Justus Henry Rathbone was the founder of the international fraternal order of the Knights of Pythias

Knights of Pythias

The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded at Washington, DC, on 19 February 1864.The Knights of Pythias was the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded by Justus H. Rathbone, who had been...

. He graduated from Colgate University

Colgate University

Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...

 and attended Carlisle Seminary. He was a music composer and actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. In 1863 he moved to Washington D.C. as a government clerk in the United States Treasury Department, where he founded the Knights of Pythias on February 19, 1864. Rathbone wrote the ritual for the Knights of Pythias which is based on the mythological friendship of Damon and Pythias, while he was a school teacher at the Eagle Harbor Schoolhouse

Eagle Harbor Schoolhouse

The Eagle Harbor Schoolhouse is a school located at the corner of Third and Center streets in Eagle Harbor, Michigan, United States, and is significant as the location where Justus H. Rathbone was first inspired to write the ritual which was the basis of the Order of the Knights of Pythias...

, in Eagle Harbor, Michigan.

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