A lawsuit by Catherine Boening provides valuable insights into her son George’s life and work.
Legal cases can provide a wealth of information, both about an ancestor and their place in time.
George Boening, son of Catherine Heinz and Johann Philip Boening, was just 20 years old in 1904 when he became seriously ill. At some point during his short work career that started as an elevator boy (1900) and progressed to machinist (1903),1 George became a member of the American Fraternal League, one of the 300+ fraternal organizations in the US at the turn of the century. The year George fell ill the League was absorbed by a larger fraternity, the North American Union, which had more than 6,000 members in Cook County at the time2.
A Golden Age of Fraternalism
The last decades of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th were a period of rapid growth for fraternal organizations in the United States, often referred to as a “Golden Age of Fraternalism”. At one point it was estimated 40% of men in the US were members of one. A primary function of fraternities was social, offering mutual aid and camaraderie. But a crucial benefit they offered for working class families was a death (and sometimes sickness) benefit.
In 1919, the Illinois Insurance Commission surveyed 2,700 working families, and reported 82% of Chicago families carried life insurance, 39% through fraternal organizations.3
George’s death and Catherine’s Lawsuit
This background provides important insights into the Boening family’s circumstances, and the importance of George’s membership with the fraternal organization and associated life insurance policy. George’s widowed mother was renting their residence, and George lived at home with her. While sick, George’s brother paid the two month’s dues, and the NAU sent a postcard to George informing him he was reinstated. A few days later, George succumbed to pneumonia.
The NAU denied Catherine’s claim against George’s $1,000 insurance policy, Catherine sued, and won, with the IL Appellate Court sustaining the judgement with interest. The case was written up in the May, 1910 Reports of Cases Determined in the Appellate Courts of Illinois, Vol. 155.
Resources | Fraternal Organizations in Illinois
Beyond the organizations themselves, look to newspapers, city directories, local historical archives, as well as court records for information about specific organizations. Cyndi’s List has a well-developed section on fraternal organizations as well.
- 1900 United States Census, Chicago, Cook County, ED 469, sheet no. 1A, dwelling no. 1, family no. 2, George Boening; imaged in “United States, Census, 1900”, IGN 004113723, Item 1, FamilySearch, (FamilySearch.org : viewed 21 Sep 2025).
Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago 1903 (Chicago: Chicago Directory Co., 1903), 308, “Boening Carl G, machinist”, living at the same address as his mother, listed as “Boening Katherine wid Philip”; imaged, “US City Directories for Chicago, Illinois, 1843-1916”, database with images, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com : viewed 4 October 2025), image 308. ↩︎ - “North American Union Jaunt”, article, Chicago Tribune, 30 Jul 1899, p. 8, col. 3. ↩︎
- Beito, David T, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State : Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967 (Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, 2000). ↩︎
