book 1.6.

| A
1735, June 2, Philadelphia.
Entries in L. B. indicate a meeting.
i7oy.une | 2. Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Gazette publishes the following, re- ferring to the English Grand Lodge meeting of March 31,
1 Bro. W. J. Songhurst, the learned secretary of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, says, “Early printed lists were mostly unofficial. So also were some of the engraved lists. And even with the official lists the en- gravers frequently rubbed out the particulars of a Lodge and engraved particulars of a new one under the old date.”
136 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA 1735 (X Q.C.A. 247), among items of London news,
V1Z..
“On Monday Night was held a Quarterly Communica- tion of the most Ancient and Honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, at the Devil Tavern, Temple Bar; most of the Grand Officers and upwards of Three Hun- dreds Masters and Wardens of Lodges, properly cloathed were present; particularly the Right Hon. the Earl of Crawford, Grand Master; Sir Cecil Wray, Bart. Deputy Grand Master; Sir Edward Mancell, Bart. and John Ward, Esq.; Grand Wardens. His Grace, the Duke of Richmond, his Grace the Duke of Buccleugh, the Right Hon. the Lord Balcarras, Dr. Desaguliers, and several other Persons of the first quality and Distinction. A handsome Sum was disposed of towards the Relief of several poor Brethren. ‘They unanimously chose the Right Hon. the Lord Viscount Weymouth, Grand Mas- ter, for the Year ensuing; Sir Cecil Wray, Bart. and Sir Edward Mancell, Bart., Grand Wardens; After which a most elegant Oration in Praise of Masonry, was pro- nounced by Bowman, Esq. which received the universal Approbation of that Antient and Honourable Fraternity.”
1735, June 24, Boston. Celebration of the Festival of Saint John the Baptist. About this time the First Lodge moved from Edward Lutwyche’s Bunch of Grapes Tavern to Luke Vardy’s Royal Exchange Tavern. I Mass. 4.
Philadelphia.
The Pennsylvania Gazette for July 3, 1735, gives an account of a Grand Lodge held at the Indian King Tavern, Philadelphia, on this day at which James Ham- ilton was chosen Grand Master as Franklin’s successor.
1735 137
James Hamilton.
James Hamilton, son of Andrew Hamilton, Provincial Councillor and champion of the liberty of the press, was born at Bushhill in Philadelphia about 1710. He was Senior Grand Warden in 1734 and Grand Master in 1735, during which years he lived in Lancaster. He was elected to various offices in the Province: was Mayor of the City of Philadelphia in 1745; qualified in the Pro- vincial Council January 17, 1745/6, after which he went to England and in 1748 returned with a commission as Lieutenant Governor, the first native to be appointed to that office. He died in New York, August 14, 1783, aged 73.
POW Ibe ss
1735, June 30, Boston. The Weekly Rehearsal contains the following item:
“London, April 18. Yefterday about two o’Clock in the Afternoon, the Proceffion of the Antient and Hon- ourable Society of Free and Accepted Mafons paffed from Grofvenor fquare to Mercers-Hall, where a grand Dinner was provided for them. The Proceffion began in the following Manner, viz. one Kettle-Drum; four Trumpets, two and two, two French Horns; with two Hautboys; and two Baffoons, all on white Horfes, with Leather Aprons and white Gloves.
“After thefe, fix Coaches, with the twelve Stewards with their white Wands, follow’d by an infinite Number of Gentlemen’s Coaches, the Officers of each Lodge being diftinguifhed by the proper Badges of their Office pendent to red Ribbons, or Squares, Levels, Plumets, &c. fome Silver, others Gold, the Grand Mafter and Grand Wardens clofing the Proceffion.”
Pt.
138 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
1735, July 14, Boston.
The Boston Post Boy copies from the Pennsylvania Gazette its account of the Grand Lodge meeting in Phila- delphia, June 24, 1735, g.v.
ate
1735, October 2, Philadelphia.
Entries in L. B. indicate a meeting.
1735, October 9, Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Gazette has a notice of a meeting of the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
1735, After October 30, Savannah, Georgia.
Webb’s Monitor in its third edition holds the follow- ing statement: “The Grand Lodge of Georgia is holden by virtue and in pursuance of the right of succession legally derived from the most noble and most worship- ful Thomas Thynne, Lord Viscount Weymouth, Grand Master of England, A.D. 1730, by his warrant directed to the right worshipful Roger Lacey,” etc.
See 1730, Georgia, page 61, supra.
The statement, of course, was entirely in error and Webb made a correction in subsequent editions. Wey- mouth was not Grand Master in 1730 and the warrant issued by him to Mr. Roger Lacey, merchant, for con- stituting a Lodge at Savannah, Georgia, was issued some time during that part of 1735 when Weymouth was Grand Master; viz.—after April 17.
Anderson (1738 Ed.) 195. P.C, (2nd Eng. Ed. 1759) 380. Entick 336. Roger Lacey was one of the Stewards at the Grand
JAMES HAMILTON
1735 139 Lodge held in London, March 17, 1730/1. No one
knows just when he went to Georgia. Some years after the founding of Savannah he was the agent to the Cherokee Tribe of Indians, and founder of the trading post where Augusta now stands.
As fixing the date with a trifle more accuracy, I find that in the Official English List for 1737 ‘Savannah in ye Province of Georgia” is given as No. 139. No. 138 is reported as Constituted October 30, 1735. No. 140 was Constituted March 1, 1735/6. It is evident, there- fore, that the date of the Constitution of this Lodge is probably after October 30, 1735, and certainly before March 1, 1735/6.
The Lodge at Savannah first appears on the Official List for 1736 as No. 139 and is the second Lodge in America enrolled on the Official English Lists; although in the later English Lists the Lodge at Charleston, South Carolina, took one number’s precedence over the Lodge at Savannah, Georgia. That this does not, in this case, indicate earlier Constitution, see ‘1735, after April 17,” supra. For further evidence that 1735 is the correct date, see also
Preston (Portsmouth, 1804) 185. PeVER/ 0: IsHBe3l.
The Grand Lodge of Georgia, in the preamble to its Constitutions adopted about 1856, made the following remarkable statement: “The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Georgia, existing by virtue of a Warrant issued by Thomas Thynne, Lord Weymouth, Grand Master of England, dated A.D. 1733, and renewed by Sholto Charles Douglas, Lord Aberdour, Grand Master of England, A.D. 1755,” etc.
140 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
R. W. Charles W. Moore in July, 1856, pointed out that this preamble was incorrect in the following par-— ticulars: “1. The Grand Lodge of Georgia does not exist by virtue of a Warrant from Lord Weymouth. 2. Lord Weymouth was not Grand Master of England in 1733. 3. Lord Aberdour was not Grand Master of England in 1755. 4. The Grand Lodge of Georgia had no exist- ence in 1733.”
He proceeded conclusively to prove these negations and pointed out that the Warrant which was issued by Lord Weymouth in 1735 was for a particular Lodge, not a Provincial Grand Lodge, in Georgia.
15 M.F.M. 263, 353-362.
The first appointment of any Provincial Grand Master for the Province of Georgia was made by Lord Aberdour sometime between May 18, 1757, and May 3, 1762.
Preston (Portsmouth, 1804) 202.
The Grand Lodge of Georgia has amended its pream- ble so that the corresponding part of it now reads as follows: ‘““The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Ma- sons, according to the Old Institution, of the State of Georgia, existing since 1733, and by virtue of, and in pursuance of the right and succession legally derived from the Most Noble, and Right Worshipful Thomas Thynne, Lord Viscount Weymouth, Grand Master of England, for the year of Masonry Five Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty-Five, by his warrant directed to the Right Worshipful Roger Lacey, and by the renewal of the said power by Sholto Charles Douglass, Lord Aberdour, Grand Master of Scotland, and for the year Five Thou- sand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Five and Five Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-Six, the Grand Master of England for the years Five Thousand Seven Hundred
1735 141
and Fifty-Eight, by his warrant directed to the Right Worshipful Gray Eliot,” etc.
It is not clear how an existence in 1733 can be “by virtue of, and in pursuance of”’ the act of a Grand Mas- ter in 1735. The author must confess that he does not understand quite what this means, although Brother Rockwell’s arguments have been carefully considered.
15 M.F.M. 353-359.
The only known document upon which such state- ments can be predicated is the second charter of Solo- mon’s Lodge, issued in 1786. That charter was the first granted by the Grand Lodge of Georgia upon its organ- ization. Its preamble states that Roger Lacey obtained his warrant in 1735, and that Gray Elliott was ap- pointed Provincial Grand Master in 1756. The Sa- vannah Gazette for December 19, 1786, gives an account of a meeting of the Grand Lodge held on December 16, 1786, and states that Major General Samuel Elbert resigned as the third Provincial Grand Master of Georgia, and was succeeded by the election of William Stevens as Grand Master.
Brother Sidney Hayden in his “Washington and his Masonic Compeers” (page 342) speaks of ‘“‘King Solo- mon’s Lodge at Savannah which had commenced its work under an old oak tree in 1733 when the first settlement of Georgia began.”
Brother Hayden gives us no suggestion of his author- ity, if he had any, for this remark made one hundred and thirty-three years after the event.
In February, 1733, Oglethorpe arrived at Port Royal with a charter, “in trust for the poor,’ dated June 9, 1732, to establish a colony south of the Savannah River to be called Georgia. He proceeded to the Savannah
142 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
River and began to fortify his new settlement to protect the immigrants from the Indians, who then inhabited the locality, and the Spanish, who claimed to own it. The record tells us that for “almost a year, the Governor dwelt under a tent.”” It doesn’t seem likely that either a Lodge or Grand Lodge was organized under such cir- cumstances.
W. Brother William B. Clarke of Solomon’s Lodge, No. 1, of Savannah, Georgia, has recently made a search- ing investigation and has collated much material which he has put fully at our disposal.
Benjamin Sheftall came to Georgia in the early days of the Colony. His granddaughter in 1859 gave Solo- mon’s Lodge a gavel made from a piece of the oak tree under which her uncle, Sheftall Sheftall, often told her that his father (Mordecai, son of Benjamin) told him that Oglethorpe had opened a Masonic Lodge in 1733. The tree was located a few miles from Savannah, at what is now known as Sunbury. Benjamin was Master of Solomon’s Lodge in 1758, and Mordecai and Sheftall Sheftall both were members in later years.
The minutes of Solomon’s Lodge for December 21, 1858, record the tradition that a Lodge, later known as Solomon’s Lodge, was opened by Oglethorpe, February 10, 1733. This would mean February 10, 1733/4.
Remarkable confirmation of this tradition has just been discovered by Brother Clarke in what is evidently the original record book of this Lodge for a part of the years 1756 and 1757. One page thereof, herewith re- produced, contains a list of members in 1757, to wit:— EP SOS Gia OSV a ee
This list seems to prove a renewal of activity in 1756 and would suggest dormancy for the twenty preceding
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FACSIMILE OF 1757 ROSTER OF SOLOMON’S LODGE, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA
1735 143
years. It warrants us in concluding, however, that N. Jones, Daniel Nunes, and Moses Hunes were made Ma- sons in Georgia in 1733/4 (¢.e. in 1734, prior to March 25); also that Sir Patrick Houstoun was made in Georgia, October 9, 1734, and raised sometime in 1735. Add to all this the action of the Grand Lodge of Eng- land, December 13, 1733, and March 18, 1733/4 (¢.v.), and proof of Freemasonry in Georgia in 1733/4 is con- vincing.
Solomon’s Lodge asserts that it now owns a Bible pre- sented to the Lodge by Oglethorpe. It certainly has an old Bible and an affidavit that prior to 1881 it con- tained a “fly-leaf upon which was written in the hand of General Oglethorpe the date of presentation as 1733, and signed with his name’; also that ‘“‘the fly-leaf was stolen while the book was being exhibited at Atlanta in 1881.”
Noble Jones, whose name is first on the list, was Mas- ter during the period covered by these records, and, part of the time, was Colonel commanding the British troops in Savannah.
Daniel Nunes was a physician. On this account, Gen- eral Oglethorpe urged the Trustees of Georgia in Eng- land to disregard some objections which were there voiced to a Jew becoming a member of the Colony.
Charles Pryce was a judge.
Sir Patrick Houstoun was a member of the King’s Council and Register of Grants, and the father of Sir George Houstoun who later became Master of Solomon’s Lodge and Grand Master of Georgia.
Gray Elliott is named in the present charter of Solo- mon’s Lodge (dated 1786) as the second Provincial Grand Master of Georgia.
144 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
James Habersham became Master and later Secretary of Solomon’s Lodge and in 1786 was the first Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Georgia.
John Morel was a prominent merchant.
John Graham was, when the list was made, Lieutenant Governor of Georgia and owned the largest plantation in the Colony.
A consideration of these names attests the high stand- ing of the fathers of Freemasonry in Georgia, and seems to tie these newly discovered records to the present Solo- mon’s Lodge, No. 1.
It is the writer’s opinion that a Lodge met in or near Savannah “according to the Old Customs” in 1733/4 and that it became ‘‘duly constituted” after October 30, 1735, but before March 1, 1735/6. This was about the time that Oglethorpe (having returned to England in 1734) returned to Georgia with some three hundred emigrants of the better class, among them being the celebrated Methodist divine, John Wesley.
Further evidence of the early existence of Freema- sonry in Georgia was discovered some five years ago when Brother W. H. Mitchell of Solomon’s Lodge was asked to repair the brick work of the foundations of a church which was erected by the Salzburger Colony, founded at Ebenezer twenty-five miles from Savannah. The col- ony was founded in 1734 and the church built soon thereafter. On the western gable of this church and just under the eaves of the roof there is a handmade brass square and compass. On several of the bricks, handmade by the original builders, he found the square and com- pass indented. These were not outside bricks which could be easily reached, but were those concealed behind
1735 145
the face brick, so that the marks could have been placed there by none but the original workmen.
Roger Lacey died in 1738 and for twenty years there- after there was no Pro. G. M. for Georgia. During this period the colony dwindled to less than five hundred in- habitants and came near going to the wall. When things began to revive, Elliott evidently rebuilt the Lodge in 1756 and was rewarded by appointment as Pro. G. M. in 1758.
1735, October 31, Boston.
Meeting of the First Lodge. Alexander and Charles Gordon made. Brothers Capt. James Cerke and Dr. Thomas Moffat admitted.
P.L. B.MS. Barons Letter.
1735, November 12, _ Boston.
Meeting of the First Lodge at which a vote was passed relative to the construction of the 8th Article of the By- Laws.
B.MS. 16.
1735, November 20, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Capt. James Forbes made. Bib: B.MS.
Barons Letter.
1735, December 1, Philadelphia.
Entries in L. B. indicate a meeting.
146 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
1735, December 27, Boston. Celebration of the Festival of Saint John the Evange- jist. Captain McLean chosen Master of the First Lodge. 1 Mass. 4.
South Carolina.
Charles Pelham, in 1750, when, as Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge at Boston, he began his book of records by recording the principal events thereto- fore, wrote under date of December 27, 1735, that “about this time sundry Brethren going to South Caro- lina met with some Masons in Charlestown who there- upon went to work, from which sprung Masonry in those parts.”
This may be the Lodge referred to under 1735, after April 17, szpra.
See also page 189.
Undoubtedly, Pelham knew whereof he spoke; but we are hardly warranted in assigning December 27, 1735, as a definite date or in making too explicit assertions about it. If it be not Lodge 251, then it is doubtless the Lodge referred to under January 26, 1737/8, énfra. There is, it seems to me, hardly original evidence enough to warrant any definite conclusion. ‘Too much weight, however, cannot be given to Pelham’s assertion that from this movement sprung Masonry in South Carolina. He may not have known the exact facts about the authority obtained from England above referred to. (See 1735, after April 17, szpra.) Moreover, he does not recite the issuance of any warrant or deputation. On his bare statement, the Lodge would be irregular although meet- ing “according to the Old Customs.”
1735 147
At the same time, there is no evidence that No. 251 did not spring from Massachusetts for there is nothing to show the exercise of any authority direct from Eng- land prior to October 28, 1736, g.v. Pelham had sources of information in 1750 of which we are not to-day aware. He was intimately associated with those who had par- ticipated in the events from 1733 onward, and could have gained much information at first hand and from them.
1735/6, January 4, __ Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge at which it was voted:
“That the Charge of making a Single Brother Shall be Eight pounds this Currency.” B.MS.
1735/6, January 13, Boston.
Meeting of the First Lodge. Robert Tomlinson, John Overing, Esq., Benjamin Barrons (Barons), and Alex- ander Tran made.
BLL. B.MS.
Barons Letter.
1735/6, January 14, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Capt. William Hinton and John Osborne made. Sd B.MS.
Barons Letter.
148 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
1735/6, January 21, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Thomas Oxnard, and Capts. Robert Boyd and Thomas McKnight made. P.E. B.MS. Barons Letter.
1735/6, January 23, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Capt. Benjamin Hallo- well and Capt. Webber Gofton made. Pils B.MS. Barons Letter.
1735/6, January 30, Boston.
Meeting of the First Lodge. Francis Johonnot, Capt. Robert Smith, Hugh McDaniel, and Luke Vardy (Mas- ter of the Exchange Tavern) made.
| Eel tp B.MS. Barons Letter.
1735/6, February 5, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Robert Oliver and Capt. William Frost made. ed be B.MS. Barons Letter.
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. On this day six Brethren of Portsmouth, N. H., exe- cuted a petition to Henry Price for the Constitution of a Lodge at Portsmouth. The original petition is in the
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©ACSIMILE OF PETITION FOR FIRST LODGE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
150 FREEMASONRY IN AMERICA
archives of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. A fac- simile is herewith presented. We do not know the exact date of the Constitution of this Lodge except that it was some time in 1736. Its earliest existing record book begins October 31, 1739, g.v., with the adoption of a set of Regulations or By-Laws.
Note, from the language of the petition, that the Lodge was already organized.
1735/6, March 20, Philadelphia. Franklin charges John Hubbard 2.6 for a Mason Book. F.J.
1735/6, March 24, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Charles Bladwell, Esq., made. let) fs B.MS. Barons Letter.
135s Philadelphia.
There is a tradition without any evidence to support it that Franklin laid the Corner-stone of the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, during this year.
Benjamin Franklin as a Freemason (Sachse), 27-30.
In the Pocket Companion (Dublin, 1735 Ed.) a Lodge is given as No. 116 at The Hoop, in Water Street, in Philadelphia. Such a Lodge was never on the English Register.
L.M.R. 56, 480.
By fanciful and strained reasoning some Brethren have
sought to say that it belongs as No. 79 on the Eng-
1735 151
lish Register which happens this year to be blank. But that it does not belong there is evident from the fact that on the earlier and later English lists, No. 79 is duly accounted for. Moreover this Lodge is not to be found in the later published Irish lists.
If a Lodge at The Hoop existed before 1733, it could not have had the place of No. 79 which belonged until that year to the Lodge at Castle, Highgate, when it united with No. 4. No. 79, thus vacated, was officially filled by the Lodge at the Two Angels and Crown, Little Saint Martin’s Lane.
X Q.C.A. 241, 246. DeVc thee /