Cleveland
Manx Society

Currently we are experiencing difficulties contacting the Cleveland Manx Society. Efforts are being made to rectify the situation.

Should enough local interest be generated from our recent membership drive we will consider launching a new society while we try to reestablish contact with the original group.

As you can see from the information below, Cleveland is very important to the history of the North American Manx Association and we would love to see the Society rise again and flourish in the future. 

The CLEVELAND MANX SOCIETY was organized from Mona’s Relief Society and Mona’s Mutual Benefit Society, which provided assistance to immigrants from the Isle of Man, Mona once being the name of the Isle of Man. Mona’s Relief Society was organized by 21 Manx settlers in 1851, 25 years after the first Manxmen arrived in Cleveland, for “the mutual improvement of its members, and the charitable relief of” Manxmen in need. It was supplemented 4 years later by Mona’s Mutual Benefit Society, a fraternal insurance society charging monthly dues and providing sick and death benefits. In 1935 the Benefit Society had 200 members.

Between 1876-86, Mona’s Relief Society had 268 relief applicants and paid $1,745. The society bought a burial lot in WOODLAND CEMETERY, burying 60 there until 1911, when it bought a larger lot at Highland Park Cemetery. Mona’s Relief Society became a major social and cultural institution in the Manx community. In 1853 it began annual Manx festivals, and in 1880 initiated an annual picnic; both raised funds for relief work. By 1886 the society had 65 members; it began a debating club for young people in the late 19th century. In 1899 an endowment fund was created and the Ladies’ Auxiliary was established; its quilting and sewing meetings provided a more regular income for the society’s relief work. The society supported “the First Great Manx Homecoming,” a visit to the homeland, in 1927. By the mid-1970s, Mona’s Relief Society was known as the Cleveland Manx Society, and had 133 members.

More information can be found on the early history of the society on Manx Notebook

For guidance on family history research, experts are available at many LDS church Family History Centers across the country.

Contact

If you are interested in getting involved in a Cleveland Society, please contact Brad, a past-president of the North American Association and Board member who is working to re-establish the Cleveland Society.

Brad Prendergast
brad@lawyerbrad.com