The name is, well, odd. A plausible story is that the organization grew out of the trade guilds in Great Britain. In smaller towns there would not be enough in any one trade to form a lodge so the tradesmen of several trades got together in one lodge, hence the odd fellows. The earliest recorded Oddfellow lodge was in London in 1748 but there are many indications of lodges going back into the 1600s. In 1789 a number of lodges came together in the Grand United Order of Oddfellows, which still exists as the Grand United Order of Oddfellows Friendly Society (GUOOFS)1. This group does not seem to have been in Canada.
Like many of these societies, the Oddfellows had internal dissent resulting in separate organizations. In 1810 an number of lodges separated to form the Independent Order of Oddfellows (Manchester Unity) (MUOOF)2. In 1832 another group of lodges separated to form the Ancient and Noble (Bolton Unity)3 which existed until 1962. Both had lodges in Ontario. A number of other splinters occurred in the 1830s.
The first Oddfellow lodge in the United States began in 1819 in Baltimore, affiliated with Manchester Unity. The American group separated in 1830s, forming the Independent Order of Oddfellows (IOOF)4 which is still in Ontario5.
About 1830 a group of African-Americans in New York created the Philomathean Literary and Debating Society. In 1843 they affiliated with an Grand United Order Oddfellow lodge in Liverpool, England becoming Philomathean Lodge 646, Grand United Order of Oddfellows. This was the beginning of the Grand United Order of Oddfellows of America6. They have lodges in Canada, once had one in Toronto (#11994 Pride of Toronto, established 1879 Apr 29) and apparently had one in Windsor in 1896. Also in 1843 the Philomathean Lodge admitted women, resulting in the creation of the Household of Ruth7 in 1858.
The first Ontario Oddfellow lodge was formed on 1845 Jun 17 in Belleville.
From all of this, the following Oddfellow organizations had lodges in Ontario:
Canadian Order of Oddfellows (COOF)
The founding date of the Canadian Order is unknown but a book of general laws for the
Order is dated 1852 and is online8. The book calls the group the “Canadian
Order of Odd Fellows in connexion with the Manchester Unity”. It's head office was in
Toronto in 1935. The Order no longer exists.
Click for a list of COOF Lodges etc in Ontario
Order of Oddfellows, Bolton Unity
This is probably related to the Ancient and Noble. There was a lodge in Toronto in 1868.
Grand United Order of Oddfellows of America
Independent Order of Oddfellows (IOOF)
(records for the Grand Lodge of Ontario are in AO9)
The Ontario unit incorporated on 1893 Jun 2210.
There have been at various times three to five degrees offered in the lodge. There are three
superior degrees offered in Encampments which in Ontario report to the Grand Encampment of
Ontario11. The website includes a list of the Encampments.
There is a women’s group, started in 1851, the International Association of Rebekah Assemblies,
or the Daughters of Rebeccah, or simply the Rebeccahs, originally for the related ladies
of an IOOF Scarlett member but now (since 1894) open to anyone, male or female, but restricted
to whites until 1972. The local unit is called a lodge. The Theta Rho clubs are for young
females, generally aged 8 to 18 although that varies by jurisdiction.
The Ancient Mystic Order of Samaritans12 (AMOS)is the Oddfellow “fun” group,
established in 1924 in the USA when a number of Oddfellow fun groups consolidated. The local
unit is called a Sanctorum. The abbreviation OOH&P is also associated with this group but I
don't know what it stands for.
Click for a list of IOOF Lodges etc in Ontario
Click for a list of IOOF Districts in Ontario
Click for a list of IOOF Encampments in Ontario
Click for a list of IOOF Cantons in Ontario
Click for a list of Rebeccah Lodges in Ontario
Click for a list of Rebeccah Districts in Ontario
Click for a list of AMOS Sanctoriums in Ontario
Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity (MUOOF)
Click for a list of MUOOF Lodges etc in Ontario
Catholic Order of Oddfellows
There was a lodge (St Alphonsus) in Windsor in 1893.
References:
(1) www.guoofs.com
(2) www.oddfellows.co.uk
(3)Smith, Charles – Centenary History of the Ancient Noble Order of
United Oddfellows, Bolton Unity, 1832-1932
(4) www.ioof.org/
(5) http://grandlodgeofontario.ioof.net/
(6) www.guoofamerica.com
(7) www.guoofamerica.com/oddfellows_natl/Household_Of_Ruth.html
(8) https://archive.org/details/cihm_34333
(9 )http://ao.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/PROV/PROV/REFD+F+792?SESSIONSEARCH
(10) Archives of Ontario, RG 55-8, box 3, file 175, which contains insurance rules
(11) http://ge.ioof.net/index.htm
(12) Axelrod p221