Photo from pythias.org On August 8, 1999, members of the Supreme Council of the Order of Knights of Pythias, led by Supreme Chancellor Stephen Vickness, gathered at the Rathbone Memorial in New Forest Cemetery in Utica, New York, to rededicate the monument.

Quick Bio

Justus Henry Rathbone grew up in Utica.

On Aug. 11, 1862 Rathbone married Emma Louise Sanger and they had five children, but only two lived to maturity.

On Feb. 19 1864, he founded the first order of the Knights of Pythias in Washington D.C.

There are now orders all over the world and the organization is still going stong.

The Knights of Pythias is an international non-sectarian fraternal order based on the trinity of friendship, charity and benevolence.

Rathbone died on Dec. 9 1889 and is buried in Utica's New Forest cemetary.

-Profile by Jennifer L. Blanchard

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