Catholic Foresters history

In 1888 COF received a charter to open a court in Canada.

Their first meeting was held on May 1, 1891.

In 1896 a graded-assessment system was adopted: each Forester was assessed a fixed monthly payment (determined by his age at the time of entry) that would remain the same throughout his lifetime.

Joliet Court 634, Catholic Order of Foresters (COF), was organized here in Newmarket during the year 1897 by twelve charter members and on October 21st of the same year, it received a charter from the home office in Chicago, Ill.

To maintain the Order's financial stability, a reserve fund was established in 1899.

In 1916, due to increasing membership, the group purchased the old Unitarian Stone Church from the Catholic Church.

And, although no provision had been made for payment of insurance if death occurred because of war or any related incident, during the last three months of 1918 COF paid out $1.1 million in death claims, an amount that included $354,250 of war claims.

Catholic Order of Foresters continued its phenomenal growth: membership peaked at 163,248 in 1921.

In 1922, however, at the insistence of the Illinois Insurance Department, delegates to a special COF session voted to upgrade insurance rates in order to keep the society financially sound.

By year-end 1923, COF membership was down to 127,461.

At its golden anniversary in 1933, Catholic Order of Foresters had 135,000 members in courts located in 28 states and in all the provinces of Canada.

Completing a Centenary of Fraternalism: 1934-83

By November 1945 a total of $10.55 million in Victory Bonds had been purchased by the COF High Court, its employees, and other COF members.

An amendment to the COF Constitution in 1952 gave the Foresters a new look: membership was opened to women and girls.

Furthermore, in 1964 Canada made a radical revision of its tax laws, removed all tax exemptions from fraternal organizations, subjected them to income taxes and to the rates applicable to for-profit insurance corporations.

At the Diamond Jubilee Convention, held at the Denver Hilton Hotel in August 1966, the Articles of Incorporation were amended to change the Women’s Catholic Order of Foresters (WCOF) to National Catholic Society of Foresters (NCSF).

Attrition continued steadily; by 1973 total Canadian membership had fallen to 3,118.

In 1981 the Order accepted an offer for its property (now worth 4 1/2 times book value), stipulated right of occupancy for a flexible period not to exceed four years, and began to look for a new location.