Preface

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HENRY PRICE
Founder of Duly Constituted Masonry in America. See Chapter V.
THE BEGINNINGS OF FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
Containing a reference to all that 1s known of FREEMASONRY in the Western Hemisphere prior to 1750, and short sketches of the lives of some of the Provincial Grand Masters
by MELVIN M. JOHNSON
GRAND MASTER OF MASONS IN MASSACHUSETTS, 1914, 1915, 1916 33°, ACTIVE 6.G.1.G., N.M.J., U.S.A.
ILLUSTRATED
Kingsport, Tennessee
SOUTHERN PUBLISHERS, Inc. MASONIC PUBLICATIONS DIVISION
COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY THE MASONIC SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES
THE BEGINNINGS OF FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA ey Sys" one PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PREFACE
The substance of this work was prepared as an ad- dress by the then Grand Master to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts on September 13, 1916. It was an at- tempt to collate and state all that is known of Free- masonry in the Western Hemisphere prior to A.D. 1750.
After long study and investigation, the manuscript was first put in type in November, 1916. Bound proof- sheets were sent to every Grand Secretary in the English speaking world as well as to all those known to the writer to be Masonic students who might be interested— in all about two hundred. A request was made in each case for suggestions, criticisms or additions. Many help- ful suggestions were received, but during the four months which elapsed before the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for the year 1916 were printed, not a single additional item or incident was called to the writer’s attention. A large part of the chronological record and the conclusions herein stated were printed as a part of the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for the year 1916, and the ad- dress was reprinted in book form by the National Ma- sonic Research Society.
Since publication, Bro. F. de P. Rodriguez, Chair- man of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence of the Grand Lodge of Colon (Cuba) has kindly called atten- tion to the organization of a lodge in San Domingo in 1748. This has been verified and inserted herein.
More than seven years having passed without the dis- Vv
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covery by any one except myself of another omission or additional incident, the conclusion is justified that the record is as complete as it can be made in the light of the knowledge of the present day. This book is there- fore offered as a chronological compilation of all the real known facts concerning Freemasonry in America prior to the middle of the eighteenth century, with refer- ences so that the student may verify the original evi- dence, its sources, and reliability for himself. The writer has personally examined almost all of the original evidence to which reference is herein made.
Some assertions concerning the early history of Free- masonry in the Western Hemisphere, utterly unwar- ranted and without a shred of justification, have been so publicly made heretofore and copied and recopied by serious Masonic scholars even as late as the current year, as to demand notice herein so that the future student shall not be misled as Gould, Hughan and others have been. Concerning some of them, I shall speak very plainly. Nothing can justify the deliberate concealment of a reliable document or the publication of that which is manifestly fraudulent for the purpose of bolstering up an argument in behalf of some pet theory which the Fraternity is asked to believe.
For instance, if the “dilapidated document” of 1656 or 1658, or the “John Moore letter” or the ‘Henry Bell letter” had ever existed and had within recent years come to the hands of those to whom they were valuable as proof of claims which were being made, such impor- tant documents could be produced or accounted for. No impartial eye has seen any one of them, although the opportunity to view them or to interview any one who has seen them has often and publicly been requested.
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Again, as in 1916, I appeal to all, whether members of our Fraternity or not, for the preservation and proper publication of anything which may hereafter be brought to light which will add a real bit of evidence to what we know of these early Masonic days. Such things ought from time to time to be found among the files of his- torical societies and museums and sometimes in the store rooms of ancient families. When discovered, they ought at once to be submitted to competent students, photo- graphic copies should be taken for preservation apart . from the originals, and the widest publicity should be sought in order to bring them to the attention and scru- tiny of all interested. I am willing at any time to lend my assistance to this end.
The conclusions of respected historians are freely quoted by those who have not the time, inclination or opportunity to make independent investigation. As a result, an opinion which would have been changed at once if the true facts had been known, nevertheless passes current and is accepted as a matter of course long after the premises upon which it is based prove to be wrong. Because of its importance an example of one conspicuous illustration is worth while.
One Jacob Norton, an Orthodox Jew, once fathered a petition to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, which asked a revision of the ritual by the elimination of all reference to the Holy Saints John. The Grand Lodge denied his petition, whereupon he withdrew from his Massachusetts membership and subsequently made bitter attacks upon the history of that jurisdiction.
1851 Mass. 7, 33-34. 1899 Mass. 53. 1906 Mass. 84.
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