The United Society of the Brotherhood (Fraternity) of Italians was first established in Philadelphia in 1867 when the Italian population was relatively small in Pennsylvania and in the United States.
The fraternity served as an Italian-American mutual aid society and was unique as it did not confine membership to particular regions of Italy. It welcomed Italians from all sections of Italy to join and participate in its events.
During the first decades of the 20th century, two chapters of the fraternity were active in Clearfield County; one was in Osceola Mills and one was in Janesville in Gulich Township.
Both groups cooperated with each other and held their annual picnic at McDonald’s Spring in Allemansville, Gulich Township, on Aug. 15, the Roman Catholic Holy Day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The local chapters waned by the 1950’s, although the former meeting hall still stood in Janesville until its demolition in the 1990’s.
Submitted by Julie Ruggiero Houston and David Wulderk, Clearfield County Historical Society board members and descendants of founding members of the Osceola Mills and Janesville chapters