CHAPTER XI

1737 1737, April 4, Philadelphia.
Entries in L. B. indicate a meeting.
1737, April 13, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Samuel Stone of Salem made. Pals B.MS.
1737, April 20, Boston. The Commission of Provincial Grand Master Thom- linson arrives in Boston. 1 Mass. 5. 1914 Mass. 262. 1736, December 7, supra.
Robert Tomlinson (alias Thomlinson ).
Provincial Grand Master for New England from April 20, 1737 to July 16, 1740.
Of Tomlinson’s birth and early life we know nothing. His religious activities, his business career, and his wife’s family name would indicate that he came from Antigua. The first we know of him is that he was married March 2, 1730, to Elizabeth Gerot (or Gerret) by the Rev. Timothy Cutler, D.D., Rector of Christ Church, Boston. Neither the birth nor baptismal records show children
having come to their home, and there is nothing in the 168
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scanty records of the probate of his estate to indicate that either a widow or child survived him. October 29, 1734 (Suffolk Registry of Deeds, book 49, page 174) he pur- chased a three-eighths interest in two lots of land on the shore with a wharf. This property was located in Bos- ton on the Charles River, not far from the present site of the Massachusetts General Hospital. The wharf went into decay, for there being no clear channel the larger vessels could not be accommodated at it. Later the building of the West Boston Bridge and the closer con- nection with Cambridge and the inland towns brought this region into a new prominence for development, though then we find another the owner of the whole property.
Tomlinson was made a Mason on January 13, 1735, in the First Lodge in Boston and was later accepted in the Masters Lodge, although he was not raised here. He was chosen Master of the First Lodge in Boston on St. John the Baptist’s Day, 1736, and at the Festival of St. John the Evangelist was appointed Deputy Grand Master by Henry Price, being succeeded by Thomas Ox- nard as Master of the Lodge. His commission as Pro- vincial Grand Master from the Earl of Loudoun, etc., Grand Master of the Free and Accepted Masons of Eng- land, dated December 7, 1736, was received here by Tomlinson on April 20, 1737, and in June he celebrated the Festival of St. John the Baptist.
During 1738 Tomlinson went to England by way of Antigua “where finding some old Boston Masons went to Work and made the Governour and sundry other Gentlemen of Distinction Masons, whereby from Our Lodge sprung Masonry in the West Indies.” (This ex- tract from the Massachusetts records is possibly in part
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in error. He undoubtedly founded a new Lodge in An- tigua as related but it is believed that in Antigua, Par- ham Lodge was constituted January 3l, 1737; Court House Lodge November 22, 1738; Baker’s Lodge March 14, 1738/9; and another Lodge at St. John not long after.) He attended the meeting of the Grand Lodge of England held at the Devil Tavern near Temple Bar on Wednesday, January 31, 1738/9, ¢.v.
In May, 1739, Tomlinson returned to Boston and holding a Grand Lodge received the congratulations of the Brethren in Due Form.
On December 27th of that year Tomlinson appointed Thomas Oxnard as Deputy Grand Master, and we find the official minute in the Massachusetts record book,
“Nothing further Remarkable Occur’d this Year, only the Craft Continued flourishing.”
Shortly thereafter Tomlinson returned to Antigua, where he soon died. The burial register of St. John’s, Antigua, contains the following entry, viz.: “1740 July 16 Robert Tomlinson, Merchant, from Boston.”
Benjamin Hallowell, a prominent member of the Fra- ternity who rose to the rank of Deputy Grand Master, evidently was very closely associated with Tomlinson and had reason to believe that on July 15, 1740, at Antigua, Tomlinson had made his will. This will was lost and has never been found, although strenuous ex- ertions were made to discover it, various persons being carefully examined who were suspected of having se- questered it. In September, October, and November, 1740, Hallowell caused the following advertisement to be published in several issues of the Boston Evening
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Post, the New England Weekly Journal, and the Boston Weekly Post Boy:
“WuerEAS: Robert Tomlinson, late of Boston, Mer- chant, at the Island of Antigua, on the 15th of July last made his Will, touching his estate in the West Indies, and thereby directed the Executors of that will (after payment of his debts and Funeral expenses and other disbursements), to transmit the Remainder of his estate to me, Benjamin Hallowell, of Boston, to be disposed of as his Will there (in Boston) directs; and the said Robert soon after died, but his Will last mentioned has not yet been found: These therefore, are earnestly to desire to such persons (if any such there be) as hath in his possession that Will, by the said Testator declared to be in Boston, to carry the same to the Hon. the Judge of the Probate of Wills for the County of Suffolk, or to the Registers Office, or to give me notice thereof, that so the Will of the deceased Gentleman may be lawfully proved, and afterwards fulfilled.
“BENJAMIN HaLLowELt.”
Brother Hallowell’s appointment as Administrator is still on file in the Suffolk Probate office, though there are no records of inventory, account, or distribution of the estate. The following is the advertisement in three successive issues of the Boston News Letter, beginning December 4, 1740, of Benjamin Hallowell as Adminis- trator of the estate:
‘All Persons indebted to the Estate of Robert Thom- linson, late of Boston, Merchant, deceased, are desired forthwith to pay their respective Debts to Benjamin Hallowell of said Boston, Administrator on said Estate, without further Notification than this Advertisement; and such as have any Demands on said Estate, are also
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desired speedily to bring in their Accounts to the said Administrator, in order to a Settlement.”
I have recently discovered Brother Tomlinson’s will. It was made in London, April 11, 1739, while he was on his last visit there. The following is extracted from the Principal Registry of the Probate, Divorce and Ad- miralty Division of the High Court of Justice in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.
I, Ropert THomurnson of Boston in New England in America Merchant do make and declare this to be my last Will and Testament and do hereby revoke all other Wills by me heretofore made First my Will is that all my just debts be fully paid and satisfied Also I give all the rest and residue of my estate after my debts are paid to my brother Richard Thomlinson my sister Isabel Rob- inson and sister Catherine Robinson to be equally divided amongst them share and share alike In WITNEss whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the eleventh day of April in the year of our Lord 1739.— Ros’ THomurinson (LS)—Sealed published and de- clared in the presence of—Ros' Yorx—M. Rosin- SON.—
Administration (with Will) granted 29th January 1740 Fos 4 HJT. 22. Spurway.
On the Twenty-ninth day of January in the Year of our Lord one Thousand and fforty* Administration with the Will annexed of the Goods Chattles and Credits of Robert Thomlinson late of Boston in New England in America Batchelor * deceased was granted to Richard Thomlinson the natural and lawfull Brother of the said deceased and one of the Residuary Legatees named in
1QOld Style. This would be 1741, New Style. It is the January fol- lowing his death (July, 1740). 2 He was a widower, not a bachelor.
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the said Will (for that no Executor is named therein) being first sworn duly to administer the same.
The most careful search has so far failed to bring to light any portrait of Brother Tomlinson.
1737, April 24, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Brother Richard Wolfe admitted. 1rd be
1737, April 25, Boston. The Boston Gazette contains the following item of news, U2z.
“That the Order of Free Mafons, eftablifhed long fince in England, has become lately much in Vogue at Paris, there being great {triving to be admitted, even at the Expence of ten Louis d’Ors; 18 or 20 Perfons of great Diftinction have been lately created Mafons, among{t whom was the Marfhal d’Eftrees; and five Lodges are already eftablifhed, which makes fo great a Noife, and gives fo much Offence to People ignorant of their Mifteries, that it’s expected they will {peedily be fupprefs’d as they have been in Holland.”
it.
1737, After April 28, and before April 27, 1738. London—West Indies.
The Earl of Darnley, Grand Master of England, is- sued a Deputation to Captain William Douglas, as Provincial Grand Master on the coast of Africa and in ' the Islands of America; excepting such places where a Provincial Grand Master is already deputed. He also
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issued one to James Watson, Esq., as Provincial Grand Master for Montserrat.
Preston (Portsmouth, 1804) 187.
Entick (1756 Ed.) 333.
Anderson (1738 Ed.) 195.
P.C. (2nd London Ed.) 116.
1737 May: Philadelphia. Entries in L. B. indicate a meeting.
1737, May 11, Boston. Meeting of the First Lodge. Alexander French made and Brother John Maxwell admitted. eed B.MS.
AS ae aye Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Gazette has an account of the elec- tion of the Grand Master of Scotland.
li/S/eiMay 26. Charleston, S. C.
“The Recruiting Officer” was acted at Charleston for the entertainment of the Fraternity ‘who came to the play-house . . . in the usual manner.” The Entered Apprentice’s and Master’s songs were sung, the Masons in the Pit joining in the chorus. “After the play, the Masons returned to the Lodge at Mr. Shepheard’s in the same order observed in coming to the play-house.”’
South Carolina Gazette for May 28, 1737.
This is the first reported Masonic procession in Amer- ica, though it does not appear that any regalia was worn.
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b/37, June 2, Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Gazette has an account of a Ma- sonic funeral in London.
1737, June 6, Philadelphia.