Chapter 12
L. B. charges the entrance fee of Owen Owens.
L7B33 July 30: Boston.
Henry Price formed a Grand Lodge in Boston, ap- pointing Andrew Belcher, Esq., (son of the Governor) his Deputy Grand Master, and Brothers Thomas Ken- nelly and John Quane, Grand Wardens, pro tempore.
1 Mass. 3. B.MS. 5.
When Charles Pelham (in 1750) wrote the record of
this evening in the first existing volume of the Grand
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FACSIMILE OF PETITION FOR FIRST LODGE IN BOSTON |
FOUNDING OF FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA 81
Lodge record book he either copied from the Beteilhe Manuscript (see pages 86 and 87) or both were taken from an original now lost. For in language so nearly identical that the accounts could not have been written independently, both report that after forming the Grand Lodge, Price ordered his Commission or Deputation to be read, and then ordered to be read a petition of eighteen Brethren addressed to him praying that they might be Constituted into a regular Lodge by virtue of said Depu- tation. Ten, at least, of the petitioners had been ‘‘made here,” 1.e., had been made Masons in Boston in some of the earlier meetings held, like those in Philadelphia and elsewhere perhaps, without charter or warrant but ac- cording to the “Old Customs.” Thereupon he granted the prayer thereof and did then and there in the most solemn manner according to ancient custom and form as prescribed by the book of Constitutions, constitute them into a regular Lodge. This original petition, apparently in the handwriting of Henry Hope, who that evening was chosen Master, is still in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Massachusets, bearing the original signatures of the petitioners and a facsimile is here presented.
Copies of both said Deputation and petition are in the Beteilhe Manuscript, the original of which is in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.
Most Worshipful Soreno D. Nickerson and some other historians have thought that the Lodge was not consti- tuted until August 31, 1733, that being the date stated in two letters written by Francis Beteilhe as Secretary of the First Lodge in Boston in September, 1736.
1 Mass. 393.
The date given in the letters, however, was evidently
82 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
an error of the scrivener who correctly stated the fact in the Beteilhe Manuscript. Both the Beteilhe and Pelham accounts are definite and detailed. Moreover, the list of the Brethren made and accepted in the First Lodge of Boston with the time when made or admitted, written by Charles Pelham in 1751 (the accuracy of which is attested by the list in the Beteilhe Manuscript, the list enclosed with the Barons letter of June 23, 1736, and the original records of the First Lodge in Boston from De- cember 27, 1738) not only records the eighteen signers of the petition as becoming members of the Lodge on July 30, 1733, but discloses that John Smith was made on August 3, 1733. This is improbable if the Lodge was not constituted until August 31. Smith’s name, in order as given on the Pelham List, appears also in the Beteilhe Manuscript and the Barons letter. It seems cer- tain that the Lodge was organized on July 30 and met and worked before August 31.
This Lodge, consolidated with two others later, is now St. John’s Lodge of Boston.
The orginal Charter of this Lodge was in the posses- sion of the Grand Lodge as late as December 13, 1826, when it was voted to return it to St. John’s Lodge. It had been surrendered February 7, 1783, when Grand Master John Rowe issued a new Charter upon the union of the First and Second Lodges.
O.R. of Mass. Grand Lodge for Sept. 13, and Dec. 13, 1826.
This precious document was doubtless destroyed in the disastrous fire of April 6, 1864, when the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts lost its Temple and many invaluable treasures.
“Boston in New England” without date of Constitu-
FOUNDING OF FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA 88
tion or time of meeting is No. 126 on the 1734 English
official engraved list of Lodges. Few dates of the con-
stitution of Lodges in distant parts are given in this list.
No other Lodge in America, however, appears on this
list, which closes with No. 128, constituted in 1734. Hughan’s Facsimile.
This is the first time that any Lodge in the Western Hemisphere appears on any list of Lodges.
IV Masonic Magazine, London (Nov., 1876) 210-215.
This Lodge is the only American Lodge listed in the 1735 list.
L.H.B. 29, 186.
The first appearance of any other American Lodge in an official list is in the engraved list for 1736 where we find No. 139 “Savannah in ye Province of Georgia.”
Pat Bol
The first Lodge in Boston advanced in the various enumerations from No. 126 to 110, 65, 54, 42 and 39. It was carried on the English Register until the Union of 1813 although it had passed from that jurisdiction at the time of the Massachusetts Union of March 5, 1792.
L.M.R. 66.
In all lists after 1735 this Lodge is accredited to 1733 and is listed as meeting at the Royal Exchange, in Bos- ton, New England. As a matter of interest a facsimile is here inserted of the 6th page of the official list for 1761, which until now has never been reproduced.
For an illuminating discussion of the official listing of the First Lodge in Boston see:
IV Gould, 247.
Facsimiles of pages 4, 5, and 6 of the Beteilhe Manu-
script, containing an account of the first regular constitu-
84 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
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FOUNDING OF FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA 85
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86 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
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FOUNDING OF FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA 87
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88 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
tion of a Lodge in America are herewith presented, read- ing as follows:
At a Special Chapter of Free & Accepted Masons
Regularly met & Congregated at the houfe of Edw® Lutwych at the Sign of the Bunch of grapes in King Street Boston, N. Encx® On Munday July the 30th A.D: 1733 & of Mafonry A: 5733.
The following Brethren being regularly met in the Lodge at y® houfe afores* unanimously agreed to peti- tion, & did then accordingly petition Our Rt. Worfpl: Bro. M* Henry Price Provincial Grand Master of the Free & Accepted Mafons of New England, to Constitute Us in a regular Lodge by virtue of y® power & author- ity to him given by a Deputation from Our Rt. Worfp- full & Worfpfull Brother and Rt. Hon”® Anthony Lord Visco’ Montague Grand Master of England Dated in London the 13th day of Aprill A.D. 1733 and of Ma- fonry A.5733 and sealed with y® Seal of the Grand Lodge Signed by Our Rt. Worfpfull Brothers George Rook Esq* James Moor Smith Esq* jew. of England
Our said Worfpfull G.M. having formed a Grand ~ Lodge, appointing our Rt. Worfpfull Bro. Andrew Belcher Esq’ his Deputy G. M?* and our Wor{pfull Brethren Mef{™ Tho*® Kennelly
& Grand Wardens pro Tempore John Quane
Ordered his commifsion (or Deputation afores*) to be read, as also our Petition. And granting the prayer thereof, Did then & there in the most Solemn manner, according to Ancient Right & Custom, and the form pre- scribed in our printed book of Constitutions
FOUNDING OF FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA 89
CoNSsTITUTE us into a Regular Lodge in Manner & form, upon which we imediately proceeded (by our S® Rt. Worfpfull G. Master’s Order) to choose a Master and unanimously chofe our Wffull Bro. Henry Hope Esq’ Master of this our new Constituted Lodge, Who then nominated & appointed our Worfpfull Brethren
M’ Frederick Hamilton }nis sy igeanpess
M* James Gordon which all the Brethren unanimously concurred paying the usuall respects to our S° Worshypful new chosen Master & Wardens. And presenting them to our R‘ W:full G. Master, who caused them to be duely examined & being found well qualifye’, approved & confirmed them in their severall stations by Investing them with the Implements of their Offices, giving each his particular Charge and admonishing the Brethren of the Lodge to due Obedience & Submifsion according to our printed book of Constitu- tions Charges and Regulations &c.
Nore. It is evident that preparations had been made in advance for this meeting. Jewels for the officers had been made ready. The occasion was elaborate and formal and followed the English ceremonial which Price had doubtless witnessed while in England. The installa- tion was then, as now, made a part of the ceremony of constitution.
I regard it as demonstrated beyond question or cavil that Henry Price was, as he said himself, the Founder of Duly Constituted Masonry in America and that this First Lodge in Boston was the first regular and duly- constituted Lodge. But this Lodge had theretofore been meeting without any formal authority. No one knows, probably no one ever will know when a Lodge first met in America “‘according to the Old Customs” but without warrant, charter or lawful constitution. Neither Price
90 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
nor any one else has left us any information. What Price did say was that the First Lodge in Boston was “the oldest (or first Constituted) Regular Lodge in America.”
See page 332.
From personal association with the Brethren both in England and America, Price knew whereof he spoke. And our modern researches confirm his statements.
When Beteilhe says that, even before the petition, the Brethren were “regularly met in the Lodge,” he gives a clear indication that they had been in the habit of meet- ing as a Lodge though without any “authority from home.”
1733, August 3, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. John Smith made. P.L.
1733, August 6, Philadelphia. Entries in L. B. indicate a meeting.
1733, August 23, Philadelphia.
Account in American Weekly Mercury that at the Red - Lyon in Canterbury, England, “the celebrated Mr. Tay- lor” was made a Mason.
1733, August 31, Boston.
This is the date of the constitution of the First Lodge in Boston as given in the Robertson letter of September 1, 1736, and the Barons letter of June 23, 1736, q.v. infra.
But see, 1733, July 30, supra.
FOUNDING OF FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA 91
1733, September 3, Philadelphia. Entries in L. B. indicate a meeting.
1733, September 12, _—_— Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Moses Slaughter and Thomas Phillips made. als.
1733, September 29, Philadelphia.
Entries in L. B. indicate a meeting.
1733, Autumn.
Benjamin Franklin visited Boston and made the ac- quaintance of Henry Price.
IV Gould, 235, et cét.
It may have been that this conference between Price and Franklin had something to do with that extension of Price’s power over all North America which was granted to him from London in August of the next year. (See Chapter VII.)
1914 Mass. 256, e¢ cét. 1883 Mass. 189.
Is it not probable that Franklin then obtained from Price not only much Masonic instruction but also a copy of the Constitutions which Franklin reprinted in May, 1734%
CuaPTER V HENRY PRICE
It is proper here to place on permanent record a brief biography of the life of Henry Price, the ““Founder of Duly Constituted Masonry in America.”’ He was born in London about the year 1697. The only information concerning his life prior to 1733 is obtained from his sravestone, except that it is recorded in the minutes of the Grand Lodge of England that in 1730 he was a mem- ber of Lodge No. 75, meeting at the Rainbow Coffee House in York Buildings.
X O.C.A. xviii and 183.
This gravestone until 1888 stood in the old cemetery in Townsend, Massachusetts, a small town situate forty- six miles from Boston upon the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The old burying place is about a mile from the centre of the town, on high land, sur- rounded by a forest of evergreens and on the northerly side of the County Road. |
L7 MEE NGI:
The stone having become badly cracked and in danger of total destruction, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, deeming that the spot where his remains rest should be commemorated by a more suitable monument, obtained in 1888 through the liberality of one of the citizens of Townsend a deed to a plot of land in the new cemetery in the same town, to which the remains of Henry Price
were removed. The old gravestone was moved to the 92
HENRY PRICE 93
Temple in Boston where it is now preserved. A repro- duction of this stone taken where it stood in December, 1871, is herewith presented. In clearly defined letters thereon is the following epitaph:
(Human Face with Wings) In Memory of Henry Price, Efq’.
Was Born in London about the Year of our Lord 1697 he Remov’d to Bofton about the Year 1723 Rec*. a Deputation Appointing him Grand Mafter of Mafons in New England & in the Year 1733 was Appointed a Cornet in the Governors Troop of Guards With the Rank of Major by his Diligence & induftry in Bufinefs he Acquired the means of a Comfor- table Living with which he remov’d to Townfen® in the latter Part of his Life. He quitted Mortality the 20" of May A D 1780 Leaving a Widow & two Young Daughters With a Numerous Company of Friends and Acquaintance to Mourn his Departure Who have that Ground of hope Concerning his Prefent Lot Which Refults from his undifsembled Regard to his Maker & extenfive Benevolence to his Fellow Creatures Manifefted in Life by a behaviour Confiftent With his Character as a Mafon and his Nature as a Man An hone{ft Man the Noble{t Work of God.
On June 21, 1888, Henry Endicott, as Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts, dedicated the monument which now stands over his remains where they lie buried in the new cemetery.
In 1723 he was about twenty-six years of age. How long he remained in Boston after his first residence there is unknown. On April 13, 1733, he was in London for he that day received his deputation as Provincial Grand
94 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
Master of New England in person from Thomas Batson, Esquire, then Deputy Grand Master. On January 27, 1768, in a letter written by him to the Grand Lodge of England he says, “I myself paid three guineas therefor to Thomas Batson, Esquire, then Deputy Grand Master who with the Grand Wardens then in being signed my said deputation.”’
Sometime between April 13 and July 30, 1733, he returned to Boston and remained in this country the rest of his life, although August 6, 1755, he wrote a letter to the Grand Master of England in which he said, “IT have some remote thoughts of once more seeing Lon- don, with all my Brethren in the Grand Lodge after twenty-two years’ absence.”
His Masonic career during the period covered by this book will be referred to frequently hereafter and in this chapter we shall for this period deal mainly with other facts of his life.
The first we can learn of him in Boston from any civil official record is to be found on the files of the Court of Common Pleas in Boston at its January term in the year 1733/4 when he brought suit against a debtor and is described in the writ as “Henry Price of Boston,” etc., “taylor.” At this time it was essential that a litigant’s, trade or profession should be accurately set forth in the writ; failure in this respect would abate the writ.
During the year 1733 Governor Jonathan Belcher ap- pointed him Cornet in his Troup of Guards with the rank of Major and from that time he was known as Major Price. As late as 1792 his executors refer to him as Major Price and in the inventory of his effects, filed in the Probate Court within a month after his decease, appear a red jacket, red breeches, housing and holsters,
ORIGINAL STONE OVER GRAVE OF HENRY PRICE From a Photograph taken December 1871.
HENRY PRICE 95
a pair of horse pistols, spurs, sword, belt and silver- hilted sword. ‘These undoubtedly were his military uni- form. The office was that of standard-bearer in the Governor’s troop of cavalry. Special privileges were ac- corded by law to the gentlemen of the Governor’s troop and additional favors to its officers. In those days any military commission gave prominence and high respecta- bility to the individual honoured with it; but to hold an official position in the select body-guard of His Majesty’s Captain General and Governor of New England was considered an especial favour, and of itself conferred honourable social distinction.
Price carried on his business at the sign of the Brazen Head on Cornhill at a point which is now on Washing- ton Street about half-way between Water Street and State Street and opposite William Court. The great fire of 1760 began in this building, then occupied by Mrs. Mary Jackson and William, her son, as a dwelling house and store.
In 1736 Price formed a partnership with Francis Beteilhe, to whom reference has already been made, and who was closely associated with Price in Masonry as well as in business. Beteilhe was the shopkeeper, while Price carried on the tailoring establishment.
About 1739 they apparently gave up tailoring, for after this time he and his partner are described as shop- keepers until the firm was dissolved in 1741 when Price assumed sole control of the business, after the failure of the health of Beteilhe, and carried it on for some time at the corner of Pond and Newbury Streets, now the corner of Bedford and Washington Streets. Price owned a large lot of land on the southerly side of what is now Bedford Street upon which were a brick store and
96 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
dwelling house while part of the premises was used as a garden.
In 1740 Price purchased for £1000 a lot of land with buildings thereon situated on the northerly side of King Street, now State Street. When Price purchased this estate there was a wooden building upon it but before November, 1744, he completed the erection upon the lot of a brick dwelling which was begun in the spring; and upon his application the Selectmen gave him permission to erect a sign post in King Street opposite his store. It was the usual custom in those days for a storekeeper to occupy the upper part of the building as a dwelling house with his family. This Price did. He dealt in clothing and dry goods and apparently was very success- ful, for in 1750 he retired. After this he did not engage in any occupation so far as can be learned but we do know that he possessed a great amount of real estate.
In 1737 Major Price became engaged to Miss Mary Townsend, then seventeen years of age, a daughter of Samuel Townsend of Boston, who died in 1720. She was possessed of some property. In May, 1737, her uncle, James Townsend of Boston, was appointed her cuardian. He was bitterly opposed to the marriage, al- though we do not know the reason. It may have been due to religious differences, for Price was an Episcopalian and Townsend a rigid Puritan. The Puritans of those days were bitter in their opposition to those who fol- lowed the religion of the prayer-book. When on July 25, 1737, Henry Price and Mary Townsend were duly published according to the then custom, her Uncle James forbade the banns. His opposition did not prevent the marriage, however, which took place in the fall of 1737, and in October, 1738, a daughter Mary was born to
HENRY PRICE 97
them. Uncle James died in 1738, leaving an estate ap- praised at £21,000—large for those days. By his will he left public and private bequests but his niece, Mary Price, was not remembered.
In 1739 Price and his partner brought suit against one William Wesson, describing the defendant as a “‘house- wright.” Wesson came into court by his attorney and pleaded in abatement that he was a “‘joyner” and not a “housewright,” and the writ was ordered abated. A new action was thereafter brought describing Wesson as “joyner’ and the plaintiffs prevailed.
In 1740 Price and his wife Mary sold her interest in a lot of land on Savage’s Court in Boston.
In 1742, as a result of an execution levied upon the property of one Thomas Phillips of Boston, in a suit brought by Price, the Major became possessed of the Hartshorn Farm, so-called, and certain other real estate in Townsend, where some years iater he made his home.
In 1746 Price purchased a piece of land “with the edifices and buildings thereon situated, at a place called Menotomy Fields, in Cambridge.” This is now the town of Arlington and Price made his summer residence on this estate, situated on the great highway from Lexington to Concord, over which years afterward the British troops marched to burn the provincial stores in those towns.
It appears by the records of the Grand Lodge that on April 12, 1751, Brother Price made an offer of the use of his house at Menotomy for the celebration of the Feast of St. John the Baptist, and it was voted that the cele- bration be held at his house and that the Brethren pro- ceed there in regular procession. When the day came, however, the Brethren went in procession to the house of Mr. Richardson in Cambridge, “Brother Price’s house at
98 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
Menotomy being encumbered by sickness.” The sick: ness must have been somewhat serious for it is not re- corded that Brother Price attended the Feast. Probably it was the illness of his wife Mary; for we have reason to believe that she died about that time.
April 29, 1752, the banns of Henry Price and Mary Tilden, both of Boston, were published and they were married by the rector of Trinity Church on the 25th of May following. Major Price owned half a pew in this church which he held at the time of his decease. In 1750 Price became a member of the Boston Episcopal Charita- ble Society, instituted in 1724, the second oldest charita- ble foundation in New England.
During Price’s Grand Lodge activity the Episcopal clergymen of Boston and Newburyport frequently of- ficiated and preached sermons before the Grand Lodge upon the Feast Days of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, at Trinity and Christ churches in Boston. This was undoubtedly due to the influence of Price, because the general feeling in Boston was hostile to those who adhered to the “religion of the prayer- book.”
After Price retired from business in 1750 we find him several times described in writs, deeds and instruments’ as “gentleman,” thus indicating that he no longer fol- lowed what was then technically known as the “mystery or degree” of any calling.
Until 1755 he continued to be a resident of Boston, passing the summer season at his country seat in Cam- bridge. |
After his second marriage he either greatly enlarged or entirely rebuilt his house at Menotomy and increased its extent so that his lands stretched out down to the
HENRY PRICE 99
pond, and extended them on both sides of the highway with barns, stables, and everything necessary to the com- fortable home of a gentleman and his family. The house was so large that it was generally called the “great house.”
In 1755 he took up his permanent residence at Cam- bridge with his wife and daughter Mary, then about sev- enteen years of age. He was rich for the times and evi- dently looked forward to many years of comfort upon this pleasant estate.
In 1759 or 1760 his wife died, followed by the death of his only daughter on October 8, 1760. From then on he lost all interest in his Cambridge home and immedi- ately moved again to Boston. Just thirty-two days after his daughter’s death he sold the estate at Menotomy.
After a year or two of residence in Boston he moved to Townsend where he continued to reside until his death. Shortly after moving to Townsend he was chosen to represent that town in the Provincial Legislature in 1764 and 1765. Townsend had not had a representative in the Legislature prior to 1764 for nineteen years. He served upon many committees and evidently became Townsend’s leading citizen.
On September 17, 1771, he married again, his third wife being Lydia Randall, a resident of Townsend, who was a widow with a minor son by the name of John Abbott. Their marriage articles—what we now call an ante-nuptial settlement—were made on September 6, 1771. Two children were the offspring of this marriage, Mary and Rebecca, both of whom survived their father.
His estate at Townsend was a large one, embracing several farms, with buildings, mills, mill privileges, me- chanical shops, wood lots and hundreds of acres.
100 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
He was too old to be a participant in the Revolution- ary War but on May 14, 1779,:shows his loyalty by adding after the day and year of a conveyance, the words “and third year of the independence of the United States of America.”
On May 14, 1780, while splitting rails, his axe glanced and struck him in the abdomen, inflicting a se- vere and fatal wound. He evidently realized he could not live for his last will and testament was executed on the next day. On the 20th of the same month he died at the age of eighty-three years.
He left what was for those days a large estate. Un- fortunately it was afterward greatly impaired by law suits and defective titles and by the devastations conse- quent upon the War of the Revolution. His will, still on the files of the Registry of the Probate Court for the County of Middlesex in Massachusetts, exhibits clear- ness of intellect and comprehension as well as his re- ligious character. Indeed at the time of his death he possessed three pews in meeting houses not of his re- ligious faith.
His daughter Mary in 1787 married William Wallis (Wallace) of Pepperell and descendants of the family remained residents of the vicinity until about 1860. His daughter Rebecca was married April 21, 1788, to George Farrar of Townsend. No descendants are known. His widow, Mrs. Lydia Price, married for her third husband Lieutenant Levi Whitney, of Shrewsbury, on November 13, 1780. They lived for many years thereafter upon the Price Homestead.
During his life Major Price had a black servant, proba- bly a slave, called Scipio. He, although lame and in-
HENRY PRICE 101
firm from old age, was supported by the estate in suitable comfort for many years.
The records show that during his life Major Price was possessed of real estate in Boston, Hull, Cambridge, Wo- burn, Concord, Sherburne and Townsend in Massachu- setts, as well as in towns in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut, fully justifying the inscription on the gravestone that ‘“‘by his diligence and industry in business, he acquired the means of a comfortable living.”
For further details of his life, reference is made to the exhaustive address by the Grand Master of Massachu- setts published in the Printed Proceedings of that Grand Lodge for December 27, 1871, from which quotations have been freely made. Also 1883 Mass. 150; 1888 Mass. 90, 107; 1891 Mass. 19; 1899 Mass. 50; 1903 Mass. 44; 1906 Mass. 74; 1909 Mass. 105; 1914 Mass. 253; 1916 Mass. 310.
Price served as Provincial Grand Master not only from his appointment until 1737 but also from July, 1740, to March 6, 1743/4; from July 12, 1754, to Oc- tober 1, 1755; from October 20, 1767, to November 23, 1768.
During intervening periods he was charter Master of the Masters Lodge and of the Second Lodge in Boston, and Master of the First Lodge. He presided over the Grand Lodge as late as April 30, 1773, in the absence of Grand Master John Rowe, although he then lived over forty miles distant and was seventy-six years of age. His last recorded attendance at Grand Lodge was Jan- uary 28, 1774.
' The portrait of Henry Price, used as the frontispiece
102 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
of this book, may be regarded as a real portrait. On September 29, 1857, M. W. John T. Heard, then Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts, visited ‘Townsend, accompanied by the Grand Wardens and Grand Secre- tary. They found there William Wallace (Wallis) the fourth son of Mary who was the daughter of Henry Price by his third wife. Wallace was then a bachelor sixty-six years of age, living alone in a small 10’ x 12’ single room cottage. M. W. Brother Heard had been in correspondence with William Wallace in 1856, and had obtained from him a portrait painted of Henry Price in 1737, when he was forty years old. This portrait was in such a shattered state that its restoration was despaired of. It was, however, placed in the hands of an eminent artist, Bro. George Howarth, and M. W. Winslow Lewis informs us that, by the skill of Brother Howarth, the picture was made as good as new. It, was presented to the Grand Lodge December 30, 1856, and by order of M. W. Bro. Lewis, was placed in the west of the Grand Lodgeroom, there remaining until the fire of April 6, 1864, at which time it was utterly destroyed.
1888 Mass. 96.
1857 Mass. 53.
17 M.F.M. 11.
Previously, however, a lithographic copy had been made for use as the frontispiece to the Book of Consti- tutions in 1857. Fortunately, also, a copy had been painted for Henry Price Lodge,
1897 Mass. 103 and this copy still hangs in the ante-room to its lodge- room in Charlestown, Massachusetts. From this copy, a steel engraving was made which was used by M. W.
HENRY PRICE 103
ro. Gardner with his elaborate historical address to
which reference has hereinbefore been made. 1871 Mass. 284-393.
Because of the availability of two copies made from the original painting (one of them being in colors) a teal portrait of Price was painted in 1914 and now hangs in the West of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge- room. The hand-carved frame bears the pomegranate, lotus and seven-eared wheat which have immemorially been indicia of the Grand Master’s office.
1914 Mass. 171.
