimachtendienk honor society. In 1939 the Order would return to the area with a new name, Wagion Lodge 6.
In August of 1921, Pamrapaugh Lodge of Bayonne, New Jersey formed. Due to a clerical record-keeping error when the lodges were officially and retroactively numbered in 1926, Pamrapaugh Lodge was relegated to lodge number 14 instead of their rightful placement of number, 10.
On September 17, 1921, Wawonaissa Lodge of Fanwood, New Jersey, Central Union Council, became the Order’s eleventh lodge. Due to a clerical error this lodge was given the number ten. In 1922 the council was absorbed into a neighboring council and the lodge disbanded.
The first eleven lodges were considered the “Charter” Lodges of the Wimachtendienk. All other lodges since have been required to submit a request for charter from the Grand Lodge. Wimachtendienk did form at other Scout camps prior to the first Grand Lodge Meeting. The identities of these lodges were unknown to the Charter Lodges. When the first Grand Lodge Meeting was held in October 1921, it was stated that it was attended by 8 of the eleven known lodges.
Those eleven lodges were:
The original name of the OA was not Order of the Arrow. That name would not be accepted as the public name for the Order until later. The Original name selected was Wimachtendienk Wingolauchsik Witahemui or WWW and was known as 'The Wimachtendienk'. In a fascinating tale, the WWW name was not received in camp in time for the first ceremony at Treasure Island. Local Philadelphia Scouter Horace “Shorty” Ralston was given the responsibility of developing a name for the new camp fraternity. Ralston was aware that Goodman and Edson were using Native American themes and decided that the indigenous Lenni Lenape language might be a good source for the name. Ralston located a Lenni Lenape dictionary written by Moravian monks at the Pennsylvania Historical Society. The words he selected were Brotherhood (because it was a fraternity) Cheerful and Service. In the first Unami Constitution they would translate WWW as “A Brotherhood of those who serve cheerfully”.
By the time Ralston had secured a name, summer camp at Treasure Island had already begun. With no telephones at camp in 1915 and insufficient time to mail the name by letter, Ralston decided to transmit the name to Goodman via telegraph. However, when Shorty Ralston attempted to wire the name to Goodman at Frenchtown, New Jersey the telegraph operator called his supervisor over. Together they refused to send the wire.
It seems that the Germanic roots of the Moravian monks combined with the natural diction of the Lenni Lenape language made these three long strange nearly unpronounceable words that start with a “W” appear to be a form of German. With World War I embroiling Europe and the United States being neutral at the time the telegraph company refused to send what seemed to be German code words. It is unknown if the name was known at Treasure Island prior to the conclusion of the 1915 camping season.
One of the enduring mysteries of the early days of the Wimachtendienk is the question of what the very first sashes of our Order looked like. There are two differing written accounts, both from extremely reliable eyewitnesses that were present at the beginning in 1915. Harry Yoder, the first guide and charter member of the Order, wrote circa 1921,
In the early days of the Order the members wore a black sash with a white stripe running lengthwise instead of the white band with the red arrow.
George Chapman’s account is slightly different. Chapman, also a 1915 Charter Member of Wimachtendienk and first youth leader had a different memory. His account in the unpublished work The Arrow and the Vigil (1953) states,
As has been previously mentioned, the officers of Wimachtendienk wore black robes for the induction ceremony. Members wore a black sash with a white arrow on it, very similar to the sash worn today except for the color.
There are no other written accounts of the first sash. Neither founder, nor any other charter member or adult support staff is known to have described the original sash. The 1916 Constitution is also silent on the construction of the sash. There are no known physical examples of a 1915 sash. We likely will never know which account is most accurate and the exact first sash will likely remain a mystery of the Order.
For years and years generations of Arrowmen have swapped and collected OA badges. Over 2,000 new pieces of OA insignia are issued every single year. However, in the beginning it was not patches, it was pins, some as small as a dime that were issued as insignia. Wimachtendienk was started as a fraternity and fraternities frequently use pins, starting with a pledge pin.
Article III – Insignia, in the 1916 Constitution of Wimachtendienk reads,
The tortoise shall be the general insignia of the Order; for the First Degree the insignia shall be the arrow superimposed on the back of the tortoise; for the Second Degree the insignia shall be the triangle superimposed on the back of the tortoise. The pin of the Order shall bear the above insignia; the pledge pin shall be the arrow.
Examples are known of these three pins. They are the original OA insignia which eventually evolved into the OA patches we use today.
