The Manchester Unity Oddfellows (in United Kingdom) state on their website that "Oddfellows can trace its roots back to the Trade Guilds of the 12th and 13th centuries. Some believe that there are records in Scotland which show that the Oddfellows in its original form may have arisen in the 1500s. Some historians claim that it existed before 1650. What is clear is that there were numerous Odd Fellow organizations in England in the 1700s. It was officially brought to America on April 26, 1819.