Thomas Wildey was born in London, England, in 1782. He was left an orphan five years later - and the Odd Fellow pledge to "Educate the Orphan" sprang from his personal childhood experiences. At the age of 14, Wildey went to live with an uncle. After he had 9 years of schooling, he became an apprentice to a maker of coach springs. He was initiated into Lodge No. 17, of the Order of Odd-Fellows in the city of London, in which he served in every capacity, from the humblest to the highest office, and was so distinguished for his zeal and diligence as an officer and member as to secure at the early age of twenty-three the substantial approbation of his brethren.
On the 30th day of July, 1817, he bade adieu to his native land and embarked for America; he reached Baltimore on the 2d of September following, and without delay sought and obtained employment. The British were still unpopular in the States because of the War of 1812. In that year Baltimore was suffering both a yellow fever epidemic and mass unemployment. An outgoing personality, Wildey missed companionship. Having formed the acquaintance of Mr. John Welch, a fellow-countryman, who had also been an Odd-Fellow in England, the subject of introducing the order in this country was discussed. Mr. Welch cordially entered into Mr. Wildey's suggestion for the formation of a lodge, and after various Unsuccessful efforts to increase their number, they adopted the expedient of advertising through the public press; accordingly the advertisement was so made in the Baltimore American, in the following words:
“Notice to all Odd-Fellows.--A few members of the society of Odd-Fellows will be glad to meet their brethren for consultation upon the subject of forming a Lodge. The meeting will be held on Friday evening, the 2d of March, 1819.”
This advertisement was continued for one month and failed to assemble a sufficient number to form a lodge. But two persons appeared, who acquiesced in the purpose; one other was required to make up the number necessary, and the advertisement was re-inserted in the same paper on the 27th of March, 1819, which produced the desired effect. On the 13th of April, 1819, Messrs. John Welch, John Duncan, John Cheatham, and Richard Rushworth assembled at the dwelling of Mr. Thomas Wildey, and arranged with him the preliminaries for the formation of a lodge of Odd-Fellows, and on the 26th day of the same month pursuant to previous accord, they assembled in an upper room of the Seven Stars Inn on Fell's Point, and organized the first Odd-Fellows' lodge on this continent. This lodge they called, as an earnest of their respect for their adopted country--being all foreigners--Washington Lodge No. 1. Within ten years from the 26th of April, 1819, Thomas Wildey instituted four lodges in Maryland, organized the Grand Lodge of Maryland and of the United States, and originated the Patriarchal Order: he had extended the institution to Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, in each of which States Grand Lodges had been formed, and out of these Grand Lodges the present Grand Lodge of the United States. In the year 1826, at his own cost, Thomas Wildey made a pilgrimage across the ocean to Manchester, England, the then Mecca of Odd-Fellowship, and arrived in Liverpool on the 17th of June, 1826. The order which he had instituted, although self-created, or organized independently of England, nevertheless obtained the approval of the authorities of the Order in that country, and Washington Lodge No. 1 of Maryland accepted a charter from the Duke of York's Lodge at Preston, Lancaster, bearing date the 1st day of February, 1820. From this lodge the order in America originated; yet in the progress of Odd-Fellowship the English charter had been ignored, and a wholly independent form of government had been substituted. After being greeted with a perfect ovation by the order in England, on the day fixed for his return to his adopted country, Thomas Wildey was surprised by a visit of the grand officers of the order, and after a formal address to him, pronounced by a distinguished brother, he was made the bearer of several memorials of fraternity, which were presented to the Grand Lodge of the United States as a testimony of the interest awakened in that country by the success of Odd-Fellowship in America. Among these memorials was a charter, engrossed upon parchment, from the Grand Master and officers of the order in England, recognizing the Grand Lodge of the United States, and surrendering all claim to jurisdiction in Odd-Fellowship in America. This was the great purpose of Thomas Wildey's ambition, and although it had been the subject of much conversation and deliberation between him and the brethren in England, this was the first intimation of their purpose to comply with his request, and was therefore the more gratifying. On the 26th of April, 1831, the members of Odd-Fellowship now numbering six hundred in Baltimore, dedicated their new hall with the first public procession of the kind in the United States. From this period the order progressed with unparalleled rapidity.
At the time of his death in 1861, there were more than 200,000 members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 42 states.
The Sovereign Grand Lodge has an article about him that can be read by clicking here.