ADDRESS OF WALTER L. STOCKWELL

Grand Secretary Grand Lodge of North Dakota

And now for a few moments it is our desire to direct your thoughts to the consideration of some questions which seem to deserve more careful attention than is sometimes given by most of us.

The 4th of July is a very important date for Freemasons and is celebrated by members of the craft all over the world.

Freemasons and the fourth of July are interconnected by the events that took place on that date, which would not have been possible or would have taken place very differently if it weren’t for Freemasons. [Read more…] about 4th of July and Freemasonry

Of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence, the following were known to be members of a Masonic lodge:

      Benjamin Franklin – 1 of 13 Masonic signers of Constitution of the U.S. member of St. John’s Lodge, Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Past Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania.

Elbridge Gerry, member of Philanthropic Lodge, Marblehead, Massachusetts.

John Hancock, made a Master Mason, at the age of 23, in 1760, in Merchants Lodge No. 1, Quebec City, the first civilian Lodge established in Canada after the Conquest. In 1763, he went to Boston, Massachusetts, where he affiliated with St. Andrew’s Lodge.

William Hooper, member of Hanover Lodge, Masonborough, North Carolina.

Richard Stockton, charter member, and first Master of St. John’s Lodge, Princeton, New Jersey.

Matthew Thornton, made a Mason in a Lodge attached to a British Regiment of Foot during the Siege of Louisburg, Canada, in 1745, serving in a New Hampshire Colonial Regiment as a surgeon. Baron Von Steuben, while at Valley Forge, is said to have conferred the higher Degrees on him and to have been the only Signer who attained the 32nd Degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.

George Walton, member of Solomons Lodge No. 1, Savannah, Georgia.

William Whipple, member of St. Johnþs Lodge No. 1, Portsmouth, New Jersey.

The following named Signers have been referred to as members of the Fraternity by various Masonic writers, and in Masonic publications, but their Lodge affiliation is not known:

Roger Sherman, claimed to have been made a Mason prior to the American Revolution. A Masonic Apron said to be worn by him is in the collection at Yale University.

Josiah Bartlett, one so named is listed as a charter member of King Solomon’s Lodge, Charlestown, Massachusetts. Descendants, however, say he was not a member of the Craft. There is doubt that this Bartlett is the signer, and records of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts do not show his Lodge affiliation.

Philip Livingston, often referred to as a Mason, but this is open to debate. Records of the Grand Lodge of New York do not disclose his name. Several members, named Livingston, are noted in the records of Holland Lodge No. 8, New York City, New York.

Joseph Hewes. Records of Unanimity Lodge No. 7, Edenton, North Carolina, show his name as a visitor on St. John’s Day, December, 1776.

Robert Treat Paine, member of a Massachusetts Lodge. The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts records do not show his affiliation He was said to be present at the celebration of St. John’s Day, Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, in June, 1759.

Thomas McKean, noted as a frequent visitor to Perseverance Lodge No. 2l, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The McKean genealogy has stated he was a Mason, although his name is not found on the records of the Grand Lodge of Delaware, which was not organized until the close of the American Revolution. A brother, Samuel McKean, was a member of the Fraternity.

John Penn, known to have attended Lodges in North Carolina, but his Masonic affiliation is not known.

Lyman Hall, claimed to have been a member of Solomons Lodge No. 1, Savannah, Georgia.

William Ellery, claimed as a member of a Lodge in Boston, Massachusetts.

Thomas Nelson, Jr., claimed to have visited Lodge No. 9, Yorktown, Virginia, after the Siege of that place was lifted in the Revolutionary War, accompanied by Lafayette and Washington.

Absence of definite proof of the Masonic affiliation of the Signers named in the foregoing paragraphs, precludes the possibility of knowing.

This is also the case with Thomas Jefferson; John Adams; Benjamin Rush, Robert Morris; John Witherspoon; George Wythe; Francis Lightfoot Lee; Richard Henry Lee, and others. Caesar Rodney, of Delaware fame, had a son Caesar Augustus Rodney – a member of the Craft. George Read, another Signer from Delaware, had a son – George M. Read – who was Grand Master of Pennsylvania. Samuel Huntington had a son who was Grand Master of Ohio.

Source: https://www.mn-masons.org

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

[Read more…] about Declaration of Independence July 4 1776

George Washington as an Active Mason

By Bro. CHARLES H. CALLAHAN,

Grand Master, Virginia

Since the work on the great Washington National Memorial at Alexandria, Va., has been begun the question has frequently been raised, Was George Washington an active Mason, or was he merely, like a few other illustrious men, contented to have his name on the roll?  

This question has been answered once and for all, one may believe, by the one man who knows most about the subject, Bro. Charles H. Callahan, author of “Washington, the Man and the Mason,” in an address delivered before the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, held at Charleston, S.C., March 14, 1923.  A part of that address is given below. [Read more…] about George Washington the Freemason