The Board of Aldermen served in a capacity similar to that of the present-day city councilmen. In volume 2 there are meeting minutes for the Nacogdoches Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria.  This order was educational as well as benevolent in its objectives. It was organized in New York in 1847 and soon had Lodges in nearly all the states and in England. A total abstinence society, its chief aim was "to aid in the work of rescuing people from the temptation to use strong drink." As evidenced in the Minutes, some of the members failed to keep their pledge of total abstinence.