Note:  This material was scanned into text files for the sole purpose of convenient electronic research. This material is NOT intended as a reproduction of the original volumes. However close the material is to becoming a reproduced work, it should ONLY be regarded as a textual reference.  Scanned at Phoenixmasonry by Ralph W. Omholt, PM in May 2007.
 

GOULD'S HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY

THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

 

VOLUME VI

 

CHAPTER ONE

FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY I

 

CHAPTER TWO

FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO 29

 

CHAPTER THREE

 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 40

 

CHAPTER FOUR

FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 66

 

CHAPTER FIVE

FREEMASONRY IN NORTH DAKOTA

 

CHAPTER SIX

FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 85

 

CHAPTER SEVEN

FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA I09

 

CHAPTER EIGHT FREEMASONRY IN OREGON 12.5

 

CHAPTER NINE

FREEMASONRY IN PENNSYLVANIA 144

 

CHAPTER TEN

FREEMASONRY IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS I69

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

 FREEMASONRY IN RHODE ISLAND 175

 

CHAPTER TWELVE

 FREEMASONRY IN SOUTH CAROLINA 185

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

 FREEMASONRY IN SOUTH DAKOTA 207

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 FREEMASONRY IN TENNESSEE

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

FREEMASONRY IN TEXAS

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

FREEMASONRY IN UTAH

 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

FREEMASONRY IN VERMONT

 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

 FREEMASONRY IN VIRGINIA 3I6

 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

FREEMASONRY IN WASHINGTON AND ALASKA 355

 

CHAPTER TWENTY

FREEMASONRY IN WEST VIRGINIA 368

 

CHAPTER TWENTY‑ONE

FREEMASONRY IN WISCONSIN 380

 

CHAPTER TWENTY‑TWO

FREEMASONRY IN WYOMING 394

 

CHAPTER TWENTY‑THREE

THE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL TEMPLE 404

 

CHAPTER TWENTY‑FOUR

AMERICAN MILITARY LODGES

 

CHAPTER TWENTY‑FIVE

ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR‑HISTORICAL REVIEW

 

 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF CONTRIBUTORS INDEX 1AGZ 415 426 455 495

 

VOLUME VI General View of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Frontispiece Inscription on Bronze Tablet in Memory of Daniel Coxe Daniel Coxe Key to Personages in "The Petition" The Petition Dispensation for Hiram Lodge, No. 4, of Mark Master Jewel Warrant Granted to Hiram Lodge, No. 4 Certificate Issued by Military Lodge, No.

 

Building Where Grand Lodge of New Jersey Was Formed in 1787 Washington's Headquarters, Morristown, New Jersey Masonic Temple, Trenton, New Jersey Old Quarters of Trenton Lodge, No. 5 Main Building of Masonic Hall, Burlington, New Jersey Boys' Unit, Masonic Home, Burlington, New Jersey Girls' Unit, Masonic Home, Burlington, New Jersey William W. Griffin David J. Miller Morristown, New Jersey 19 FACINC3 PAGE page 2 2 page 8 8 10 10 I2 14 14 16 18 18 20 24 24 34 34 xii ILLUSTRATIONS PACING PAGE Christopher ("Kit") Carson 34 Kit Carson's Rifle 34 Page from a Receipt Book of the Grand Treasurer 40 Badge Worn at the Dinner to General La Fayette 40 King's Arms Tavern, New York 42 The Rev. William Walter 42 The Committee Inspecting the New Sign 44 The Inauguration of Washington, 1789 46 Union of Grand Lodges of New York 46 Robert R. Livingston 48 Jacob Morton 48 Daniel D. Tompkins 48 DeWitt Clinton 48 The jail at Canandaigua, New York 54 Block House at Fort Niagara, New York 54 Three Views of the Masonic Washington Shrine at Tappan 56 Masonic Ceremonies, at the Dedication‑of the Worth Monument 58 Masonic Home, Utica, New York 6o Home and Hospital Farm 6o Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital 6o Scottish Rite Cottage for Children 62 Manual Training, the Boys' Electrical Shop 62 Parade of Masons at Utica, New York, April 22, 1922 64 ILLUSTRATIONS xiii FACING PAGE Masonic Ceremony at the Dedication of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital 64 Commission of Joseph Montfort 70 Swimming Pool, Oxford Masonic Orphanage 78 Open Air Lodge Room on Masonic Island 82 Masonic Marker at Pembina Masonic Park 82 Masonic Temple at Dayton, Ohio go Price Hill Lodge, No. 524, Cincinnati, Ohio 1100 Masonic Temple, Chillicothe, Ohio 1100 Masonic Temple, Norwood, Ohio 1100 Masonic Temple, Troy, Ohio 1100 Masonic Temple, Canton, Ohio 1100 American Union Lodge, No. 11, Marietta, Ohio 1100 The Temple of Scottish Rite, Oklahoma 11110 Masonic Home for the Aged, Guthrie, Oklahoma 11114 Masonic Home Industrial School 11114 Masonic Dormitory and Campus of Oklahoma University 1122 Master Mason's Certificate of Orrin Kellogg 1130 Couch and Company's Warehouse, Oregon 1130 Notice of the First Masonic Meeting Held West of the Rocky Mountains 1130 Title Page of Anderson's Constitution page 1145 A Colonial Masonic Custom, the Summons 1146 Trowel Used by Benjamin Franklin 1146 Two Interiors of the Masonic Temple, Allentown, Pennsylvania 154 xiv PACING YAGB Grand Lodge Hall, Masonic Home, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania 156 Morgue of Syria Temple, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 156 The Burning of the Masonic Hall, Philadelphia, 1819 158 Masonic Temple, Philadelphia, Erected in 1873 158 Grand Chapter Hall, Philadelphia 16o Corinthian or Grand Lodge Hall, Philadelphia 16o Banquet Hall, Philadelphia 162 Oriental Hall, Philadelphia 162 Masonic Temple, Bacoor, Cavite 170 Masonic Temple, Tondo, Manila 170 Masonic Hall, East Providence, Rhode Island 176 Masonic Temple, Centredale, Rhode Island 176 Masonic Temple, Charleston, South Carolina 196 Masonic Female College, Cokesburg, South Carolina 196 Masonic Library, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 216 Masonic Temple, Sioux Falls, South Dakota 216 Andrew Jackson 244 James K. Polk 2‑44 Andrew Johnson 244 Wilkins Tannehill 244 Auditorium, Masonic Home, Nashville, Tennessee 250 Scottish Rite Cathedral, Nashville, Tennessee 250 Infirmary, Masonic Home, Nashville, Tennessee 250 Laying of the Corner Stone of the Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home, ILLUSTRATIONS Fort Worth, Texas, in 1899 z8o ILLUSTRATIONS xv FACING PAGE Administration Building, Masonic Home and School, Fort Worth, Texas 28o Hospital Building, Masonic Home and School, Fort Worth, Texas 282 Home of Aged Masons at Arlington, Texas 282 Printing Department, Mason's Home and School, Fort Worth, Texas 282 Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children of Dallas, Texas 284 Texas Scottish Rite Dormitory for Girls' University of Texas, at Austin 284 Masonic Temple, Salt Lake, Utah 292 Street in Salt Lake City in 1866 292 Masonic Temple, Rutland, Vermont 300 John Blair 318 Edmund Randolph 318 George Washington 318 John Marshall 318 Acca Temple Mosque, Richmond, Virginia 330 Old Masonic Hall, Williamsburg, Virginia 330 Alexandria, Virginia, Relics of Washington 352 Olympia Lodge, No. i, Olympia, Washington 362 Washington Masonic Home at Zenith, Washington 362 Masonic Temple, Ketchikan, Alaska 366 Scottish Rite Temple, Juneau, Alaska 366 Masonic Temple, Cordova, Alaska 366 Masonic Temple, Fairbanks, Alaska 366 Masonic Temple, Huntington, West Virginia 374 ILLUSTRATIONS Masonic Temple, Fairmont, West Virginia Masonic Temple, Clarksburg, West Virginia West Virginia Masonic Home, Parkersburg, West Virginia Masonic Temple, Parkersburg, West Virginia Masonic Home at Dousman, Wisconsin sAaNG PAGE 374 374 378 378 390 Benjamin T. Kavanaugh The Trout Stream at the Home First Masonic Hall in Wyoming, 1868 390 390 396 Masonic Marker at South Pass City, Wyoming The Whipple Letter Laying the Corner Stone The George Washington Masonic National Memorial The George Washington Hall page 396 405 .}o8 4o8 410 The Dedication Procession 412 Naval Officers Who Were Members of the Masonic Fraternity Joshua Barney, Isaac Chauncey, John A. Dahlgren, Stephen Decatur, David G. Farragut, John Paul Jones, Jacob Jones, James Lawrence, Lord Nelson, Edward Preble, Winfield Scott Schley, John D. Sloat, John L. Worden At end of volume GOULD'S HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD VOLUME VI A HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD VOL. VI FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY DAVID MCGREGOR HE oldest known membership Roll of a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, that of the " Lodge of Aberdeen, No. 1 T.R," in Scotland, which dates back to 1670, is of great interest to all Freemasons every where. But it is especially interesting to the Masons of New Jersey, inasmuch as it contains the names of several men who were either directly or indirectly connected with the early settlement of the Scots in that Province, as early as 1682., and then also later. The first name on that Roll, that of " Harrie Elphingston, Tutor, and Master of our Honourable Lodge of Aberdeen," was that of the booking agent in Aberdeen who arranged passage for those desirous of emigrating to New Jersey on the ship Henry and Francis. The vessel was chartered for the purpose by George Scot, of Pitlochie, Fifeshire, under the patronage of the Earl of Perth, a Freemason, who was one of the chief proprietors of East Jersey. On that old Roll, too, are to be found the names of Robert Gordon, cardmaker; George Alexander, advocate; John Forbes, merchant; and John Skene, merchant; all " Meassons " and members of that old Operative Lodge which had by that time become largely speculative in character. Inasmuch as each of those men had purchased " proprietary interest in the enterprise of colonising New Jersey," they are of special interest to us in America.

 

In order to avoid confusion, let us remember that at that time New Jersey was divided into two provinces by a line which ran diagonally across the territory from Southeast to Northwest. The regions were known respectively as East Jersey and West Jersey.

 

Although John Forbes migrated to East Jersey in 1684 and settled at Plainfield, he returned to Scotland a year or so later. This left John Skene as the only one of those Aberdeenian Freemasons to make a permanent settlement in New Jersey. With his family, he arrived in New Jersey in October 1682.. He made his home at Burlington, the capital of New Jersey, and there served as deputy‑ 2 ‑ FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY governor of the Province from 1685 until his death in i6go. He has the unique distinction of being the first known Freemason in America.

 

Forty years elapse before we again find mention of members of the Fraternity as residents of New Jersey. At that time a deputation was issued by the Earl of IN MEMORY OF DANIEL COXE DIED IN TRENTON N. J. APRIL 25, 1739 AGED 65 YEARS A VESTRYMAN AND BENEFACTOR OF SAINT MARY'S CHURCH A PROPRIETOR OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW JERSEY A MEMBER OF COUNCIL AN ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY FIRST PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER OF MASONS IN THE NEW WORLD, HOLDING BY DEPUTATION FROM THE DUKE OF NORFOLK, GRAND MASTER OF MASONS IN ENGLAND, JURISDICTION OVER NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA. IN ALL OF THESE STATIONS HE ENJOYED THE UTMOST CONFIDENCE AND RESPECT.

 

THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY THE ANCIENT AND HONORABLE SOCIETY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS IN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY. xgo6.

 

Inscription on Bronze Tablet Erected in St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Burlington, New Jersey.

 

Norfolk, Grand Master of England, at the request of " several Brethren, Free and Accepted Masons, residing and about to reside in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania." The Deputation which was issued to Colonel Daniel Coxe, of New Jersey, named him Provincial Grand Master of those provinces. It was dated June 5, 1730‑ Colonel Daniel Coxe was the oldest son of Dr. Daniel Coxe, FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 3 physician to the royal family of England. In 1687, after purchasing a controlling interest in West Jersey from the estate of Edward Byllinge, Dr. Coxe succeeded Byllinge as absentee governor. Dr. Coxe continued John Skene as his representative and deputy‑governor.

 

When the proprietors surrendered the government of the jerseys to the Crown, Dr. Coxe conveyed his landed interests in the province to his son Daniel, who had also studied for the medical profession. Nevertheless, the son there after devoted most of his time to the care and furtherance of his father's colonising enterprises in America. This brought him to New Jersey in 1702‑, at about the time of the arrival of Lord Cornbury, a cousin of Queen Anne, who was her appointee as governor of New York and New Jersey. It was Lord Cornbury who appointed young Coxe to be a colonel of the New Jersey militia and a member of the provincial Council. Colonel Coxe made his home at Burlington. There he was chosen president of the Board of Proprietors of West Jersey, a corporation then still in active existence and having its headquarters in that city. He also became an assistant judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and took an active interest in the political affairs of the Province.

 

When Robert Hunter succeeded the deposed and discredited Lord Cornbury as governor of New Jersey, Colonel Coxe's relations with the new regime became strained, and he was finally deprived of his military, political, and judicial offices. Going back to London to appeal against Hunter's treatment of him, Colonel Coxe sought to have New Jersey placed on an independent footing, with a governor of its own. It is supposed that he expected to be appointed to that office in case his plans were followed. Although he failed to accomplish his purpose at that time, Coxe lived to see it realised in 1738, when Lewis Morris was appointed the first royal governor of New Jersey, then a separate and independent province.

 

During his first fourteen years of residence in New Jersey Coxe travelled extensively throughout eastern North America observing the products and trade of the several colonies. He later published the results of his travels in a book entitled, A Description o f the English Province o f Carolina, by the Spaniards call' d Florida, and by the French La Louisiane, as also of the Great and Famous River Meschacebe or Missispi. This book, a lengthy dissertation, was prepared with the object of encouraging the establishment of a great commonwealth covering a large part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. The enterprise was conceived and financed by Colonel Coxe's father to checkmate attempts of the Spanish and French to secure possession and control of that great waterway and the adjoining territory. In the same book Coxe proposed a plan whereby the recognised weakness of the several British colonies in protecting their common interests was to be overcome by uniting those colonies under a " legal, regular, and firm establishment," with a supreme governor to preside over the whole, together with a general council of duly elected representatives from each province.

 

This far‑seeing and statesmanlike plan was again proposed by Benjamin 4 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY Franklin in 1784 as a solution for the difficulties that eventually led to the Revolutionary War and to the establishment of our Federal government under George Washington. Thus in the half century of political development which culminated in the Declaration of Independence and the final establishment of the United States, the names of three distinguished Freemasons, Colonel Daniel Coxe, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, are closely associated with the founding of our republic.

 

In 172‑0, when William Burnet, son of Bishop Gilbert Burnet, succeeded Hunter as governor of New York and New Jersey, Colonel Coxe returned to Burlington and was again elected president of the Board of Proprietors. Later, he and his brother‑in‑law, William Trent, became so interested in the development of the village of Trenton that Coxe moved there with his family. There he remained during the rest of his life. Late in 172‑9, at the instance of the Board of Proprietors, Coxe again visited London, this time to protest against a proposed change in the boundary line between East Jersey and West Jersey, which would bring about the loss of a large amount of territory to them. Since he had previously become a member of Lodge No. 8, in London, during his stay there he presented a Petition to the Grand Master for a Deputation as Provincial Grand Master of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. On June S, 1730, this was readily granted for a period of two years.

 

As has already been said, this was the first Deputation to be issued for a Provincial Grand Master in America, and the first recognition of American Freemasonry by the Grand Lodge of England. The two‑hundredth anniversary of that first Grand Body in America was suitably celebrated here in 1930. His mission accomplished, Coxe returned to New Jersey in April 1730, and remained there until December of that year. Whether he ever actually exercised his authority to Institute Lodges in any of the provinces cannot be positively asserted owing to lack of acceptable documentary evidence. Nevertheless we have reason to believe that he Warranted the first Lodge in Philadelphia, known as St. John's Lodge, No. 1. We are sure that Lodge, with a membership of fifteen, was in existence early in 1731, and that Benjamin Franklin was Initiated into it on February 1 of that year. Too, it has recently been discovered that there was a regular Lodge in New York before Captain Richard Riggs, the second Provincial Grand Master of that Province, had acquired authority to Institute Lodges there. Therefore it seems quite probable that Colonel Daniel Coxe had granted the Warrant for that Lodge also.

 

Returning to London again, Coxe was present at a Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge there on January 29, 1731. At that meeting he was toasted as " the Provincial Grand Master of North America." We may reason ably believe that his warm reception and greeting were evidences of the London Lodge's appreciation of the pioneer Masonic work Coxe had accomplished, rather than a mere act of courtesy to one who had been derelict in the duty assigned to him by his Deputation. Upon his return to America shortly afterwards, Colonel Coxe resumed his duties as president of the Board of Proprietors, FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 5 and was reinstated as assistant judge of the supreme court. He died on April 2‑5, 1739, at the age of sixty‑six. He was buried beside his wife at Burlington, in old St. Mary's Episcopal Church, of which he had been an active member and a loyal supporter. Thus passed into history the first Provincial Grand Master in America, a prominent citizen of early New Jersey.

 

Upon the death of Lewis Morris, the first royal governor of New Jersey, the office of governor was filled by Jonathan Belcher, a native of Boston. At the time of his appointment, on February 13, 1747, Belcher was a Freemason of forty‑three years' standing, having been admitted to membership in some British Lodge in the year 1704. Bro. Belcher was the first native‑born American to be made a Mason of whom we have any record. While serving as governor of Massachusetts, an office he held from 1730 to 1741, Belcher became a member of the first Lodge in Boston, which had been Instituted there in 1733. His son Andrew likewise became a member of that Lodge, and later served as the first Deputy Provincial Grand Master of that Grand Jurisdiction. During the ten years of his administration as governor of New Jersey, Jonathan Belcher devoted himself to his Province, and especially to the promotion of higher education within its boundaries. It was he who fathered New Jersey College, now known as Princeton University.

 

After four years' residence in Burlington, General Belcher moved to Elizabethtown in the hope of bettering his health. The Belcher Mansion there is still one of the landmarks of the city. When Bro. Belcher died there on August 31, I757, at the age of seventy‑five, his remains were conveyed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they were laid to rest in the family vault.

 

From the foregoing account it is clear that the following distinguished Masons lived and died in New Jersey. The first known Freemason in America, the first Provincial Grand Master in America, and the first native‑born Ameri can to be made a Freemason each resided for a time at Burlington, the capital of West Jersey and each took a prominent part in administering the public affairs of the Province.

 

Although New Jersey was the home of those early American Masons, it lagged in Instituting Masonic Lodges within its borders. Indeed, Lodges had been Instituted in ten of the original thirteen States before we find any record of the institution of a Lodge in New Jersey. Of those States, Delaware and Vermont alone were later than New Jersey in the Institution of Lodges.

 

The first Jersey Lodge of which we have any record was Instituted in Newark on May 13,. 1761. It was Warranted by R..W.‑.Bro. George Harison, Provincial Grand Master of New York, as St. John's Lodge, No. 1, with Wil liam Tuckey, a well‑known musician of New York and a temporary resident of Newark, as its Master. David Jamison was Senior Warden and James Banks was junior Warden. This Lodge, which has just commemorated the one hundred seventieth anniversary of its founding, ranks among the oldest Lodges in America. .

 

Just about a year later, Temple Lodge, No. 1, of Elizabethtown, received a 6 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY Warrant from R.‑.W.‑.Bro. Jeremy Gridley, Provincial Grand Master of New England. Jonathan Hampton was appointed its first Master. Bro. Hampton was a native of Elizabethtown and one of those named as alderman in the new borough Charter which was granted in 1740. John Blanchard, who was another Mason appointed to Office was named Recorder. No Record of this Lodge of Elizabethtown has come to light, and no information regarding its other Officers or members is available. It is fairly certain, however, that the Lodge continued only a few years. The establishment of that Lodge was followed by another Warrant from the same source. That Warrant was granted to St. John's Lodge, of Princeton, on December 27, 1765, in answer to a Petition from seven Brethren, among whom was Richard Stockton. It was requested that the Warrant should be issued to him as the Lodge's Master.

 

Richard Stockton was the fourth generation of his family in New Jersey. The first Richard Stockton had come from Durham, England, and settled at Burlington in 1692, while the second had removed to Princeton and built a mansion, " Marven Hall," which is still used as a residence. The fourth Richard Stockton was among the earliest graduates of Princeton College, of which his father was one of the original founders. Having studied law and been admitted to practice in 1754, this Richard Stockton soon rose to eminence in his profession and became widely known. Indeed, his reputation extended even to England. In 1766, when he went to England and Scotland for the purpose of persuading Dr. John Witherspoon to accept the presidency of Princeton College, Stockton was received with unusual honours.

 

Later, Stockton became a member of the Provincial Council, a judge of the Supreme Court, and one of the representatives chosen by New Jersey to attend the General Congress in Philadelphia. There he took part in the deliberations of that historic assemblage which gave to the world the Declaration of Independence. In fact, Stockton's name appears on that famous document as one of its signers. For that and other patriotic activities he later suffered imprisonment and ill treatment which brought about his premature death. He passed away on February 28, 1781, at the age of fifty, a martyr to the cause of freedom. When or where he had been made a Freemason is not known, nor is it known how long he presided over the activities of Princeton Lodge. Nevertheless, we do know that he played an important part in the early Masonry of New Jersey.

 

Dr. John Witherspoon also signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative of New Jersey, and it has also been claimed that he, too, was a Freemason. Nothing has been produced that proves his connection with the Fraternity. Unfounded claims made by Bro. Henry Clark of Vermont, in 1879, have not withstood the test of critical examination. Another of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who was a native of New Jersey and a Freemason, was Joseph Hewes. Although his name appears on that memorable document as a representative from North Carolina, he was a great‑grandson of William Hewes who came from England in 1674 and settled in Salem County, New Jersey. Aaron Hewes, father of Joseph Hewes, removed to Kingston, FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 7 Somerset County, where Joseph was born on April z3, 1730, the very year that Richard Stockton was born at Princeton near by. Oddly enough, the birth of those two famous Masons was contemporary with the establishment of regular Freemasonry in America. Joseph Hewes acquired a common school education at Princeton, and then moved with his parents to Philadelphia, where he served first as an apprentice in a counting‑house and later entered upon a career. Some time between 176o and 1763 he removed to Edenton, North Carolina, where he was elected to Congress in 1774. From then on until his death at Philadelphia, on November io, 1779, he served in the Continental Congress when he was not engaged in military operations. Joseph Hewes was buried in Christ Church graveyard, at Philadelphia, the funeral service having been conducted by the Rev. Dr. William Smith, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania.

 

The only evidence we have of Joseph Hewes's having been a member of the Masonic Fraternity is a record of the Minutes of Unanimity Lodge, of Edenton, North Carolina, which mentions his having attended the celebration of St. John the Evangelist's Day in December, 1776. However, nothing is known about where he was made a Mason, although it seems likely that he may have joined some Philadelphia Lodge while he was a resident of that city.

 

The next Warrant for a Lodge in New Jersey was issued by R.‑. W.‑. Bro. William Ball, Provincial Master of Pennsylvania. That Lodge, known on the Pennsylvania Registry as Lodge No. io, was Instituted at Baskingridge, in Somerset County, in 1767, the year Lord Stirling took up his residence there. The loss of early Records of Lodge No. 1o leaves us in the dark as to the extent of its activities. Though it was located in a decidedly rural district, however, it had sufficient vitality to survive the Revolutionary War and later to become the most powerful factor in establishing the present Grand Lodge of New Jersey. Its activities in that matter were carried on under the leadership of Dr. William McKissack, for many years Master of the Baskingridge Lodge.

 

The four Lodges named above are the only ones known to have been in New Jersey prior to the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Of them, two Lodges, those at Elizabethtown and at Princeton, had apparently ceased their Labours by that time. Like most American Lodges of the time, the other two went through a period of suspended animation, when Masonic activities were almost exclusively confined to the several Military Lodges in the army. Those Lodges were established with the sanction and encouragement of General Washington, who well knew how they would promote harmony and unanimity among the officers upon whom he depended for the ultimate success of the colonists' cause. Nothing, however, seems to have given so great an impetus to the revival and spread of Freemasonry, both in the army and among the civilians of the country, as did Bro. Washington's participation in the celebration of St. John the Evangelist's Day in December, 1778, at Philadelphia, which was at that time just recovering from the occupation by British troops.

 

During the five years following this public celebration, and before the disbanding of the Revolutionary army, the Grand Lodge of Philadelphia alone had FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 9 issued Warrants for more than twenty Lodges. Of those, three were to be located in New Jersey and another was a Military Lodge established among New Jersey soldiers. The Warrant for the latter was granted on December 11, 1782, as Lodge No. 36, and named the Rev. Andrew Hunter, an army chaplain, as its Master. The two other Warrants were for civil Lodges. One Warrant, granted on December Zo, 1779, authorised the establishment of Lodge No. 23, at Middletown, in Monmouth County, Lieutenant William Bostwick was named Master, and was duly Installed at an Emergent Communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania held at Burlington on March 30 of that year. This was the first Lodge to be Instituted in New Jersey by a Grand Lodge. This was also the first time that the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania had assembled outside the city of Philadelphia. This was looked upon as a distinct honour, and was direct evidence of the paternal interest taken by that Grand Lodge in the spread of Freemasonry in New Jersey.

 

During the Revolutionary War New Jersey was the scene of a very important Masonic gathering, held by the Military Lodges at the winter headquarters of the army at Morristown, on December 27, 1779. At noon of that day, accompanied by a military band, some 104. members of those Lodges, all army officers excepting only the two Tylers, and ranging in rank from the ensigns to the commander‑in‑chief, General George Washington himself, marched to the church on the village green. There they took part in the service and then returned to the Lodge room in Bro. Jacob Arnold's tavern. They opened Lodge in the Entered Apprentice Degree, with W . . Bro. Jonathan Heart, Master of American Union Lodge, in the East. It was their purpose to consider " some matters respecting the good of Masonry," which were presented by a Committee in the form of a Petition to " the Most Worshipful the present Provincial Grand Master in each of the respective United States of America." Among the matters discussed was the re‑establishment of the Order " on the Ancient respectable foundation," by the appointment of a Grand Master in and over the United States of America. The Committee also urged that the growing irregularities within the Society should be checked, and that the distinction between the " Ancients " and " Moderns " should be erased, in order that the Craft might be established in unity and the established principles of its Institutions more universally extended. The evident intent of this movement was the election of General Washington as General Grand Master. Since the proposal was not acceptable to all the Grand Masters of the various States, however, nothing came of it.

 

Among the New Jersey Officers present at that meeting were BrigadierGeneral William Maxwell, Colonel Elias Dayton, Colonel Jacob Arnold, Lieutenant‑Colonel Anthony W. White, Major Jeremiah Bruen, Captains Thomas Kinney, John Armstrong, John Sanford, and Robert Erskine, Chaplain Andrew Hunter, Surgeon Jabez Campfield, and Lieutenant William Piatt. After the expiration of Daniel Coxe's Deputation as Provincial Grand Master, on June Z4., 1732, New Jersey became a sort of Masonic " no‑man's 10 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY land." The Brethren found it necessary to apply to other Grand jurisdictions for authority to organise Lodges and to do Masonic Work. In consequence, we find that, prior to the Revolutionary War, one Lodge was Warranted by New York, two by Massachusetts, and three by Pennsylvania. The first three Lodges were " Modern," and the latter were " Ancient." As was to be expected, the need for a Provincial Grand Master early engaged the attention of the Provincial Grand Master and from it had received its Warrant and asked that a Provincial, or Deputy, Grand Master be appointed for New Jersey. But their plans went unheard, and it was not until the latter part of 1786 that a successful effort was made to Constitute a Grand Lodge in New Jersey. The prime mover in that attempt was W.‑. Bro. William McKissack, Master of Lodge No. 1o, at Baskingridge, who presided over the meeting called for the purpose at New Brunswick on December 18, 1786. Also present at that meeting were fifteen other members of Lodge No. 1o, including the two Wardens, two Deacons, and a Past Master. St. John's Lodge, No. 1, of Newark, although not then active, was represented by its Senior Warden, Moses Ogden, while two Brethren of New Brunswick represented Lodge No. igo U. D., presumably Working under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The remaining Brethren present were members of Lodges outside New Jersey.

 

At that meeting the following Officers were nominated: the Hon. Lieutenant‑Colonel David Brearley, chief justice of New Jersey, as Right Worshipful Grand Master; the Hon. Colonel Robert Lettis Hooper, vice‑president of New Jersey, Deputy Grand Master; Lieutenant William Leddle, M.D., late sheriff of Morris County, Senior Warden; Daniel Marsh, representative in the Assembly of New Jersey, Junior Grand Warden; Colonel John Noble Cumming, Grand Secretary; Maskell Ewing, Jr., clerk of the assembly, Deputy Grand Secretary; Captain Joshua Corson, high sheriff of Hunterdon County, Grand Treasurer. Of these Officers, Daniel Marsh was a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 2, of New York. All other Grand Officers nominated were members of Lodges working under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Later additions to the names subscribed in support of the Grand Lodge included four members of Burlington Lodge, No. 32. Thus, those engaged were following the precedent established by the Grand Lodge of England according to which four Lodges are represented in the Institution of a Grand Lodge.

 

There were in all fifty Brethren associated with the establishment of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, thirty‑seven of whom we can identify as members of some Lodge working under the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. It will thus be seen that the Grand Lodge of New Jersey was at its inception predominantly Ancient in character, and that 65 per cent of its Charter members had come from the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania.

 

The Grand Lodge Officers have been duly elected, the precedent established by the Grand Lodge of London in 1717 were again followed, and the Officers were Installed by " the oldest Master present, now a Master of a Lodge." Since W .'. Bro. William McKissack held that rank he had charge of the Installa‑ FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY tion service held at the White Hall Tavern in New Brunswick, on January 30, 1787. On the following day, R.‑. W.‑. Brearley granted Dispensations for five Lodges, one to be established at Newark, with Moses Ogden as Master; one at Bedminster, with Captain William McKissack, M.D. as Master; one at Elizabethtown, with Colonel Elias Dayton as Master; one at Morristown, with John Jacob Faesch, as Master; one at Freehold, with Colonel Jonathan Rhea as Master.

 

The Lodge at Bedminster, which was successor to Lodge No. Io of Baskingridge, was unanimously accorded the honour of being known as Lodge No. i. This honour was conferred upon the Lodge in recognition of the lead ing part played by its Master and other members in the organisation of the Grand Lodge. The other Lodges acquired their numbers by casting lots. Thus, St. John's Lodge, No. i, of Newark, became Lodge No. 2; Freehold Lodge became Lodge No. 3 ; Morristown Lodge became Lodge No. 4; and Elizabethtown Lodge became Lodge No. 5. The first four of these Lodges were duly Warranted and Constituted, but since the Lodge at Elizabethtown failed to materialise, its place on the Roll was later taken by Trenton Lodge, No. 5, which received its Warrant from the Grand Lodge on December Zo, 1787.

 

The men who organised this Grand Lodge had all been in military service during the Revolutionary War, and, as was to be expected, the Officers and members of the subordinate Lodges were mostly veterans, and in some cases wholly veterans. In fact, an honourable discharge from the military service appeared at that time to be almost a pass to membership in the Fraternity. An evidence of the widespread influence of the Military Lodges, brought about by the scattering of their members throughout the State after peace had been declared, is to be found in the Institution of Lodges in widely separated locations at the instance of those men who had enjoyed the privilege of meeting on the level for the purpose of Masonic Work and intercourse while yet in military service.

 

Within seven years there were twelve Lodges in New Jersey, duly Warranted as follows: Solomon's Lodge, No. i, at Bedminster, Somerset County; Captain William McKissack, Master; Warranted On July 4, 1787. St. John's Lodge, No. 2, at Newark, Essex County; Moses Ogden, Master; Warranted on July 4, 1787. Trinity Lodge, No. 3, at Freehold, Monmouth County; LieutenantColonel Jonathan Rhea, Master; Warranted On July 4, 1787. Hiram Lodge, No. 4, at Morristown, Morris County; Captain William Leddle, Master; Warranted on July 4, 1787. Trenton Lodge, No. 5, at Trenton, Hunterdon County; General Aaron D. Woodruff, Master; Warranted on December Zo, 1787. Union Lodge, No. 6, at Hackensack, Bergen County; Captain Robert Neil, Master; Warranted on December Zo, 1787. Unity Lodge, No. 7, at Kingwood, Hunterdon County; David Baird, Master; Warranted on January 23, 1788. Harmony Lodge, No. 8, at Newtown, Sussex County; Quartermaster Thomas Anderson, Master; Warranted on January 23, 1788. Brearley Lodge, No. 9, at Bridgeton, Cumberland County; Lieutenant James Giles, Master; Warranted on January 12 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 11, 1791. Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. 1o, at Cincinnati, Ohio; Surgeon William Burnet, of Newark, New Jersey, Master; Warranted on September 8, 1791. Woodbury Lodge, No. 11, at Woodbury, Gloucester County; General Franklin Davenport, Master; Warranted on July z, 1792. Washington Lodge, No. 12, at New Brunswick, Middlesex County; General Anthony W. White, Master; Warranted on January 6, 1794. Of those twelve Lodges, only three remained active half a century later. They were St. John's Lodge, No. 2, Trenton Lodge, No. 5, and Brearley Lodge, No. 9.

 

Not only were New Jersey Freemasons represented among the signers of the Declaration of Independence, but also among those who signed the Constitution of the United States. One of the latter group was the first Grand Master of Freemasonry in New Jersey, R.‑. W.‑. Bro. David Brearley. A native of Lawrenceville, Trenton, where he was born in 1745, Bro. Brearley was admitted as a counsellor‑at‑law in 1767. He early took an aggressive part in the activities that led up to the Revolutionary War, and was appointed a captain of militia in 1775. The next year he was made lieutenant‑colonel of the Fourth New Jersey Battalion in the Continental Army. Still later, at the call of the New Jersey legislature, he was recalled from General Sullivan's expedition against the Indians of Pennsylvania to become chief justice of the supreme court of New Jersey. Among the early decisions he rendered in that capacity was one which provided for a citizen's right to a trial by a full jury of twelve of his peers. Later, as a measure of expediency provided by the Constitution, that decision was amended by the State legislature to permit a smaller number to constitute a jury. Thus, for the first time, " the judicial guardianship of the organic law in the Supreme Court, as against attempted or inadvertent encroachment by the ordinary law " was established, and the inviolable integrity of the Constitution was sustained. This famous decision has since become known among the legal profession as " the New Jersey precedent." Bro. Brearley had the further distinction of being the first person in the United States to be selected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia. There he exercised a great deal of influence in the deliberations of that Convention. Later, when the Constitution was submitted to New Jersey for approval, Bro. Brearley was Chairman of the Committee which drafted the form of ratification by which it was adopted on December 18, 1787. That Act placed the State of New Jersey third among the constellation of stars that grace the azure field of our national flag. As a presidential elector, Bro. Brearley also helped to put the Constitution into actual operation by casting his vote for George Washington. In turn, Washington later appointed him to be the first judge of the United States Court in New Jersey. Bro. Brearley held the Office of Grand Master until his death in 1790, when he was succeeded, in order, by several distinguished men, including General John Beatty, of Trenton; General John Noble Cumming, of Newark; Governor Joseph Bloomfield, of Burlington; General James Giles of Bridgeton, who had served as Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of New York before taking up his residence at Bridgeton, where FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 13 he Instituted Brearley Lodge and Brearley Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons; and General John S. Darcy, M.D., of Newark, first president of what is now the Pennsylvania Railroad in New Jersey.

 

The two Brethren mentioned had the honour of taking part in the reception tendered to Bro. General Lafayette at Elizabeth, New Jersey, on September 23, 1824, by Washington Lodge, No. 41, and other near‑by Lodges. At that time M.‑. W .'. Bro. Jepthah B. Munn, Grand Master in the name of the Brethren of New Jersey, extended to their illustrious guest " the deep veneration, the warm affection and friendship of his Masonic Brethren, inferior to none in ardour and sincerity." In response, Bro. Lafayette touchingly referred to " the persecutions which Masons and friends of human rights and liberty had ever experienced from the hand of intolerance." While Bro. Lafayette was thus speaking from personal experience, little did he think that his listeners and all other members of American Freemasonry were soon to experience just such persecution in an aggravated form, and that the closing years of the first half century of Freemasonry in New Jersey were to be clouded by unbridled antiMasonic agitation. That agitation has come to be known as the " Morgan excitement.' While the " Morgan excitement " is a matter that pertains particularly to the history of Freemasonry in New York, that being the seat of its origin, we cannot pass it by without a brief resume of its effects in New Jersey. Up till that time Freemasonry had been progressing slowly but surely, and the Grand Lodge had already granted Warrants for fifty‑six Lodges during the first forty years of its existence. Although seventeen of those Warrants had either been stricken from the Roll or been surrendered, there were still thirty‑nine Lodges in New Jersey at the time of the organisation of the anti‑Masonic Society at Le Roy, New York, in 1828. Although two other Lodges were Warranted before the end of 1832, a complete cessation of Warrant granting on the part of the Grand Lodge followed. As a result, when the Constituent New Jersey Lodges were remembered in 1842, it was stated that thirty‑three more Lodges had been stricken from the Roll, thus leaving only eight active Lodges in New Jersey. That meant that less than Zo per cent of the Lodges in the State had survived the ordeal. In New York, however, the loss was even greater, for only about 16 per cent of the Lodges in the Empire State survived. Proximity to New York and Pennsylvania, where the anti‑Masonic campaign raged most actively, together with the persistent agitation of some newspapers of New Jersey, especially the Palladium of Liberty, of Morristown, had almost accomplished the aim of the anti‑Masons‑the total extinction of Freemasonry in New Jersey! It may be said of the Grand Lodge, however, that it continued on its way in an even tenor, assembling at every regular Annual Communication and transacting its regular business even although its financial condition was such that it was not always able fully to meet its obligations. At times there were scarcely enough Lodges represented at every meeting of the Grand Lodge during those 14 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY trying times when it was almost worth a man's life to be actively identified with the Fraternity.

 

Although St. John's Lodge, No. 2, failed to send a Representative to the Grand Lodge during five of those troublous years, when the active Lodges were renumbered in 1842, it was placed on the Roll as Lodge No. i. Although Tren ton Lodge, No. 5, was entitled to second place at that time, it preferred to hold its original number, and even to‑day it continues to be known as Lodge No. 5. It is the only Lodge bearing the original number given to it by the Grand Lodge of New Jersey in 1787. At the renumbering of 1842, Brearley Lodge, No. 9, became Lodge No. 2, and the eight other Lodges were numbered in accordance with their precedence on the original Roll. All other Lodges either restored or Warranted thereafter were numbered in the order of their application.

 

During the first half century of regularly Constituted Speculative Masonry in New Jersey, efforts were made to introduce Capitular Masonry. Indeed four Mark Master Lodges existed before 1812 and by the end of 1824 there were three Royal Arch Chapters Working under Warrants from the General Grand Chapter, and one other Chapter under authority of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania. Then, on January 5, 1825, a Grand Chapter of New Jersey was organised at Elizabethtown by the first three Chapters mentioned above. Later, however, after it had issued Warrants for two other Chapters, its progress was seriously retarded by the anti‑Masonic agitation, and it finally suspended activities in 1836. This left New Jersey without a Grand Chapter of its own for the next twenty years.

 

The beginning of the period of revival following " the Dark Age of Ni*sonry " was marked by a determination on the part of the comparatively few tried and true Brethren who had remained loyal and active supporters of the Fraternity to place it on a plane where it would be above suspicion with relation to such inuendoes and direct charges as had been made against it during the " Morgan excitement. " One of the principal charges which had been made against it in New Jersey was that it exercised great influence in the political life of the State and that it monopolised the chief political offices and dictated the character of legislation that should be enacted. This charge was based on the fact that many of the leading men in the Fraternity were living up to their obligations as citizens by taking an active interest in affairs of State. Another charge was alleged debauching influence of the Lodges upon members, through the serving of intoxicating refreshments at, or after, their meetings.

 

The annual meetings of the Grand Lodge had as a matter of convenience been scheduled immediately to precede the meetings of the State Legislature at Trenton. Since this gave some colour to the political charge the Grand Lodge determined to change the time of meeting from November to January. Further, the use of any alcoholic liquors within the Lodge room was strictly forbidden. This restriction against combining Lodge matters with local, State, or national politics, as well as that against the use of intoxicants in Lodge rooms, has ever since been an outstanding characteristic of the Fraternity in New Jersey. Thus, FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 15 through the refining fires of persecution, this Ancient and Honourable Society in New Jersey has become an example of that political tolerance which has always been taught by its Ritual and in the Masonic lectures, and it has exercised an untold influence for bettering the social and moral life of the communities in which the Fraternity exists.

 

At about that time the return of prosperity was necessarily slow but none the less sure. By 1852, the Grand Master, having Zo Lodges and almost 600 members under his supervision, was able to congratulate the Grand Lodge .. that truth, justice, and freedom, had at last found a resting‑place in the great and glorious country." As time passed, progress of the Lodge in New Jersey became more and more marked so that by the end of the next decade there were 63 Lodges within the State, and in 1862 they totaled nearly 3400.

 

This brings us to the period of the war between the States, when North and South were pitted against each other in a life‑and‑death struggle for the maintenance of the Union, and for the abolition of slavery. But in spite of the strife at that time, Freemasonry advanced rapidly, and in New Jersey it almost doubled its membership during the six years 1861 to 1866, inclusive. This abnormal activity, which seems to be a concomitant of war, was still further emphasised by the Institution of 5o new Lodges during the next five years, thus bringing the total number of Lodges in 1871 up to 131, with a membership of nearly 1o,ooo, or an average of more than 70 members for each Lodge.

 

During the next few years an Institution of new Lodges was again carried on as it normally had been, but it took another third of a century to bring back a normal increase in their number. Nevertheless, the average member ship of the subordinate Lodges gradually increased till it was 123 by the year 1903, at which time there was a total membership of ZZ,ooo. That number was doubled before America entered the Great War. In the years immediately following the Great War each year saw a similar increase in the average of Lodges Instituted within the State. For example, there was an average of 3o Lodges Instituted during each of the three years from 1920 to 1922. There are now 274 Lodges having more than 97,000 members, and an average membership of 354 for each Lodge.

 

The abolition of slavery in the United States, and the granting of citizenship to the Negro, gave rise to hopes on the part of many persons for admitting the Negro to social and Fraternal equality. As a result, in several Grand juris dictions clandestine Negro Masons sought recognition and admission to the regular Masonic Lodges. But they were all unsuccessful, except in the case of New Jersey, while the Grand Lodge of New Jersey promptly refused a request for a Warrant for a Lodge by nine Negro Masons of Newark in 1870, on the ground of Petitioners' being clandestine and their Petition therefore irregular. Yet several regular members of the Fraternity residing in Newark, who were strong Abolitionists and who sympathized with the aspirations of the Negroes, determined to try and make it possible for them to secure such a Warrant as regular Masons. To do this, they proposed to secure a Warrant ostensibly for 16 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY a Lodge of white Brethren in Newark, to be known as Alpha Lodge, but with the ultimate object of admitting Negro applicants to membership in the usual manner, and qualifying them to hold Office and to carry on the Work of a Lodge of their own. This they finally accomplished after very strenuous opposition.

 

In due time those nine Negro Masons who had been admitted to membership in Alpha Lodge, No. 116, demitted in a body and again applied to the Grand Lodge for a Warrant for a Lodge to be known as Sorgum Lodge. Their Petition was this time endorsed by the remaining white members of Alpha Lodge. But the Grand Lodge once more refused to grant their Petition, and went on record as being unwilling to grant a Warrant for a Negro Lodge. Nevertheless, it stated that it would not interfere with any Constituted Lodge in its choice of members, so long as they were men, free‑born and of lawful age, who declared their trust in God and had achieved the favourable verdict of the secret ballot. As a result of this action, the Negro Brethren reaffiliated with Alpha Lodge. In the course of time the white members severed their connection with the Lodge, thus leaving it entirely in the hands of Negro Masons. To‑day it remains the only Lodge of that character in the United States constituent to a Grand Body which is fully recognised by all regular Masonic Bodies of this country. The membership of Alpha Lodge now numbers about seventy, and its Masonic Work is conducted in a highly creditable manner, while its relationship with the Fraternity is most unobtrusive. In justice it must be said that throughout all the proceedings leading up to its establishment as a Negro Lodge, the Negro members of that Lodge acted frankly and honestly.

 

Just what may have been the characteristics of the Ritual Work of the early New Jersey Lodges we do not know. It was, however, along the lines laid down by the " Ancients." Nevertheless, we do know that a great deal of irregularity and diversity in the Work gradually arose. Again and again the lack of uniformity was brought to the attention of the Grand Lodge by one Grand Master after another, and occasionally efforts were made to remedy it. For a long time, however, the results were indifferent. Then in 1822‑, the Ritual as prepared by Bro. Jeremy Cross was recommended by the Grand Lodge as the standard Work for the subordinate Lodges. A Grand Lecturer, or Grand Visitor, was also appointed occasionally by the Grand Master to supplement the efforts of the Senior Grand Officers and to give personal instruction to the Officers of such Lodges as desired his service at their expense. Much improvement resulted from this plan, which was followed for nearly twenty years, and not abandoned till 1843.

 

At that time the Baltimore Convention of Grand Lecturers, representing sixteen of the twenty‑three Grand jurisdictions, formulated the " National System of Work " which was a compromise based on the various Rituals then being used in America. The plan was to have it become a uniform system and to have it adopted as a standard by all the Grand Jurisdictions in the United States. The New Jersey Grand Lodge was not represented at that Convention, and in consequence it was not until 1859 that it adopted the " Maryland Work " FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 17 as it came to be known. This was done at the instance of M.'. W.‑. Bro. Joseph Trimble, Grand Master, who had been made a Mason in a Baltimore Lodge and had become highly proficient in the " Maryland Work." Two or three years later, however, an attempt was made to introduce what was known as the " Conservator Work," promulgated by Bro. Robert Morris of Kentucky, who claimed that his was the only genuine Webb‑Preston Work, and who characterised the " Maryland Work " as " the greatest humbug of the largest dimensions." But the Grand Lodge of New Jersey refused to have anything to do with Bro. Morris's Work and plainly forbade its use in the Lodges of the State.

 

With the coming of the war between the States a great deal of irregularity again crept into the Work of the Lodges. This was due, of course, to the lack of proper supervision at that time. But with the close of the war a determined effort was made to re‑establish uniformity and proficiency through the services of a paid Grand Lecturer, who devoted all his time to that Work. Although this plan was a marked success for several years, it was carried on at a cost beyond the resources of the Grand Lodge. Consequently, in 1874, the services of a full‑time Grand Lecturer were made available with seven District Deputy Grand Masters, part of whose duty was to instruct the Lodges in the Work appointed. One year of following this plan, however, was enough to show " that there could be no undeviable standing for the Work unless there were an unquestionable authority from which it shall emanate," with power to decide any difference that might arise. Consequently, the Grand Lodge created the Office of R.‑. W.‑. Grand Instructor. He was to be " Custodian and Conservator of the Standard Work of New Jersey," and District Deputies were to look to him for advice and instruction in the Ritual Work. This was the first time the Grand Lodge of New Jersey officially recognised the Office of Grand Lecturer, or Grand Instructor, as a part of the Grand Lodge organisation. By this arrangement it established a system of instruction that has since proved highly satisfactory.

 

The Grand Lodge has been highly fortunate in the choice of Brethren to fill the important Office of Grand Instructor. The first appointee, R.‑. W.‑. Bro. Heber Wells, held the Office for eight years, after which he was succeeded by R.'. W.'. Bro. Henry S. Haines, who gave unsparingly of his time and talents for a period of more than thirty‑eight years. Aided by a loyal and efficient staff of District Deputies, Bro. Haines placed New Jersey on a high level in regard both to the proficiency and the uniformity of its Degree Work. That splendid quality of the Work has since been maintained under the able leadership of M.‑. W.‑. Bro. Richard C. Woodward, Grand Instructor, and his twenty‑nine District Deputies. In 1907, a Committee on Ritual was appointed to " aid in conserving its form, diction, and accuracy." This Committee is now regularly represented by one or more of its members at each District Grand Lodge of Instruction. These meetings are held annually in each district. At that time the esoteric Work of the several Degrees is exemplified by the Officers of the Lodges in the district, under the critical observation of the Grand Instructor.

 

18 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY Although‑ several Lodges in the State had, by consent of the Grand Lodge, for many years conducted their Work in German, that practice was discontinued on January i, i919. This change was due partly to the ill‑feeling stirred up at the time of the Great War and partly to a growing desire for complete uniformity. Since then the Grand Lodge has required all Degree Work to be conferred, all Lodge notices to be sent out, and all Records to be kept, in the English language.

 

During its early years the Grand Lodge of New Jersey undertook to provide aid for deserving persons. This was paid for from the proceeds of small regular assessments that were turned into the Grand Lodge Charity Fund. But in i86o this policy was changed and the responsibility for relief work was placed on the various subordinate Lodges. That responsibility soon proved, however, to be a great burden on some of the Lodges. In some cases the calls for assistance frequently exceeded the Lodge's financial resources. This was especially true in calls for help in caring for aged Brethren and the widows and orphans of deceased Brethren. Consequently the beginning of the second century of the Grand Lodge's existence was marked by the favorable consideration of a plan for the Grand Lodge itself to care for such cases. It was not until 1898, however, that the plan was put into effect. On St. John the Evangelist's Day of that year a Masonic Home was dedicated.

 

The Home is located about two miles south of Burlington, and at the start it consisted of a large stone mansion of 2‑o rooms, together with 26 acres of farm land. It was purchased for the sum of $25,ooo and was paid for by an assessment of two dollars per member. Purchases of adjoining tracts of land have been made at various times since, until the total area of the property is now about i5o acres. The cost of this additional land was $25,ooo. Additional buildings have also been erected to meet the ever‑increasing demands. By the end of the first year there were 18 guests in the Home, of whom only one was an orphan. During the first decade 84 men, 34 women, 9 boys and 12 girls were admitted. Of those, 43 had died and 22 had withdrawn at the close of 1907 leaving 74 persons in the care of the Home. To provide for the ever‑increasing applications for admission, following in the wake of a constantly increasing membership, has been one of the chief objectives among the various activities of the Grand Lodge. Fortunately, calls for additional support have always met with a ready response from the Brethren.* During the more than thirty‑two years of its existence in excess of 790 persons have been admitted as guests of the Home. Of that number iio were boys, and 87 were girls. Almost half of the aged who have lived there have passed to the great beyond from under the Home's sheltering roof, after spending their declining years in that peace and comfort which would not likely have been their lot had it not been for this stretching forth of Masonry's helping hand in their time of need.

 

The last report of the Home stated that there were 221 guests in it. Of those, *Lately the benefits of the Home have been extended to i20lude not only the indigent or helpless Master Mason, his wife, widow, or children, but also the mother, sister, or daughter of any deceased Brother who was at the time of his death chiefly dependent upon him for support.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 19 78 were men, 89 were women, 32 were boys, and 2.2‑ were girls. The children are comfortably housed in modern brick buildings, the latest addition to which is the group of buildings for boys, erected at a cost of $ioo,ooo. Provision has also been made for the education of the children. Those in grades below the third are taught at the Home. The older children attend the public schools at Burlington, their transportation to and from school being provided by the Home.

 

Ordinary cases of sickness, most of which are ailments due to senility, are cared for in the hospital where from thirty to forty patients are attended by a visiting physician, a trained nurse, three practical nurses, and a pharmacist. A fully‑equipped dental room has also been provided by the Order for the Eastern Star. There a dentist is kept busy one day each week caring for the teeth of both young and old. In instances where the patient suffers some mental ailment or requires surgical attention, he is removed to some properly‑equipped outside hospital. The present value of the property is conservatively estimated to be some $92o,ooo, and the annual cost of maintenance is about $130,000.

 

As an auxiliary to this Home relief work, the Grand Lodge lately established what is known as the Charity Foundation Fund. This is derived from special assessments and voluntary contributions which at present amount to more than half a million dollars. Interest on this fund amounting now to about $Zo,ooo a year, is used for the relief of those who can best be cared for by being maintained in their own homes. This plan holds families together until they are able to care for themselves. This applies particularly to the families of the deceased Brothers, whose widows are given additional aid to supplement their own earnings and are therefore enabled to keep their families under their own care, rather than having to place their own children in the Masonic Home. Recently these two charities have been incorporated as the Masonic Home and Foundation of New Jersey, " to receive, hold, and administer endowments and funds exclusively for charitable, benevolent, and hospital purposes, and to insure absolute permanency of the Home and Foundation, and to encourage gifts to this benevolent cause." While these charitable activities of the Grand Lodge are for the purpose of helping those who are partially or totally unable to support themselves, another phase of helpfulness and one that commends itself to the support of every Mason is that of helping a Brother to help himself by assisting him to find employment when unemployed. It was with this aim in view that the Masonic bureau of New Jersey was established in 1914, at the suggestion of some practically‑minded Brethren. This Bureau was suggested by, and is managed along the lines successfully followed by, a quasi‑Masonic organisation known as the Universal Craftsmen's Council of Engineers, a nationwide organisation having three active local Chapters in New Jersey.

 

The work of this Bureau, voluntarily supported by a few Lodges at the annual cost of one cent per member, soon commended itself to the Grand Lodge, which in turn recommended it to the favorable consideration and support of all the Lodges of the State. It was not until I925, however, that the Grand Lodge zo FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY began to foster it by making all Lodges in the State members of the Masonic Bureau of New Jersey, Incorporated. Contributions at the above‑mentioned rate remain optional with each Lodge. A Committee on Masonic Bureau was established to have general supervision of its work. Since 19z8, the Grand Lodge has each year contributed $3,6oo towards the Bureau's support. That sum is approximately one‑third of the total cost of operation. Reports show that during the last two or three years the Bureau has been instrumental in securing about zzoo placements annually at an average cost of about $io each.

 

In addition to securing employment, the Masonic Bureau of New Jersey, in conjunction with similar bureaus in other jurisdictions, has rendered efficient and timely aid to Brethren who fall into distress because of sickness or accident while sojourning in foreign jurisdictions. Thus the helping hand of the Bureau stretches across the continent and beyond the borders of the United States. At the same time, through the vigilance of its agents, it has helped greatly to reduce and in some cases has eliminated the number of undeserving who seek to subsist on the credulity and good nature of the Brethren. Such people are ferreted out by the Bureau, their methods of securing help are investigated by due process of law. New Jersey Masonry has always been prompt to respond to the cry of distress from its own members. It has also been quick to render help to other Grand jurisdictions in times of dire distress brought on by famine, pestilence, or other disaster. It has also held a high place among those contributing to the George Washington National Memorial at Alexandria, Virginia.

 

The Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons for the State of New Jersey consists of the following Officers the Most Worshipful Grand Master, the Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master, the Right Worshipful Senior Grand Warden, the Right Worshipful Junior Grand Warden, the Right Worshipful Grand Treasurer, the Right Worshipful Grand Secretary, and the Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Secretary.

 

All of these Officers are elected to their respective stations and places by the Grand Lodge at the Annual Communication held at Trenton in the month of April each year. At that time the following Officers are appointed by the Grand Master: the Right Worshipful Grand Chaplains, the Right Worshipful Grand Instructor, the Right Worshipful District Deputies, the Right Worshipful Senior Grand Deacon, the Right Worshipful Junior Grand Deacon, the Right Worshipful Senior Grand Steward, the Right Worshipful Junior Grand Steward, the Right Worshipful Grand Marshal, the Right Worshipful Grand Swordbearer, the Right Worshipful Grand Pursuivant, the Right Worshipful Grand Historian, the Right Worshipful Grand Organist, and the Right Worshipful Grand Tyler. All elected Past Grand Officers and Past Masters, while they remain members of regular Warranted Lodges in the New Jersey jurisdiction, and all present Masters and Wardens of those Lodges are members of the Grand Lodge.

 

Each Lodge is allowed three votes in all elections of the Grand Lodge. These may be cast by the Master and Wardens or by such of them as are present. In FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 2I case all three are absent, the votes may be cast by duly elected proxies, properly accredited by the Lodge for which they are to vote. All other members of the Grand Lodge who are present are allowed one vote each and no more. Absentees have no voice in the decisions of the Grand Lodge by proxy or otherwise, as they do have in some other Grand Lodges.

 

The various activities of the Grand Lodge are cared for by the following Committees: (I) The Trustees of the Grand Lodge. Of these five, one is annually elected for a term of five years. (2) The Trustees of the Masonic Home and Charity Foundation. Of these nine, three are annually elected for a term of three years. (3) Of the following committees, each of the five members is appointed annually: Committee on Appeals and Grievances, Committee on Constitutions and By‑Laws, Committee on jurisprudence, Committee on the Masonic Bureau, Committee on Ritual. (4) The Committee on Foreign Correspondence consists of three members, each of whom is appointed annually. (S) The Advisory Committee consists of all elected Grand Officers, Past Grand Masters, Trustees, and the chairmen of the Committees already named in this paragraph. (6) The Audit Committee, the Committee of the Grand Lodge Charity Fund, and the Committee on the Grand Master's Address each consist of three members, all of whom are appointed annually. (7) The Committee on Dispensations and Warrants consists of five members, all of whom are annually appointed.

 

The State is divided into twenty‑nine Districts, each having a District Deputy appointed or re‑appointed for it. The duties of that Deputy are to instruct the Officers of the subordinate Lodges in the District in the standard Work of the Ritual; to make at least one official visit to each Lodge under his care during each year; to witness an exemplification of the Work; to examine the condition of the books and finances of the Lodge; and to perform such other duties and services as may be assigned by the Grand Master.

 

The Ancient Landmarks recognised by this Grand Lodge have been thus condensed and classified under the following Distinct heads I. GOD: A belief in God as the Great Architect and Supreme Ruler of the universe.

 

II. THE GREAT LIGHT IN MASONRY: The acceptance of the revealed Word of God as the rule and guide for our faith and practise, and its visible presence in every Lodge.

 

III. THE GRAND MASTER: The Grand Master is elected by the Craft and holds Office until his successor is duly Installed. He is the ruler of the Craft and as such is of right the Presiding Officer of every assemblage of Masons. He may within his jurisdiction convene a Lodge at any time or place and do Masonic Work therein. He may also create Lodges by his Warrant and arrest the Warrant of any Lodge he chooses. He may suspend during his pleasure the operation of any rule or regulation of Masonry not a Landmark. He may suspend the Installed Officers of any Lodge and reinstate them at his pleasure and he is not answerable for his acts as Grand Master. He may deputise any Brother to do any act in his absence which he himself might do if present.

 

22 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY IV. THE LODGE: A Masonic Lodge must have a Master and two Wardens, and when convened for Masonic Work must be duly Tyled.

 

V. THE CANDIDATE: No person can be made a Mason unless he be a man, free‑born, of mature and discreet age, of good character and reputation, and have no bodily maim or defect that may render him incapable of learning the art or of being advanced to the several Degrees. But he may not apply for admission without solicitation, or take upon himself the Masonic obligations. He cannot be admitted to membership in a Masonic Lodge except upon a secret ballot by the Brethren of that Lodge.

 

VI. THE BRETHREN : Masons, as such, are equal. Each possesses the right to visit any Lodge or assembly of Masons where his presence will not disturb peace and harmony. If and when he has been aggrieved by any act of any Lodge, he may appeal to the General Assembly of Masons or to its substitute, the Grand Lodge.

 

VII. MASTERS AND WARDENS: No man may be elected the Master of a Lodge who has not first served as a Warden. Although the Master and the Wardens are elected by the members of their Lodge, they hold their Offices by virtue of the Warrant of the Grand Master until their successors have qualified. They are, in fact, his Representatives in the Lodge, and are not, therefore, responsible to the Lodge for their official acts. Nor can they be tried or disciplined by the Lodge during their term of Office.

 

VIII. JURISDICTION: Every Mason, for Masonic purposes, is subject to the jurisdiction of the Lodge within whose jurisdiction he resides.

 

IX. SECRECY: The legend of the Third Degree. The means of recognition. The methods of conferring the Degrees. The obligations of those Degrees. The ballot of every Brother. These are, and must continue to be, inviolably secret.

 

X. DEGREES: Ancient Craft Masonry includes only the Entered Apprentice Degree, the Fellow Craft Degree, and the Master Mason Degree.

 

Membership in a Lodge is automatically acquired when the candidate is Raised to the Master Mason Degree, or by a Master Mason through affiliation subject to the unanimous vote of the Lodge. Restoration of members suspended for N. P. D. may be granted by a majority of the votes cast, but in case of suspension for other reasons, or in case of expulsion, the restoration of the member requires a favorable two‑thirds of the votes cast. Dual membership is not permitted in the New Jersey Jurisdiction. Honorary Membership may be conferred as a mark of distinction, by a two‑thirds favorable vote of a Lodge upon a member of another New Jersey Lodge. The honour, however, carries neither voice nor vote in the affairs of the Lodge which confers it.

 

Life membership may be granted to anyone who has paid dues for consecutive years in any Lodge, provided that Lodge has previously adopted a By‑Law to that effect. To all others, life membership can be granted only upon payment of a sum not less than the equivalent of ten years' dues. Each member of a Lodge in New Jersey, who has been a Master Mason in good standing continuously for fifty years or more, is presented by the Grand Lodge with a gold button bearing FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY z3 the Seal of the Grand Lodge and a suitable inscription indicating that fact. In 1929, when these were first distributed there were 32.9 recipients of this token. While in some jurisdictions visitation is looked upon as a privilege, in New Jersey it is considered a right. That right, however, is subject to the will of any member of any Lodge who may be present. Such member may object to the admission or continuance of any visitor, excepting only Officers of the Grand Lodge. It is the duty of the Master of any Lodge to refuse admission to anyone thus objected to, or if already within the Body of the Lodge, to invite the visitor to retire, on the ground that his presence may disturb the peace and harmony of the Lodge.

 

In the early days of the New Jersey Grand Lodge, the elective Offices were held by the incumbents for several years. This was especially true in the case of the Grand Master. In fact, during the first thirty‑seven years of the Grand Lodge's existence, there were only eight Grand Masters. Of these, M.. W:. Bro. Aaron D. Woodruff held the Office for twelve years from i8os to 1816, inclusive. At the same time Bro. Woodruff was serving as Worshipful Master of Trenton Lodge, No. S, an Office which he held for thirty consecutive years. He held both Offices at the time of his death. Contemporary with him as Grand Master was R: . W.‑. Bro. William McKissack, Deputy Grand Master for fifteen years; R.: W.‑. Bro. Thomas Bullman, Senior Grand Warden for eleven years; R.'. W .'. Bro. General Franklin Davenport, grandnephew of R.‑.W.‑.Bro. Benjamin Franklin, Junior Grand Warden for ten years; R.*. W.‑. Bro. General Jonathan Rhea, Grand Treasurer for nine years; and R.‑.W.‑.Bro. George McDonald, Deputy Grand Secretary for fourteen years. During the eighty‑year period from 1824 to 1903, inclusive, there were thirty‑five Grand Masters. The average term for those years was a little more than two years. Since 1904, the four highest elective Offices have been occupied for a term of only one year by any one person. With only one exception, each Grand Master has also served a year in each of the other three Grand Offices. Thus, for almost thirty years, there has been a regular, unbroken line of succession through those four Grand Lodge Offices. To‑day there are nineteen Past Grand Masters still living. M.‑. W.‑. Bro. George W. Fortmeyer is the Senior Past Grand Master, having occupied that high and exalted Station during 1896 and 1897.

 

Fortunately, the Offices of Grand Treasurer, Grand Secretary, and Deputy Grand Secretary have seen few changes in personnel. R.‑. W.‑. Bro. Elias Phillips was Grand Treasurer for twenty years, R.‑. W.‑. Bro. Charles Bechtel, for thirty years, and‑R.'. W.'. Bro. William F. Burk, for twelve years. R.'. W.‑. Bro. Joseph H. Hough stands at the head of the list for length of service, having been Deputy Grand Secretary for five years and Grand Secretary for forty‑eight years. The present Grand Secretary, R.‑. W .'. Bro. Isaac Cherry, has a record of fifteen years, and it is hoped that he may serve many more years. R.'. W.‑. Bro. T. H. R. Redway was Deputy Grand Secretary for thirteen years, and R.'. W.‑. Bro. William Rutan held the Office for twenty years. The Grand Lodge of New Jersey may well be proud of such a record of continuity of service among its Officers. It may boast not only of the wisdom it has displayed in the choice of Grand Officers to 2‑4 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY direct its affairs, but also of the long continuation of harmony and good will that has characterised its existence as a Grand Body, and is evidenced by the long service of its Officers.

 

Garret Augustus Hobart, the twenty‑fourth vice‑president of the United States, was born at Long Branch, New Jersey, on June 3, 1844, and continued a lifelong resident of the State. He graduated from Princeton in 1863, and after teaching for some time took up the study of the law in Paterson where he was licensed to practise in 1866. Three years later he was made a counsellor‑at‑law. In 1872‑ he was elected assemblyman, and two years later he became the speaker of that legislative body. In 1876 he was elected State senator, and was president of the Senate during 1881 and 1882‑. He was first to have the distinction of presiding over both branches of the New Jersey legislature.

 

At the same time an active business man, Hobart was associated with many industrial and public utility enterprises, and as he himself said, " engaged in politics for recreation." Nevertheless he put as much energy and ability into his political activities as he put into his regular vocation, and won nationwide recognition by being elected vice‑president of the United States in 1896. His public career was cut short, however, by his untimely death, on November 21, 1899, at the age of fifty‑five. At that time he was in the full maturity of his power and held high esteem of his fellow citizens for his ability and his integrity of character.

 

Bro. Hobart was Initiated in Falls City Lodge, No. 82‑, of Paterson, on July 9, 1867, and was raised on December 8, 1868. On November 6, 1871, he was Exalted a Royal Arch Mason in Cataract Chapter, No. 1o, of Paterson, and that same year he was Knighted in St. Omer Commandery, No. 13, Knights Templar. On January 1, 1876, he received the Thirty‑second Degree of Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Masonry in New Jersey Consistory, of Jersey City. Then, on December 23, 1896, he was elected a life member of Washington Commandery, No. 1, at Washington, District of Columbia, just prior to his installation as vice‑president.

 

Born in moderate circumstances, Bro. Hobart, through his assiduous application, became the architect and builder of his fortune, and builded so well that he had reached almost the pinnacle of human ambition, both politically and Fraternally, before he was called to join the innumerable throng in that house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

 

It has been claimed that another vice‑president of the United States, who was a native Jerseyman, was also a Freemason. We refer to Aaron Burr, second vice‑president of the Republic, a son of the Reverend Aaron Burr of Newark, New Jersey. But nothing has been produced positively to identify him with the Fraternity directly or indirectly. A complete Masonic Record of a man bearing the same name, who was elected, entered, passed, and Raised in Union Lodge, No. 40, of Danbury, Connecticut, between June S and September 13, 18o6, has been offered as proof of the claim. But if one will refer to Burr's biography one may see clearly that at that time he had something on his mind very different FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY 25 from taking upon himself the obligations of a Freemason. As a matter of fact, he was deeply engrossed in preparing for his filibustering expedition against Mexico, which has been satirically characterised as " being perhaps the most magnificent enterprise ever conceived on the American continent." Instead of being Raised to the sublime Degree of Master Mason on September 13, i8o6, as recorded in those minutes, he had, then, gone West six weeks before to embark on a scheme destined to bring him into the limelight as a conspirator and a traitor to his country.

 

It has also been stated that he visited Western Star Lodge, No. io, at Kaskaskia, Illinois, on April 4, I8I2. But, from his own journal, we learn that on that particular date he had sufficiently recovered from an attack of seasickness to partake of a good dinner of codfish and potatoes, on board the ship Aurora, as he returned from exile in Europe. Happy, indeed, are we to be thus able to remove the blot of his name from the Records of American Freemasonry.

 

ROYAL ARCH MASONRY IN NEW JERSEY Following the example of the Lodges in New York City, several of the early Lodges in New Jersey had Mark Master Lodges attached to them, working under the sanction of their Grand Lodge Warrants.

 

There is evidence of one being attached to St. John's Lodge, No. 2, of Newark, Essex County, in i8o5, and Paterson‑Orange Lodge, No. 13, of Paterson, Passaic County, had one in active operation in I8o6. Cincinnati Lodge, No. 17, of Hanover, Morris County, Instituted one in 1811, and Union Lodge, No. 2I, of Orange, Essex County, authorised one in 18i2, the Minute Book of which is still to the fore; and later we find the Mark Master Degree being conferred in one or two Lodges in the Southern part of the State.

 

The establishment of Royal Arch Masonry in New Jersey was brought up for consideration before the Grand Lodge in 1804 and it was agreed to permit the opening of Chapters under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge and by permis sion of the Grand Master. The following year Grand Master Beatty granted a Dispensation to Washington Lodge, No. I2, of New Brunswick, Middlesex County, to establish a Chapter, but it was not until 1813 that a Warrant was issued to it by the General Grand Chapter as Solomon's Chapter, No. 2.

 

This is as far as the Grand Lodge went in the matter of establishing Royal Arch Masonry in New Jersey, and it has ever since abstained from having anything directly to do with it.

 

Washington Chapter, No. I, was Constituted on August 7, 1813, by Dispensation from the General Grand Scribe and it received its Warrant from the General Grand Chapter on September II, I8ig.

 

The long intervals between the Instituting and Warranting of these Chapters by the General Grand Chapter was due to the fact that it met only once in seven years, instead of every three as at present.

 

26 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY On October 16, 1815, Brearley Lodge, No. 9, of Bridgeton, Cumberland County, granted permission to several of its members to form a Chapter there, and on April 18, 1816, it was duly Consecrated and the Officers regularly Installed by Officers of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania, from which it received its Warrant, with General James Giles as its first High Priest.

 

This Chapter followed the policy of the Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania in maintaining an attitude of aloofness from the General Grand Chapter. This stood in the way of forming a Grand Chapter in New Jersey, when Washington Chapter, of Newark, and Solomon's Chapter, of New Brunswick, endeavoured to bring that about in 1817 and again in i82o, as these two Chapters were the progeny of the General Grand Chapter, and Brearley Chapter would have no association with them on that account.

 

Franklin Chapter, No. 3, was Constituted at Whippany, Morris County, in 1824, thus providing the third Chapter necessary to Constitute a Grand Chapter, which was consummated on January 5, 1825, at Elizabeth, Union County, when Comp. John E. Ruckle was elected Grand High Priest.

 

The Grand Chapter was duly Consecrated and the Officers Installed at New Brunswick on May 9, 1825, and it was quite fitting and appropriate that this ceremony should take place in the city where the Grand Lodge and the first Chapter in New Jersey were Constituted.

 

Hiram Chapter, No. 4, of Trenton, Mercer County, was granted a Warrant on June 24, 1825. It had been Working under a Dispensation from Elias J. Thompson, Deputy Grand High Priest, dated May 18, 1825. This Chapter con tinued to function during the anti‑Masonic agitation of 1826 to 1836, while the other Chapters and the Grand Chapter itself became defunct, and it thereby constituted the connecting link between the original Grand Chapter and the present Grand Chapter, thus maintaining the continuity of Royal Arch Masonry in New Jersey from 1805 to the present time, and it holds the proud position of the premier Chapter on the Roll of the Grand Chapter of New Jersey. It is located at Red Bank, Monmouth County, where it continues in a healthy condition with a membership of over 300.

 

The original Grand Chapter held its last Annual Convocation on November 8, 1836. Washington Chapter, of Newark, had become dormant in 183o but was resuscitated on January 30, 184o, and continued to function until March 28, 1844, when it again fell by the wayside and passed into history.

 

In 1848 the Deputy General Grand High Priest gave a Dispensation to Union Chapter and Newark Chapter, both of Newark, and these were duly Warranted by the General Grand Chapter on September 12, 185o, but they found it impossible to maintain two Chapters in that city and on March 25, 1853, the members of Newark Chapter affiliated with Union Chapter.

 

Enterprise Chapter, of Jersey City, was granted a Dispensation in 1854 from the General Grand King, and the General Grand High Priest gave a Dispensation for Boudinot Chapter at Burlington in 1856, both of which were regularly Warranted by the General Grand Chapter on September 1I, 1856.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY z7 The three Chapters, Hiram, Enterprise and Boudinot, organised the present Grand Chapter of New Jersey in Burlington on December 30, 1856, and the Grand Officers were duly Installed in Jersey City on February 3, 1857, the three constituent Chapters being recorded as Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, and on September 9, 1857, a Chapter was again Warranted for New Brunswick, to be known as Scott Chapter, No. 4.

 

The first Grand High Priest of this Grand Chapter was M.‑. E.‑. Companion William H. Doggett, a native of Virginia, who took up his abode in Jersey City, was exalted in Enterprise Chapter, No. z, in 1854, became its high Priest in 1856 and was re‑elected the following year. He later became the Grand Commander of the Knights Templar of the State of New Jersey. He died in Jersey City on April 25, 18go, at the age of seventy‑five, and was laid to rest with due Masonic ceremonies by his Brethren and Companions who deeply mourned his loss.

 

It was not until 1851 that Brearley Chapter, of Bridgeton, was resuscitated, and neither it nor Union Chapter, of Newark, took any part in the organisation of the Grand Chapter, but in 1859 both of these Chapters became affiliated with it, Brearley coming in as No. 6, and Union as No. 7. In the meantime ThreeTimes‑Three Chapter, No. 5, had been Constituted at Trenton on May 4, 1858. Another Chapter was Warranted for the town of Bergen, Bergen County, on September 7, 1859, to be known as Mount Vernon, No. 8, and Harmony Chapter, No. 9, of Newark, was Warranted at the same time.

 

Thus at the third Annual Convocation of the Grand Chapter of New Jersey, local dissensions had been healed and all the subordinate Chapters to the number of three times three agreed in peace, love and unity, the Grand Chapter of New Jersey to support, and through it to recognise the authority of the General Grand Chapter of the United States of America.

 

Three more Chapters were Warranted in 186o, Cataract City, No. io, of Paterson, Passaic County; Pentalpha, No. ii, of Hoboken, Bergen County; and Temple, No. 12, of Phillipsburg, Warren County. Those 12 Chapters had at that time a total membership of 419, or an average of 35 per Chapter.

 

The Civil War checked further development for a few years, but the Chapters in existence held their own as to membership until peace was once more declared. At the close of the year 1865 the Grand High Priest was able to report the Institution of two new Chapters, Wilson, No. 13, of Lambertville, Hunterdon County, and Delta, No. 14, at Keyport, Monmouth County.

 

A rapid increase in the number of Chapters and a still more rapid increase in membership marked the years immediately following the Civil War, so that when the Grand Chapter had reached its twenty‑first Annual Convocation there were 35 Chapters and 2384 Companions on record in the State, being about 23 per cent of the membership of the Blue Lodges.

 

A reaction to this post‑war activity followed, the membership declined, and it was not until 1891 that it had entirely recovered its former status numerically, with 36 Chapters and about 285o members, being about Zo per cent of the Masons on record in the State. The membership continued to increase from that 28 FREEMASONRY IN NEW JERSEY time until the World War at an average rate of 195 per annum, and during the four years of the War there were about isoo added to the Roll.

 

As in the wake of the Civil War, so in that of the World War, an abnormal increase in membership ensued, more than doubling itself in six years. Then the usual reaction set in and a recession of annual increases followed until 1929 when the figures went in the red, so that now the total membership is over 19,ooo with 5 8 active Chapters, showing an average of about 340 members per Chapter, and a Zo per cent relative proportion to the Blue Lodge membership as of forty years ago.

 

As has been already stated the Grand Chapter of New Jersey is and always has been independent of the Grand Lodge as a Masonic Body, but it is of course entirely dependent on it for its personnel both as to its members and its Officers, and the progress of the one is reflected in that of the other. Two of the living Past Grand High Priests are Past Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge: M.‑. W.‑. Richard C. Woodward and M .'. W .'. Frank C. Sayrs, and the present Grand King is also a Past Grand Master, M.'. W .'. Donald J. Sargent; while one of the Chapters perpetuates the name of another Past Grand Master, M . . W . . Joseph W. Scott, of New Brunswick, and one of the youngest of the Chapters is named in honour of a distinguished member of the Grand Lodge, R.‑. W.‑. Henry S. Haines, Grand Instructor for many years both in the Grand Lodge and in the Grand Chapter. Thus in recent years has the Grand Chapter of New Jersey found itself patronised and Officered by some of the distinguished Officers of the Grand Lodge, thereby helping to bring the two Bodies nearer to that bond of Masonic relationship which existed in the early days, when it was declared that " Pure Ancient Masonry consists of three Degrees and no more, viz :‑those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellowcraft, and the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the HOLY ROYAL ARCH." FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO T is impossible to know when or by whom Freemasonry was first introduced into that great region from which was formed the State of New Mexico. Although a sentence or two which appears in the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Texas indicate that in 1841 certain unnamed Brethren Petitioned for a Dispensation to form Santa Fe Lodge, No. 15, presumably to be Instituted in that city, no further Records remain to show what disposition was made of that Petition. Nevertheless, William B. Pearson, Grand Secretary of Texas, has stated that a Charter was issued, and that it was afterwards revoked in 1844. Bro. Pearson cited no authorities, however. If the Santa Fe Lodge ever actually existed, it was doubtless connected with the ill‑starred Texas‑Santa Fe Expedition. In that case the fate of the expedition precluded the possibility of its ever having held Communications in Santa Fe. At that time Texas was a republic, and it claimed as its Territory a large part of what is now New Mexico, a claim which stood until the settlement of boundary disputes in 185o. Perhaps that fact explains why the first known attempt to plant Masonry in New Mexico is believed to have been made by Texas.

 

Fortunately, the next item regarding Masonry in New Mexico rests upon unimpeachable documentary evidence. When the United States declared war on Mexico in 1847, a majority of the troops sent to the region now known as New Mexico were recruited from Illinois and Missouri. It happened among them was John Ralls, colonel of the Third Regiment of Missouri Volunteers, and also at that time Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. Discovering among his officers and men a number of Master Masons, Colonel Ralls decided to organise a Military Lodge, and for that purpose he issued a Dispensation for Missouri Military Lodge, No. 86. That was on June 12, 1847. Three days later the Lodge was Instituted at Independence, Missouri, then the northern end of the Santa Fe Trail. Then, on October 14 of that year, a Charter was granted.

 

The second Communication of the Lodge was held at Santa Fe. During the time that had elapsed between the date of its Institution and that second Communication its members had marched some goo miles. That second meeting, coming as it did after weeks of weary marching by its members, was probably the first regular Communication ever held in the vast territory which lies between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean, bounded by Canada on the north and Texas and Mexico on the south. To‑day that vast region is the home of thirteen Grand Lodges. A majority of the members of that early Lodge were army officers from Illinois and Missouri. The Minutes, kept in a book only five inches by seven inches in size and having fewer than loo pages, are now in the possession of the Grand Lodge of Missouri. The last meeting which they record 29 30 FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO was held at Santa Cruz, in Mexico, On July 5, 1848, at a time when Colonel Ralls was serving as Worshipful Master. Inasmuch as the Third Regiment was mustered out after the signing of the Guadalupe‑Hidalgo Treaty on February 2 of that same year, it may be supposed that the Lodge ceased to exist at about the time of its last‑recorded Communication.

 

When Colonel Ralls with his regiment was ordered into Mexico, those Illinois members of Missouri Military Lodge, No. 86, who remained in Santa Fe with the first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, secured from that Lodge permis sion to Petition for a Dispensation to form another Lodge, to be called Hardin Lodge, No. 87. Therefore, on October 9, 1847, Colonel Ralls issued the Dispensation, and nine days later the Lodge was Instituted on a Charter which described it as existing " for the transaction of business in Masonry, within the regiment of volunteers from the State of Illinois, known as the First Regiment." The duration of the Lodge was limited to the length of time that the regiment should serve. That meant not only that Lodge No. 87 was a Military Lodge, but that it was also a regimental Lodge, and that it was to exist for a limited period only. The entire history of American Masonry records few, if any, other instances of Lodges formed according to such specifications. Immediately after its organisation, Lodge No. 87 was very busy helping Lodge No. 86 " clean its trestleboard," and until its last Communication, which was held on August 14, 1848, it carried on its Work both vigorously and wisely. H. P. Boyakin, first Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 87, was lieutenant‑colonel of his regiment. Among the Lodge's membership were also many other men prominent in military affairs, and yet others who remained in the West to take a leading part in the affairs of the new American Territory. From the latter, seven afterwards demitted to Montezuma Lodge, the first permanent Masonic Lodge in New Mexico.

 

For three years after the signing of the Guadalupe‑Hidalgo Treaty, which constituted New Mexico a Territory of the United States, no Lodge was formed to carry on the Work of Lodge No. 86 and of Lodge No. 87. The Grand Lodge of New Mexico, however, possesses the original Petition for a Dispensation addressed to the Grand Lodge of Maryland. Although it bears no date, it was probably written about the year 1850. Whether it was ever actually transmitted, and if so, what disposition was made of it, there is no way of discovering. The same may be said of another Petition, also in the possession of the Grand Lodge, addressed to the Grand Lodge of Missouri and signed by thirteen Master Masons. It also is undated and may possibly never have been transmitted. Nevertheless both those documents prove that during the three‑year interim Masons were living in Santa Fe, and that they were interested in Masonic affairs, even though they had no Lodge.

 

Fortunately, a third effort to establish a Lodge in New Mexico Territory was more successful, for on May 8, 1851, the Grand Lodge of Missouri granted a Charter for a Lodge to be held at Santa Fe, and to be called Montezuma Lodge, No. 1o9. Instituted on the following August 22, it was a success from the beginning. Into its membership came such nationally known leaders as " Kit " FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO 31 Carson, Ceran St. Vrain, Lafayette Head, many judges and other public officials, merchants, army officers, and prominent miners and ranchers. The conditions under which the Lodge Laboured were rough and hazardous. For example, its first junior Warden, Robert T. Brent, was killed by Apache Indians on the dreaded Journado del Muerto within four months after taking Office, and was buried by the Lodge on December 2.2., 1851. But in a certain sense those conditions told in favour of the Lodge. Only a scattering of Americans were living in Santa Fe at the time, and among them were very few women. Consequently almost no social life was possible, except such as was furnished by saloons, brothels, and gambling houses, places of amusement to which those early Americans were less addicted than is usually supposed. There was not even a cemetery for the burying of the Protestant dead, and there were almost no church facilities for them at all. The Lodge, therefore, satisfied many needs, serving not only in its usual capacity, but also as a social centre, a church, and a club, all in one. Among its first acts, carried out in conjunction with a Lodge of Odd Fellows, was the establishment of a cemetery. For nine such years Montezuma Lodge was the only Lodge in the Territory, almost the only Lodge within a radius of a thousand miles. But it buried its roots deep, was well organised, generous, and free from dissension. Afterwards, and for a decade or more, it remained a kind of Mother Lodge which performed the unofficial functions of a Grand Lodge and otherwise fostered Freemasonry in a land where nothing was more difficult to carry on or more needed. When other Lodges arose, it assisted them, notably in the cases of Chapman Lodge, No. 95, and Aztec Lodge, No. io8. Likewise, when the proper time arrived, it took the lead in forming a Grand Jurisdiction.

 

Before describing the formation of the Grand Lodge, it is necessary to sketch rapidly the formation of a few other Lodges. First in order was a Lodge organised at Taos, that tripartite frontier settlement of Indians, Spanish‑Americans, and North Americans, which even yet retains the picturesque character of frontier days. Ten Master Masons, among whom were " Kit " Carson and Ceran St. Vrain, Petitioned for a Dispensation. On November 16, 1859, the Dispensation was issued by Judge Joab Houghton, then Deputy Grand Master for what was then the Twenty‑fifth District of Missouri. Then, on the following June i, the Charter was granted by the Grand Lodge of Missouri, and the new Lodge became known as Bent Lodge, No. 2.04. Despite the fact that Dr. David Waldo, a man famous in the history of the Santa Fe Trail, deeded a lot to the Lodge, and although other friends and members worked heroically for the Lodge's welfare, it was confronted by too many handicaps. During its first four years it conferred Degrees on only four candidates, and then, on November 9, 1864, it finally surrendered its Charter and regalia to the District Deputy, Bro. R. Frank Green. The Light thus extinguished was, however, rekindled long afterwards, when on October 2.o, 19o9, the Grand Lodge of New Mexico organised a new Lodge at Taos under the name of Bent Lodge, No. 42..

 

On June 2.o, 1862., the Grand Lodge of Missouri issued a Dispensation for 32 FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO Chapman Lodge, No. 95, to be held at Fort Union, an army outpost. A Charter did not follow, however, until June 2, 1866. Then, on September 12, 1867, Grand Master John D. Vincil permitted the Lodge to be removed to Las Vegas, where it has since remained. The following year it constructed its first temple, an adobe building, at a cost of $2,5oo, $Zoo of which was lent by Montezuma Lodge, No. log. Chapman Lodge is now Lodge No. 2.

 

Aztec Lodge, at Las Cruces, received its Dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Missouri on June 4, 1866, and its Charter on October 1g, 1867. It is now Aztec Lodge, No. 3. " Kit " Carson Lodge, No. 326, of Elizabethtown, at the time of the Lodge's establishment, a mere mushroom mining village, received a Dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Missouri on August 1o, 1869, and its Charter on October 12, 1869. But when the mining boom collapsed, it succumbed to the inevitable and in 1878 M.‑.W.'. Thomas C. Ready, Grand Master, arrested its now useless Charter.

 

Silver City Lodge, No. 465, received its Dispensation on May 1, 1873, and its Charter on October 17 of the same year. Though it withheld from all participation in the formation of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico in 1877, it did later unite with that Grand Lodge in 1882 and is now Silver City Lodge, No. 8. Union Lodge, No. 480, which was organised first at La junta, then removed first to Tiptonville, and later to Watrous, and is now located at Wagon Mound, received its Dispensation On May 3, 1874, and its Charter on October 15, 1874. It is now Union Lodge, No. 4. Cimarron Lodge, No. 348, of Cimarron, the last Lodge to be formed before the organisation of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, was Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Missouri October 14, 1875, but surrendered its Charter in 1879. It was revived, however, by the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, on October Zo, 19o8, and is now known as Cimarron Lodge, No. 37.

 

As has been stated, every Lodge thus far mentioned, excepting only Santa Fe Lodge No. 15, was Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Missouri. Consequently, that Grand Lodge is entitled to be called the Mother of New Mexico Masonry. As every reader of history may suspect, this did not just happen to be the case. From early in the century until the railways had crossed the Rocky Mountains, St. Louis and its adjacent towns were the head of the Santa Fe Trail, the point from which all trade set out for New Mexico and to which it returned. St. Louis was the financial capital for the sparsely settled region to the westward, the place where commerce with it was planned and managed. Like every other contribution from the East, Masonry, too, reached New Mexico through St. Louis.

 

For two years after Mexico had surrendered all rights to the region, a part of which came to form New Mexico, that vast Territory belonged to the United States though it had not yet been legally organised as a Territory. The interior government, half military and half civil, was rife with disorder. Occasionally it was even bloody because of serious Indian and native Spanish uprisings, but shortly after 1850, the year in which a complete Territorial civil government was formed, conditions began to improve. Destined to endure, with a varying but FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO 33 fairly satisfactory fortune, conditions in New Mexico grew rapidly better. More Americans came into the Territory, and among them was an increasing number of Masons By 1875 the Grand Lodge of Missouri had Chartered eight Lodges there, exclusive of Lodge No. 86 and Lodge No. 87. Of those, six showed signs of permanence, and forward‑looking Masons, especially the leaders of Montezuma Lodge, No. 1og, began to pave the way for a Grand Lodge of their own.

 

Montezuma Lodge, No. iog, had already made several attempts to call a Convention, but its efforts were not successful until 1877, when four other of the six active Lodges in New Mexico agreed to participate. The four Lodges willing to hold the Convention were Montezuma Lodge, No. 1og, Chapman Lodge, No. 95, Aztec Lodge, No. 1o8, and Union Lodge, No. 48o. Unfortunately, though, Delegates from Union Lodge, No. 48o, were not able to attend. Nevertheless, the Convention was held at Santa Fe, from August 6 to August 1o, 1877, with eight Delegates present at the opening session. Simon B. Newcomb, of Aztec Lodge, No. 1o8, was elected President, and Augustus Z. Huggins, of Montezuma Lodge, No. 1og, Secretary. A Committee of three, with Bro. Huggins acting as Chairman, drew up a Constitution and By‑Laws and designed a seal. With some amendments, all were adopted on the evening of August 7. The following Grand Officers were elected: William W. Griffin, Worshipful Master of Montezuma Lodge, being chosen Grand Master, and the afterwards‑famous David J. Miller, attending as a visiting Brother from Montezuma Lodge, being elected Grand Secretary. That same evening Grand Officers were installed, with Samuel B. Axtell, of an Ohio Lodge, acting as Master of Ceremonies. Then, on August g, after a great deal of discussion, a standard Work was adopted. That night a Third Degree was conferred in ample form upon Frederick F. Whitehead, of Montezuma Lodge. The following day a Committee on Foreign Correspondence, a Committee on Ways and Means, and a Committee on Charity were appointed, and that same night Max Frost, destined to a long career in New Mexico, was raised to the Sublime Degree. On the next day the infant Grand Lodge adjourned after setting the first Monday of the following January as the time for its first Annual Communication, to be held at Santa Fe.

 

In view of all the circumstances the Constitution that was there adopted was a remarkably able document. It gave the title of the new Body as " The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of New Mexico." It provided for a Grand Lecturer, for District Deputy Grand Masters, and for ten Committees. In every other respect it was also complete. It made especially ample and farsighted provision for the future growth of the Grand Jurisdiction. The philosophically minded student of Craft history may easily see in that Constitution the advantage a recently established Grand Lodge has over the older ones. It can build on foundations that have already been tested, it does not need to waste its own time and energy groping in the dark or making costly experiments. In date and personnel the Grand Lodge of New Mexico was new. In its use of funded wisdom and crystallised experience it was as old as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts or of Pennsylvania.

 

34 FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO The first Annual Communication was not held at Santa Fe until January 6, 1879. At that time Grand Master William W. Griffin was able to report that eighteen other Grand Lodges, including that of Missouri, had officially granted Fraternal recognition, and that he had granted new Charters to the four member Lodges. The only trouble he had to report was that the Grand Lodge of Missouri, which, despite the fact that it had recognised the sovereignty of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, had still continued its own functions in the jurisdiction. It had arrested the Charter of " Kit Carson " Lodge, and had appropriated that Lodge's properties. It had continued the Charters and collected dues from Silver City Lodge and from Cimarron Lodge, neither of which had yet joined the new Grand Lodge. The Grand Master reminded his hearers that ' ` Americans and resident Europeans " constituted " not more than ten to fifteen per cent of the entire population," that only during the year had the railway " crossed our border on the north," through the Raton Pass. While he refused to paint a pleasant picture of the future, he bade all to be of good cheer.

 

At the First Communication the Grand Treasurer also reported that he had received a sum of $368, all of which he had disbursed. In those early years the Grand Lodge was more than once obliged to resort to private subscriptions to replenish its treasury, and even to‑day‑though sojourning sufferers from tuberculosis seem to overlook the fact‑it is far from affluent. The Committee on Foreign Correspondence submitted a full report in writing, the four subordinate Lodges reported a total membership of 169 Master Masons, and the Proceedings of the First Grand Communication‑remarkably complete‑were ordered to be printed. Thus, at the end of its first sixteen months, the new Grand Lodge found itself making normal headway. Since then nothing has occurred to disappoint the early hopes of its members. In due time Silver City Lodge and Cimarron Lodge joined the rolls, other new Lodges were added as conditions warranted, and that which began as a family of four Lodges, having 169 members, is now a healthy Grand Jurisdiction of 57 Lodges, having a total membership of over 7000.

 

The Grand Lodge of New Mexico was fortunate in its early Grand Masters. The first, William W. Griffin, served for two years, and was succeeded by a line of men, among whom were persons well known in New Mexico affairs, such as William L. Rynerson, Simon B. Newcomb and Henry L. Waldo. The Grand Lodge was especially fortunate in its first Grand Secretary, David J. Miller, who for seven years served that Office with true frontier vigour and dash. A selfdrawn portrait of the man appears in a diary which he kept on a three months' hazardous trip he made in 1854, when he journeyed from Austin, Texas, to Santa Fe. That diary reveals Miller as having been a bold, courageous, inventive, manly, and unselfish person. When he passed away at St. Louis, Missouri, on December z3, 1887, he was buried in the Masonic burial lot in Bellefontaine Cemetery by the Grand Lodge of Missouri, with Grand Lodge honours. He was succeeded in Office by Alpheus A. Keen, who has served continuously ever since. Alpheus Augustus Keen was born in Pomeroy, Ohio, in 1855. Two years FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO 35 afterwards his parents returned to New England, where, after attending the public schools, he graduated from the Highland Military Academy, of Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1876. In 1878 he removed to Chicago, and thence to Las Vegas, New Mexico, October 18, 1879, then the terminus of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co., building from La Junta, Colorado, to El Paso, Texas. There, during the following year, he became connected with the First National Bank. In 189o he removed to Albuquerque to become cashier of the First National Bank. He has resided there ever since. Bro. Keen was initiated in Chapman Lodge, No. 2, of Las Vegas, on December 29, 1881, passed on January 26, 1882, raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason on February 16, 1882, and is still a member of that Lodge. On November i9, 1884, he succeeded David J. Miller as Grand Secretary. He has filled the Office continually ever since. In point of continuous service Bro. Keen is second only after Bro. Fay Hempstead of Arkansas (who has since died), dean of all living Grand Secretaries of America and probably of the world. He has been Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter since its organisation on October 3, 1898, and Grand Recorder of the Grand Commandery since October 23, 1902. He was constituted a noble of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in Ballut Abyad Temple, Albuquerque, on June 8, 1892. On November 1o, 19io, he received the Thirtysecond Degree of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masonry in New Mexico Consistory, No. i, of Santa Fe. On October Zo, 1915, he was Knight Commander of the Court of Honour, Southern jurisdiction, and on October 19, 1917, he was crowned as Honorary Inspector General of the Thirty‑third Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masons, Southern jurisdiction, at Washington, District of Columbia.

 

Better known, and equally devoted to the Craft, was Christopher Carson, or " Kit " Carson as he was usually known. This remarkable man, as modest as he was heroic, and always a gentleman, was born in what is now Madison County, Kentucky, on December 24, 18o9. After being apprenticed as a lad to a saddler at Franklin, Missouri, he ran away, went West, and afterwards became the West's most famous trapper, scout, trader, Indian fighter, and soldier. He was initiated into Montezuma Lodge on March 29, 1854, passed on June 17, 1854, and raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason on December 26, 1854. On April 30, 186o, he demitted to help form Bent Lodge at Taos. His application, written in his own scrawly hand, and his apron, are now in the possession of the Grand Lodge, and one of his rifles is owned by Montezuma Lodge, No. 1. Becoming Junior Warden, Bro. Carson worked constantly for that Lodge. Later, after the surrender of its Charter, he reaffiliated himself with Montezuma Lodge. Bro. Carson died at Fort Lyon, Colorado, on May 23, 1868, but his body was removed to Taos, where the Grand Lodge with Masonic ceremony erected a monument and placed an iron fence about his grave. Later his old home at Taos was purchased by the Grand Lodge, which cared for it until 1914 when it was turned over to the present Bent Lodge, which still holds it.

 

Bracketed in Southwestern fame with the name of " Kit " Carson is the 3 6 FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO name of the martyred Territorial governor, Charles Bent. A native of Virginia, a graduate of West Point, Charles Bent early came to Colorado with his brother William. There, in 182‑8, he built Bent's Fort, the largest and most noted furtrading post in the whole Rocky Mountain region. Later the brothers established a store in Santa Fe. It was then that Charles entered into a partnership with Ceran St. Vrain. A man who combined far‑sweeping imagination with great executive ability, Charles Bent was literally one of the architects of the Southwest. It was fitting, then, that he should be selected as the first civil governor of the region after General Kearny took possession of it for the United States in 1846. But Bent's tenure of office was both brief and tragic. During the uprisings of 1847 he was assassinated in his home at Taos by a mob of Indians and natives. Bent, a Charter Member of Missouri Lodge, No. 1, of St. Louis, became one of the earliest Masonic leaders in New Mexico.

 

Many other men famous for their pioneering work were in one way or another connected with the Craft in New Mexico. There was Ceran St. Vrain, Bent's partner, a trader on a grand scale, an Indian fighter, hero of two wars, who was raised in Montezuma Lodge in 1855. And there was John W. Poe, Grand Master in 1897, a brave man who had been brought from Texas to crush a gang of desperadoes who operated in Lincoln County under the leadership of Billy the Kid. There was also Stephen B. Elkins, who later became a wellknown United States senator, whose life was saved in Missouri by G.H.S., and who lived for a time in Santa Fe, where he was an active Mason. General Lew Wallace, who finished writing his famous novel, Ben Hur, in the Governor's Palace at Santa Fe during his term as Territorial governor, was reputed to be an Indiana Mason. There were scores of others besides‑heroes, wealthy cattle men, Indian fighters, soldiers, and scouts. Perhaps no other Grand Jurisdiction in America has ever numbered among its members so picturesque a procession. Already half legendary, many of them await their proper places in the epic account of their fortunes which remains to be written.

 

In its institutional activities, the Grand Lodge of New Mexico has followed the familiar pattern. During its early years it maintained headquarters at Santa Fe, but afterwards removed them to Albuquerque, the State's metrop olis, where they were more centrally located and so more accessible to a great number of member Lodges. For a time it planned a building of its own, and Temple Lodge, No. 6, of Albuquerque, offered to donate a plot of ground on which to erect it, but lack of funds made the following of that plan impossible. In 1911, however, Temple Lodge erected a spacious temple of its own, in which were set aside appropriate quarters for the Grand Lodge's use. These it has occupied continuously ever since. The only Lodge outside the State to be Chartered by the Grand Lodge of New Mexico was White Mountain Lodge, No. 5, at Globe, Arizona, on January 18, 1881. The following year, however, it united with the Grand Lodge of Arizona.

 

Efforts to establish a Masonic Home in New Mexico were begun early. In i89o io per cent of the per capita tax was ordered converted into a Masonic FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO 37 Home Fund with a view to raising an eventual total of $i2o,ooo. At present a sum of $114,ooo has been raised, but whether that sum will go into a building or will take the form of some permanent plan for administering outside relief is as yet undecided. Emergency relief is managed by a Committee on Masonic Relief which consists of the Grand Master, the Grand Treasurer, and the Grand Secretary, who have the use of a sum amounting to 50 cents per capita.

 

New Mexico Masons are by tradition open‑handedly generous. As early as 1867, the members of Montezuma Lodge contributed a sum of $965 to war sufferers among Brethren in the South, that having been the largest amount sent from any State or Territory. Of late years, however, they have found both their funds and their ingenuity taxed to the utmost to meet the claims being made upon them by sojourners coming into the State to seek relief from pulmonary affections, especially tuberculosis. New Mexico does all it can for those sufferers. The Grand Lodge annually contributes a large fund to the Sojourners' Club (United States Veterans' Hospital, No. 55), at Fort Bayard, and to the Trowel Club (The United States Marine Hospital, No. 9) at Fort Stanton, while the subordinate Lodges exhaust their resources for unfortunates who come into their respective communities. All the usual efforts are also made, with the usual high average of failures, to interest Lodges outside the State in their members who have become stranded in New Mexico, but to date all the assistance thus enlisted has not been enough. Sooner or later a better method of meeting the emergency must be found. The Grand Lodge did its full share in forming the National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanataria Association which was chartered in 1925, and it created a fund to cover its contribution by assessing one dollar per capita. A majority of the Grand Lodges elsewhere refused their support, however, and at present the plans of the Association remain in abeyance.

 

In 1923 the Grand Lodge created a Revolving Student Loan Fund, by appropriation and later covered by an assessment of fifty cents per capita, to make loans to " worthy students to complete their education in our State educational institutions." The first levy brought the sum of $3276 into the fund. Now this sum has grown to well in excess of $16,ooo.

 

In 1915 the Grand Lodge became a member of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association. By the end of 1930 it had paid towards its share in meeting the expenses of erecting the Temple the sum of $6453 Payments from other Masonic sources in New Mexico had brought the grand total for the State to $7762.

 

The history of the Concordant Orders in New Mexico shows a steady and normal development. The first Royal Arch Chapter, Santa Fe Chapter, No. 1, was Instituted on December 11, 1865. Following it came Silver City Chapter No. 2, Instituted on February 22, 1876; Las Vegas Chapter, No. 3, Instituted on March io, 1881; Rio Grande Chapter, No. 4, of Albuquerque, Instituted on January 12, 1882; Deming Chapter, No. 5, Instituted on February 28, 1885; and so on. The Grand Chapter was organised on October 3, 1898. At present it 38 FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO numbers 15 Chapters and has a total membership of 1968. Knight Templarism followed a similar course, its Grand Commandery having been organised on August 21, 19o1. There are now 14 Commanderies within the State. These have a total membership of 1337 Scottish Rite Masonry began with the organisation of the Santa Fe Lodge of Perfection, No. 1, founded on February 1, 1883. It was followed by the Atzlan Chapter of Rose Croix, No. i, which dates from February 17, i9o8. The Coronado Council of Kadosh, No. 1, and the New Mexico Consistory, No. 1, were both formed on December 21, i9o8. The father of the New Mexico Scottish Rite was Harper S. Cunningham, an active member of the Supreme Council of the Southern jurisdiction, the only Inspector‑General the jurisdiction has ever had. The monumental temple at Santa Fe, the Alhambra‑like design of which is so appropriate to its setting, was his dream. It was made possible by his energy. Although he did not live to see it completed, it was finished under the leadership of his Deputy, Richard H. Hanna. What he had hoped for it came to pass, and, fittingly enough, his remains rest within the building.

 

The Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine began with the formation of Ballut Abyad Temple, at Albuquerque, on June 11, 1887. Ever since it has flourished, and to‑day it has 1919 members.

 

The Order of the Eastern Star began with the formation of Queen Esther Chapter, No. 1, at Raton, on April 11, 19o2. There are now 48 Chapters having a total membership of 5518.

 

In history, population, and geography, the State of New Mexico is in many respects unique among its sister States. Indeed, upon first entering the State, tourists and travellers from the East and the Middle West often feel that they are coming into a foreign land. There one finds a mingling of the sharp contrasts of the old and the new. White men entered the region sixty‑nine years before the Pilgrims set foot upon Plymouth Rock. Relics and customs of those early days exist side by side with airplanes and radios and modern ways. The State's population is bi‑lingual, and is divided among English‑speaking people, or " Anglos," Spanish‑speaking Americans or " natives," and Indians. Of the last named, some So,ooo to 6o,ooo who live within the State's boundaries occupy reservations covering about one‑fourth of the State's area. While they have been superficially recast to fit the mould of white civilisation, they remain essentially the same primitive people they were two thousand years ago. Tourists may leave the California Limited at Albuquerque to witness at Isleta, at San Domingo, or at San Felipe, within the hour, ceremonial dances which were already ancient when Cxsar crossed the Rubicon. Geographically, the State is a vast plateau, subsiding by easy stages to the level of Texas, broken by scattered and still wild ranges of the Rocky Mountains. Except for a few areas where sufficient rain sometimes falls, the desert lands are unarable except along the tiny rivers. Because of these conditions towns are small, few in number, and widely scattered. Most of them are mere hamlets consisting of flat‑roofed adobe houses. The State has existed under three governments‑Spanish, Mexi‑ FREEMASONRY IN NEW MEXICO 39 can, and American. Its history has been checkered throughout with every possible variety of frontier event and surprise, and to‑day the influence of the ancient Spanish culture, of which the Catholic Church is the principal embodiment, continues to dominate the lives of a majority of its people. It is against such a background and working on such a terrain, that New Mexico Masonry must be envisioned and judged. Those who are most familiar with both the Craft and the country know beyond all cavil that what Masonry has accomplished there, against many handicaps and under difficult conditions, is not the least of the trophies of Freemasonry's age‑long genius for tolerance, charity, and brotherliness.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK OSSIAN LANG EARLIEST LODGES AND PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE HE membership of the first Provincial Grand Lodge of New York was made up almost exclusively of landed gentry and social leaders of the period. The Lodge was aristocratic. It chiefly served as a centre of union for the men who felt responsible for the course of affairs in the Province of New York. Political discussions and all reference to denominational religious matters were rigidly excluded. In itself that was a comfort at a time and in situations when men's convictions were constantly put to test. Since gentlemen met gentlemen there, the character of the Lodge was a guarantee that no violation of the moral code would be tolerated. Meeting as Brother with Brother, forgetting the dividing lines drawn by the code of etiquette peculiar to Colonial society, they could give free rein to their desire for enjoyment. They drank toasts‑many of them. They sang, and the songs had zest. They listened to addresses on subjects interesting to men of culture. The atmosphere of the Lodge was conducive to both seriousness and light‑heartedness. Having once assented to the obligations imposed by the Lodge, those no longer represented a weight. Rather, they were merely a mutual voucher of decency so that all members could be boys again, as real men will be when thev gather together as Brothers.

 

The first Deputation of Provincial Grand Master for any part of the world was issued on June S, I73o, by the Duke of Norfolk, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, to Colonel Daniel Coxe for the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The reason for the appointment given by the Duke was that " application has been made to us by our Rt. Worshipful and well beloved Brother, Daniel Coxe, of New Jersey, Esq., and by several of our brethren, free and accepted Masons, residing and about to reside in the said Provinces New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania that we would be pleased to nominate and appoint a Provincial Grand Master of the said Provinces." Colonel Coxe was an active, public‑spirited, and constructive leader in the affairs of the Colonies. He was the first to outline and propose a statesmanlike plan for the " Union of the British Colonies on the Continent of North Amer40 1l~ ~‑a < 0‑4,0 '2. ,2. o Page from a Receipt Book of the Grand Treasurer, Showing the Signature of John Jacob Astor, 1798.

 

In the collection of the Grand Lodge Museum, F. & A. M., New York.

 

Badge Worn at the Dinner Given by the Grand Lodge, Washington Hall, New York, September 2.o, 182.4, in Honour of the Distinguished Brother, General La Fayette.

 

In the collection of the Grand Lodge Museum, F. & A. M., New York.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 41 ica," a plan which was revived half a century later, adapted to new conditions, and utilized by Benjamin Franklin in marking out the groundwork of the Constitution of the United States. Among Colonel Coxe's descendants were several who contributed noteworthy service to America. What Coxe himself did for Freemasonry, if anything, is yet to be determined, since only a beginning has thus far been made in carrying out necessary research.

 

Tantalising clues intimate that a Masonic Lodge was at work in New York as early as 1731, but tangible evidence of this is wanting. In those days, as is well known, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were the chief North Ameri can seaports and trade centres. Anything that stirred gossip in Old London Town was sure to interest them. Masonic doings received frequent mention in the news prints of those days over there, and even catchpenny exposures of the " secrets " of Freemasons had been put on the market as early as 1730. References to Masonry appeared in the news prints of New York from 1733 onward, perhaps even from an earlier date.

 

Until Daniel McGregor, historian of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, started on his untiring search for evidences of American Freemasonry in the early days, and until he produced unimpeachable evidence in 1931 which showed that an active Lodge met regularly in New York City at the Black Horse Tavern, the soothing assumption had been fostered that search for signs of organised Freemasonry in New York of the earlier 173o's was a waste of time. In the New York Weekly Journal of January 24, 1737 (1738), Bro. McGregor found a news item saying that David Provoost, merchant, popularly known as " Readymoney Provoost," " being about to Depart this Province, at a Lodge held that evening, January 1g, 1737, desired leave to resign his Office " as Master of the Lodge, and that Captain Mathew Norris, Esquire, son of Sir John Norris, admiral of the British fleet, had been elected in his place. What the name of the Lodge was, when it was Constituted, and whether or not it was Warranted by Colonel Coxe, are questions not yet answered. A " letter to the editor " printed in the New York Gazette of November 26, 1737, warns the public that a dangerous " new and unusual sect of society " of Freemasons " at last has extended to these parts " and meets behind closed doors, with " a Guard at the Outside to prevent any approach near to hear or see what they are doing." The second Provincial Grand Master of New York was Captain Richard Riggs, commander of the Fusileers at Fort George on the Battery. While visiting London in 1737, he received his Deputation from the Earl of Darnley, Grand Master of England. He returned to New York on May 1g, 1738. Four months later the New York Gazette announced that " the members of the Lodge are desired to meet at four o'clock in the afternoon " on Wednesday, September 22, at the Black Horse Tavern. Here again the Lodge at the Black Horse Tavern is referred to. No other Lodge being mentioned, a reasonable inference is that there was none other in the town at that time. Captain Riggs died at New York in 1773.

 

The third Provincial Grand Master was Francis Goelet, appointed in 1751 42 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK by Lord Byron, Grand Master of England. The celebration of the Festival of St. John the Baptist, in 1753, was reported in a local newspaper as shown below. At that " elegant Entertainment " the Brethren drank " his Majesty's health " and other loyal toasts " The Ancient and Right Worshipful Society of FREE and accepted MASONS of this City assembled at the Spring Garden, and being properly cloathed made a regular Procession in due Form to the King's Arms Tavern in Broad Street, near the Long Bridge, where an elegant Entertainment was provided." About the zeal of George Harison, the next Grand Master, there is abundant evidence. He established at least seventeen new Lodges during his eighteen years of service (1753‑7I), and most of them have survived to this day. His Deputation was dated June 9, 1753, but doubtless owing to delay in its transmission from London it was not received in New York till some time in October. An announcement in the New York Mercury " by order of the Grand Master," endorsed by " H. Gaine, Secretary," asked the members of the Provincial Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons in New York to meet at the King's Tavern on Wednesday, December 19, 1753.

 

Harison's Installation took place on St. John the Evangelist's Day. The following interesting account of the event appeared in the Mercury. The editorial " Query " was doubtless intended to confound the detractors of the Craft and to appease public opinion.

 

On Thursday last at a Grand Lodge of the Ancient and Worshipful Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, a Commission from the Honourable John Proby, Baron of Craysfort, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Grand Master of England, appointing George Harison, Esquire, to be Provincial Grand Master, was solemnly published, we hear, to the universal satisfaction of all the brethren present after which, it being the festival of St. John the Evangelist, service at Trinity Church. The order to which they proceeded was as follows: First walked the Sword Bearer, carrying a drawn sword; then four stewards with White Maces, followed by the Treasurer and Secretary, who bore each a crimson damask cushion, on which lay a gilt Bible, and the Book of Constitution; after these came the Grand Wardens and Wardens; then came the Grand Master himself, bearing a trunchion and other badges of his office, followed by the rest of the brotherhood, according to their respective ranks‑Masters, Fellow Crafts and 'Prentices, to about the number of Fifty, all clothed with their jewels, aprons, white gloves and stockings. The whole ceremony was conducted with utmost decorum, under a discharge of guns from some vessels in the harbour, and made a genteel appearance. We hear they afterwards conferred a generous donation of fifteen pounds from the public stock of the Society to be expended in clothing for the poor children belonging to our charity school; and made a handsome private contribution for the relief of indigent prisoners. In the evening, by the particular request of the brethren, a comedy, called " The Conscious Lovers, was presented in the Theatre in Nassau Street to a very crowded audience. Several pieces of vocal music, in praise of the Fraternity, were performed between the acts. An epilogue suitable to the occasion was pronounced by FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 43 Mrs. Hallam, with all grace of gesture, and propriety of execution, and met with universal and loud applause.

 

Query: Whether the performance of public and private acts of beneficence, such as feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, be most correspondent to the Genius of Christianity, or to the Institution of the Prince of Darkness? From this time on notices of individual Lodges began to increase. The Mercury of December 23, 1758, announced a celebration of the Festival of St. John to be held by Temple Lodge at Fountain Tavern. Nine years later the same paper mentioned a like celebration planned by " the brethren composing St. John's, Trinity, Union, and King Solomon's Lodges." We read that on January 2, 1768, the festival was celebrated at Trinity Church by several other Lodges, among them Hiram Lodge which on that occasion " contributed alone one hundred pounds " for poor relief.

 

Harison was for many years surveyor of the Port of New York. Later he held the position of city recorder. When revolutionary activities got under way in 1765, he was marked " loyal " on the roster of an exclusive social club that rated Robert R. Livingston as " disaffected." Harison died in May 1773, and was thus spared the trials of the War for Independence. Harrison Street in the lower part of the present Borough of Manhattan was named after him.

 

The following Lodges are known to have been Constituted by George Harison St. John's No. 2 (now No. 1). New York, December 7, 1757. Temple. New York, 1758 or earlier.

 

La Parfaite Union (French Lodge). New York, November 1, 1760.

 

Jean Baptiste Rieux was the first Master of this Lodge. He was named as such in the Warrant granted by Harison.

 

St. John's Independent Royal Arch No. 8 (now Independent Royal Arch No. 2). New York, December 15, 176o.

 

This Lodge may be even older. It was reconstituted on May 13, 1761. St. John's No. 1 (now No. 1 Grand Lodge of New Jersey). Newark, New Jersey.

 

St. John's No. 1. Fairfield, Connecticut, 1762. Zion No. i. Detroit, Michigan, April 24, 1764.

 

This Lodge wrote to the Grand Lodge of New York in 1816, saying that " owing to the late war " [1812‑14.1, in which Detroit surrendered, the Lodge had been " obliged to suspend its labours for so long a time as thereby to forfeit its Charter." It asked for a renewal and that was granted on March 6, 1816.

 

Union No. i (now Mount Vernon No. 3). Albany, February 2, 1765. This Lodge sprang from a military Lodge warranted by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1737 to Brethren of a regiment which was located at Albany from 1754 till 1758. It continued under copy of that Warrant until it was reconstituted by George Harison.

 

44 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK St. John's No. i (now No. 6 Grand Lodge of Connecticut). Norwalk, Connecticut, May 23, 1765.

 

St. John's No. 1 (now No. 8 Grand Lodge of Connecticut). Stratford, Connecticut, April 22, 1766.

 

St. Patrick's No. 8 (now No. 4). Johnstown, May 23, 1766. Trinity. New York, 1767 or earlier.

 

This Lodge may have been established even before Harison's time. Its Charter was renewed by him.

 

Union. New York, 1767.

 

King Solomon's. New York, 1767.

 

Master's No. 2 (now No. 5). Albany, March 5, 1768. King David's. New York, February 17, 1769.

 

This Lodge was later located in Rhode Island. Hiram. New York, 1769 or earlier.

 

Solomon's No. i. Poughkeepsie, April 18, 1771.

 

This Lodge was constituted and its officers installed by Chancellor Livingston, Master of Union Lodge, New York City, 'as a personal representative of Harison.

 

The writer is indebted to Grand Secretary Henry C. Shellard, of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, for a photostat from the Records of that Grand Lodge which shows that on July 7, 1763, a Lodge, No. 399, was Constituted in New York City under a Warrant issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland to " Jeremiah Van Renselaer, James Mullin, and Thomas Clark," to be respectively Master, Senior Warden and Junior Warden. Having made no Return for a number of years, this Lodge was struck from the Roll on October 7, 1813. Since the Grand Lodge of Ireland at that time entertained fraternal relations with the Ancient Grand Lodge of England and not with the premier body, and since the Grand Lodges of England, Scotland, and Ireland exercised joint Masonic jurisdiction in the colonies of Great Britain by common consent, the Constitution of Lodge No. 399 was justified and regular in every way.

 

Sir John Johnson, son of Sir William Johnson, distinguished diplomat and friend of the American Indians, was Harison's successor in Office. His Deputation by Lord Blaney was dated 1767, but he was not Installed until 1771. St.

 

George Lodge, No. 1 (now No. 6), of Schenectady, Constituted on September 14, 1774, appears to have been the only Lodge Warranted by him. Sir John was a Tory of the Tories. He went to Canada when the War for Independence began, and for some reason or other he took the Provincial Warrant with him. Before departing he appointed Dr. Peter Middleton as his Deputy.

 

Dr. Middleton was a son‑in‑law of Governor Cadwallader Colden and thus related to George Harison, whose Grand Warden he was in 1766 and as whose Deputy he later acted. It was he who Warranted St. John's Regimental, No. 1, a Lodge composed of Brethren in the Colonial army. In 1776 he re‑Warranted American Union Lodge, Constituted shortly before by Massachusetts while its members were in camp at Roxbury, Massachusetts, and before they were trans‑ FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 45 ferred to New York. Deputy Grand Master Middleton changed the name of this Lodge to Military Union. It was the leading fraternal Organisation in the Colonial army and had a stirring history. In 1791 the later Grand Lodge of the State of New York received a letter from Marietta, then only a frontier settlement in that part of the Northwest Territory later known as Ohio, conveying the information that a number of Brethren had incorporated themselves into a Lodge under the Warrant of American Union Lodge, No. I.

 

The departure of Sir John Johnson with the Provincial Charter practically put an end to the Provincial Grand Lodge that had emanated from the Premier Grand Lodge of England.

 

SECOND PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE The founding of the Grand Lodge in 1781 was chiefly the work of one Lodge, known as No. 169. This Lodge originally had its home in Massachusetts, having been Constituted in Boston by a Warrant granted to it by the Antient Grand Lodge of England and dated July 13, 1771. The latter Lodge, Constituted in 1751‑52, was called " Antient " to distinguish it from the premier Grand Lodge of England which had been established in 1717. The latter was dubbed " Modern " because, about 1730, it had departed, as some believed, from " antient practices and usages." When the War for Independence broke out, the Brethren of Lodge No. 169 remained loyal to Great Britain. The Rev. William Walter, rector of Trinity Church in Boston, was a member of that Lodge. He was a Harvard man, as his father and uncle and grandfather had been, and of illustrious family connections. It was said that he became a Mason in an Antient Lodge while he was in London in 1764. In 1776 William Walter followed the British troops to Nova Scotia and from there to New York.

 

After New York City was taken by General Howe, it became a haven of refuge for Loyalists from everywhere. Among the earliest to arrive were the Brethren of Lodge No. 169. They brought their Warrant with them. Some twenty or more Lodges connected with the regimental units‑dragoons, footguards, artillery, and horse‑were also there. These were of the Antient, and of the Scot and the Irish Constitutions with which the Antients were in close relation. The few Brethren who had remained in the town and were members of old St. John's, of King David's, of Independent Royal Arch, and of other Lodges of the Modern Constitution also held together in their particular groups. The Warrant of St. John's Lodge had been carried away by those who had followed General Washington, but the furniture of the Lodge Room, as well as the Jewels and Regalia, had been left behind.

 

Lodge No. 169 saw that with so many other Lodges present a Grand Lodge might be started. Consequently it called a meeting to which a number of the other Lodges were invited. On January 23, 1781, the called Assembly met as a Grand Lodge " in ample form." Bro. McCuen (McEwen) presided. William 46 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK Walter was elected Grand Master by unanimous vote. For Wardens the Rev. John Beardsley, a native of Connecticut and a Yale man, and John Studholme Brownrigg, ensign of the 38th Regiment, were chosen. The London " Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons," presided over by the Duke of Atholl, Grand Master, issued a Provincial Grand Lodge Warrant to Lodge No. 169 under date of September S, 1781. Since ocean travel was hazardous in those days, and they were willing to entrust the Warrant only to a ship sailing under convoy, it was not received in New York until late in 1782.

 

Meanwhile the inchoate Grand Lodge met frequently to complete its organisation and transact such business as occasion demanded. In June, 1781, the Brethren celebrated the Feast of St. John the Baptist by going to church and then dining together. The Feast of St. John the Evangelist was observed in like manner, as was also St. John the Baptist's Day in 1782. In connection with the celebration of the first‑named feast, the question arose as to whether or not Masonic propriety would admit of allowing Brethren of regular Lodges of the earlier Provincial Grand Lodge to participate. Some of the Lodges had legal scruples about this matter. Here the Grand Master stepped into the breach and addressed a letter to the Grand Lodge which not only removed all doubts but prepared the way for a later complete union of all Lodges of New York under the xgis of the Grand Lodge.

 

On December S, 1782, the Grand Lodge met in Roubalet's Assembly Hall, with the Rev. Dr. William Walter, Grand Master, presiding, and the other Officers mentioned in the Warrant at their several Stations. James McEwen, Past Master of Lodge No. 169, was appointed Provincial Deputy Grand Master. William Cock, Master of Lodge No. 212, was made Grand Secretary, and Joshua Watson, Master of Lodge No. 21o, was made Grand Treasurer. A Deputy Grand Secretary, four Deacons, and three Grand Stewards were also Installed. The Provincial Grand Lodge of New York was Constituted. Nine Lodges took part in the formation.

 

The first public appearance of the Grand Lodge occurred on St. John the Evangelist's Day, December 27, 1782, with all the Officers and Brethren marching in procession to St. Paul's Chapel, where Bro. the Rev. Dr. Samuel Seabury delivered the sermon. Dr. Seabury later became the first Bishop of the Independent Episcopal Church of America, having been consecrated as such in Scotland. The collection taken on this December day was donated to the charity fund of the Grand Lodge. On St. John the Baptist's Day, 1783, the Rev. Dr. Charles Inglis, rector of Trinity Church, officiated. The Lodges which attended those festivals of the two St. Johns were No. 169, No. Zio, No. 213, No. S2, No. 478, and St. John's Lodge, No. 4, composed of former members of St. John's Lodge, No. 2, which had been " healed and admitted into the mysteries of the Ancient Craft " on February 4, 1783, and granted a Warrant on February 13 of that year.

 

The Grand Lodge held regular monthly meetings in 1783. Several new Lodges were Constituted, among them Hiram Lodge, No. S, Concordia Lodge, FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 47 No. 6, composed of German Brethren, and Lodge No. 7 " in His Majesty's Loyal American Regiment." Lodge No. go, an Ancient Lodge, was admitted by affiliation.

 

A rather interesting departure that occurred in 1783 was the appointment of a Committee to grant relief to the needy and to take care of the general affairs of the Craft during the interval between the quarterly Communications of the Grand Lodge. This Committee included the three oldest Masters of the Lodges. They, with the two Grand Secretaries, constituted a " Grand Steward's Lodge." Another noteworthy move was the establishment of a Committee made up of " the several Grand Officers, together with the respective Masters‑in‑theChair of the Lodges within the jurisdiction," to inaugurate " correspondence with the different Grand Lodges of America." This also took place in 1783. After letters of greeting had been sent to Lodges in the several States, among the very first acts of this Committee on Correspondence was the appointment of a sub‑Committee to respond to a request from Connecticut for advice as to how " to determine the most eligible mode for the Grand Officers‑elect of Connecticut obtaining a Grand Warrant from the Grand Lodge of England." Meanwhile peace had been declared. The independence of the United States had been recognised by a definitive treaty between Great Britain and the United States. The evacuation of New York by the British had been decided upon. That explains why nearly all the principal Grand Officers of 1781 had vacated their Offices and departed for Nova Scotia before the end of 1783. At about this time the Rev. John Beardsley was succeeded by William Cock, Master of Lodge No. 21o, as junior Grand Warden. Patrick McDavitt, a prominent New York merchant, Master of Lodge No. 16g, succeeded John S. Brownrigg as Senior Grand Warden. Samuel Kerr, a retired merchant, followed Archibald Cunningham as Deputy Grand Master.

 

In a Grand Lodge of Emergency held on September 1g, 1783, when the Rev. William Walter took affectionate leave of his New York Brethren to proceed with his family to Nova Scotia, it was " resolved that the Grand Warrant, by which this Lodge is established in the Province of New York‑should be left and remain in the care of such brethren as may hereafter be appointed to succeed the present Grand Officers, the most of whom being under necessity of leaving New York upon the removal of His Majesty's troops." There were present at this Grand Lodge of Emergency the Masters and Warrants of Lodges No. 16g, No. 21o, No. 212, No. 213, No. 441, No. 487, No. 4, and No. 6.

 

William Cock, Deputy Register of the Court of Chancery in New York, had taken over the Grand Mastership only temporarily. An agreement had been formed between him and William Walter as to who the first Grand Master of the independent Grand Lodge of the " State " of New York should be. Accordingly, at a Communication held on February 4, 1784, William Cock resigned and nominated the Hon. Robert R. Livingston for the Office of Grand Master. The nomination was greeted with enthusiasm, upheld by unanimous 48 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK votc, and the new Grand Master was Installed by proxy. A letter preserved in the archives of the Grand Lodge of New York indicates that the great Chancellor would have been present in person if he possibly could have done so.

 

The Chancellor's acceptance of the Office was to be of the greatest importance to Freemasonry. In itself, the fact that the Rev. William Walter, an outstanding supporter of the British cause, could have been succeeded in the Grand Mastership by a great constructive leader who was second to none in forwarding the cause of the Colonies furnishes a striking example of the thought that lies at the root of Freemasonry: " All we are Brethren." Freemasonry drew together these two noble exemplars of its spirit after the conclusion of the War for Independence, when each could then again follow the inclination of his own heart and mind.

 

LIVINGSTON, MORTON, CLINTON, TOMPKINS‑0784‑I822) When Livingston, " the Cicero of America," became Grand Master, he was thirty‑six years old, having been born in New York City on November 27, 1746. He had been a delegate to the Continental Congress. He had been associated with Jefferson, Franklin, John Adams, and Sherman. He was one of the Committee which drafted the Declaration of Independence, and later a member of the Committee which drew up the Constitution of the State of New York. From 1781 to 1783 he was Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the United States. He held the supreme judicial office of the State of New York from 1777 to i8oi, when he became Minister to France. As such he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase which added to the United States all that territory extending from the northern border of Mexico to the Rocky Mountains and till then held by France.

 

While chancellor of the State of New York, and being then Grand Master, Livingston administered the oath of office to Washington at the President's inauguration. In connection with this event it is interesting to note that Gen eral Jacob Morton, then Grand Secretary and later Grand Master, was marshal of the day. General Morgan Lewis, who escorted Washington, was also a member of the Fraternity and its Grand Master from 1830 to 1844. The Bible on which the President was sworn was that of St. John's Lodge, No. 2 (now No. I). This Bible was later carried on a black cushion in the public procession in which the Grand Lodge and all Lodges under its jurisdiction took part at the funeral of Washington in 1799.

 

The first problem confronting Grand Master Livingston was to gather into the Grand Lodge all those Lodges that had been established under authority of the premier Grand Lodge of England. The fact that he himself had been Master of a Lodge (Union Lodge, No. 8) originally identified with the premier Grand Lodge made it easier to overcome existing scruples.

 

On March 3, 1784, Chancellor Livingston " was installed, inducted in the chair, and proclaimed Grand Master of this Right Worshipful Grand Lodge, FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 49 after which he received the salutations of the several Lodges present, with the ceremonies usual on such occasions." The only Lodges on the Grand Lodge Register at the time of Livingston's election on February 4, a month before, were No. 169, No. 21o, No. zit, St. John's Lodge, No. 4, Hiram Lodge, No. 5, and Union Lodge, No. 8, all of which were located in New York City.

 

St. John's Lodge, No. z, presented its Warrant on March 3, was added to the Roll, and its Master and Junior Warden were appointed joint Grand Secretaries. " All other Lodges in the State, in the same situation as St. John's Lodge, No 2, and willing to conform to the Regulations of this Grand Lodge " were invited to be " received in a like manner as St. John's Lodge, No. 2, and be entitled to all the Rights and Privileges of the other Lodges now in this City." Royal Arch Lodge, No. 8, was enrolled on June 2. Other Lodges Constituted in Colonial times were admitted on June 23, 1784. They included Solomon's Lodge, at Poughkeepsie, which had been Constituted in 1767 by Robert R. Livingston while acting as Deputy of George Harison; Union Lodge, at Albany; Masters Lodge, at Albany; and St. John's Lodge, No. 1, at Clark's Town.

 

On June 3, 1785, the Grand Lodge was attended by Representatives of the following Lodges: No. 169, No. 21o, No. 4, No. 5, Union Lodge, No. 8, St. John's Lodge, No. 2, and Independent Royal Arch Lodge, No. 8, all of New York City. By Union Lodge and Masters Lodge, both of Albany. By Solomon's Lodge, of Poughkeepsie, and by St. John's Lodge, No. i, of Clark's Town. At this meeting the Grand Lodge granted Warrants for Lodges in Dutchess County, at or near Fort Edward and near Fishkill. It denied a Petition for a Lodge at Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

 

The first Book of Constitutions adopted by the Grand Lodge, printed in 1785, was dedicated To His Excellency, George Washington, Esq., In Testimony, as well of his exalted Services to his Country, as of his distinguished Character as a Mason, the following Book of Constitutions of the most ancient and honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons, by order and in behalf of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, is dedicated.

 

By his most Humble Servant, JAMEs GILEs, G. Secretary.

 

In 1786 one Lodge asserted its independence. This called forth a ruling of the Grand Lodge that " no Lodge can exist in this State but under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge." Early in 1788 the Grand Lodge also decided that '` the word Provincial now on the Grand seal is inappropriate," and ordered `` that the Grand Secretary cause the seal to be altered," and " that the words Grand Lodge of the State of New York be sunk on the seal in place of the present inscription. " In the same year a Grand Secretary of Foreign Affairs was elected to have charge of correspondence with other Masonic Jurisdictions.

 

The rank of the New York City Lodges on the basis of priority of Constitu‑ 50 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK tion was established on June 3, 1789. The resolution calling for such action had been passed, two years before. The list was as follows St. John's Lodge No. i (former No. 2).

 

Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2 (former No. 8). St. Andrew's Lodge No. (former No. 169).

 

St. John's Lodge No. 4 (;ormer No. Zio). St. Patrick's Lodge No. (former No. 212). St. John's Lodge No. 6 former No. 4).

 

St. John's Lodge No. 7 (former No. 5). Holland Lodge No. 8.

 

The last named Lodge, which had been Warranted on September Zo, 1787, was made up of descendants of old New Amsterdam families. Though it Worked in the Dutch language, the Grand Lodge required that it keep its Records in English as well as in Dutch, so as to make them available for inspection.

 

In 1795 a resolution was adopted declaring that " the Grand Master has full power and authority when the Grand Lodge is duly assembled to cause to be made in his presence a Free and Accepted Mason at sight, but that it can not be done out of his presence without a written Dispensation." The principle of exclusive territorial jurisdiction was proclaimed in 1796 by the following resolution: " Resolved and declared by this Grand Lodge, That no Charter or Dispensation for holding a Lodge of Masons be ever granted to any person or persons, whomsoever, residing out of this State, and within the jurisdiction of any other Grand Lodge." Keeping in mind the relative purchasing value of money then and now, it would appear that the per capita contribution, in dues and for relief, made by the Lodges of those times equals about four times the average contribution of to‑day. The sums expended by the Committee on Charity appointed in 1783 not infrequently amounted to as much as $Zoo for one needy person. The list of recipients of such charities is indeed interesting. Widows of Loyalists who had lost all their possessions appear as pensioners. Exiled Brethren from the Island of Madeira, victims of measures taken against Masons by the Portuguese Government, were formally received into the Grand Lodge, lavishly entertained, and given every comfort and needed aid. On one St. John the Baptist's Day a collection amounting to " )Cqo exclusive of coppers " was given to the Society for the Relief of Distressed Debtors Confined in Prison, " to be applied by them to the benevolent purposes of their institution." At another time )C1o was granted to a needy prisoner then confined in jail. The Committee which reported on the matter commented that the cause of the incarceration appeared to be of a family nature into which it was not their province to inquire as it would lead to an indelicate and impertinent inquiry. At one time prisoners confined in jail for debt were given permission, on request, " to congregate on St. John Baptist Day and celebrate as a Lodge." FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK When Chancellor Livingston was appointed United States Minister to France in 18o1, General Jacob Morton, one of the most popular citizens of New York, was elected to succeed him as Grand Master. The Deputy Grand Master elected at the time was Edward Livingston (1764‑1836), a brother of the chancellor, who was then mayor of the City of New York. From 1829 to 1831 Edward Livingston was a United States senator. He was Secretary of State for the United States from 1831 to 1833, and he served as United States Minister to France from 1833 to 1835. Distinguished leaders also filled the other Offices of the Grand Lodge at this time.

 

DeWitt Clinton (1769‑1828) succeeded General Jacob Morton as Grand Master. He was a constructive statesman, of phenomenal popularity in his time, who held the Grand Mastership for fourteen years, from 18o6 to 182o. In 18oo Clinton had been a United States senator, and at the time of his election as Grand Master he was mayor of the City of New York. He occupied this position for nine years. Later, in 1812, he was his party's candidate for President of the United States. He served as governor of the State of New York for two terms, from 1817 to 1823 and from 1825 to 1828, a total of nine years. He was founder and patron of several literary, scientific, art, and educational societies. Outstanding achievements, carried through by him almost single‑handed, were the establishment of the public education systems of both New York City and the State of New York, and the opening of the Erie Canal which connected the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean and thus gave New York City supremacy among American seaports.

 

Sincere by nature and keenly appreciative of the spirit and scope of Freemasonry, Clinton scrupulously upheld the non‑political character of the Institution. Yet whenever an opportunity arose for the Craft to render a public service consistent with its professions, he never hesitated to enlist the help of the Lodges. Two such occasions deserve mention as outstanding: One gave to the Fraternity the distinction of having shared in the support of a non‑sectarian educational undertaking from which sprang the common school system of the City of New York. The other afforded a demonstration of the Fraternity's patriotic zeal.

 

Before 18o8 private and church schools were the only institutions supplying elementary, education in New York City. Schools maintained by the churches, specially intended for children of the poor, were known as charity schools. The Craft's interest in these charity schools is revealed by the records of the Grand Lodge. On St. John the Baptist's Day, 1793, the Grand Lodge attended service at Trinity Church. Rev. Dr. Beach, Grand Chaplain, delivered the sermon. An anthem was sung by the children of the Episcopal Charity School. Odes from Handel's " Messiah " were recited. And " a collection made for the benefit of the Charity School of Trinity Church, amounting to X77, odd shillings," was taken up. At another celebration the collection was turned over to the charity school of the Presbyterian church on Beekman Street.

 

In i8o5, when New York City had a population of 75,700, a Free School 52.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK Society was established. DeWitt Clinton was the leader and first president of that organisation. A book containing the autograph signatures of the first contributors to the Society's fund, with Clinton's signature heading the list, is preserved in the library of the New York Historical Society. Early in 18og a Committee appointed " to devise and report a plan for the education of children of poor Masons " recommended to the Grand Lodge that a fund " sufficient to defray the expense of an establishment to consist of fifty children " be raised. In order to ascertain the cost of tuition, needed books, and other supplies, a conference was held with the trustees of the first free school, opened in Henry Street in i8og. The Society agreed to take over the fifty children of Masons for the sum of $3oo a year, " one half less than would be required for their education in a separate school." On St. John the Evangelist's Day, 18o9, the fifty children were "delivered over to the New York Free School. " All the Lodges of the city contributed their share of the expense involved by this undertaking, and in addition they contributed added money for supplying the children with proper clothing. About the close of the year 1817 this school passed under the control of the State school fund and its pioneer work as a privately supported institution thus came to an end.

 

During the War of 1812‑ DeWitt Clinton called upon the Lodges of New York City to relieve the destitution of the people of Buffalo. Every Lodge responded to his call. Under Clinton's leadership the Grand Lodge offered to perform one day's labour on fortifications at such time as the Committee of Defense should designate. In September the members of all the Lodges of New York and Brooklyn did the work assigned them. A second day of work was contributed to finish what later became known as Fort Masonic, on Brooklyn Heights.

 

In 1817 the Transactions of the Grand Lodge were printed for the first time. The publication of such proceedings has been uninterruptedly continued from that day to this.

 

Daniel D. Tompkins, who was Vice‑president of the United States from 1817 to 182‑5, held that office when he became Grand Master. At the very gathering which elected him, a difficult situation arose. Upstate discontent, due to the fact that practically all Grand Officers were members of New York City Lodges, had been brewing ever since Chancellor Livingston left for France. The up‑State Country Lodges also felt that they had no real share in legislation because the distance from headquarters imposed upon their Representatives considerable hardship and expense which few were willing to bear. Moreover, Past Masters had a vote in the Grand Lodge, and this gave further advantage to the New York City contingent. " Taxation without representation " had been the watchword of the War for Independence, and anything suggesting the recurrence of such a condition, this time in Masonry, appeared to be intolerable. The result was that the up‑State Lodges withheld dues.

 

Under the Grand Mastership of DeWitt Clinton a move had been made to allay sectional grievances by dividing the State into three Grand Districts with A Grand Visitor for each. Those liaison Officers were to serve as Instructors and FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 53 Guides to promote harmony among the Lodges, and to collect outstanding dues, making allowance for their own expenses and for compensation for the time that had to be devoted to the Work. These Grand Visitors rendered their first reports on June 8, 182o. One of them turned in only $30. Ebenezer Wadsworth, another of them, turned in $1291.87, and $1130 was allowed him for compensation. Joseph Enos, another Grand Visitor, turned in $13oo, and the whole amount was allowed him for his Work. After deducting expenses from the reported sums, the Grand Lodge decided that the plan was too expensive and voted to do away with Grand Visitors. When this occurred, naturally the up‑State Lodges regarded the removal of those Officers simply as another attempt of the New York City contingent to retain control of the Grand Lodge.

 

Realising the seriousness of the situation, Daniel Tompkins called a Grand Lodge of Emergency. At its meeting the system of visitation by Grand Visitors was admitted to be " essential to the preservation of that intimate connection between the Grand Lodge and all Lodges under its jurisdiction." A Committee was appointed and ordered to submit an equitable plan in the following December. But nothing was reported at that time. The result was a Convention of western New York Lodges, held at Canandaigua. There it was proposed that the Lodges elect eighteen District Grand Visitors to represent them at Grand Lodge meetings as their accredited proxies.

 

In 1822 Grand Master Tompkins declined re‑election. Grand Visitor Joseph Enos, who had been a leading figure in the Canandaigua Convention, was chosen to succeed him.

 

DISSENSION AND THE MORGAN EXCITEMENT In 1823 the up‑State Delegates came prepared to elect as Grand Officers only men not connected with New York City Lodges. The result of this action was two Grand Lodges. One had Joseph Enos at its head. A schismatic " City Grand Lodge " had Martin Hoffmann as its Grand Master. He had been Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State for sixteen years, from 1804 to 1820.

 

In 1825, Stephen Van Rensselaer, chancellor of the University of the State of New York, was elected Grand Master. With the help of DeWitt Clinton the schism of 1823 was healed. On June 7, 1827, the union was celebrated. On that day the official title became The Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free Masons in the State of New York.

 

Van Rensselaer remained Grand Master until 1830. Meanwhile a crisis arose which put the Masonry of New York to the severest test ever experienced by the world of English‑speaking Masons. This eight years' nightmare is commonly referred to as " The Morgan Excitement." The three principal actors in the " Morgan Excitement " were David Miller, a village printer; Thurlow Weed, a wily politician; and Captain William Morgan, a stonemason by trade and an adventurer by disposition. There were, besides, a score of supes and a million dupes. The scenes were laid in western 54 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK New York, Canada, and the United States at large. The time was from 1826 to about 1840.

 

Captain Morgan was a Virginian by birth, at the time some fifty years old. He earned his title in the War of 1812 by his good work at the Battle of New Orleans. After that battle he tried his hand at trading; he operated a brewery in Canada, and when all had gone wrong he returned to his trade of stonemason and took his family to Batavia, New York, where he had friends. If, when, and where he was made a Mason has not yet been ascertained. The general belief is that he was " book‑made." Nevertheless he may have been Initiated somewhere, and in any event he visited the Lodge at Batavia. There, doubts arose as to his Masonic character. When he tried to take part in the formation of a Royal Arch Chapter, he was refused. This so angered him that he threatened to publish an exposure of all Masonic Degrees.

 

Miller, another of the persons involved, conducted a local newspaper at Batavia, and like Morgan had got himself into debt. He had been Initiated in the Batavia Lodge, but had been denied advancement because of his questionable business transactions. Morgan's threat interested him. The idea of printing an exposure of Masonic Degrees seemed likely to keep his press going day and night and to produce millions in money. Ever on the lookout for the " main chance,'' Morgan agreed to let Miller publish his promised exposures. All that was needed was money for bringing out the book. Miller made a start on the venture by announcing in his newspaper that a complete exposure of all Masonic Degrees would soon appear in print. Great excitement in that part of the State furnished water for the publicity mill. At this juncture Miller's printshop got afire. The blaze brought out the fire company but did no serious damage. All this was more copy for news, of course.

 

And just then the hoped‑for " angel " who would finance the undertaking appeared on the scene. He came from New York City. He had been expelled from the Fraternity there after having passed through Lodge, Chapter, and Com mandery, and was now ready to supply needed cash for Miller's proposed enterprise. Besides, he agreed to furnish information about Degrees of which neither Miller nor Morgan had any knowledge. A contract was signed whereby Morgan was bought out, but it later so turned out that the bills of payment given to him were not negotiable. Though Morgan rued his bargain, he could get no redress. Then he appealed to some of his friends and asked their help.

 

What happened afterwards is involved in seemingly impenetrable mystery. One story runs that some Brethren came to an agreement with Morgan that they would take him to Canada and give him enough money to start life there anew. The known facts are that he was thrown into prison for one of his many small debts. Bro. Loton Lawson paid the debt and so obtained the prisoner's release. As Morgan left the prison building he and Lawson entered a waiting carriage in which were seated Nicholas G. Cheseboro, Master of the Lodge at Canandaigua, Colonel Edward Sawyer, and John Sheldon. The carriage at once drove away, presumably to Canada. All else was obscurity which neither official nor private FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK SS investigations could ever dispel. So far the upshot of the matter simply was that Morgan had disappeared.

 

The four men in whose company Morgan rode away were later indicted, first, for conspiracy to seize William Morgan and carry him to foreign parts, there to secrete and confine him; second, for carrying the conspiracy into execution. That is the limit to which the charges could be brought.

 

Morgan disappeared on September 12, 1826, but Miller kept the excitement alive for his own advantage. It quickly spread to all parts of the State and even beyond. Masons were charged with having murdered Morgan. The favorite version of the incident was that he had been rowed in a boat to the middle of the Niagara River " at the black hour of midnight," and that, after heavy weights had been attached to his body, he had been " plunged into the dark and angry torrent. " Immediately after having obtained all facts officially ascertained in connection with Morgan's abduction, Governor Clinton, Past Grand Master and the foremost Mason of the State, issued a proclamation calling upon all officers and civil magistrates of the State to " pursue all just and proper measures for the apprehension of the offenders." In October the governor offered several pecuniary rewards for authentic information concerning any and every offender in the matter and as to the place to which Morgan had been conveyed. In a third proclamation the governor offered $looo " for the discovery of William Morgan, if alive; and if murdered, a reward of $Zooo for the discovery of the offender or offenders, to be paid on conviction." The immediate effect of all this was to give political pot‑hunters opportunity for riding into office on the wave of public excitement. Thurlow Weed's was the master mind that built up an antiMasonic political party as a consequence.

 

Seven months after Governor Clinton's third proclamation, and more than a year after Morgan's disappearance, a corpse was found on a beach of Lake Ontario. Thurlow Weed attended the inquest that was presently held, and there the body was declared to be that of Morgan. An elaborate funeral procession formed of anti‑Masonic partisans followed the corpse to the place of interment. A month after the burial the body was exhumed. At another inquest, held in the presence of the widow of the deceased, she identified the corpse as that of her husband, Timothy Munroe, and ordered it to be conveyed to Canada for burial.

 

An exciting political campaign being just then in progress, anti‑Masonic partisans insisted that the second inquest had been only a ruse perpetrated by the " Mingos," as they dubbed the Masons, for the purpose of deceiving the public.

 

The vote cast for avowedly anti‑Masonic candidates in that election afforded them much satisfaction. On being asked what he thought of the deceit practised on the voters, Weed replied in a cynical phrase which has held its place in the political vocabulary to this very day, " Well, anyway, it was a good‑enough Morgan till after election." Nineteen anti‑Masonic Conventions, two of them made up of " Seceding Masons," were held in New York State alone in 182‑7. In the national Presiden‑ 56 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK tial election of 1832 the anti‑Masonic party polled 340,800 votes. That year Vermont cast its vote for the anti‑Masonic candidates for President and VicePresident. Despite all the anti‑Masonic activity, Andrew Jackson, an active Mason, was elected President. He carried three‑fourths of the States.

 

During " The Morgan Excitement " hundreds of Lodges in the State of New York stopped Work and either turned in their Charters or threw them away. Out of more than Soo Lodges, having a membership of some Zo,oo0 in 1829, only 52 Lodges, numbering about 1Soo members, remained in 1832. By far the largest defection occurred in rural sections of the State. Sorely tried as were the faithful members, they stood loyally by the Grand Lodge and acquitted themselves as men firmly persuaded of the beneficent mission of Freemasonry in the sight of God and resolved to carry on, whatever the consequences.

 

In 1830 Chancellor Van Rensselaer was succeeded in the Grand Mastership by Major‑General Morgan Lewis, son of Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He himself was noted for his outstanding services to the United States. He had been a close personal friend of George Washington. He had served the State of New York as chief justice, as governor, and in various other important public offices. During our second war with England he had been quartermaster‑general of the armies of the United States. His acceptance of the Grand Mastership did much to cause the people of the State to lose confidence in the anti‑Masonic demagogues.

 

Thurlow Weed, political leader of the anti‑Masonic movement, wrote the following in his autobiography The election of 1833 demonstrated unmistakably not only that opposition to Masonry as a party in a political aspect had lost its hold upon the public mind, but that its leading object, namely, to awaken and perpetuate a public sentiment against secret societies, had signally failed. The Jackson party was now more powerful than ever in three fourths of the States of the Union. The National Republican party was quite as fatally demoralized as that to which I belonged. This discouraging condition of political affairs, after a consultation with W. H. Seward, Francis Granger, Trumbull Cary, Bates Cook, Millard Fillmore, Frederick Whittlesey, John H. Spencer, Philo C. Fuller, Edward Dodd, George W. Patterson, Timothy Childs, Lewis Benedict, John Townsend, Thomas Clowes, Nicholas Devereux, James Wadsworth, Thomas C. Love, and others, resulted in a virtual dissolution of the Anti‑Masonic party.

 

Referring to the persecution to which the Craft had been subjected, General Morgan Lewis said the following when he was Installed as Grand Master: The circumstance is one to be contemplated more in pity than in anger, except, perhaps, as it regards those who certainly had the power, and whose duty it was rather to stifle than to fan the embers of discord, until they had blown them into a flame of persecution, better adapted to the darkness of the Middle Ages than to the enlightened period of the present day. When we behold these men connecting the excitement, which, if they did not create, they FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 57 have certainly cherished and increased, with political party views, the conclusion is irresistible that they have been actuated by sinister and selfish, not by virtuous and laudable, motives.

 

The concluding part of General Morgan's address to the Grand Lodge also deserves mention. In this he said We have our mysteries. So has our holy religion. The writings of our patron saint are full of them. We shall not, therefore, I trust, discard the one or the other.

 

Our forms have also been made the subject of ridicule. A sufficient answer to this is that forms are essential to the existence of all societies. As they are arbitrary, they will sometimes give scope to the car pings of the too fastidious; but they never can with justice be held to derogate from the fundamental principles of any institution. I have been a member of this useful and honourable Fraternity for more than half a century, and have never till now heard the calumny uttered, that its obligations, under any circumstances, impugned the ordinances of civil or religious society. On the contrary, we hold ourselves bound to render unto Cxsar the things which are Cxsar's, and unto God the things which are God's; and I can with truth affirm that I never knew a man who became a Mason, and whose practise conformed to the precepts it inculcates, who did not become a better man than he had been theretofore.

 

NEW SCHISMS AND THE RESTORATION OF UNITY When the sky cleared after " The Morgan Excitement," and Freemasonry had been reinstated in public favor, the membership of the Order increased by leaps and bounds. Certain ambitious persons then resolved that the time had come to restore those solemn public processions on St. John the Baptist's Day which had been outstanding annual events of earlier times. The Grand Lodge had decided in 1826, however, that such exhibitions were " highly prejudicial to the interest and respectability of the Order," and that they were not to be permitted except by the Grand Master's Dispensation and " only upon very extraordinary occasions." Early in 1836, William F. Piatt, Master of Lafayette Lodge, No. 373 (now No. 6q.), submitted to the Grand Lodge a request endorsed by several New York City Lodges asking that a public procession be held on June 2.4. Assent was emphatically refused. The next year York Lodge, No. 367, invited other City Lodges to join in a public procession and feast on St. John the Baptist's Day. Three Lodges agreed to the plan. Henry C. Atwood, Master of York Lodge, No. 367, a pugnacious person by nature, took the lead in this undertaking. Aided by William C. Piatt the demonstration was carried out despite official interdicts.

 

Three months later both those Masters, together with a number of other recalcitrant Brethren, were expelled from the Craft. Within a week after that took place, 127 rebels adopted a " Declaration of Rights and Independence " 58 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK and resolved themselves into a " St. John's Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York." Although a bargain price of nine dollars for the three Degrees was offered as an inducement for the purpose of gaining new members, Atwood had a hard time to keep his organisation going. Beginning in 1848 a triumvirate of influential leaders, John W. Simons, General Daniel Sickles, and Robert McCoy, took the initiative and made the schismatic body a formidable rival of the regular Grand Lodge presided over by the Hon. John Dwight Willard.

 

Having become persuaded of the illegitimacy of the " St. John's Grand Lodge," Simons and McCoy concentrated their endeavour upon effecting a union with the regular Grand Lodge. Their tactful handling of arbitration and the great willingness of Grand Master Willard brought about the desired result. On St. John the Evangelist's Day, 1850, the union was consummated and celebrated with imposing ceremonies. Twenty‑five Lodges of the dissolved Organisation were taken over and given new Warrants in return for those under which they had been Working.

 

Meanwhile another schism had taken place. Again an honest but aspiring and contentious person was the cause. His name was Isaac Phillips. Twice Phillips had been defeated in an attempt to be elected to Office, once to the post of Grand Secretary and the following year to that of Grand Master. As a lawyer he raised the issue that a change in the Constitution which deprived Past Masters of their former right to vote in Grand Lodge was " unconstitutional and revolutionary," and must be considered " void and of no force or effect." The change, originally made chiefly by the vote of the up‑State country Lodges, had later been revived. Phillips called upon those who stood ready " to continue the organisation of the Grand Lodge according to its original Constitution, to unite for that purpose." Among his associates were Past Deputy Grand Master Willis, Grand Treasurer Horspool, and Past Grand Secretary Herring. They seized the Records, monies and other property of the Grand Lodge, and with their following, which included a majority of the New York City Lodges, they formed a new Grand Lodge. This took place in 1849.

 

The Phillips Body managed to keep going for nine years. In 1858 a fusion with the regular Grand Lodge was effected on exceedingly generous terms. One of the articles of union provided that all Past Masters who had served one year in the Chair prior to December 31, 1849, were to be members of the Grand Lodge. All archives, funds, and other properties were returned. All difficulties were adjusted " freely and fully as though no differences had occurred heretofore." In 1859 Judge John L. Lewis, Jr., Grand Master, proclaimed, " We have effected a durable union of the entire Craft in our State under one governing body, and without sacrifice of principle." MASONIC HALLS AND RELIEF OF DISTRESS In 1843 the Grand Lodge decided to erect a Masonic Hall and to found " an asylum for worthy, decayed Masons, their widows and orphans:" At once the FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 59 New York City Lodges energetically set to work to raise the needed funds. The anti‑Masonic hue and cry stopped progress for a while. After that came the schisms which have just been described. By 1858, however, the Hall and Asylum Fund amounted to about $28,ooo. Of that amount Bro. Edwin Forrest, the eminent tragedian, contributed $5oo. Then the outbreak of war between North and South, together with other troubles, again caused delay. It seems to have been highly unfortunate that the idea of the hall and the idea of the asylum were associated in the minds of the Brethren at the same time. That encouraged them in an ill‑grounded belief that the hall would in some way provide funds for the care of the unfortunate. This attitude, and a very natural desire for worthy, dignified headquarters, favored the immediate erection of a new Masonic Hall.

 

In 1871, when a terrible fire destroyed more than 14,ooo buildings in Chicago, the Grand Lodge of New York sent $17,536 to the Grand Master of Illinois to be used for relief purposes. Two years later $3404 of that amount was re turned as unneeded. This refund was then turned into the Hall and Asylum Fund. Presently a new interest was awakened, and in 1875 the Masonic Hall was dedicated. It stood at the northeast corner of Twenty‑third Street and Sixth Avenue, on the site now occupied by part of the monumental headquarters building that was opened in 1909. The hall of 1875 was noble and impressive both outside and inside. Napoleon Le Brun, one of the foremost architects of his day, was the designer of the edifice. At the head of the main stairway stood a beautiful marble statue of " Silence," sculptured by renowned Augustus SaintGaudens, who did the work at the suggestion of Past Grand Master Willard.

 

The Order's hope that the building would provide rental revenue sufficient j to establish and support an asylum was soon dissipated. A heavy debt that rested on the property kept the Brethren worried for more than a dozen years about the payment of interest. When Frank Lawrence became Grand Master, he made it his chief object to have that debt cancelled, and finally he succeeded. In 1889 he sent this cheering message to the Craft: " The great task is done. The last dollar is paid. We are free." Now the road was clear to push the plan for a Masonic Home to realisation. Various schemes were resorted to in order to raise additional needed funds. The aim appealed to Bro. Ole Bull, the famous blind Norwegian violinist, who donated the proceeds of his farewell concert* to the " Widows' and Orphans' Fund. " An extensive site for the proposed Masonic Home was acquired at Utica and there the corner‑stone of the first building was laid on May 1, 1891. At last the enterprise had been started. Since then many other buildings have been added *One number on the program Ole Bull rendered on that occasion was entitled " To the Memory of Washington." Upon being received in the Grand Lodge after the concert and invested with the magnificent regalia of the Grand Lodge, OIe Bull said, " The tribute to the memory of Washington is not my own. It is the tribute of the people of Norway which I only echo. The principles for which the people of this country drew their swords and shed their blood electrified the people of Norway and animated them in their exertions for liberty. The admiration of the Norwegians for the institutions of America and for their great founder were early implanted in my heart, and the admiration for Washington and the love of liberty, are impressed there and are eternal." 6o FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK to the establishment. Soon after the first building was completed, Bro. Edwin Booth, the eminent actor, donated $5,000 toward a Children's Building. That was opened in 1896.* The beautiful Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial Chapel was added as a tribute to the memory of that Vice‑President of the United States who became Grand Master. The Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the State of New York supplied a building for housing girls, and the Scottish Rite Bodies donated a cottage for babies. A magnificent million dollar Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital was built by the whole Craft and opened in 192‑2‑. In addition to all the handsome and commodious structures mentioned, there are now modern cowbarns that house an excellent dairy herd which provides milk, cheese, and butter for the inmates of the Masonic Home, and in addition there are a hay barn, a silo, and many other buildings needed by the model farm that forms part of the institution.

 

On Round Lake, some forty miles from Utica, is a delightful Masonic Home Camp in a location unsurpassed for beauty and healthfulness. Here are a hospital, dormitories, a special building for babies, and all sorts of other require ments needed to supply real recreation to young and old. This establishment affords a welcome change of surroundings during the summer months. Ever since 19o6 William J. Wiley, Superintendent of both Home and Camp, has been the master mind that has inspired the splendid development of the extensive plant.

 

Charity work done by individual Lodges, by Districts, and by groups of Districts affords another chapter in the history of New York Masonry. In a recent year Brethren of the Craft raised more than $6oo,ooo for relief in their re spective,communities and in the country at large. To this sum must be added $2‑Soo sent to Porto Rico to aid stricken children; $zooo sent to Santo Domingo for relief; and $18,ooo contributed to the National Red Cross Society. These items and others, aside from $675,000 spent by the trustees on philanthropic work in their own charge, amounted to approximately $1,2‑79,Soo. Nor does this include expenditures for welfare undertakings maintained by the various Masonic Districts.

 

The Fifth Manhattan District, for example, sends about 8oo boys to summer camps. Other Districts also maintain camps. The Seventh Manhattan District maintains a camp for under‑privileged girls. In some Districts funds are maintained for aiding sufferers from tuberculosis, for aiding young people to obtain advanced education, for supplying Christmas cheer to the poor, and for other similar philanthropic purposes. The Ninth Manhattan District maintains a special organisation, similar to that of the Trustees of the Grand Lodge Hall and Asylum Fund. Lodges in this District are chiefly composed of Brethren of German descent who "not only loyally support the Work of the Craft at large but at their own cost also maintain at Tappan, New York, a Home for the aged. Families of these Brethren in the Old Country, as well as Ma *The Edwin Booth Theatre that formerly stood opposite the Masonic Hall on Twenty‑third Street, New York City, resembled it in architectural design.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 61 sonic and other eleemosynary and educational institutions there, know that the heart of the Ninth Manhattan District does not forget. That knowledge is indeed a comfort in the dark days which seem to have no end. And since 1878 this District has owned its own Masonic Hall! Many Districts contain Masonic Halls that count among the noteworthy architectural monuments of the respective localities. There are a total of nearly 400 Masonic Halls in the State. The present headquarters of the Grand Lodge, extending from Twenty‑third Street to Twenty‑fourth Street, and twenty stories high, was opened in igo9. Aside from twelve splendidly equipped Lodge rooms and all that pertains to them so far as concerns the convenience and ceremonial requirements of members, the building also contains the offices of the Grand Master, the Grand Secretary, and the Trustees of the Hall and Asylum Fund. The Grand Lodge Library and Museum are housed in it, and it provides quarters for the Committee on Foreign Correspondence, the Masonic Employment Exchange, the Board of Relief, and for various other departments.

 

GENERAL ACTIVITIES Just as during former wars so also there was an abnormal influx of candidates into Masonry during and immediately after the World War. A Sea and Field Lodge was organised to hasten the admission of enlisted men who had been ordered overseas, and who desired to have the benefits of Masonic fellowship. No adequate understanding of the purposes of the Fraternity could be gained under such conditions. When the men returned it became evident that something would have to be done to disseminate instruction in order both to save the Craft from misuse of its privileges and to turn promising newcomers into forceful members. Lectures were provided, educational bulletins were broadcast, local study circles were initiated, and an official periodical was published. Finally, all these endeavours and others were focused in a program that was put in charge of a Board of General Activities.

 

One unexpected result was that many of the new members who had counted on gaining material profits from the Order were disappointed in their anticipations. They neglected their Lodges, they failed to meet their financial obliga tions, and in the end their names had to be struck from the Roll. On the other hand, however, a new spirit set to work among the younger Brethren who had caught the meaning of Freemasonry. One evidence of this awakening was that The Masonic Outlook, house organ of the Grand Lodge, was soon able to attract and hold more than go,ooo subscribers.

 

Under the leadership of the Grand Master, the Board of General Activities devised other constructive features designed to satisfy the demand for information. One of these was the preparation of twenty‑two educational booklets for free distribution. More than 8oo,ooo copies of those booklets were sent out. Another device was to make the Grand Lodge Library* accessible to members in *The library now contains more than ts,ooo volumes. Incorporated with it is a Grand Lodge Museum containing a mass of historical records and many priceless treasures. Among the latter is a letter written by George Washington the Great, to which a lock of his hair is attached.

 

62 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK all parts of the State, by establishing a circulation department. Books ordered are mailed prepaid to any part of the State, simply with the understanding that the borrower shall pay return postal charges on them. No set courses of study are offered. The primary aim of the Board is to foster a desire for Masonic reading and study. As Brethren become interested in particular subjects, they tend to form their own courses of reading according to individual taste.

 

Another service that has attracted widespread attention is known as the Sojourner's Plan. It grew out of a desire to retain in the Fraternity the many Brethren who annually drift away and lose connection with their particular Lodges because of removal to new surroundings. Under this plan each Lodge is asked to supply the Grand Lodge promptly with notice of the removal of a Mason from his home Lodge to any other place within the State or outside it. Upon receipt of such information, a notification is at once sent to the Master,of the Lodge in that community in which the New York Brother has taken up his new residence. This gives the Brother's new address and suggests that an invitation to attend meetings be extended to him. At the same time a notice is sent to the sojourner telling him the name of the Lodge nearest his new residence, indicating the meeting night, and giving the address of the Master. The notice also states, of course, that the sojourner will be welcome, and that by visiting the Lodge he will be able to keep up his Masonic acquaintances. Officers of various Grand Lodges have become much interested in the Sojourner's Plan, which has from the outset proved very successful. In many cases correspondence is conducted entirely with them.

 

FOREIGN RELATIONS Since the very beginning of organised Masonry in New York endeavours have been made to maintain fraternal personal relations with other jurisdictions. Such efforts have included the appointment of a Committee on Foreign Corre spondence in Colonial times; the addition of a Foreign Grand Secretary to the Grand Master's staff in 1788; the pioneer move of 1838 which required that annual reports on foreign jurisdictions be submitted to the Grand Lodge. All these steps indicate a broad view of the central thought of Freemasonry.

 

In Colonial days each of the Provincial Grand Masters made visits to headquarters in London. Records of the English Lodges frequently mention the presence of visitors from New York. Those of Old Dundee Lodge, of London, tell of visiting Brethren from New York, in 1751. In 185o, during the time of the schisms, the Grand Master of England was asked to arbitrate between the factions. Both Judge Willard and Isaac Phillips wrote to him for suggestions. In 1851, Bro. Willard, then Past Grand Master, appeared in the Grand Lodge of England as the official Delegate of New York to explain the plans then under way for bringing about a union. The Grand Lodge of England stood by the " Willard Grand Lodge " and asked " the erring Brethren to reconsider their differences of opinion." Other visits to the Parent Grand Lodge included that of Grand Master Vrooman who held Office from 1889 to 1891. Upon his return he brought FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 63 back facsimiles of Records relating to the connections of both the " Modern " and " Antient " English Grand Lodges with the Grand Lodge of New York. Among other treasures he brought back was a large water‑color portrait of John Studholme Brownrigg, the first junior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of New York. This had been painted by the Rev. John Studholme Brownrigg, M.A., a descendant. In 1919 an official Delegation of the Grand Lodge of New York attended the Peace Celebration in England. Another Delegation was present at the laying of the foundation‑stone of the great Masonic Peace Memorial of the United Grand Lodge of England in 192‑7. Since the close of the World War, Officers of the Grand Lodge of New York have held an annual Conference with Officers of the Parent Grand Lodge in London.

 

Records of the Lodges of Scotland also tell of visits paid by New Yorkers, and on May 7, 1874, General Charles Roome, then Past District Grand Master, later Grand Master of New York, attended a meeting of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Judge Willard, whose presence in the Grand Lodge of England has already been mentioned, made frequent visits to Europe. On one occasion he had copied from the Records of the United Grand Lodge of England all documents relating to Provincial Masonry in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. As the Grand Representative of the Lodges of the Grand Orient of France, located near New York, he attended meetings of that Body in 185o. He also visited the National Grand Lodge of Switzerland the same year. In 1855 he was delegated to represent the Grand Lodge of New York at a Universal Masonic Congress, held in Paris at the call of H. R. H. Prince Lucien Marat, Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France. The aim of this Congress was an interchange of social and fraternal expressions of mutual regard. New York City was proposed as the meeting place of a future Congress, but that never met.

 

While a resident of Staten Island, Giuseppe Garibaldi was made a Mason in Tompkinsville Lodge, No. 471, and on December 2‑o, 1870, Kalakaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands, was received as a Fellowcraft by Grand Master Anthon. The Third Degree was conferred upon Kalakaua in New York Lodge, No. 330. Though it may seem extraordinary that those distinguished foreigners entered Masonry while resident in New York City, this becomes more comprehensible when it is recalled that New York, as the chief port of entry and the metropolis of the United States, has from the first been the most cosmopolitan city in the country.

 

As has already been said, a French Lodge, La Parfaite Union, was Constituted in New York in 176o. Other French Lodges were Constituted there in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Of those, L'Union Fran~aise, Constituted in 1797, is the only one that remains. Two other French Lodges at work today are La Sincerite and La Clemente Amitie Cosmopolite, Warranted respectively in 1855 and 1857. In an open Grand Lodge of 1794, Bro. Reinier Jan Vandenbroeck Conferred the three Degrees on Jean Baptiste Couret by special resolution.

 

One German Lodge took part in the formation of the second Provincial 64 FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK Grand Lodge in 1781. The oldest German Lodge now in existence in this jurisdiction is Trinity Lodge, No. 12‑, which was Constituted in 1795. German Union Lodge, No. 54, was Constituted in 1819, and Pythagoras Lodge, No. 86, in 1841. After the collapse of the republican uprisings in Germany in 1848, many other German Lodges were added to the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New York. In 1931 there were in New York City alone 2‑9 German Lodges having a membership of 792‑2‑. Those form the Ninth Manhattan District. At that time many of the German Lodges were Working in the English language.

 

The Tenth Manhattan District, commonly spoken of as the " Latin District," is composed of 2‑o Lodges; 4 are French, 2‑ are Spanish, 13 are Italian, and i is Greek. On January 1, 1931, the total membership of these Lodges was 5671. Damascus Lodge, No. 867, is composed of Syrian Brethren. Koaziusko Lodge, No. 1085, is Polish. In addition to these there are Czech, Hungarian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Latvian, and Dutch Lodges, not to speak of those made up of Scotsmen, Irishmen, and men of other nationalities. Of necessity, an ideal situation showing the Masonic thought at work as a great unifying force encourages every endeavour to extend fraternal relations with foreign Grand jurisdictions which meet the rigid requirements for mutual recognition agreed upon by the Grand Lodge of New York.

 

In a sincere belief that the Great War had chastened the few Grand jurisdictions which had departed from the fundamental Landmarks of the Craft, the Grand Lodge of New York in 192‑o took the lead in promoting a Universal Masonic Congress for the purpose of forming acquaintances and removing obstacles in the way to a world‑wide union of regular Masons. As a clearing house, a Masonic International Association was formed at Geneva, Switzerland, The intrusion of an illegitimate organisation caused the first blockade. That out of the way, the domination of affairs by the Grand Orients of France and Belgium created a situation which rendered impossible a continuance of co‑operation by the Grand Lodge of New York. Fraternal intercourse with the Grand Orient of France had been interdicted ever since that organisation had abolished the requirement that no candidate can be admitted to Masonic fellowship unless he has first declared his belief in God. The French Grand Orient refused to recede from this position. Next, it turned out that the Grand Orient of Belgium actually, and the Grand Lodge of France practically, also ignore the fundamental requirement. Formal rupture of relations with the Belgium Body was voted by the Grand Lodge of New York, and the Grand Lodge of France never had been accepted into our fellowship. That ended New York's connection with the Masonic International Association.

 

Undaunted, the Grand Lodge of New York sought to realise its purpose by means of another plan. By a liberal interpretation of its scope, this plan has yielded results far greater than were ever anticipated. The plan was got under way in 192‑2‑ by Past Grand Master S. Nelson Sawyer, chairman of the Committee, who offered a resolution directing a Committee to obtain accurate information regarding foreign Masonic jurisdictions and to report its findings to FREEMASONRY IN NEW YORK 65 the Grand Lodge. This resolution was unanimously approved that same year. Meanwhile, requests had been received from countries in which no Grand Lodge then existed, asking that the Grand Lodge of New York establish Lodges there. Two of those requests were complied with, and as a result the Grand Lodge of New York set up Lodges in Finland and in Rumania. In 1923 came a call from Syria, endorsed by Masons connected with the American college at Beyrout. That call led to the establishment of two Lodges in Beyrout the next year, and the subsequent Constitution of others at Damascus. Amioun Lodge, Chouf Lodge, Zahle Lodge, and two other Lodges are now in Beyrout. The three New York Lodges Constituted in Finland in 1922 and 1923, located respectively at Helsinki, Tampere, and Abo, were formed into an independent Grand Lodge of Finland by Past Grand Master Arthur S. Tompkins in 1924. The nine New York Lodges in Rumania entered the Grand Orient of Rumania in 1926 by consent of Grand Master William A. Rowan. The seven Lodges in Syria prefer to remain in the jurisdiction of New York until they feel adequately prepared for maintaining an independent centre of union.

 

The harvest of the annual visits to Masonic jurisdictions in foreign lands is summarised admirably in five sentences of the address delivered in 1931 by Grand Master Charles Johnson at the isoth Anniversary of the Establishment of the Grand Lodge of New York: We point with much pride to our foreign activities. Our Masonic Brethren in many of the European nations have much to contend with in the way of opposition, both open and insidious. By personal contact we believe we have been able to encourage, help, sympathise with, and understand our Brethren in other countries, as no written correspondence could possibly enable us to do. The Grand Lodge of New York has recognised more foreign jurisdictions than any other Grand Lodge, and we may also say very definitely that these recognitions have been based upon personal and accurate knowledge of the Masonic situation in the respective countries. We have not depended upon correspondence, which is necessarily fragmentary and always incomplete, but from personal contact the Grand Lodge of New York has secured first‑hand information which may be considered reliable.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA* FRANCIS D. WINSTON FOREWORD North Carolina Masonry subscribes to the following declarations! THE MASONIC BELIEF There is one God, The Father of all men. The Holy Bible is the Great Light in Masonry, and the Rule and Guide for faith and practise. Man is immortal. Character determines destiny. Love of man is, next to love of God, man's first duty. Prayer, communion of man with God, is helpful.

 

THE MASONIC TEACHING Masonry teaches man to practise charity and benevolence, to protect chastity, to respect the ties of blood and friendship, to adopt the principles and revere the ordinances of religion, to assist the feeble, guide the blind, raise up the downtrodden, shelter the orphan, guard the altar, support the government, inculcate morality, promote learning, love man, fear God, implore His mercy, and hope for happiness.

 

HE above declarations have the official endorsement of the Grand Lodge j of North Carolina. They formed part of the report of the Committee .l on Masonic Education which was submitted by its Chairman, R.‑. W.‑. Bro. J. Edward Allen. Other Grand jurisdictions have adopted similar declarations of principle.

 

The Colony of Carolina was fertile soil for the growth of Masonry. After the division of that Colony into North Carolina and South Carolina, the Institution of Masonry rapidly spread over the more thickly settled portions of our State. On St. John's Day, June 24, 1789, in an historical address before St. John's Lodge, now Lodge No. 3, of New Bern, Fran~ois Xavier Martin, jurist and publicist, gave the following narrative of Masonry's coming to the Colonies.

 

" Masons crossed the Atlantic with the first settlers of the British Colonies in America, and soon after the Grand Master of England appointed Provincial *The writer of this article wishes to acknowledge his obligations to the following persons for their kindness in supplying him with suggestions, material, and valuable help of other kinds: Hon. John H. Anderson, Past Grand Master, now Grand Secretary of Grand Lodge; Prof. J. Edward Allen, of the Committee of Foreign Correspondence of the Grand Lodge; Rev. C. K. Proctor, Superintendent of the Oxford Orphanage; F. M. Pinnix, editor of The Orphans' Friend and The Masonic Journal. Hon. Marshall DeLancey Haywood, late marshal and librarian of the Supreme Court of North Carolina and late Historian of the Grand Lodge of this State.

 

66 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 67 Grand Masters and Constituted regular Lodges in the New World. The Carolinas, whose settlement is of later date, had no Provincial Grand Master until 2736 (A. L. 5736), when the Earl of Loudoun appointed John Hammerton, Esquire, to that dignity. From him a regular succession can be traced to Joseph Montford, Esquire, who was appointed by the Duke of Beaufort." This extract is quoted from the Ahiman Rezon and Masonic Ritual, published at New Bern in 1805 by John C. Sims and Edward G. Moss at the order of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina and Tennessee. The formation of the State of Tennessee out of part of North Carolina, in 1796, left Lodges in the new State operating under the Grand Jurisdiction of the Mother State. This was kept up for several years under an amicable fraternal arrangement, the final separation coming later.

 

Provincial Grand Master Hammerton (1736‑'37; 1741‑'43, etc.) was a South Carolinian. There are no records of any Charters in North Carolina issued by him or his successors in Office in that State. Several Lodges in the jurisdiction obtained Charters directly from England. Of those, St. John's Lodge, now Lodge No. i, of Wilmington, was so Chartered in 1755. That Lodge was No. 213 in the English Jurisdiction. In 1767 Royal White Hart Lodge, of Halifax, received English Charter No. 403. It has been at Work since November 1, 1764, " by virtue of a letter of authority obtained from Cornelius Harnett, Grand Master of the Lodge in Wilmington." There is no record of authority conferring the Grand Master's powers on Harnett. His high character is ample justification for saying that he would not have acted without authority.

 

An interesting historical fact in connection with the North Carolina jurisdiction is that dues have been received from North Carolina Lodges by the Grand Lodge at Boston. The Records of that Grand jurisdiction plainly show the fact. The " First Lodge in Pitt County " was formed under such authority. It held its meetings in the home of Colonel Allen, who resided on the public road leading from Halifax to New Bern. Major Henry Hanrahan Harding, late of Pitt County, a Mason and citizen of noble character, related this narrative. Colonel Allen was a native of Crown Point, in New York State, and a near kinsman of the celebrated Revolutionary hero, Ethan Allen. He came to Pitt County and established his home. His daughter married Henry Hanrahan. The Allen and Hanrahan home was about half way between Halifax and New Bern, and a convenient stopping place for judges and lawyers going to and from the towns named. Colonel Allen was an ardent Mason; he and his neighbours formed a Lodge which was Instituted under the name " Crown Point Lodge," thus bearing the appellation of the home of Ethan Allen. Major Harding remembered well that a certain room in the home was always called " the Masons' Room," and that it bore the legend of having witnessed " Masonic Mysteries and Secrets." Major Harding had in his possession a Certificate of membership in that " First Lodge in Pitt County," and permitted a copy of it to be made for the Grand Lodge. Bro. Edwin B. Hay, of Washington, District of Columbia, a government handwriting expert, made the copy. This was later presented to the 68 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA Grand Lodge and now adorns the walls of the Masonic Temple in Raleigh.* The following is an interesting copy of that document.

 

Right Worshipful Thrice Worthy And Respectable Brethren: We having found in the W. what we sought for, we duly arrise to greet you with our affectionate salutation together with our united wishes by the hands of our Esteemed Brother Clemant Holliday, hoping that all who profess the royal art do enjoy Health and Prosperity.

 

We therefore having due regard for our said Brother do recommend him as worthy and can testify that he has been regularly initiated in the three degrees of Masonry and as a Member of this Lodge. We are well assured he has the three grand principles at heart, And flatter ourselves he will be acceptable to you and that you will do him whatsoever services he may stand in need of and we shall esteem it as done ourselves and readily embrace every opportunity of returning the kindness.

 

We are truly Dear Sirs, Your most sincere Faithful and Affectionate Brethren, Thomas Cooper, M. Peter Blin, S. W.

 

John Simpson, J. W.

 

By the Master's Order Jas. Hass, Secretary From the first Lodge in Pitt County North Carolina the 27th. Day of March Anno Domini 1768 and of Masonry 5768.

 

It is apparent that the Officers who signed the Certificate are those named in the original Charter obtained from Henry Price, Grand Master of Masons in North Carolina. In confirmation of all the above, the following statement from Sidney Morse's Freemasonry in the American Revolution is of interest.

 

In North Carolina, Freemasonry was introduced from several sources, Warrants having been issued by the Grand Lodge of England, for Lodges at Wilmington (1755) and Halifax (1756); by Scotland, at Fayetteville; by Vir ginia, at Warrenton (1766); and by Joesph Montford, commissioned in 1771 by the Grand Lodge of England, as Provincial Grand Master of North America, for Lodges at New Bern (1772), Kinston (1777), Edenton (1775), and Windsor and Winton (1775). Thus, no less than eleven Lodges had been at Work in North Carolina, of which ten were of English, or Provincial, and one of Scotch origin, before the close of the Revolution. Unhappily, the bitter partisan strife of Whig and Tory caused the destruction of many of the old records. Partial Minutes have come down to us, however, which prove that the Lodges were as a whole intensely patriotic, since so many members were absent on military service during the Revolution that meetings were often impossible. Grand Master Monfort, his Deputy, Cornelius Harnett, and Colonel Robert Howe *See p. z86, vol. If, Nocaldre.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 69 were among the leading patriots in North Carolina, the last two having been excluded by Sir Henry Clinton from his general offer of amnesty. The Presidents of the three Provincial Congresses, and of the Provincial Council which exercised the authority of the State in the intervals between the Congresses, and many of the leading officers of the militia, and of all North Carolina Continental line, were Masons.

 

The following officers of the Continental line were Grand Masters of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina: Samuel Johnson, Richard Caswell, William R. Davie, William Polk, John Louis Taylor, John Hall, Benjamin Smith, and Robert Williams.

 

The oldest subordinate Lodge now Working in North Carolina is St. John's Lodge (now No. i), of Wilmington, which was Chartered in 1755 as Lodge No. 213 by the Grand Lodge of England. That number was later changed several times. When Royal White Hart Lodge, at Halifax, the second oldest Lodge now in the State, first began Work, on November 1, 1764, it was " by Virtue of a Letter of Authority obtained from Cornelius Harnett, Grand Master of the Lodge in Wilmington." Whether Harnett then held Provincial authority of any kind, as he afterwards did, or whether he acted upon a misapprehension as to his powers, cannot be said. At any rate, Royal White Hart Lodge later secured a Charter‑No. 403‑from the Grand Lodge of England, under date of August zi, 1767. That number likewise underwent several changes later on. Although the early Records of the Lodge in Wilmington are lost, many original Records of great value are still preserved in Royal White Hart Lodge, No. z, of Halifax; in St. John's Lodge, No. 3, of New Bern; and in Unanimity Lodge, No. 7, of Edenton. The Colonial and Revolutionary Records of Blanford Bute Lodge are also preserved, and are now owned by Johnston‑Caswell Lodge, No. 1o, of Warrenton.

 

The Records of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Boston show that as early as 1766 a Lodge called the " First Lodge in Pitt County" existed in North Carolina. Thomas Cooper was Worshipful Master of this Lodge. He was later made Deputy Provincial Grand Master, as shown by the following Commission which has been copied from the Records of the Grand Lodge of Boston.

 

. now, therefore, Know ye, That by Virtue of the Power and Authority committed to us by the Right Honourable and Right Worshipful Anthony, Lord Viscount Montague, Grand Master of Masons, Do hereby nomi nate, Appoint and Authorise our said Right Worshipful Brother, Thomas Cooper, to be our Deputy Grand Master within the Province of North Carolina aforesaid, and do empower him to congregate all the Brethren that at present reside (or may hereafter reside) in said Province, into one or more Lodges, as he may think fit, and in such place or places within the same as shall most redound to the general benefit of Masonry: He taking special care that Masters, Wardens, and all other Proper officers to a Lodge appertaining be duly chosen at their next Meeting preceding the Feasts of St. John the Baptist, or 70 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA St. John the Evangelist, or both, as shall be most convenient, and so on annually. Also no person be admitted into any Lodge within this Deputation at any time but regularly made Masons. And that all and every the regulations contained in the Printe Book of Constitutions (except so far as they have been altered by the Grand Lodge in London) be kept and observed, with such other instructions as may be transmitted by us or our Successors. That an Account in writing be annually sent to us, our Successors or our Deputies, of the Names of the Members of the Lodge or Lodges, and their places or abode, with the days and places of their meeting, with any other Things that may be for the Benefit of Masonry in those parts; and that the Feasts of St. John the Baptist, or St. John the Evangelist, be kept yearly, and Dine together on those Days or as near them as may be. That for each Lodge constituted by him, he is to Remit to the Grand Secretary in this place three guineas and one half, two of which is for Registering them here. Lastly a Charitable Fund must be established for the relief of poor distress'd Brothers in those Parts, in such manner as is practised elsewhere by Regular Lodges.

 

Given under our hand and the seal of Masonry at Boston, in New England, the thirtieth day of December, Anno Domini One Thousand, Seven Hundred, and Sixty‑seven; and of Masonry, Five Thousand, Seven Hundred and Sixty seven. Witness the Deputy Grand Master and Grand Wardens whose names are hereunto subscribed. John Rowe, D. G. M.

 

Archibald McNeill, S. G. W. John Cutler, J. G. W.

 

By the Grand Master's Command Abr'm Savage, G. Secretary.

 

So far as is now known, Deputy Provincial Grand Master Cooper never Chartered any Lodges by authority of this Commission. A few years later Joseph Montfort, Worshipful Master of Royal White Hart Lodge, at Halifax, received a Commission vesting him with higher authority than was at that time delegated to any other Provincial Grand Master in the Western Hemisphere. The original of this Commission is still preserved by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, and is held in the Hall of History at Raleigh. It reads as follows Seal BEAUFORT, G. M.

 

To All and Every our Right Worshipful, Worshipful and Loving Brethren: We, Henry Somerset, Duke of Beaufort, Marquis and Earl of Worcester, Earl of Glamorgan, Viscount Grosmont, Baron Herbert, Lord of Ragland, Chepstow, and Gower, Baron Beaufort of Caldecot Castle, Grand Master of the most Ancient and Honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, Greeting: KNOW YE that we, of the Great Trust and Confidence reposed in our Right Worshipful and well beloved Brother, Joseph Montfort, Esquire, of Halifax, in the Province of North Carolina, in America, Do hereby Constitute and Appoint him, the said Joseph Montfort, Provincial Grand Master of and for America, with full power and Authority in due form to make Masons and Constitute and Regulate Lodges, as Occasion may Require. And also to Do and Execute FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 71 all and every such other Acts and things ap ertaning to said Office as usually have been and ought to be done and executed by Other Provincial Grand Masters; he the said Joseph Montfort taking special care that all and every the Members of every Lodge he shall Constitute have been Regularly made Masons and that they do observe, perform, and keep all and every the Rules, Orders, and Regulations contained in the Book of Constitutions (Except such as have been or may be Repealed at any Quarterly Communication or other General Meeting), together also with all such other Rules, Orders, Regulations, and Instructions as shall from time to time be transmitted by Us, or by the Honourable Charles Dillon, our Deputy, or by any of our Successors, Grand Masters or their Deputys for the time being. AND we hereby Will and Require you our Provincial Grand Master to cause four Quarterly Communications to be held Yearly, one whereof to be upon or as near the feast Day of St. John the Baptist as conveniently may be, and that you promote on those and all other occasions whatever may be for the Honour and Advantage of Masonry and the Benefit of the Grand Charity, and that you yearly, send to us or our successors, Grand Masters, an Account in Writing of the proceedings therein and also of what Lodges you Constitute and when and where held, with a list of the members thereof, and copies of all such Rules, Orders, and Regulations as shall be made for the good Government of the same, with whatever else you shall do by Virtue of these Presents. And that you at the same time remit to the Treasurer of the Society for the time being at London, Three Pounds, Three Shilling sterling for every Lodge you shall constitute, for the use of the Grand Charity and other necessary purposes.

 

Given at London under our hand and seal of Masonry this 14th day of January, A. L. 5771, A. D. 17711.

 

By the Grand Master's Command Charles Dillon, D. G. M. Witness: Jas. Heseltine, G. S.

 

The choice of Joseph Montfort as Provincial Grand Master was very fortunate. The Minute Books of the Lodges at New Bern and Edenton, as well as in his home town, Halifax, show that he paid frequent visits to them. What is more important still, he Chartered a number of new Lodges, as will be shown. He also appointed a full complement of Grand Lodge Officers to aid him in carrying on the Work. James Milner was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand Master, but died soon thereafter, on December 9, 1772. A lawyer, he held a high place in his profession. In accordance with Bro. Milnor's request, his body was buried beneath the old church in Halifax. More than a century and a quarter later, when the debris of this old wooden structure was cleared away following its collapse, his tomb was brought to view. It is still in a splendid state of preservation and may be seen in Halifax.

 

Milnor's successor as Deputy Provincial Grand Master of America was Cornelius Harnett, Worshipful Master of St. John's Lodge, of Wilmington, now Lodge No. i. Harnett, one of the best‑known statesmen of his time, 72 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA finally fell a martyr to the cause of freedom. In addition to high offices held by him prior to the War for Independence, he took a leading part in the deliberations of the patriots during that war. Finally he was chosen President of the Council of the entire Province of North Carolina. Having been captured by the British while he was seriously ill, he was placed in an open prisoners' stockade at Wilmington, and died there in the spring of 1781.

 

The Provincial Grand Secretary of America under Provincial Grand Master Montfort was William Brimage, judge of the Court of Vice Admiralty for the Port of Roanoke, at Edenton, though his place of residence was in Bertie County during the greater part of his stay in North Carolina. When the War for Independence began, the Whigs elected Brimage to be a member of the Provincial Congress. He declined to serve, however, and soon afterwards he espoused the cause of the King. After various vicissitudes, including imprisonment on the charge of raising a Tory insurrection, judge Brimage left North Carolina and went to Bermuda. He resided there for a while, then went to England, where he died on March 16, 1793. Through his daughters, numerous descendants of judge Brimage still live in North Carolina, Tennessee, and elsewhere. None bear his name, however, for his only son who reached manhood died unmarried. The property of William Brimage was confiscated by the State, but was returned to him after the War for Independence. His legal residence was at Brimage's Neck, on Cashie River, in Bertie County. His membership was in Royal Edwin Lodge, No. 4, now Charity Lodge, No. S, of Windsor. Some of his descendants bearing the names Outlaw and Miller still live in Bertie County.

 

From the above it will be seen that of all the Masonic Officials who held Provincial authority in North Carolina during the Colonial period, not one was living in the State at the close of the War for Independence. Consequently there was not in the State any authority higher than that of the Particular Lodges, several of which had managed to preserve an existence throughout the progress of hostilities. When peace was finally declared, several of the Lodges were revived after having lain dormant throughout the war. It was therefore apparent to all that an independent Grand Lodge would have to be established in North Carolina. The first step taken toward organising this Grand Lodge was a circular letter sent to the various Lodges in the State by Union Lodge of Fayetteville, then Working under authority presumed to have been issued (but not yet proven) from the Grand Lodge of Scotland. This Lodge was afterwards Chartered, on November 18, 1789, under the name of Phoenix Lodge, by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, upon agreement to surrender its previous authority. The establishment of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, after the War for Independence, is thus described by the historian, Fran~ois Xavier Martin, in the Ahinzan Rezon: The Great Architect of the Universe having permitted a dissolution of the political bands which united North Carolina to Great Britain, propriety seemed to point out that the lodges of this State should not remain longer under any FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 73 allegiance to or dependence on the Grand Lodge or Grand Master of that Kingdom. In (A.L.) 5786 the Union Lodge, of Fayetteville, being advised thereto by a number of visiting brothers from the different parts of the State, proposed that a convention of all the regularly constituted lodges of North Carolina should be held at Fayetteville, on the 24th of June, (A.L.) 5787 (A.D. 1787), to take under consideration the propriety of declaring by a solemn act the independence of the lodges of North Carolina, and to appoint a State Grand Master and other Grand Officers. The great distance to and small intercourse between the different parts of this extensive State having prevented a sufficient number of delegates from attending, the convention adjourned to the town of Tarborough, where the (Masonic) declaration of independence took place, and a form of government was adopted. The Most Worshipful Samuel Johnston having been appointed Grand Master, and the Right Worshipful Richard Caswell (then Governor of this State), Deputy Grand Master, the first Grand Lodge was held on the following day.

 

So far as is known, the Lodges which existed in North Carolina prior to the War for Independence were the following Solomon's Lodge, near the present town of Wilmington, said to have been Chartered by Viscount Weymouth, Grand Master of England in 1735 (but the existence of which has not yet been proven). (See History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders.) The North Carolina Records, however, show nothing concerning this Lodge.

 

St. John's Lodge, in Wilmington, Chartered in 1755 by the Grand Lodge of England. This Lodge, still in existence, is Lodge No. 1 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.

 

Hanover Lodge, near Wilmington, is said to have been first Chartered as an army Lodge while the North Carolina troops were in the northern Colonies during the French and Indian War. There is no documentary proof, however, of the existence of this Lodge at that time.

 

Royal White Hart Lodge, in the town of Halifax, first began Work on November 1, 1764, " by virtue of a letter of authority obtained from Cornelius Harnett, Grand Master of the lodge in Wilmington," to quote the language of the old manuscript Records still preserved at Halifax. A new Charter, under date of August 21, 1767, was issued to this Lodge by the Duke of Beaufort when he was Grand Master. This Charter is still preserved in the archives of Royal White Hart Lodge, now No. 2 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.

 

The " First Lodge in Pitt County," as it was called, was Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Boston as early as,1766, for there is mention of it on the Records at Boston. This Lodge probably passed out of existence, however, before the War for Independence began.

 

St. John's Lodge, in New Bern, has its original Records which show that it was Chartered by Provincial Grand Master Montfort on January 1o, 1772.. This Lodge is now No. 3 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.

 

74 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA St. John's Lodge, in Kinston, was Chartered by Provincial Grand Master Montfort, though its original Records have been lost. It is now Lodge No. 4 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.

 

Royal Edwin Lodge, in Windsor, is another Lodge that was Chartered by Provincial Grand Master Montfort, though its original Records are also lost. Immediately after the War for Independence it was made Lodge No. S . That number has since been assigned to Charity Lodge of the same town.

 

Royal William Lodge, in Herford County, which was Chartered by Provincial Grand Master Montfort, surrendered its Charter in November 1799. None of its Records are known to exist.

 

Unanimity Lodge, in Edenton, has its original Records, which show that it was Chartered by Provincial Grand Master Montfort. Its first meeting was held under Dispensation on November 8, 1775. It is now Lodge No. 7 on the Roll of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.

 

Blandford, or Blandford‑Bute Lodge, was in Bute County. That county was eventually divided into Warren and Franklin Counties. The Lodge was of the Colonial period. It held its first meeting, probably by Dispensation, on April 29, 1766, and owes its origin to Blandford Lodge (No. 3) of Petersburg, Virginia. At a meeting held on December 12, 1788, this Lodge accepted a new Charter under the name of Johnston‑Caswell Lodge, the new Charter being issued by the Grand Lodge of North Carolina.

 

Dornoch Lodge, in Warren County, earlier known as Bute County, sent Delegates to the Convention which organised the Grand Lodge of North Carolina after the War for Independence. The Convention held that the Lodge's Delegates should be given seats on the floor, since they had been made Masons lawfully, but were not permitted to vote for the election of Officers.

 

As has been stated, the Convention which was to have been held at Fayetteville in June 1787 did not take place. The Convention which organised the Grand Lodge assembled at Tarborough in December of that year. John Mare, of Unanimity Lodge, in Edenton, was President of the Convention, and Benjamin Manchester, of St. John's Lodge, in New Bern, was Secretary. The following Officers of the new Grand Lodge were elected on December ii: Samuel Johnston, later governor of the State, was chosen to be Grand Master; Governor Richard Caswell, to be Deputy Grand Master; Richard Ellis, to be Senior Grand Warden; Michael Payne, to be junior Grand Warden; Abner Neale, to be Grand Treasurer; James Glasgow, to be Grand Secretary. The Lodges and their Representatives at the first session of the Grand Lodge were as follows: Unanimity Lodge, of Edenton, John Mare and Stephen Cabarrus; St. John's Lodge, No. 2, of New Bern, Benjamin Manchester and Abner Neale; Royal Edwin Lodge, No. 4, of Windsor, John Johnston, Andrew Oliver and Silas William Arnett; Royal White Hart Lodge, No. 403 (English Constitution), of Halifax, William Muir, Samuel McDougall, and John Geddy; Royal William Lodge, No. 8, of Winton, Hardy Murfree, Patrick Garvey, and William Person Little; Union Lodge (afterwards Phoenix Lodge), of Fayetteville, James Porterfield; Bland‑ FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 75 ford, Bute Lodge, of Warren County, Edward Jones and William Johnson; St. John's Lodge, No. 3, of Kinston, Richard Caswell, James Glasgow, and William Randall; and John Macon and Henry Hill, Dornoch Lodge, No. 5. In the earliest written Records of the Grand Lodge it is recorded that Old Cone Lodge, of Salisbury, was present at the meeting held in December 1787 and that John Armstrong was its Delegate; nearly a year later Old Cone Lodge received its new authority by the following action of the Grand Lodge, dated November Zo, 1788: " Brother John Armstrong presented a petition from sundry brethren in and near Salisbury, praying a warrant to hold a lodge at that place by the name of ' Old Cone,' which was granted, and the Worshipful Brothers James Craig appointed Master; Alexander Dobbins, Senior Warden; and John Armstrong, Junior Warden." In 1791, when there were eighteen Lodges on the Roll of the Grand Lodge, the much disputed question of seniority and precedence was settled by ranking the Lodges in the following order: No. i, St. John's Lodge, of Wilmington; No. z, Royal White Hart Lodge, of Halifax; No. 3, St. John's Lodge, of New Bern; No. 4, St. John's Lodge, of Kinston; No. 5, Royal Edwin Lodge (now Charity Lodge), of Windsor; No. 6, Royal William Lodge, of Winton; No. 7, Unanimity Lodge, of Edenton; No. 8, Phcenix Lodge (formerly Union Lodge), of Fayetteville; No. 9, Old Cone Lodge, of Salisbury; No. 1o, Johnston‑Caswell Lodge, of Warrenton; No. i 1, Caswell Brotherhood Lodge, of Caswell County; No. 12., Independence Lodge, of Chatham County; No. 13, St. John's Lodge, of Duplin County; No. 14, Rutherford Fellowship Lodge, of Rutherford County; No. 15, Washington Lodge, of Beaufort County; No. 16, Tammany Lodge, of Martin County; No. 17, American George Lodge, of Hertford County; No. 18, King Solomon Lodge, of Jones County.

 

In November 1797 the Grand Lodge of North Carolina was legally incorporated by Chapter X of the Laws of 1917, which reads as follows: " Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby en acted by authority of the same, That the Most Worshipful Grand Master, the Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master, Wardens and Members, who are at present, or in the future may be, of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, be, and they are hereby, constituted and declared to be a body corporate under the name and title of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, and by such name they shall have perpetual succession and a common seal, and they may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, acquire and transfer property, and pass all such by‑laws and regulations as shall not be inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of this State or of the United States, anything to the contrary notwithstanding." When North Carolina ceded to the United States its vast domain west of the mountains for the purpose of erecting the State of Tennessee, and when Masonic Lodges had begun to spring up in that region, the two States were under a single Masonic jurisdiction known as the Grand Lodge of North‑Carolina and Tennessee. This state of affairs continued for some years. On December 76 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 2, 1811, a Convention of all the Lodges of the State of Tennessee met at Knoxville, and drew up a Petition filled with fraternal expressions of Brotherly love and asking that the establishment of a separate Grand Lodge in Tennessee be authorised. At the next Session of the Grand Lodge this Petition was granted, and the Grand Master was authorised to take such action as was necessary to carry out the wishes of the Brethren west of the mountains. On September 30, 1813, the Charter of the New Grand Lodge was sent to Tennessee. This, the only Charter for a Grand Lodge which has ever been issued, reads as follows SIT LUX et Fuit To All and Every of Our Right Worshipful, Worshipful, and Well‑beloved Brethren Greeting Know Ye, That the Most Worshipful Robert Williams, Esq., General, etc., Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina and Tennessee of Ancient York Masons, has ordained and directed as follows, viz.: I, Robert Williams, Grand Master of Masons, by the powers and authorities vested in me as such by the Ancient Landmarks of our Order, and by and with the advice and consent of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina and Tennes see for this purpose had and obtained, Do hereby Declare and Ordain that the following Lodges within the State of Tennessee, viz.: Tennessee Lodge No. 41, in the town of Knoxville; Greenville Lodge No. 43, in the town of Greenville; Newport Lodge No. 50, in the town of Newport; Overton Lodge No. 51, in the town of Rogerville; King Solomon Lodge No. 52, in the town of Gallatin; Hiram Lodge No. 55, in the town of Franklin; Cumberland Lodge No. 6o, in the town of Nashville; Western Star Lodge No. 61, in Port Royal, Be, and they are hereby, authorised and empowered either by themselves or by their Representatives, chosen for that purpose, to constitute a Grand Lodge for the State of Tennessee. And I do, as Grand Master of Masons, by and with the advice and consent of our Grand Lodge aforesaid, renounce and release unto the said Lodges all jurisdiction over them; and I do hereby transfer and make over to said Lodges all the powers and authorities which our Grand Lodge had, by ancient usage, a right to exercise over them or either of them, upon the following terms and conditions, to‑wit: That the said Lodges, or a majority of them, shall within twelve months after the reception of this authority by them, either by themselves or by Representatives duly appointed by them for that purpose, meet in Convention, and then and there make such rules, regulations or laws for the government of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee as they may think proper; and that said Grand Lodge, when thus constituted shall once in each year and every year elect a brother of our Order as Grand Master of said Grand Lodge; that they also shall elect a Grand Senior Warden, Grand Junior Warden, Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer; and the Grand Master so elected and installed, under his own sign manual shall appoint a Deputy Grand Master, Grand Senior Deacon, Grand Junior Deacon, Grand Chaplain, Grand Pursuivant, Grand Marshal, Grand Sword Bearer, and one or more FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 77 Grand Tylers, also such members of Stewards and other inferior officers as he may from time to time think proper to make.

 

It is further Ordered and Ordained that the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, thus constituted, shall be vested with all powers and authorities which any other Grand Lodge, known among our Craft, has a right to use and exercise; and that they may make and constitute new Lodges at their discretion within their jurisdiction, and the Charters of each and every Lodge, as well as those by them to be made and those recited in this instrument, to arrest and dissolve upon such terms as the said Grand Lodge of Tennessee may think proper to prescribe.

 

And it is further Ordered and Ordained that the said Grand Lodge of Tennessee take special care that the Ancient Landmarks of our most ancient and honourable Institution shall be in every instance whatever solemnly kept and preserved.

 

In testimony whereof I do hereunto set my hand and cause the Great Seal of Masonry to be affixed, at Raleigh, this 30th. day of September, A. L. 5813, A. D. 1813. Robt. Williams. [SEAL] Test A. Lucius, Grand Secretary.

 

In the early part of the nineteenth century the Grand Lodge of North Carolina began to consider the desirability of erecting a building in which to hold its meetings. On the Feast of St. John the Baptist, June 24, 1813, the corner stone of a wooden building was laid. This building stood at the corner of Dawson and Morgan Streets in the city of 'Raleigh. A few years after the war between the States, efforts were made to raise funds for the erection of a Temple at the corner of Fayetteville and Davie Streets, opposite the present Municipal Building. Those efforts were unsuccessful. The Grand Lodge remained in its old quarters until about the year 1880. After that it met in the local hall of the Lodges in Raleigh, and continued to do so until the completion of the present Masonic Temple at the corner of Fayetteville and Hargett Streets. The corner‑stone of this Temple was laid on October 16, 1907. The first meeting of the Grand Lodge was held there on January 12, 1908.

 

In the Grand Lodge of 1838, a resolution was passed looking to the estabment of a charity school under the care of Grand Lodge. The State of North Carolina was then evolving its first workable public school law. In other Grand jurisdictions there were flourishing schools under the auspices of Masonry; such were contemplated for North Carolina. In 1847 Grand Lodge undertook such an establishment and unanimously passed a resolution declaring that " in this seminary of learning there was to be education free from charge for such poor and destitute orphans, and children of living brother Masons, who have not the means to confer the benefits upon their offsprings; upon a fair and equitable plan of admission to be determined upon by the Grand Lodge." In 1850 Grand Lodge took action as to the location of such a school.

 

78 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA Oxford, in Granville County, was finally selected. A Committee consisting of J. B. Bynum, of Lincoln County, J. A. Lillington, of Davie County, and Patrick Henry Winston, of Bertie County, was directed to prepare an address setting forth the system of education proposed and the course of study. The address was issued. It contained some startling statements. The following is a copy.

 

It is not to be disguised that in most of the colleges of the Union the system of education has not kept ace with the improvements of the age. It is the intention of the Grand Loge that their institutions shall be able to furnish all young men with as full and complete collegiate education as can be obtained at any similar institution in the Union. No gentleman's education can be regarded as complete, nor ought to be regarded as complete, without a knowledge of the dead languages, but it is certainly improper that two thirds of a young man's life should be occupied in this one branch of education‑to be forgotten in most instances very soon after he engages in busy avocations of life, to the exclusion of those other more useful species of knowledge which will better prepare him to act well his part as a man.

 

Remember that this was written and broadcast in our North Carolina press in 1851. The Committee urged in this address that something of astronomy, natural philosophy, chemistry, geology, electricity and galvanism, as taught in some schools, be combined, but that a larger emphasis should be placed upon architecture, the power of steam and its application to machinery, various processes of manufactures, metallurgy, natural history, and engineering.

 

Property was purchased in Oxford. An Act of the General Assembly was passed for a Masonic college to be called St. John's College. Contracts were let, and the building erected. On June Zq., 1855, the corner‑stone of St. John's Col lege was laid by Grand Lodge. It is an interesting story to read of the ups and downs of those in charge of the work. The college was opened July 13, 1858. When the war between the States came on, it was moved in the Grand Lodge that St. John's College be converted into a military school. This, however, was not carried; indeed, the suggestion received scant support. St. John's College went down before the wave of war that swept the State. After the war between the States various attempts were made to conduct a girls' school, and for a year or two such a school was conducted there. The property belonged to the corporation. The contractors and builders had never been paid. In 1868 a sale was held according to the terms of the deed of trust that secured the debt, and the Grand Lodge of North Carolina became the owner of the property.

 

Space does not permit the interesting story of the various efforts to bring the property to some useful purpose. The crucial hour came in the Grand Lodge held in December 1872. John H. Mills, giant in intellect, heart, and body, moved " That St. John's College be made into an asylum for the protection, training, and education of indigent orphan children. " It was a great hour. The argument was lengthy. A vote was taken. A tie vote was announced.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NORTH CAROLINA 79 Nichols, then Grand Master and afterwards member of Congress, favour of the orphanage, and the resolution was adopted. Bro. elected Superintendent, and arrangements were made to approally to the work. In February 1873 the first child was received n. A student of the Horner School witnessed the incident. remonial. The student, afterwards Grand Master of the Grand ied a bundle of clothing as a donation to the institution. John anding in the doorway looking down the path that led to the His greeting was gruff but honest. The bundle was placed as hen a carryall wagon came up the driveway. A dull cloud hung man in the wagon stopped at the front of the building. Superasked him his mission. His answer was indifferent. " I am man who wants this boy," he said. The boy was delivered. frame shook with emotion. He lifted the pale child from the h with the paw of a lion. He raised him above his head as if ing him as a votive offering to Heaven. He dropped the child reast, then kissed him. It was the kiss of love. From that hour was safe, though its struggles have been many. Thus orphanage our State. The example set by Masonry was soon followed by orders, and fraternities, and by individuals charitably inclined. phanage is now perfect in all its equipment. Five thousand chilcared for. The State gives $30,000 annually to its support. A major been those not o might well be Though it i to Masonic acti 12, 1914, the M boro to house t Lodge and its i Masons are now achievements of of the old days, true character.

 

FREEMASONRY IN NORTH DAKOTA WALTER LINCOLN STOCKWELL NORTH DAKOTA became a State on November z, 1889. The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of North Dakota was organised at the town of Mitchell, now in the State of South Dakota, on June 12, 1889, when the Grand Lodge of Dakota Territory divided. A few of those who were present on that memorable occasion are still alive.

 

Part of the present State of North Dakota was in the original grant made by England at the conclusion of the War for Independence. The remainder of the State, that which is contiguous to the Missouri River, formed part of the Louisiana Purchase. Although the region had been visited by two white men, O. O. Verendrye and O. O. Thompson, even before 18oo, for the most part it remained unknown until after the middle of the nineteenth century. True it is that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent the winter of 1803‑0q. near the present site of Washburn, on the Missouri River, while on their famous expedition into the northwestern regions. This camp site will be marked by the Grand Lodge some day because of the Masonic connections of those two intrepid American explorers. There was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post and a settlement at Pembina more than a century ago, as well as other trading posts along the Red River of the North. The United States Government established posts at Abercrombie, Pembina, Fort Rice, Fort Totten, Fort Buford, Fort Abraham Lincoln, and one or two other points. Early Masonic history centres about those military posts.

 

The first Lodge in the present jurisdiction of North Dakota was established at Fort Pembina. On September 13, 1863, Grand Master A. T. C. Pierson, of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota, granted a Dispensation to form a Lodge. This Dis pensation was given to a detachment of soldiers who were going to garrison the post at Fort Pembina. The Brethren named in the Dispensation were Bro. C. W. Nash, afterwards Grand Master, Bro. L. L. Armington, Bro. A. F. Chamberlain, and Bro. Charles H. Mix, together with eight others. The Lodge was known as Northern Light Lodge. Its first meeting was held in January 1864 in the quartermaster's building, a site now owned by the Grand Lodge and suitably marked. That winter Degrees were conferred upon several Brethren from Fort Garry, now Winnipeg, Province of Manitoba, Canada. Because of the removal of the soldiers who had been interested in this Lodge, the Dispensation was renewed and the Lodge itself was later removed to Fort Garry. Bro. John Schultz was named as Worshipful Master. Bro. A. G. Bannatyne, the second story of whose trading house was used as the Lodge room, was Senior Warden. Bro. William 80 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH DAKOTA 81 Inkster was junior Warden. Though the Lodge was Chartered in 1867, the Charter was never delivered. Because of troublesome times in the late 6o's the Lodge ceased to exist. It had, however, already laid the Masonic foundations in this jurisdiction and in the Canadian Northwest.

 

After the Sioux Indian massacre that occurred in western Minnesota during the summer of 1863, troops commanded by General H. H. Sibley pursued certain bands of those Indians along Apple Creek, to the south of Bismarck. Attached to General Sibley's staff was Lieutenant Beaver, a young Englishman, an Oxford graduate, a soldier of fortune, and a Mason. In a skirmish with the Indians late in July he was killed. Among the troops were many well‑known Minnesota Masons, R.'. W .'. Bro. John C. Whipple, Deputy Grand Master, being one of them. An Emergent Lodge was convened on the last Sunday in July, 1863, with Bro. A. J. Edgerton, afterwards Federal judge in South Dakota, as Worshipful Master. Bro. J. C. Braden, afterwards Grand Master, acted as Senior Warden, and Bro. Patch, as junior Warden. The remains of Bro. Beaver were buried with Masonic honours in the rifle pits overlooking Apple Creek. Later the body was disinterred and removed elsewhere. A marker has been placed on the site of this first Masonic service in North Dakota. On August g, 1864, the Masonic funeral of Bro. Charles B. Clark, a soldier in General Sully's command, took place at Fort Rice, north of Mandan. Seventy‑eight Masons, officers and soldiers, were present. Bro. M. W. Getchell, Worshipful Master of Cataract Lodge, No. 2, of Minneapolis, presided. Not many days later, on August 25, another Masonic funeral took place at Fort Abercrombie at the burial of Bro. Frederic Duhn. Bro. C. W. Nash, who had been Worshipful Master of the Lodge established at Fort Pembina the preceding fall, presided at this funeral. Doubtless there were also other Masonic ceremonies conducted during those Indian campaigns but of them there is apparently no record.

 

The second Lodge established in North Dakota was Yellowstone Lodge at Fort Buford. A Dispensation was granted on January 26, 1871, to Bro. Asa Blunt, an army officer, and eleven others, six of whom were officers of the Seventh United States Infantry. Thirty‑two Master Masons were Raised. This Lodge was Chartered on January io, 1872, as No. 88. In June 1874 it ceased to exist because the removal of the troops left it without an Officer or Past Master. The site of the Masonic Hall on the Fort Buford reservation has been definitely located and so soon as this land can be purchased for a reasonable price it will be included in the State Park, and a marker will be placed there.

 

This brief account brings us to the beginnings of permanent Masonry in the State of North Dakota. The days of Military Lodges and military Masonic ceremonies were gone. The coming of the Northern Pacific Railroad to North Dakota in the early 7o's led to the establishment of a settlement known as Fargo, at the Red River Crossing on the North Dakota side. Fargo has for years been the chief city of the State. On November 22, 1872, a Dispensation was issued to organise Shiloh Lodge in Fargo. The Charter‑No. 1o5‑was granted on January 14, 1874. The first Master of this Lodge was Bro. W. H. Smith. Bro.

 

82‑ FREEMASONRY IN NORTH DAKOTA Samuel G. Roberts was Senior Warden and Bro. Jacob Lowell, Sr., was junior Warden. Both Bro. Roberts and Bro. Lowell were well‑known citizens who played prominent parts in the development of Fargo. The Northern Pacific Railroad reached Bismarck in 1872‑. At once a busy pioneer town sprang up, destined to play a very important part in the life of Dakota Territory and afterwards in that of the State of North Dakota. A Dispensation to form a Lodge was issued in 1874 but because of certain irregularities a Charter was refused and another Dispensation was issued. On January 12‑, 1876, a Charter was issued to Bismarck Lodge, No. 12o, with Bro. Colonel Clement A. Lounsberry as Worshipful Master, Bro. John B. MacLean as Senior Warden, and Bro. Colonel E. M. Brown as junior Warden.

 

Now comes one of the most interesting episodes in the Masonic history of the Dakotas. While Minnesota had been establishing Lodges in the northern part of Dakota Territory, the Grand Lodge of Iowa had been organising others in the southern part of the Territory, especially in that part of it adjacent to the State of Iowa. On June 2‑z and 2‑3, 1875, a Convention of the Lodges of Dakota Territory met at Elk Point and formed the Grand Lodge of Dakota Territory, as was their right. The claim was made that notice had been sent to Lodges in the northern part of the Territory, at least to the Lodge in Fargo and to the supposed Lodge at Pembina. Knowledge of a Lodge at Bismarck was disclaimed. In any event, neither Shiloh Lodge, No. 105, of Fargo, nor Bismarck Lodge, No. 12.o, was represented, and in consequence neither became part of the Grand Lodge of Dakota Territory. Those two Lodges continued on the Register of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota with the approval of the Officers of that jurisdiction, in spite of the well‑known American Masonic idea of territorial sovereignty. On this point a bitter controversy raged between these two Grand Lodges for several years. Finally, on June 7, 1879, Shiloh Lodge, No. io5, came under the jurisdiction of Dakota Territory as Lodge No. 8. Not until June i88o, however, did Bismarck Lodge, No. i2‑o, become a member of the Territorial Grand Lodge. Before that took place, three other Lodges, those of Pembina, of Casselton, and Acacia Lodge at Grand Forks, had been organised and Chartered. Thus, instead of becoming Lodge No. 2 on the register of the Grand Lodge of North Dakota, Bismarck Lodge became Lodge No. 5. During the 8o's, up to the time of the division of the Territory into a northern and a southern part, twenty‑six Lodges had been organised. Eight of them were along the main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and seven of them were south of that line. Sixteen Lodges were north of the Northern Pacific Railroad line and only two or three of the sixteen were outside what is commonly known as the Red River Valley.

 

With 31 Lodges having a total membership of 1322‑ Masons, the Grand Lodge of North Dakota began its separate existence. Among the Brethren who formed the Grand Lodge were some of the best‑known citizens of the State.

 

Bro. Dr. James W. Cloes, of Jamestown, was elected Grand Master; Bro. Frank J. Thompson, of Fargo, was Deputy Grand Master; Bro. John F. Selby, of Hills‑ FREEMASONRY IN NORTH DAKOTA 83 boro, was Senior Grand Warden; Bro. Dr. A. B. Herrick, of Lisbon, was junior Grand Warden; Bro. Charles E. Jackson, of Pembina, was Grand Treasurer; Bro. David S. Dodds, of Lakota, was Grand Secretary; Bro. Rev. W. T. Currie, of Grand Forks, was Grand Chaplain; Bro. William H. Topping, of Grand Forks, was Grand Marshal; Bro. William H. Gannon, of Ellendale, was Senior Grand Deacon; Bro. Warren S. Wilson, of Sanborn, was junior Grand Deacon; Bro. James H. Marshall, of Bismarck, was Senior Grand Steward; Bro. Roswell W. Knowlton, of Fargo, was junior Grand Steward; Bro. George L. McGregor, of Jamestown, was Grand Sword Bearer; Bro. Henry Baldwin, of Park River, was Grand Pursuivant; Bro. Louis B. Hanna, of Page, was Grand Tyler. During the more than forty‑five years that have elapsed since the organisation of the Grand Lodge of North Dakota, the entire State has been settled. The Register of the Grand Lodge records 12.9 Chartered Lodges having a membership of over 15,000.

 

The Grand Lodge of North Dakota has from the beginning emphasised the educational side of Freemasonry. Bro. Theodore S. Parvin, the distinguished first Grand Secretary of Iowa, who founded the Grand Lodge library, presented the Grand Lodge with the books which formed the nucleus of the collection. When that library was destroyed by fire in 1893, Bro. Parvin again furnished a nucleus from which, during the last thirty‑nine years, one of the most complete Grand Lodge libraries in this country has developed. The library is strictly a Masonic and reference collection. It serves not only members of the Craft but also every other seeker after Light. It is one of the fine cultural and educational institutions of the State, and its service is widely and favourably recognised. Since 1915 the library has been under the direction of Miss Clara A. Richards, a trained librarian.

 

For over twenty years the Grand Lodge of North Dakota has been carrying on a programme of service and education, and some ten years ago the Committee on Masonic Service and Education was established. According to the Grand Lodge By‑Laws, the function of this Committee is " to bring to the whole Craft information upon the laws, customs, traditions, symbolism, history, and philosophy of Masonry, and to translate Masonic principles into the life and conduct of individual Masons." A full‑time Executive Secretary is responsible for carrying this work forward. For several years Bro. William J. Hutcheson has been the Executive Secretary.

 

Since 1916 the Grand Lodge has maintained an Educational Fund, sometimes called an Educational Foundation. From this fund loans are made to worthy young people seeking a higher education. The Foundation now has a capital fund of more than $2.5,000. It has already made some 650 loans totaling more than $5o,ooo.

 

The relief work of the Dakota Grand Lodge has been under the direction of three Trustees. A fund of some $5o,ooo has been accumulated, and income from that is used to assist particular Lodges in their own relief work. An an nual contribution of fifteen cents per capita is contributed from the general 84 FREEMASONRY IN NORTH DAKOTA fund, and each newly made Master Mason also contributes $S to the relief fund. Beginning with the year 1932‑ a special tax of fifty cents per capita was collected to create a Home or Hospital Fund.

 

The Grand Lodge of North Dakota has in times past made substantial contributions to welfare work. In 1913 the Grand Lodge was assisted by the Grand Chapter, the Royal Arch Masons, and the Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star to erect and furnish a sixteen‑bed cottage at the State Tuberculosis Sanitorium in Dunseith. This praiseworthy undertaking involved an expenditure of some $8ooo. During the summer of 1931 a cabin cottage costing $looo was erected at Camp Grassick by the Grand Lodge. This institution, which is maintained by the North Dakota Tuberculosis Society, is a summer camp for undernourished children.

 

The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of North Dakota adheres faithfully to the fundamentals of Freemasonry. It believes that, since Masonry is a progressive science, the Fraternity must always adapt its pro gramme to the needs of the present. North Dakota Masons are forward‑looking and acting.

 

During the Spanish‑American War of 1898 the North Dakota Military Lodge under Dispensation No. i was attached to the First North Dakota Volunteer Infantry in the Philippine Islands. During the World War, North Dakota Military Lodge under Dispensation No. z was organised for overseas Work with the 164th United States Infantry.

 

Needless to say, many leaders in the early life of the Territory and State were Freemasons. A majority of the governors, United States senators, members of Congress, members of the Supreme Court, and State officials have been Masons.

 

The other Bodies of Masonry are represented in North Dakota by the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and by the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar which was organised when the Territory attained Statehood. The Grand Council of Royal and Select Masons was organised in 1916. The Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, closely allied with Masonry though not a Masonic Body, was organised in 1894. The Scottish Rite Masons have four Consistories under the leadership of Inspector‑General, Bro. Walter R. Reed. North Dakota is in the Southern Jurisdiction. The Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of North Dakota, which represents Freemasonry in this State, is indeed one of the constructive and stabilising influences in the Commonwealth.

 

FREEMASONRY IN OHIO NELSON WILLIAMS SYMBOLIC FREEMASONRY FREEMASONRY first made itself known in that part of the great region lying northwest of the Ohio River, commonly called the Northwest Territory, many years before any part of the region was crowned with the dignity and sovereignty of Statehood. On April 30, i8oz, the Congress of the United States passed an Act authorising the call for a convention to form a constitution for a new State to be known as Ohio, whose boundaries were to be essentially as they are at present. This convention assembled at Chillicothe on November I, i8oz. After almost a month of deliberation, a constitution of State government was ratified and signed on November z9, thus adding a new member to the sisterhood of States composing the Federal Union. There is positive proof, however, that Freemasonry was actively at Work in the Northwest Territory for more than a decade before the State of Ohio was carved from that vast domain, and undoubtedly this had much to do not only with creating sentiment in favour of Statehood but also with shaping the policies of the new State and solving its problems. Freemasonry came not as a thief in the night to pilfer from those of sturdy body and brave heart who with limited means were blazing a way through the unbroken forests that civilisation might advance. Rather, it came unheralded and without acclaim, as it always does. It came bearing aloft the torch destined to light the fires of fraternal brotherhood in the valleys and on the hills of the great territory then chiefly inhabited by Indians.

 

Previous to the Declaration of Independence, on February 15, 1776, to be exact, John Rowe, " Grand Master for North America and the territories thereunto belonging," who had been appointed by Lord Beaufort, Grand Master of Masons in England, commissioned " Joel Clark, Esquire, Master of the American Union Lodge, now erected in Roxbury (a part of Boston), or wherever your body shall remove in the Continent of America, provided it is where no Grand Master is appointed." Reference will be made later to the formal Organisation of this Lodge.

 

By an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain passed in 1774, the whole of the Northwest Territory was annexed to the Province of Quebec and made a part of it. That Province had been created and established by the royal procla mation of October 7, 1763. Thus, when the Warrant for American Union Lodge, No. I, was granted, according to the statement already quoted, the entire 85 86 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO Northwest Territory was under the dominion of England. Since no Masonic Lodge or Masonic Grand Lodge had been established and organised in that region, the Grand Lodge of England was fully authorised under the fundamental law of Freemasonry as practiced in America, to issue a Warrant for a Masonic Lodge there, or for a Lodge which would function there.

 

The claim of the English monarch to that vast northwestern region was ceded to the United States by the treaty of peace signed at Paris on September 3, 1783. There is no evidence that the Grand Lodge of England ever claimed jurisdiction over that part of the Northwest Territory now included within the boundaries of the State of Ohio. It might be inferred, however, that this is shown by the granting of the Warrant for American Union Lodge, No. i. This Lodge was revivified and established as a permanent one at Marietta, in the Northwest Territory, in June 1790.

 

Precisely when Freemasonry first entered the Northwest Territory, and by whom it was first introduced, cannot be stated with certainty, but there is evidence that it manifested itself some years before any organised Lodge existed in the region. Good authority states that on January 1o, 1789, at the burial of judge James Mitchell Varnum, a disinguished Mason who was one of the pioneer settlers at Marietta, the funeral ceremonies were conducted by Masons without an organised Lodge formation. Representatives of the Six Tribes of Indians, then holding a parley with the settlers at Marietta in an effort to draw up a treaty of peace, participated in the ceremonies. The redskins marched two by two in the procession, so it is said, an unusual concession, since their invariable custom was to march in single file. The account of this funeral tells that the Indians showed much interest in the ceremonies, and that they apparently had some knowledge of Masonic signs and symbols. How and where they could have received instruction in the Secret Art is at present wrapped in a veil of mystery which will probably never be removed.

 

On January io, 1786, General Rufus Putnam and General Benjamin Tupper, distinguished military men and both Masons, who had been appointed by Congress in 1785 to survey lands that had been secured by treaty with the Indians in the territory northwest of the Ohio River, gave public notice to all citizens desirous of joining in the settlement of the Ohio River country to meet in Boston on March 1, 1786. Delegates were to be selected in counties where people had an interest in western settlement. On the appointed date a convention was held at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, long a well‑known and favourite meetingplace of Boston Freemasons. After choosing General Putnam as Chairman, a land company to be known as the Ohio Company was organised.

 

A second meeting of the Ohio Company was held in Boston on March 8, 1787. General Putnam and two others were then appointed as a Committee to negotiate with Congress for the purchase of approximately a million acres of land along the Ohio River in the southeastern part of the Northwest Territory. Without mentioning many other details, it is enough to say that the land was ultimately purchased. During the winter of 1787 General Putnam and forty‑ FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 87 seven other pioneers, many of whom were Freemasons, crossed the mountains of Pennsylvania and made their way to the mouth of Youghiogheny River. There they built a boat, said to have been forty‑five feet long and twelve feet wide, and christened it the Mayflower. In this they floated down the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum River during the spring of 1788. They landed there and established the first white settlement in the Northwest Territory. The city of Marietta is built upon the very site of that early settlement.

 

No available record shows how many of these early pioneers were Freemasons, but it is known that several besides General Putnam, General Tupper, and Captain Jonathan Heart were members of the Fraternity. Those men carried the Rituals of Freemasonry in their heads, its principles in their hearts. Their lives were examples attesting the excellence of the Order's tenets and teachings, and of the virtues it enjoins. General Putnam was Master of American Union Lodge and Custodian of its Warrant, or Charter. Captain Heart, who was stationed at Fort Harmar on the bank of the Muskingum River opposite Marietta, was also a member of that Lodge and a Past Master, as well as a Past Grand Lecturer of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut. In 1777 this Lodge was within the jurisdiction of New York, where there was a Grand Master. Consequently it applied to him for confirmation of its Acts. The Deputy Provincial Grand Master of New York issued them a new Warrant as Military Union Lodge, No. i, but the Lodge continued to function under its old name.

 

On June zs, 1790, W . . Bro. Putnam, with ten other Brothers, held a meeting at Marietta to consider the subject of Lodge Organisation. A Petition signed by all those present was addressed to Bro. Jonathan Heart as Master of American Union Lodge, the army organisation, requesting him to revive and re‑establish the Lodge as permanently located. To this Petition Bro. Heart replied promptly. Since his letter and the conclusions he reached played such an important part in the organisation of the first Lodge in the Northwest Territory, the following quotation* from it is given here: Previous to the late Revolution, all authority exercised in America, with respect to Masonry, was derived from the Grand Lodge in Great Britain, delegated to deputies in and over certain districts, by virtue of which all regular lodges were then held. The Federal territories not coming within the district of any Grand Lodge holding under authority of the Grand Lodge of Great Britain, and the United States not as yet having formed a Federal head in Masonry, it may be in doubt whether, at this time, there is any power in America having jurisdiction over the Federal territories. From whence it follows, the power is still in the Grand Lodge in Great Britain, unless there can be found some ower which has been delegated other ways than through the present Gran Lodges, and extending its jurisdiction to this country. Whether the warrant under which you wish to be convened affords protection is the next subject of inquiry.

 

*Since the original of this letter was undoubtedly lost in a fire of r8or that destroyed the Records of the Lodge, what appears here is an exact reprint of an account that stands in an early history of American Union Lodge. The paragraph beginning with the words, " Wherefore, under every consideration with respect to . . . etc.," seems to be incomplete.

 

88 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO This warrant was granted* in the year 1776, previous to the Declaration of Independence, by Richard Gridley, Esq., Deputy Grand Master, whose authority extended to all parts of North America where no special Grand Masters were appointed, as may appear from the Book of Constitution, and as expressed in the same instrument. It will therefore follow that, there being no special Grand Master for this territory, a more ample authority for holding a lodge in this country could not be obtained, provided there was a competent number of the former members present. But there are only two, viz., Brother Putnam and myself, who were actual enrolled members. To remove this objection it is observable there are two others who are members and resident in this country ‑but at present at too great a distance to attend. There are also two of the petitioners who were constant visitors of this lodge during the war, one of them a Past Master [Brother Benjamin Tupper], who by custom is a member of all lodges. There are also others of the petitioners who have frequently visited the lodge at different times.

 

Wherefore, under every consideration with respect to your situation‑the difficulty of obtaining authority, a doubt whether more ample authority can at this time be obtained‑the right which is ever retained by the individuals of incorporating themselves where there is no existing power already lodged with particulars for that purpose.

 

Wherefore, being the present Master of the Lodge held under authority of said warrant, as may appear by having recourse to the records deposited in Frederick's Lodge, held at Farmington, State of Connecticut, and being the eldest Ancient Mason within said territory, I have thought proper, with the advice of Brother Putnam, member, and Brother Benjamin Tupper, Past Master, to grant the request contained in your petition, and will meet you in Campus Martius, on Monday, the 28th inst., at six o'clock P.M. for the purpose of forming you into a lodge.

 

I am, with every sentiment of respect, Brother, Your most obedient and humble servant, Jonathan Heart, M. A. U. Lodge.

 

In accordance with the decision he expressed in this letter, W.‑. Bro. Heart ordered that a meeting of the Petitioners be called for June 28, 1790. The following Brothers were present at that meeting: W.. Bro. Benjamin Tupper, Past Master, and Bros. Thomas Stanley, William Burnham, Griffin Green, William Mills, Robert Oliver, and William Stacy. The Lodge was opened in due form with W.‑. Bro. Jonathan Heart as Master; W.‑. Bro. Benjamin Tupper, Past Master, as Senior Warden; and W.‑. Bro. Rufus Putnam, Past Master, as junior Warden. The Warrant issued for American Union Lodge on February 15, 1776, by John Rowe, Grand Master of St. John's Provincial Grand Lodge, at Boston, was read. All those present were elected members of the Lodge, except Bros. Heart and Putnam who were already members. From then until the year 1815, American Union Lodge, No. i, as it was called, was recognised as a legitimate and regularly formed Lodge, of Master Masons.

 

*This statement is erroneous. Richard Gridley signed at the bottom as " Deputy Grand Master," but John Rowe, who issued the document, signed at the top as " Grand Master." FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 89 On March Z2., i8o1, the hall, the Charter and all other Records and papers of American Union Lodge, No. 1, were destroyed by fire. Although its old Records were nearly all reprinted in 1859, little is known about its activities during the period between its reorganisation, or rehabilitation, in 1790, and the year i8oi. After the destructive fire, American Union Lodge, No. i, requested the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, which was the Jurisdiction immediately adjoining on the East, to issue another Warrant to it, but this the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania declined to do. It then appealed to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, which issued a conditional Dispensation authorising American Union Lodge, No. i, to continue as a regular Lodge until a Grand Lodge should be organised in Ohio. The Lodge was reorganised under this Dispensation in January 1804.

 

On October 15, 1788, judge John Cleves Symmes, a Freemason, together with certain associates, entered into a contract with the Treasury of the United States for the purchase of a large tract of land lying in the Northwest Territory between the Great and Little Miami Rivers and north of the Ohio River. They were able to pay for only part of the land purchased. On September 30, 1794, the government gave them a patent for 2.48,540 acres of the land covered by their contract. This land extended northward from the Ohio River. Meanwhile, the second white settlement in the Northwest Territory was established on the north bank of the Ohio River near the mouth of the Little Miami River and " in the Symmes purchase." At about the same time still another settlement, probably an offshoot of that on the Little Miami River, was established at a point nearly opposite the mouth of the Licking River. Both sites are now within the Cincinnati city limits. Some of the early pioneers in those settlements, among them General Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, were Freemasons. Desirous of having an organised Lodge in their midst, these men Petitioned the Grand Lodge of New Jersey for a Warrant. Their Petition was granted, and on September 8, 1791, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey issued a Warrant for a Lodge to be known as Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. 1o. This Lodge was formally organised under its Warrant on December 27, 1794, although neither the Worshipful Master nor the Senior Warden named in the Warrant was present. This Warrant, still in a good state of preservation, is now in possession of the Lodge known on the Grand Lodge Roll of Ohio as Nova Cxsarea Harmony Lodge, No. 2, and commonly called " N. C. Harmony Lodge, No. 2." The Record of the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey at its Annual Communication held in 1805 shows that up to that time no report had ever been made to it by Nova Coesarea Lodge, No. io, since the time of granting its Charter. Among the Records of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey, however, is a copy of a letter dated December io, 1805, addressed to it by Matthew Nimmo, late Master of Nova Coesarea Lodge, No. 1o. He returned the Charter with the statement that the Lodge could no longer pay its dues to the Grand Lodge. Apparently this action did not meet with the approval of some other 9o FREEMASONRY IN OHIO members of the Lodge, for they requested the return of the Charter. This the Grand Lodge of New Jersey refused to do. Following this surrender of the Charter, a number of former members of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. io, Petitioned the Grand Lodge of Kentucky for a Dispensation granting the establishment of a Lodge in the city of Cincinnati. The Dispensation providing for the establishment of a Lodge to be known as Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, was granted. This Lodge was organised, and on December 27, 18o5, its Master was Installed by three Past Masters of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. io. The Records of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky do not show just when the Dispensation for Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, was issued, but that probably took place shortly before December 27, 18o5. The Records do show, however, that a Charter was issued to Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, on March 19, 18o6.

 

It appears that although the Charter of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. io, had been surrendered to the Grand Lodge of New Jersey at the time when the Grand Lodge of Kentucky Chartered Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, the Charter had not in fact been cancelled and annulled. Consequently there was conflict of opinion as to the relative rights and authority of the two Lodges. This conflict continued until the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Ohio held on January 7, 1812. At that time a Petition was presented to the Grand Lodge of Ohio soliciting mediation in the affairs of the Cincinnati and Nova Cxsarea Lodges of Cincinnati.

 

A resolution adopted by the Grand Lodge of Ohio recommended that Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, pay its dues to the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, and that the Lodge have leave to withdraw its Charter from the Grand Lodge of Ohio and return it to the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. Further, that Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, notify the Grand Lodge of New Jersey of any steps taken, request it to return the original Charter of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. io, and assure it that all delinquent dues would be paid. The resolution also provided that Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, should be known and called by the name of Nova Cxsarea Lodge henceforth, that it should be represented in the Grand Lodge of Ohio by that name, and that upon complying with these provisions it should be entitled to a Charter. Otherwise it was to have none. The Records of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky show that the Charter of Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, was surrendered on August 27, 1812.

 

At the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Ohio held on January 5, 1813, it was reported that differences existing between members of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. io, and Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, had been amicably set tled, that each Lodge had paid its dues to its Mother Grand Lodge, that each had surrendered its Charter, and that the two Lodges desired to be formed into a single subordinate Lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. A resolution was thereupon adopted directing that a Charter be issued to the Petitioners for the establishment of a Lodge in Cincinnati to be known as Nova Cxsarea Harmony Lodge, No. 2. Upon later request, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey returned to Nova Cxsarea Harmony Lodge, No. 2, the Charter origi‑ FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 91 nally issued by it for Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. 1o. This Charter is still safely preserved, as has been explained.

 

Another of the Masonic Lodges early established in the Northwest Territory was located at a place known as Old Mingo Town, on the west bank of the Ohio River three miles south of the present city of Steubenville. A War rant for a Lodge to be known as Mingo Lodge, No. 78, to be located in Old Mingo Town in the Northwest Territory, was granted by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on March 4, 1799. On April 1o, 1799, the Grand Master issued a Dispensation to Absalom Baird, empowering him to open and Constitute the Lodge and to Install its Officers. The Dispensation returned to the Grand Lodge showed that an Installation of Officers of the Lodge had taken place on May 21, 1799. This Lodge had a brief existence of only seven years. It was not functioning when the Grand Lodge of Ohio was organised in 18o8.

 

On October 19, 1803, a Charter was granted by the Grand Lodge of Connecticut to Samuel Tyke and twenty‑one other residents of the Connecticut Western Reserve for the establishment of a Masonic Lodge in the town of War ren. This was to be known as Erie Lodge, No. 47. Bro. Samuel Tylee was sent by the Petitioners to the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut held at New Haven in 1804. Upon the granting of the Charter it was placed in Bro. Tylee's charge and he was appointed a Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut for the purpose of Constituting Erie Lodge, No. 47, and Installing its Officers. On March 16, 1804, the Deputy Grand Master, thus appointed and authorised, assisted by other Grand Officers pro tempore, appointed for the purpose from among the Brethren present, opened a Deputy Grand Lodge, Constituted the Lodge, and Installed the Officers who had been chosen by the Petitioners. Later the Grand Officers made a report to the Grand Lodge of Connecticut.

 

The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts granted a Charter to a number of Masons living in and near the village of Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, on November 22, 18o5. The Lodge was to be known as Scioto Lodge, No. 2, and to be located at Chillicothe. Colonel Thomas Gibson, Auditor of the Northwest Territory, was designated as the first Master; Jarvis Cutler, as Senior Warden; Nathaniel Willis, as junior Warden. This Lodge actively participated in organising the Grand Lodge of Ohio. After the organisation of the Grand Lodge this became Lodge No. 6 on the Roll of particular Lodges in Ohio.

 

On October i9, 1803, the Grand Lodge of Connecticut issued a Charter to a group of Brethren residing at or near the town of Worthington, in what had been the Northwest Territory, for a Lodge to be known as New England Lodge, No. 48, and to be located in Worthington. Rev. James Kilbourne was named as first Master. This Lodge continued to function under its Connecticut Charter until that was surrendered to the Grand Lodge of Ohio in exchange for a temporary Dispensation. At the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Ohio held in 1814, a Charter was granted to the Lodge at Worthington under the name of New England Lodge, No. 4.

 

92 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO When the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania held its Annual Communication on June 24, 1805, it granted a Warrant for the establishment of a Lodge to be located at the town of Zanesville, Ohio, and to be known as Amity Lodge, No. 105. Lewis Cass was named as the Master, William Smyth as Senior Warden, and Peter Fuller as junior Warden. Because of lack of travelling facilities in those days, or some other reason, this Lodge was not Constituted until sometime in 1806. The exact date of its Constitution is not known. Since, however, its first meeting took place on September 26, 1806, this Lodge was doubtless Constituted and Organised at about that time. At its first meeting, a set of jewels was presented to the Lodge by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. At a meeting of Amity Lodge, No. 105, held on August 2, 1807, it was unanimously resolved that the Lodge coincide with the opinion of Erie Lodge, No. 47, and of Scioto Lodge, No. 2, that a Grand Lodge of Masons should be formed in Ohio. A Committee of three from this Lodge was appointed to promote such an organisation.

 

On January 4, 1808, Representatives of six Ohio Lodges met in Chillicothe, according to arrangements previously made, for the purpose of organising the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio. These Lodges included American Union Lodge, No. 1, of Marietta, and Scioto Lodge, No. 2, of Chillicothe, both under obedience to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; Cincinnati Lodge, No. 13, of Cincinnati, under obedience to the Grand Lodge of Kentucky; Erie Lodge, No. 47, of Warren, and New England Lodge, No. 48, of Worthington, both under obedience to the Grand Lodge of Connecticut; and Amity Lodge, No. 105, of Zanesville, under obedience to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Bro. Robert Oliver, of American Union Lodge, No. 1, was made Chairman, and Bro. George Todd, of Erie Lodge, No. 47, was made Secretary of the Convention. Although New England Lodge, No. 48, had been very active in arranging for the Convention, the Representative of that Lodge was denied a seat because he lacked the requisite credentials.

 

First of all, a resolution declaring it to be expedient to form a Grand Lodge in the State of Ohio was proposed. Pending a discussion of it, the meeting adjourned till the following evening. Then the resolution was unanimously adopted and a Committee was appointed to prepare rules necessary for carrying it into effect. The Committee's report was adopted, and at an adjourned Session of the Convention, held on the evening of January 7, 1808, the following resolution reported by the Committee was unanimously adopted Resolved, That a Grand Lodge be formed, to be known and styled the Grand Lodge of Ohio, whose powers shall be to grant charters and dispensations, on proper application, to all such as shall apply and shall be deemed worthy, and shall have jurisdiction over the same, and shall in all respects be clothed with full powers, as a Grand Lodge, according to ancient and due form, and agreeably to the rules and landmarks of Masonry.

 

The Convention also ordered that the first Annual Communication of the FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 93 Grand Lodge should be held on the first Monday of January i8og. At that time each Lodge was to surrender to the Grand Lodge a copy of its By‑Laws and the Charter under which it had been Working. The Grand Lodge was then to issue a new Charter to each Lodge and to number those Charters serially according to priority of date of the Charters surrendered.

 

After adopting this resolution, the Convention then elected Grand Officers to serve during the following year. General Rufus Putnam, of American Union Lodge, No. i, was elected as first Grand Master; Thomas Henderson, of Cin cinnati Lodge, No. 13, as Deputy Grand Master; George Todd, of Erie Lodge, No. 47, as Grand Senior Warden; and Isaac Van Horn, of Amity Lodge, No. ios, as junior Grand Warden. Other line Officers were also chosen. At the final Session, which took place on January 8, 18o8, it was resolved that members of the Convention should sign the Proceedings. When this was done, the Body adjourned. The Installation of the Grand Officers who had been elected was deferred until January 2, i8o9, the date of the first Annual Communication. This was probably done because General Rufus Putnam, Grand Master‑elect, was not present at the Convention that nominated him. These, then, were the steps leading to the organisation of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Ohio, a Sovereign Grand Lodge that now has a place among the leading Grand Lodges of the world. The Grand Lodge of Ohio was the sixteenth Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons established in the United States. Those of Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, North Carolina, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, and Delaware had already been organised.

 

Early years of the Grand Lodge of Ohio were not without their perplexities. At the first Annual Communication, held at Chillicothe, this problem arose: Could a Grand Lodge function when only four of its Constituent Lodges were represented, if five Lodges had participated in the organisation Convention? American Union Lodge, No. z, of Marietta, sent no Representative to this Annual Communication, and New England Lodge, No. 48, of Worthington, whose Representative had been barred from participating in the organisation of the Grand Lodge, also sent none. Since only four Lodges had been represented, the question mentioned above was now raised.

 

The whole matter was referred to a Committee of three, of which General Lewis Cass, afterwards Grand Master of Masons in Ohio, was Chairman. The Committee's report stated that the presence of five Lodges was not essential to organising a Grand Lodge. It said that although Constitutions of several Grand Lodges, which had been examined, contained provisions requiring the presence of five Lodges in order to organise a Grand Lodge, and although the Committee thought it likely that such a requirement might properly be adopted by the Grand Lodge of Ohio whenever the number of its particular Lodges had increased, yet until the adoption of such a regulation by the Grand Lodge, so the Committee said, the precedent set by the Grand Lodge of England might 94 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO safely be followed. The report of the committee referred to a statement in Preston's Illustrations of Masonry in which it is said that, at the organisation of the Grand Lodge of England, which took place in 1717 at the Appletree Tavern in London, only four Lodges were represented. Those were the Lodge at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern in St. Paul's Churchyard; that at the Crown Tavern in Parker's Lane near Drury Lane; that at the Appletree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent Garden; and that at the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Channel Row, Westminster. Those were the only four Lodges in the south of England at the time. In view of all this, the Committee stated that although the laws of most Grand Lodges require the participation of five Lodges, the ancient regulations of the Fraternity do not make any such requirement. The report as outlined here was finally adopted, and except for the Grand Master, who was not present, all the Grand Officers who had been elected at the Convention of the previous year were now regularly Installed.

 

A letter from the Grand Master‑elect, General Rufus Putnam, stated that his physical condition made it impossible for him to serve, and that he was obliged to decline the high honour which had been conferred upon him. To the great regret of everybody, the proceedings were carried on in his absence. This Installation of Grand Officers was merely formal, since it was necessary only in order to complete the organisation of the Grand Lodge that had been begun the year before. On the fourth day of the Session Grand Officers were elected and Installed. The Grand Master was M.'. W.'. Bro. Samuel Huntington, at that time governor of the State of Ohio. By incorporating a few necessary changes, the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky was adopted as the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. A code of By‑Laws consisting of forty‑six Articles was adopted for the government of the Grand Lodge.

 

At the second Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge, which convened at Chillicothe on January 1, 181o, New England Lodge, No. 48, of Worthington, was represented, but American Union Lodge, No. i, of Marietta, for reasons not stated in the Record of the Session, was not. Indeed, the old American Union Lodge, No. 1, was never again represented in the Grand Lodge of Ohio. At the Annual Communication held in 1816 its Charter was declared to be null and void. The reason for this action was that the authority of the Charter expired at the time when a Grand Lodge was formed in Ohio. It will be recalled that the Charter of American Union Lodge, No. i, held from the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, was largely a copy of the Charter granted by John Rowe to the Military, or Travelling, American Union Lodge. This Charter had been destroyed by fire, as has been explained.

 

American Union Lodge, No. 1, rebelled against the Grand Lodge's order that all particular Lodges surrender their Charters to it and receive new Charters. It refused to surrender its Charter. It even attempted to continue as an independent Lodge after the organisation of the Grand Lodge, although it had been one of the first Lodges to suggest an organisation Convention and had participated in the meeting. At the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 95 held in 1815, strong resolutions condemning the attitude of American Union Lodge, No. i, were adopted. The Grand Lodge declared that by refusing to recognise its jurisdiction the rebellious Lodge had forfeited its right to Labour and had become an unauthorised and unwarranted Lodge. The resolutions barred all members of American Union Lodge, No. 1, and all Masons who should sit in it with knowledge of its attitude, from again visiting or holding membership in the loyal, legitimate Lodges of the State. American Union Lodge, No. 1, was granted the right to hold one meeting, however, to consider the resolutions that had been sent to it by the Grand Secretary. Having failed to take any favourable action in the matter, American Union Lodge, No. i, lost its Charter. An appeal was taken to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, but it also refused to sanction American Union Lodge, No. i, in remaining independent of the Grand Lodge of Ohio.

 

At this same Annual Communication a number of members of American Union Lodge, No. 1, which had previously been under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, presented a Petition praying that a Charter for a new Lodge be granted them. They asked that the Charter be in the nature of a revivor of their former Charter and that it be under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Ohio. They also prayed that their original number be retained. This petition was granted. The Lodge became a constituent of the Grand Lodge of Ohio and from then on it was represented in the Grand Lodge at its Annual Communications. In accordance with earlier action by the Grand Lodge, its Roll of subordinates now retained American Union Lodge as No. i. Nova Cxsarea Harmony Lodge became No. 2; Erie Lodge became No. 3 ; New England Lodge became No. 4; Amity Lodge became No. 5 ; and Scioto Lodge became No. 6.

 

From the close of the first Annual Communication the progress of the Grand Lodge of Ohio has been remarkable. In 18og only 4 Lodges, numbering a small group of Masons, were represented. In 1931 the Grand Lodge num bered 618 Lodges having Zo8,SS9 Masons under their obedience. During the first ninety years of its existence the growth of the Grand Lodge of Ohio was not at all rapid. In 1898 it had Soo Lodges with a total membership of only 42,848. During this time it passed through two periods of stagnation. The first period began in 1826 and continued for several years during which " The Morgan Excitement " occurred. The second period of stagnation commenced in the early 8o's and also lasted for some years. During this time what was known as " The Cerneau Fight " was waged with much bitterness and determination. It resulted in complete victory for legitimate Freemasonry in Ohio. The civil court to which the case was carried held that the courts should not interfere and that the Grand Lodge was supreme since no property rights were involved. Shortly after this decision was made the Lodges displayed great activity. Their number increased rapidly, as has been said. The membership grew from 42,848 in 1898 to nearly Zo9,ooo, an average annual increase of Soon members throughout the first third of the twentieth century.

 

The Grand Lodge of Ohio may justly be proud that the membership Rolls 96 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO of its particular Lodges bear the names of many men who have distinguished themselves not only in Masonry but also in State and national affairs. General Rufus Putnam, elected as first Grand Master, was a distinguished American soldier of the War for Independence. General Lewis Cass, another of its early Grand Masters, also became Grand Master of Masons in the State of Michigan, to which he had removed and of which he became governor. The first Installed Grand Master was M.‑. W.‑. Bro. Samuel Huntington, who was governor of Ohio at the time of his election. Four Presidents of the United States have held membership in Ohio Lodges. Those were James A. Garfield, William McKinley, William H. Taft, afterwards chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and Warren G. Harding. Many members of Lodges under obedience to the Grand Lodge of Ohio have held high place in other Masonic Grand Bodies of Ohio and in national Masonic Bodies. In all those positions they have shown a knowledge of the fundamental precepts and teachings of the Symbolic Degrees of Freemasonry and have strictly adhered to them.

 

CAPITULAR FREEMASONRY Capitular Freemasonry was co‑existent with Symbolic Freemasonry in that part of the Northwest Territory now known as the State of Ohio from the very establishment of the first settlement there, made at Marietta in 1788. No Chap ter was formally organised in the Northwest Territory, however, until 1792. Records show an " R. A." after some names of those present at Marietta on June 28, I79o, when American Union Lodge, No. I, was organised, or reorganised, as a Lodge to be permanently located there. These letters certainly indicate that the participants were Royal Arch Masons. And there can be no doubt that several of the pioneers who formed the settlements at Marietta and near Cincinnati had received the Royal Arch Degree, perhaps in organised Chapters of Royal Arch Masons, perhaps in connection with or supplementary to the Master Mason Degree in the Lodge. The first unquestionable evidence of any activity in Capitular Freemasonry in the Northwest Territory, however, was the organisation of American Union Chapter, No. I, at Marietta. This Chapter appears to have grown spontaneously out of the body of American Union Lodge, No. I. For in those early days other Degrees besides the Symbolic ones were often conferred under the authority of a Lodge Charter.

 

On June 16, I792, a Royal Arch " Lodge " was opened at Marietta by Robert Oliver, Rufus Putnam, and Griffin Green. Although described only as Master Masons, these men must have been Royal Arch Masons as well, as the following quotation from the Minutes of the meeting seems to show: ROYAL ARCH LODGE Under the Sanction of American Union Lodge No. 1 MARIETTA CAMPUS MARTIUS June 16, 1792 The Lodge convened and present Right Worshipful Brother Robert Oliver, FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 97 Right Worshipful Brother Rufus Putnam, and Right Worshipful Brother Griffin Green, when Brother Daniel Story, R. J. Meigs, Senior, and Joseph Woods, all of the degree of Master Mason, were regularly advanced through the several grades, from third to the seventh step of Masonry.

 

A second meeting of the " Lodge," by which is certainly meant the Royal Arch " Lodge," was held on December 5, 1792. At that time several persons who had not attended the first meeting were present. Whether or not they were members of a Chapter, and to what Chapter any of them belonged, are not shown by the Record of this meeting. On this occasion the Chapter was formally organised by electing Rufus Putnam as High Priest; Robert Oliver as King; Daniel Story as Scribe; R. J. Meigs as Secretary; and Joseph Woods as Treasurer.

 

The following year two meetings were held, at which three candidates were advanced to the seventh Degree of Masonry. In advancing candidates at that time, they received the Past Master Degree before obtaining the Mark Master Degree. Little or no other activity was shown, however, by the " Lodge," as they seem to have persisted in calling the Chapter, until March 4, 18oo. Then a meeting was held and two candidates were admitted to the Past Master Degree and the Mark Master Degree. The Minutes of that meeting read as follows Benjamin Tupper and Ichabod Nye, two learned and skillful Masters, having petitioned on the last regular Lodge night to be advanced to the Chair, they were balloted for and accepted, and being in waiting, thev were admitted to the degrees of Past and Mark degrees.

 

These two candidates received the Most Excellent Degree and the Royal Arch Degree On June 3 of the same year, but following that meeting no other was held until January 5, 1804. This is explained by the Record thus: On the night of the 22, March, 1801, the Charter under which the American Union Lodge prosecuted its labours was destroyed by fire, together with the furniture, etc., of the Royal Arch, and were not renewed until November, 1803, consequently the Royal Arch did not commence its labours until the 5th of January, 1804.

 

At the January meeting Rufus Putnam was appointed as High Priest, and Benjamin Tupper as Secretary. They were to act until the Royal Arch " Lodge " should be again regularly established and another choice made. At an election held the following day, Rufus Putnam was again elected High Priest and other Officers were also chosen. It is of interest that at a subsequent meeting of this Chapter, held on August 7, 1804, Lewis Cass, who afterwards served for three years as Grand Master of Masons in Ohio, received all the Chapter Degrees.

 

At a meeting held in 1914, a Committee was appointed to inquire into the authority under which this Chapter was established. An investigation failed to show, however, that any statement relating to this important event had ever 98 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO been made a part of the Record. What is even more deplorable is that Records of several Convocations of the Chapter held at about that same time are missing. Almost a quarter of a century after the first meeting of a Royal Arch Chapter took place at Marietta, some Companions of the Cincinnati Chapter sent a letter to the Marietta Companions suggesting the formation of a Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Ohio. Upon receiving this letter, Joseph Wood, John Green, and Oliver Dodge, who signed themselves as the oldest members of the Marietta Chapter, called a meeting. At this meeting three Delegates were appointed to attend a Convention to be held in Worthington about October 28, 1816. Thomas Smith Webb, Deputy General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, was to be present there for the purpose of assisting to form a Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in the State of Ohio.

 

Because of the incompleteness of the early Records there is some uncertainty as to the date of organisation of what is now known as Cincinnati Chapter, No. 2, Royal Arch Masons, which is located in Cincinnati. There is even more uncertainty as to the authority under which that Chapter was organised. At an early date it claimed the sanction of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. 1o, which was established at Cincinnati under a Warrant from the Grand Lodge of New Jersey. As has been explained, American Union Chapter, of Marietta, made a similar claim by stating that its organisation had been sanctioned by American Union Lodge, No. i. These contentions probably merely mean that those two Lodges understood that, under their Charters, they had authority and power to erect Chapters of Royal Arch Masons upon their Lodge structures without further authorisation from a Grand Chapter. There is no evidence that either the Chapter at Marietta or the one at Cincinnati had any Grand Chapter authority for its organisation or claimed to have. Nor did either claim to be organised under the Jurisdiction of any Grand Chapter. Obviously, those Lodges felt that under the authority of their Warrants they had the right to organise Chapters of Royal Arch Masons without higher or greater authority than the mere sanction of the Lodge itself. That such was the case is borne out by language used in the closing paragraph of the Minutes of a meeting of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. io, held on December S, 1799‑ It runs as follows: " Lodge adjourned to meet on Friday for the purpose of forming a Royal Arch Lodge." Although Cincinnati Chapter, No. 2, was formally organised into a Chapter in December 1799, with the sanction of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. io, as will be explained later, yet the extract below appears in the Minutes of a meet ing of that Lodge held on February 1g, 18oo. The quotation shows how the Chapter Degrees were conferred in the Lodge, but after closing in the Third Degree.

 

Present: Jacob Burnet, W. M.; Wm. McMillen, S. W.; Thomas Gibson, J. W.; J. S. Gano, P. M. S. D. P. T.; James Ferguson, J. D. P. T.; G. W. Burnet, Sec'y.; Abraham Carey, Tyler, and S. Sibley, Patrick Dickey, M. M., and R.

 

W. Bro. John Ludlow. After opening and closing in all three degrees as above, Sibley, Ferguson and Dickey withdrew upon request and Lodge opened in 4th.

 

FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 99 degree of Masonry. This trio then raised the 4th. degree and " passed the chair " in due form. Lodge closed and opened on 5th. degree. Sibley, Ferguson and Dickey then raised to 5th. degree of Masonry in due form and received the mark. G. W. BURNET, Sec'y.

 

The Records of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. io, show that at a stated meeting of the Lodge, held on December 5, 1799, the members were directed to meet " on Friday evening next at the Lodge room for the purpose of forming a Royal Arch Lodge." Such a meeting appears to have been held. Those who were not above the degree of Master Mason were requested to retire so that business might be done in the higher Degrees. There is no information, however, as to whether or not any formal organisation of a Chapter took place.

 

At this and subsequent early meetings of the Chapter, Robert Oliver and R. J. Meigs, both Past Masters and members of American Union Chapter, No. i, at Marietta, appear to have been the directing heads and to have had charge. The Minutes of a meeting under the sanction of Nova Cxsarea Lodge, No. 1o, held on " November 6, 1799," so the Record states, although this date should probably read December 6, 1799, say that " a Lodge was opened on the 4th. step of Masonry." These Minutes show that six candidates were " raised " to Past Master Degree. The " Lodge " was then opened on the fifth step of Masonry and the same candidates were " raised " to the Mark Master Degree.

 

Another meeting was held on December ii, 1799. At that meeting a Lodge of Most Excellent Masters was opened, the candidates were " raised " to that Degree, and the Chapter was then closed. It was then again opened, this time on the Royal Arch Degree, to which six candidates were " raised." The following excerpt from the Minutes of the next meeting show how this Chapter, or " Lodge," was proceeding.

 

At a meeting of the Royal Arch Chapter by order of the Worshipful Master under the sanction of Nova Cxsarea Lodge No. io, on the 11th. December A. L. 5799 Present: Robert Oliver, R. A., in the Chair; Edward Miller, R. A., R. J.

 

Meigs, R. A., Secretary Pro Tem. A Mark Lodge was opened, and no business presenting on this step the Lodge was closed and a Most Excellent Masters Lodge was opened, when Brothers Jacob Burnet, William MacMillen, Thomas Gibson, George W. Burnet, John S. Gano and Abraham Carey, all Mark Masters, made application to be raised to the degree of Most Excellent Master, and the Lodge being satisfied that they were worthy proceeded to labour in the 6th step of Masonry, and each of the applicants was raised accordingly. The Lodge was then closed in due form.

 

The last mentioned brethren having withdrawn a Royal Arch Lodge was opened, when the before mentioned Most Excellent Masters made application to be raised to the degree of Royal Arch Mason. The Lodge then proceded to labour on the 7th step of Masonry, and the applicants above mentioned were each of them raised to the Degree of Royal Arch Mason agreeably to their request in due and ancient form, and having received from the chair the proper instructions in the last mentioned degree were set to labour.

 

zoo FREEMASONRY IN OHIO Companions Oliver and Meigs informed the Companions that the distance to their place of residence [Marietta] rendered their regular attendance inconvenient and requested the Chapter to elect proper officers in their places, where upon the following Companions were duly elected: Jacob Burnet, H. P., William MacMillen, K., Thomas Gibson, S., G. W. Burnet, Secretary. The officers were then installed in their offices and respectively took their seats. The Chap ter was then closed. R. J. MEIGS, Sec. pro tem.

 

Following the meeting recounted in these Minutes all activity seems to have ceased for a while, since the next meeting of which the Record speaks took place on March 25, 1812. On that date, twelve Royal Arch Masons met for the pur pose of reviving interest in the Chapter Work. No real progress was made until November 16, 1812. At that time ten Companion Royal Arch Masons met in the Lodge room at Cincinnati and appointed a Committee of five members to arrange a uniform mode of Working. On November 28, 1812, the Committee made a report which was approved, and at the same time another Committee was appointed to procure paraphernalia for the proposed Chapter. Minutes of this meeting say that " it was unanimously agreed to be unnecessary to apply for a Charter; it was deemed legal where a sufficient number of Companions be found, and having a lawful Master's Warrant, to establish a Holy Royal Arch Chapter." The next day, November 2ca, 1812, plans were carried into effect, according to the Record.

 

On December 12, 1812, a Mark Master Lodge numbering eleven Companions was opened according to ancient custom. At an election, Edwin Matthews was chosen as High Priest, Samuel Ramsey as King, and John S. Gano as Arch Scribe. Other line Officers were also selected. According to the Minutes " the Grand Chief and Subordinate Officers being enrolled and seated in order, the Chapter was considered fully established, and the Scribe was ordered to Record the same,' bearing its date from this day, to wit: the 12th day of December, the year of Redemption one thousand eight hundred and twelve, and of Masonry five thousand eight hundred and twelve." From this time on the Cincinnati Chapter of Royal Arch Masons prospered. As has been said, in 1816 this Chapter first proposed forming a Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Ohio, and sent out circulars asking the co‑operation of other Chapters in the State. In a letter written by Thomas Smith Webb, Deputy General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, some time prior to the organisation of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Ohio, he said he believed that the Cincinnati Chapter had a legal existence as early as 1798. As yet, however, no ground for any such belief has been found. On March 8, 1815, a Dispensation was issued by Alexander McCormick, Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Maryland, to James Kilbourne and others of Worthington, Ohio, granting permission for the location of a Chapter at that place. This was to be known as the Horeb Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. James Kilbourne was named as first High Priest. A resolution FREEMASONRY IN OHIO I0I adopted at a meeting of the Grand Chapter of Maryland held on November IS, 1815, gave the Grand Officers power to grant a Charter to Horeb Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in case application were made by February following. Meanwhile the Dispensation under which the Chapter Worked was to be continued. Maryland Records do not show that any such Charter was ever issued, nor is there any reliable information proving that Horeb Chapter was ever organised under a Charter.

 

Upon receiving the letter of October I, 1816, sent out by Companions of the Cincinnati Chapter, Delegates from American Union Chapter of Marietta, from Horeb Chapter of Worthington, and from Cincinnati Chapter of Cincinnati met at Worthington on October 2I to consider the formation of a Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in Ohio. Companion James Kilbourne, P. H. P., was chosen as Chairman of the Convention and Companion Benjamin Gardiner was chosen as Secretary. When the qualifications of the Delegates had been approved, those present adopted a resolution declaring it right and expedient to establish a Grand Royal Arch Chapter in the State. At an adjourned Session held on October z4., 1816, a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons was opened and the following Grand Officers were elected: Samuel Hoit of Marietta, Grand High Priest; Chester Griswold of Worthington, Deputy Grand High Priest; Davis Embree of Cincinnati, Grand King; Calvin Washburn of Cincinnati, Grand Scribe; Benjamin Gardiner of Columbus, Grand Secretary; and Lincoln Goodale of Columbus, Grand Treasurer. Other Grand Officers were appointed. Five days later, on October z9, 1816, the Chapter went as a procession to the Worthington Academy, accompanied by Thomas Smith Webb, Deputy General Grand High Priest, and Peter Grinnel, General Grand Treasurer of the General Grand Chapter. The former Installed the Grand Officers‑elect. At a meeting later held in the Chapter room, the three Chapters that had participated were Inscribed on the Roll of Grand Chapter Subordinates and a Charter was issued to each. The Chapters were American Union Chapter, No. I, Cincinnati Chapter, No. 2, and Horeb Chapter, No. 3.

 

And thus was formed the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State of Ohio. Its existence of more than a century has been singularly free from internal strife. Its growth has been substantial and satisfactory, for it now has 2‑o9 Constituent Chapters with a total membership of over 76,ooo.

 

THE ORDER OF HIGH PRIESTHOOD As is well known, membership in the Order of High Priesthood is limited to Present and Past High Priests who have been elected to preside over Constituted Chapters of Royal Arch Masons. Those who receive the Degree are said to be Anointed, Consecreated, and set apart to the Holy Order of High Priesthood. In some States the organisation is known as a Convention, or Grand Convention, of High Priests, but in Ohio it has always been called a Council, or Grand Council, of Anointed High Priests.

 

102 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO On January 15, 1828, a regular number of members who had received the Order of High Priesthood met in Columbus, Ohio, and organised themselves into a Council of Anointed High Priests for the purpose of conferring the Order upon all qualified Masons who desired to receive it. At an election these Officers were chosen: John Snow, President; Charles R. Sherman, Vice‑President; Joshua Downer, Chaplain; Pratt Benedict, Treasurer; Bela Latham, Secretary; William Greene, Master of Ceremonies; James Gates, Conductor; and James Pearce, Herald. Minutes of annual meetings of this Order, if kept, have always been printed with the Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Ohio. No Minutes appeared from 1830 to 1838 while " The Morgan Excitement ä was going on.

 

Ohio has the largest Grand Council of Anointed High Priests in the world. Although this Body has no way of showing its total annual membership, as do other Masonic Bodies, nevertheless the classes have annually averaged about loo members for the last thirty years. This is a far larger membership than can be shown elsewhere.

 

At the Triennial Convocation of the General Grand Chapter of the United States, held at Topeka, Kansas, in 1894, Officers of Grand Councils and Grand Conventions of Anointed High Priests of various States held a meeting. Most Eminent Companion John W. Chamberlin, who for ten years had been President of the Grand Council of Anointed High Priests of Ohio, was chosen Chairman of a Committee to revise and rewrite the Ritual of the Order. He did this very satisfactorily. The Ritual he prepared, known as the " Chamberlin Ritual," is now used in many States.

 

CRYPTIC FREEMASONRY The Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of the State of Ohio was organised in Worthington on January 6, 1830. Five Councils represented at that meeting participated in the organisation. They were Cincinnati Council, No. I; Steubenville Council, No. z; Adoniram Council, NO. 3; Lancaster Council, No. 4, and Chillicothe Council, No. 5.

 

More than two years before, on October 24, 1827, thirteen Royal and Select Masters had assembled in the Masonic Hall at Cincinnati to consider the organisation of a Council of Royal and Select Masters in that city. After choosing Robert Punshon as Chairman and Elias Dudley as Secretary the meeting adopted a resolution declaring it expedient to form a Council of Royal and Select Masters in Cincinnati. The resolution also directed that Illustrious Companion John Barker, " Agent of the Supreme Council," then in Cincinnati, be solicited to organise the Council and grant it a Charter. A Committee advised Companion Barker of the wishes of those who had assembled and requested his presence in the Lodge room. After his introduction and reception, Companion Barker organised a Council of Royal and Select Masters in due form and " agreeably to the powers vested in him by the Supreme Council in the United States of America." At the election of Officers Robert Punshon was chosen as Thrice 102 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 103 Illustrious Grand Master, Robert T. Lytle as Illustrious Deputy Grand Master; and Joseph Jonas as Principal Conductor of the Work. Companion Barker then granted a Charter for Cincinnati Council, No. i, to be held at Cincinnati. The Charter is signed " John Barker, K.H.S.P.R.S. Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Thirty‑third Degree and General Agent of the Supreme Council in the United States of America." This Council has been active and flourishing throughout its entire existence.

 

The four other Councils which united with that of Cincinnati in 1830 to form the Grand Council of Ohio were also organised under Charters granted by Illustrious Companion Barker. These Charters were essentially like that issued to Cincinnati Council, No. 1, and of essentially the same form. The Charter of Adoniram Council, No. 3, is dated January 1, 1828, and that of Chillicothe Council, No. S, is dated January 18, 1828. The dates of the Charters issued to Steubenville Council, No. 2, and to Lancaster Council, No. 4, are unknown, but the former was probably issued in November or December, 1827, and the latter in January, 1828.

 

The authority of John Barker to organise Councils of Royal and Select Masters and to issue Charters to them, as agent of the Mother Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masons of the United States, seems never to have been questioned. It is, however, unusual for agents and even for Officers of Masonic Grand Bodies to issue Charters, since such Warrants are commonly issued only by the governing Body.

 

On January 6, 1830, in response to a request made by Cincinnati Council, No. i, Representatives from that Council and from Steubenville Council, No. 2, Adoniram Council, No. 3, Lancaster Council, No. 4, and Chillicothe Council, No. 5, met in Worthington to consider the advisability of forming a Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters in the State of Ohio. Companion Robert T. Lytle of Cincinnati Council, No. i, was chosen Chairman of the Convention, and Companion William James Reese of Lancaster Council, No. 4, was appointed Secretary. After the object of the Convention had been made known, a resolution declaring it expedient to form a Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters in the State of Ohio was unanimously adopted. At an adjourned Session of the Convention, held on the afternoon of the same day, a Constitution that had been prepared by a Committee was adopted. Next, Grand Officers were elected, Companion Robert Punshon of Cincinnati Council, No. 1, having been chosen as the first Puissant Grand Master. The Convention was then dissolved. Immediately afterwards the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters was regularly opened. The Constitution that had been adopted was recognised as the Constitution of the Grand Council, and the Proceedings of the Convention were approved. Charters under which the five Councils had been Working were ordered to be transmitted to the Grand Recorder. He was to issue new Charters in exchange for them.

 

In such fashion the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters in the State of Ohio was organised. The growth of this Grand Council has been remarkable, 104 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO and for many years it has been the largest in the world, with 98 Constituent Councils having a total membership in the neighborhood of 43,000.

 

THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD The Orders of Christian Knighthood have no Masonic connection whatever with Ancient Craft Masonry, yet membership in Lodge and Chapter is prerequisite to membership in a Commandery of Knights Templar. These Orders now form part of what is sometimes called the American System of Freemasonry. Consequently it is well to recount the organisation and early activities of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar in the State of Ohio.

 

From the time of their establishment and, indeed, until 1867, the Templar Bodies of Ohio were known as " Encampments." In 1856, however, the General Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States of America so amended its Constitution as to affect the use of that term. The word " Encampment " was left unchanged in its own title, but was changed to " Commandery " in the titles of all Encampments and Grand Encampments under its jurisdiction. The amendment also provided that the presiding Officer of each Grand Commandery was to be known as " Grand Commander," that of each Subordinate Commandery as "Commander." The Grand Encampment of Knights Templars in Ohio rebelled against these changes. It refused to comply with orders of the General Grand Encampment until it could hold an Annual Conclave. That was done in 1857. The Constitution was then amended, and the words " Commandery " and " Commander " have been used by the Grand and Subordinate Templar Bodies of the State ever since. It is a trifling matter of interest that the original Constitution of the Grand Encampment of Ohio used the double plural‑" Knights Templars." This double plural was also used in the Records of the Grand Commandery of the State until 192.2., since when only the word " Knight " has been pluralised.

 

Mt. Vernon Commandery, No. I, originally located at Worthington but now at Columbus, was the first Encampment established west of the Allegheny Mountains by the General Grand Encampment of the United States. On March 14, 1818, Thomas Smith Webb, Deputy Grand Master of the General Grand Encampment of the United States, answered a petition by issuing a Dispensation to John Snow, Knight Templar, Knight of Malta and of the Red Cross, authorising him to " congregate and assemble together in the Town of Worthington, in the State of Ohio, a sufficient and legal number of the above mentioned Orders, and to open a Council and Encampment in the said Town and therein confer said Orders upon such tried and worthy Companions of the Royal Arch as may make application for the same." Unless revoked, this Dispensation was to remain in force for a period of three months. It was then to be returned with a report of work done. Under authority of this Dispensation, Sir Knight John Snow summoned all the Sir Knights living within forty miles to assemble at the Masonic Hall in Worthington, Ohio. In obedience to this FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 1105 summons Thomas Smith Webb, hailing from the General Grand Encampment of the United States and from the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts and Rhode Island; John Snow, hailing from St. John's Encampment of Rhode Island; and Frederick Curtis, hailing from Ireland, met on March 15, 1818. After exchanging credentials those men proceeded to open a Council of Red Cross Knights, and to confer the Order upon two candidates. Five days later, on March z.o, 1818, an Encampment of Knights Templars was opened and the Order of the Temple and of Malta were conferred upon one candidate. Thus were the Orders of Knighthood formally organised in Ohio.

 

At the Triennial Conclave of the General Grand Encampment held in New York City on September 16, 1819, Sir Knight John Snow of Worthington reported the progress that had been made by Mt. Vernon Encampment under its Dispensation and asked that a Charter be granted to it. A resolution authorising the Charter was adopted and it was issued on the very same day. This Charter has been carefully preserved by the Mt. Vernon Commandery. Except that the signature of the General Grand Master, of the General Grand Captain‑General, and of the General Grand Recorder have entirely faded out, the document is still in a good state of preservation. Because of its historical interest it is reprinted in full below.

 

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN The General Grand Encampment of Knights Templars the appendant Orders for the United States of America, convened and assembled in the City of New York in the State of New York, September 16th, A.D. 1819, send greeting.

 

Whereas a petition has been presented at this General Grand Encampment from John Snow, Chester Griswold, Roger Searle, Joseph S. Hughes, James Kilbourne, Levi Pinny, Benjamin Gardner, William Little, Chauncey Barber, Mark Seeley, residents in the town of Worthington in the state of Ohio, all true and courteous Knights of the Red Cross, Knights Templars and Knights of Malta, stating that they have heretofore assembled together under a warrant of dispensation from the late Deputy General Grand Master, Thomas Smith Webb, Esq., and therefore pray for a charter, extending and forming under them the right and privileges of a regularly constituted Encampment. Now be it known that the General Grand Encampment aforesaid, considering that the interest of the institution will be promoted by granting the prayer of said petition, have authorised and empowered, and by these presence, authorize and empower the said John Snow, his associates above named, to form, open and hold a regularly constituted Encampment of the valiant and magnanimous Orders of Knights of the Red Cross, Knights Templars and Knights of Malta of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, by the name, style and title of Mt. Vernon Encampment, to confer those Orders respectively upon tried and worthy candidates, made By‑Laws and ordinances for their own government, and to admit members and to do and transact all such matters and things as are lawful and proper to be done in such an assemblage, and furthermore we do hereby declare the rank and precedence of the said Mt. Vernon Encampment in the General Grand Encampment and elsewhere to be from the sixth day of io6 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO June, A.D. 1818 and from the said Mt. Vernon Encampment, we do name and appoint Sir John Snow to be the first Grand Commander, Sir Chester Griswold to be the first Generalissimo, the Rev. Sir Roger Searle to be the first Captain General, Rev. Sir Joseph S. Hughes to be the first Prelate, Sir James Kilbourne to be the first Senior Warden, Sir Levi Pinny to be the first junior Warden, and Sir Benjamin Gardner to be the first Treasurer, and Sir William Little to be the first Recorder, and we do hereby enjoin it upon said Mt. Vernon Encampment to be particular in making their return to the General Grand Recorder, and the payment of their dues to the General Grand Treasurer, and to conform in all things to the Constitution and edicts of the General Grand Encampment, otherwise the charter and the privileges hereby granted shall cease and to be of no further validity.

 

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and caused the seal of the General Grand Encampment to be hereunto affixed the day and year first above written. HENRY FoWLE, Deputy General Grand Master. JOHN Show, General Grand Generalissimo.

 

The Mt. Vernon Encampment was organised under its Charter on September Zo, 182o. Although it received no number on its original Charter, it became Encampment No. i because it was the first Encampment Chartered in the State. At the second Session of the Grand Encampment of Ohio, held at Columbus in October 1844, the Mt. Vernon Encampment was authorised to hold its meetings there from then on instead of at Worthington as provided in the Charter. From the beginning of its activities this Commandery has been a leader in the State.

 

On December 16, 1835, a Charter was issued by the General Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States to some Sir Knights of Lancaster for an Encampment to be known as Lancaster Encampment, No. 2. On Sep tember 17, 1841, a Charter was granted and issued to Cincinnati Encampment, No. 3, of Cincinnati. The General Grand Encampment issued a Dispensation to some Sir Knights of Massillon on July S, 1843, authorising them to form and open an Encampment at that place to be known as Massillon Encampment, No. 4. On July 22, 1843, a Dispensation was issued by the General Grand Encampment for an Encampment at Mt. Vernon to be known as Clinton Encampment, No. 5.

 

Representatives from the five Ohio Encampments met at Lancaster on October 24, 1843, in response to a Warrant that had been issued on September Zo, 1841, by the General Grand Encampment of the United States. This War rant authorised the Ohio Encampments to Constitute a Grand Encampment of Knights Templar and appendant Orders for the State. Those present then formally organised a Grand Encampment of Knights Templars for the State of Ohio, and elected and Installed Officers. The Grand Encampment formed, now known as the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Ohio, has 79 Subordinate Commanderies on its Roll with a membership of over 32,000.

 

FREEMASONRY IN OHIO 107 SCOTTISH RITE FREEMASONRY That branch of Freemasonry known as the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite did not make its appearance in Ohio until long after the York Rite Bodies had been established. There is some evidence, however, that in 1827 John Barker, Thirty‑third Degree, member of the Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern jurisdiction, conferred upon Masons residing in Cincinnati at least some of the Degrees of the Rite under claim of authority from that Supreme Body. Candidates were obliged to cross the Ohio River into Kentucky in order to receive the Degrees. The names of those early candidates are not now known, nor is there any evidence at all of their having been active in behalf of the Scottish Rite in Ohio.

 

The beginning of the correspondence that resulted in organising Scottish Rite Bodies in Ohio was a letter written by Absalom Death, of Cincinnati, to the Grand Secretary‑General of the Supreme Grand Council for the Northern Jurisdiction. The letter was received on December 13, 1848, though no immediate action seems to have been taken. Early in 1852, however, a Dispensation was issued for a Lodge of Perfection and a Council of Princes of Jerusalem at Columbus. These Bodies fitted up a Hall for their use but at the end of two years it was torn down to make way for business improvements. After two years of idleness the Dispensation under which the Bodies had been working was returned. Meantime, a Dispensation was issued to seven members who had received the fourteenth to sixteenth Degrees, inclusive, on December 17, 1852. It authorised a Grand Lodge of Perfection and a Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem to be located in Cincinnati. The Grand Lodge of Perfection received the name " Gibulum," a word used as an exclamation at that time but having no signification under the present Ritual. The name " Dalcho " was given to the Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem. Under authority of a Dispensation dated January Zo, 1853, those two Bodies were formally Instituted and their Officers were elected and Installed on the following April 27 by Killian H. Van Rensselaer, Thirty‑third Degree, Deputy for Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

 

Under authority of a Dispensation issued by M. P. Edward A. Raymond, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, the Ohio Sovereign Consistory of Most Valiant and Illustrious Sublime Princes and Commanders of the Royal Secret was formally organised and Instituted at Cincinnati on December 27, 1853. Its Officers were elected that same day. This Dispensation granted authority to confer Degrees from the seventeenth to the thirty‑second, inclusive, but no candidate could receive the thirtieth, thirty‑first, or thirty‑second Degrees without a Dispensation from the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council or from his Deputy. William B. Hubbard, one of the most distinguished Masons of his day, was chosen as Sovereign Grand Commander. Killian H. Van Rensselaer, also well known for his Masonic activity, was chosen as First Lieutenant‑Commander and as Grand Secretary and Grand io8 FREEMASONRY IN OHIO Treasurer. On March 23, 1853, the Cincinnati Bodies under Dispensation applied to the Supreme Council for Charters. Because a resolution required six months of Work under Dispensation, the Charters were not granted at that time. On May 4, 1854, authority was voted by the Supreme Council for the granting of Charters to the Lodge, Council, and Consistory, but prior to 1857 none seem to have been issued under this authority. On May 14, 1857, the Committee on Returns in the Supreme Council recommended that Charters be granted to Gibulum Grand Lodge of Perfection and Dalcho Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem. Eleven days later Charters for Lodge, Council, Chapter, and Consistory were ready for delivery. Those were dated as follows: Lodge and Council Charter, March 24, 1853; Chapter Charter, May 14, 1857; Consistory Charter, January 8, 1856. All those Charters were destroyed by fire on December 24, 1884. On December 25, 1857, Cincinnati Sovereign Grand Chapter of Rose Croix, having received a Charter, took over the conferring of the seventeenth and eighteenth Degrees.

 

For the first third of a century after the granting of a Charter to the Ohio Consistory, Scottish Rite Freemasonry in this State did not rapidly increase in membership. About 1890, however, greater interest was shown and since then there has been a steady and satisfactory increase. There are now more than 36,ooo Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret in Ohio.

 

Other Bodies conferring the Degrees up to and including the eighteenth were organised in Ohio at the following places on the dates named: Cambridge, May 14, 1857; Cleveland, May i9, 1866; Columbus, September 1o, 1877; Dayton, September 22, 188o; Toledo, September Zo, 1881. Until the organisation of the Lake Erie Consistory at Cleveland under a Charter issued on September 18, 18go, all candidates from these Bodies were obliged to go to the Ohio Consistory in order to obtain the Consistorial Degrees. A Charter was granted to the Scioto Consistory at Columbus on September Zo, i_goo; to the Toledo Consistory on September 21, 1905; and to the Dayton Consistory on September 18, 1907; and to the Canton Consistory in 1932.

 

FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA CHARLES E. CREAGEN HE story of Freemasonry in Oklahoma offers romance and comedy, personal sacrifice which almost touches the sublime, and such courage and fortitude as distinguish the pioneers of the Southwest. It is the story of a wonderful development, a triumph achieved only through ambition, determination, and patient perseverance. Who really sowed the first Masonic seed in what is now the State of Oklahoma, who nourished the tender shoots, or when and how those benefactors of mankind laid the first foundation‑stones will never be definitely known. It is sufficient to know, though, that from the very earliest days of the region that now constitutes Oklahoma, Masonic influence played an important part in every development.

 

The accurate historic Record of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma begins with the Proceedings of a formal Convention assembled in Caddo, Indian Territory, on Monday, October 5, 1874. The date of the actual beginning of organ ised Masonry within the present jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge is the date of the Dispensation of the first Masonic Lodge, that is, November 9, 1848, when Cherokee Lodge, No. 2.1, came into regular existence under authority of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas. But in those days Arkansas Lodges, even those which formed the nucleus of the wonderful Grand Lodge of Arkansas, depended largely upon the support of Brethren who were residents of the Indian country. Kentucky gave Arkansas her first Lodge on June z4, 1818, but long before that such distinguished Brethren as Captain Zebulon Pike, the explorer, Colonel Matthew Arbuckle, the famous soldier who first established organised government under the Stars and Stripes in the Arkansas Valley, Matthew Leeper, Indian agent and personal friend of Bro. Andrew Jackson, Pierre Choteau, Indian trader and pioneer, and the famous Indian chieftains, Peter P. Pitchlyn, a Choctaw, and John Ross, a Cherokee, had " held Masonic Communication with their Brethren " in the Indian country.

 

It is impossible to write the history of industrial, social, or political Oklahoma without taking into serious account the important part played by Indians. Indeed, Indians are the real founders of what is now a great State and a great Grand Lodge. Without their consent, development measured by the standard of the white man's civilisation would have been utterly impossible, and without their assistance and influence very little could have been log i 1o FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA accomplished in any worthy enterprise. Indian philosophy, Indian tradition, Indian religion, and Indian economics are all features which must be understood before the growth of the State of Oklahoma Masonry can be understood.

 

Popular ideas and notions concerning the Oklahoma Indian are for the most part, erroneous. Perhaps no people in all the world have been so unkindly treated by the historian and the fiction writer as the American Indian. Frequently the idea is given that the quality known as " courage " in a white man is " brutality " in an Indian. For example, the result of any battle was either a " victory " for the white man or a " massacre " by the Indian. Too, the notion is quite prevalent that the Indian is proverbially " lazy " because he procured food, raiment, and shelter by means other than those adopted by the less skillful and less patient white man. Thus odious comparisons have multiplied until the Indian up to this good hour is thoroughly‑and perhaps shamefully‑misunderstood.

 

For present purposes let it be simply stated that when the Indians of the Five Civilised Tribes, that is the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole groups, were driven from the Eastern coast and Tennessee‑at the point of the bayonet‑to lands west of the Mississippi River, they came with well‑organised socialistic governments, with schools and churches of their own, and (a fact too often overlooked) with a philosophy of their own. Like ours, their governments included three branches, legislative, judicial, and executive. Their laws, honestly and efficiently enforced, were a credit to the conglomeration of " statutes " made by the modern white man. Their courts were fair, impartial, and intelligent. The two outstanding Indian leaders of early Indian Territory were Peter P. Pitchlyn and John Ross‑both personal friends of Abraham Lincoln. Charles Dickens rendered to Chief Pitchlyn one of the highest compliments paid to any American citizen by that skilled social observer. Both chieftains were able statesmen. Both were Master Masons.

 

The affairs of the Indian country were administered from Washington through " agencies " established along the Arkansas frontier. Besides the Indian governments of the Five Civilised Tribes, the United States War Department exercised certain authority over the Indians. Among the officers who played important parts in the early drama were Colonel Arbuckle and other Master Masons. The effect of the influence of those great men is shown in the Oklahoma of the present and in the Masonry of the State.

 

For a long time the Lodges at Little Rock, Fort Smith, and Fayetteville, all in Arkansas, were the only Masonic homes which the Indian Territory Brethren could enjoy. Their membership, of course, represented almost every Grand Lodge from Connecticut to Louisiana. Quite a few were members of Lodges in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

 

Fort Gibson having been established at the confluence of the Grand, the Verdigris, and the Arkansas rivers, and Fort Towson on the Red River, the Brethren of the Indian Territory became eager to establish more accessible Ma sonic bases. Accordingly, the Brethren at Tahlaquah, seat of Cherokee Indian FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA III activities, Petitioned the Grand Lodge of Arkansas for a Charter. The most prominent officials in the affairs of the army and of the Cherokee Indians became affiliated with this Lodge. It prospered from 1848 until the dark days of the Civil War. Not to be outdone by their Cherokee Brethren, the Choctaw Masons, also including many army men stationed at Fort Towson, Petitioned the Grand Lodge of Arkansas for a Lodge. As a result, November 4, 1852, saw Doaksville Lodge, No. 52, regularly Chartered. This Lodge also succumbed to the ravages of the war. At their Agency the Creek Indians also organised a Lodge which was Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas on November 9, 185 5. This was known as Mus‑co‑gee Lodge, No. 93. Among the members of this Lodge were Chief Justice George W. Stidham and tribal treasurer Ben Marshall. The latter held office without bond for more than thirty years. During his official career he received and disbursed more than $15,ooo,ooo, nearly all in currency, without a single discrepancy in his accounts. Then on November 9, 1853, a second Cherokee Indian Lodge was set to Work under another Charter from the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.

 

The difficulties which the four frontier Lodges were obliged to overcome will be better appreciated when it is understood that they were scattered over an area of more than 6ooo square miles. Yet those early Bodies not only served as social centres, but they were also the principal encouragement and support of the early missionaries and of the churches. They actually established and maintained schools. They housed the only available public libraries in the several communities. Brethren rode as far as a hundred miles on horseback in all kinds of weather to attend Lodge.

 

The Cherokee Indians were divided as to politics, feuds between two factions having been brought with them from the East. Nevertheless, leaders of both factions assembled before the Masonic Altar, performed their Masonic duties, and in their public lives discharged their Masonic obligations cheerfully and fully. It is recorded that during a severe dispute over the terms of a treaty then in negotiation with the government, the partisans attended a Communication of Federal Lodge, No. I, in Washington. At that meeting Chief Ross himself was Raised. The next day the dispute was amicably adjusted, and the treaty consummated.

 

Evil days fell upon the Indian Territory when the Northern and Southern sections of the country became involved in war. The Indian did not understand the situation. He was not concerned in the struggle except to grieve that men of intelligence and integrity should permit themselves to engage in civil strife. The Indian could not enter into the spirit of the times. He had no one to hate. Nothing in his own sphere was involved in the dispute. It was a white man's battle and he tried to stand aloof. But as actual hostilities developed, the Indian found himself more deeply concerned than he wished to be. The government of the United States, which had pledged protection, had all it could do to protect its own interests. Soldiers, placed at strategic points within the borders of the Indian country, were rushed away to defend more important cities and proper‑ III FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA ties. The Indian's confidence in the government wavered. On the other hand, such a thing as a rival government was beyond his understanding. It was an experiment to him. Though Indian leaders admonished the observance of strict neutrality, both of the belligerent factions sent influential messengers into the Territory in the hope of enlisting sympathy at first and soldiers later. Before the Indian was really aware of what was going on about him, regiments of soldiers had been recruited by both North and South. Then came actual fighting, and without real warning the Indian country began to go to ruin between two fires.

 

While the storms of battle were raging, Indian homes were laid waste. Schools, churches, farms, and buildings were wiped out of existence. Lodges could not meet. A beautiful Masonic Hall at Doaksville was burned to the ground. Lodge furniture of all four Lodges in the region was destroyed or carried away. Long after the war the Charter of Flint Lodge was recovered from an Indian who had found it in the woods. There were no Communications, no reports to the Grand Lodge. Darkness completely shrouded the Masonic horizon.

 

At the height of hostilities, General Albert Pike of the Confederate Army, then unknown to Masonry, won the confidence and friendship of many leading Indians. His Indian agent for the Creeks and Seminoles was a young Baptist missionary from Georgia, the Rev. Joseph Samuel Murrow. The preacher‑agent distributed among the refugees, who were huddled in camps at safe distances from the firing line, such supplies of beef and other rations as he could procure. Religious meetings were held wherever and whenever opportunity permitted. Rev. Murrow earned the lasting love of those people.

 

The Indians recovered more rapidly from the devastation of the war than did the white people of the South. In their territory there were no railroads or factories or large cities to restore. New cabins rose from the ashes of the old. Willing hands, directed by such men as Murrow, soon built new churches and new schoolhouses. All four Lodges resumed Labour. But officially they had passed out of existence, for no reports had been sent to the Grand Lodge, no Representatives had attended its meetings. Though not revoked, Charters had automatically lapsed. An exception occurred, however, in the case of Mus‑cogee Lodge, No. 93. Its Charter was officially revoked, but the Brethren did not know of their Masonic " death, " so that they continued to Work, as lively Masonic " corpses " should do. The Lodge later became one of the constituent Bodies of the first Grand Lodge.

 

On July II, 1868, the Grand Master of Arkansas issued his Dispensation to Rev. Murrow and some other Brethren to establish a Lodge at Bogey Depot in the Choctaw Nation. Later it was Chartered as Ok‑la‑ho‑ma Lodge. Shortly afterwards, by consent of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, Doaksville Lodge was revived. Meantime another Lodge had been Chartered in the Choctaw Nation near the present site of Wheelock Academy, but it was short lived. In due time one of the Cherokee Lodges was re‑established, and a Lodge was Instituted at Fort Gibson, under the auspices of the Grand Lodge of Kansas. Still another FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA Lodge was organised at Caddo, then a terminus of the newly built Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad. By this time the region had taken on new growth and was in its first stage of industrial development. Masonry flourished. The Brethren became ambitious. Town sites having been opened along the new railroad line, the ingress of white settlers made social problems more complex. The demands upon Masonry increased. There was little occasion for charity or Masonic courtesy, but the Lodges were in large measure regarded as civic centres, the Brethren as leading citizens. Though Masonry was in no sense made an instrument of law enforcement, the fact remains and should be recorded that in those days civic reforms frequently originated in Masonic Lodges.

 

On October 5, 1874, Representatives of Caddo Lodge, No. 31 I, Mus‑co‑gee Lodge, No. 93, and Doaksville Lodge, No. 279, met in Caddo for the purpose of organising a Grand Lodge. Since Murrow opposed the movement, Ok‑la‑ho‑ma Lodge was not represented, nor were Flint Lodge, Cherokee Lodge, and Fort Gibson Lodge. Only half the Lodges constituent to Arkansas were present, and less than half of the whole number were there. Nor was a majority of the total membership on hand. Nevertheless, those present deemed it both wise and expedient to launch the movement, and accordingly a complete organisation was effected with Bro. Granville McPherson as the first Grand Master.

 

The lineal descent of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory was from the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, organised in 1754 under the allegiance of the " moderns." The Grand Lodge of Tennessee organised by Lodges constituent to the Grand Lodge of North Carolina, in 1807, and the Grand Lodge of Arkansas originally composed of Lodges that had been Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Tennessee in 183 5 .

 

The infant Grand Lodge of Oklahoma was regarded rather dubiously by most of the other Grand Lodges, and in consequence formal recognition of it by them came rather slowly. It was well known that the membership consisted largely of Indians whom persons not directly informed regarded as Masonic material of questionable value. The country was indeed " wild and wooly," as was commonly said, the hills of the eastern part of the region being the rendezvous of outlaws, renegades, and fugitives from justice.

 

Because of his literary attainments, his notable work as a missionary, and his Masonic activities, Bro. Murrow was more widely known than the Officers of the Grand Lodge. In his correspondence files are many letters of inquiry from Josiah Drummond, Albert Pike, and other distinguished Masons throughout the country, in which they inquire about the status of the new Grand Lodge and ask whether or not it would be proper to accept its Representatives. Bro. Murrow's replies were invariably considerate of the enterprise, and his praise for the Indian Mason and citizen commonly set the inquiring Masons right. Skepticism gradually vanished, and by 1876 two more Lodges (one of which was the Ok‑la‑ho‑ma Lodge headed by Bro. Murrow, having come into the fold, the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory had been accepted by the Grand Lodges of Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Maine, New York, Maryland, and some other States. Kansas, how‑ FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA 115 the appointment was received, he and several other Brethren " had started after a bunch of horse thieves." They were gone ten days. Having been absent that long, it is quite evident that the trail was not abandoned and the fate of the pursued may be easily conjectured.

 

Masonic activities in the early days of Indian Territory were not confined to the narrow limits of the Lodge. Chief Ross and Chief Pitchlyn had been made Royal Arch Masons before the war between the States. Grand Master Mc Pherson had served as an Officer in the Chapter at Little Rock before he had cast his fortune with the Indians; Grand Master Murrow had been made a Royal Arch Mason in Texas before his Oklahoma Lodge had been Chartered. The eminent success which had attended the efforts of the Lodges was sufficient urge for the Royal Craft to enter the field, and accordingly, on February 23, 1878, M.‑. E.‑. General Grand High Priest John Frizzell issued his Dispensation to organise Indian Chapter, at McAlester, in the Choctaw Nation. Colonel E. J. Brooks, of the United States Army, then on duty in Indian Territory, was the High Priest, U. D., Companion Murrow was King, and Judge Stidham, of the Creek Supreme Court, was Scribe. The membership for the most part came from Bellevue Chapter, at Fort Smith, Arkansas. This beginning of Capitular Masonry flourished beyond the expectations of its sponsors. Although centrally located, it was not accessible to all the Masons who desired " further Light," and accordingly, on September 11, 1879, another Chapter was authorised to be located at Atoka, where Companion Murrow had moved from Bogey Depot. Sometime later in order that the Companions of the Cherokee country would not be obliged to spend three days away from home to attend a Convocation, a third Chapter was Instituted at Tahlequah. Later, an ill‑timed effort to encourage the Craft resulted in the establishment of another Chapter at Savannah, but it did not prosper. Still another effort at Burneyville failed for want of support. In order to set this Chapter to Work, Companion Murrow and several others drove teams across country, camped on the open prairie at night, and depended upon their rifles for subsistence. They opened the Chapter on June 24, called off and resumed in due courses until late in the night on July 27 in order to complete their Work, and then returned overland to their homes.

 

The large measure of success which had attended the Grand Lodge encouraged the Companions of the Royal Arch to undertake an identity of their own. During the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge in 1889, the Royal Arch Masons in attendance held a conference and proceeded in the regular way to organise a Grand Chapter. Later, a Convention was held. The matter was presented formally to General Grand High Priest Larner, who denied the Petition. Reporting his action to the General Grand Chapter at Atlanta, on November Zo, 1889, the General Grand High Priest, recalling several unfortunate situations in the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory, remarked: " the ethical tendencies of the Masons out in that wild country hardly commend them to membership in such a Body as this." Companion Murrow, who was present, resented the report in a vigorous speech from the floor, with the result that the 116 FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA Petition of the Oklahoma Companions was taken from the Committee and a Charter was ordered by an overwhelming majority. Capitular Masonry has prospered from that time to the present.

 

Soon after the Institution of the Grand Chapter of Indian Territory, by authority of the Congress of the United States, Oklahoma Territory was organised. The western plains country was opened to settlement and homestead. There was a rush of pioneers. Towns and cities rose from the prairie in a day. By competent resolutions, recognised everywhere, Masonic jurisdictional lines by Indian Territory extended as far west as Texas and Colorado. Therefore, Lodges and Chapters organised in the newly‑created Oklahoma Territory owed their allegiance to Indian Territory Grand Bodies. This unprecedented increase in material brought a new era of prosperity to Indian Territory Masonry. Lodges and Chapters were organised at Guthrie, the first capital, at Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, Enid, and other towns. The newly‑enriched territory added power to the movements which the Grand Bodies had inaugurated, but naturally they also increased their responsibilities. While social, economic, and political life differed in the separate regions, the Masonic contingencies fitted into one another's purposes admirably. Later, however, because of a membership which seemed unwieldy in that early day, and because transportation facilities were sadly inadequate, a Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory was organised, with the consent of the Indian Territory Grand Lodge. Thus, two separate sovereignties controlled the Masonic situation.

 

The Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory was organised in a Convention called for that purpose at Oklahoma City, on November io, 1892‑eighteen years after the parent Grand Lodge had come into existence. There were present at the Convention Representatives from io subordinate Lodges, representing a total membership of 286 Master Masons, all owing allegiance to the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory. The first Grand Master was Bro. A. J. Sprengle, of Guthrie Lodge. It is interesting that the Lodge and the city of Guthrie were named in honor of M.. W.% Bro. John Guthrie, active Mason of Kansas, who was Grand Master at the time the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory was recognised.

 

At the time of the division, if in fact the creation of two separate organisations may be called that, the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory had grown in less than two decades from the modest beginning of 3 Lodges, having 6o members, to 48 Lodges, having a membership of 1705, and with cash resources on hand amounting to $2598, part of which had been set aside for the purpose of building and equipping an adequate Orphans' Home.

 

The Fates treated the new Grand Lodge more kindly than the parent Body. Recognition from other Grand Bodies came promptly, the first being from Indian Territory, whose Grand Master Installed the first Grand Officers. Other Grand Lodges followed in rapid succession. Within a very short time, the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory was universally welcomed and Grand Representatives were exchanged. It produced Masons of national prominence.

 

FREEMASONRY IN OKLAHOMA 1117 The very first enterprise undertaken by the Oklahoma Masons was the establishment of an Orphans' Home. Bro. William Eagleton took general charge of this work, while Bro. Henry M. Furman had charge of a similar undertaking among the Indian Territory Brethren.

 

After ten years of activity, the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory had developed into an organisation of 78 Lodges, having a membership of 3291 and a cash balance of $3302 on hand. For the same year, Indian Territory Grand Lodge received Reports from 98 Lodges, having a total membership of 4086, and a cash balance of $16,i59, which included the separate fund reserved for building a Masonic Home. In his annual address that year, Grand Master Allen made an appeal in behalf of the Home Fund in which he declared: " My brethren, we build Lodges, initiate candidates, and parade our moral excellence before the world, but if we fail in our duty to the friendless, homeless orphan, we have so far failed to be Masons." But during that very year various Lodges had on their own account provided books, clothing, and homes for 130 orphan children, in addition to paying their proportionate shares into the general Home Fund. One Lodge had completely exhausted its resources in providing food, clothing, and shelter for the destitute widow of one of its members.

 

In 1907, Congress made a State of the two Territories, and by proclamation of President Roosevelt, on November 17 of that year, the State of Oklahoma became the forty‑sixth member of the Union. Talk of amalgamation of the two Grand Lodges then became general. At each Grand Communication, resolutions were offered, considered and then postponed. The Brethren from every part of the State had become so thoroughly attached to their respective Grand Bodies, that it seemed to them a calamity to permit the death or re‑formation of either. Opposition to uniting the two came largely from Grand Officers and their partisans who were ambitious to receive Grand Honours. Although no petty jealousies developed in either Body, for four years the matter was the leading question before Masonry in Oklahoma.

 

Resolutions providing for the appointment of Committees to arrange all details for consolidation finally prevailed in both Bodies. In 19o9 the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory met at McAlester, while the Grand Lodge of Okla homa Territory met at Guthrie. Each completed all its routine business. Then the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory was called off, and the Brethren proceeded by special train to Guthrie where the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory was in Session. Both Lodges were closed sine die. Then the Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma was organised. As such it has flourished. All the resources of every kind belonging to both Bodies were transferred to the new organisation. At the time of the consolidation, there were 296 subordinate Lodges represented. The combined cash resources, not including the properties of subordinate Lodges, amounted to approximately $24,000 in the General Fund, and to $iio,0oo in the Masonic Home Fund.

 

Of the many pathetic scenes which were enacted during the proceedings of final cl