Difference between revisions of "MassachusettsYear1792"

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1792

NOTES

In order for the United Grand Lodge of Massachusetts to have even commenced its work required a most extraordinary act. Under the guidance of Most Worshipful Brother Moses Michael Hays of the Massachusetts Independent Grand Lodge, and Right Worshipful Brother John Cutler, acting as deputy for the late John Rowe, the last regularly installed Grand Master of St. John's Grand Lodge, the most prominent officers of each governing body had resigned their offices en masse in preparation for a union of the two under a constitution and laws that they had considered for several months before.

It was a singular deed, one which might have never come to pass if not for the American Revolution and its aftermath. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts - granted its charter in 1769 by the Grand Master Mason of Scotland, the Earl of Dalhousie - had resolved to become independent in 1777 and had been sustaining itself in the turbulent years since. St. John's Grand Lodge, which had held its Grand Charter since 1733 – longer than any other such body in North America – had gone through its own difficult times, including the loss of Grand Master Rowe in February 1787, and was prepared to end the years of division and rivalry. "Such a union," wrote Rt. Wor. Samuel Parkman, the Grand Secretary of St. John's Grand Lodge, "would be for the benefit of Masonry in General, and for the happiness of the Lodges in this Commonwealth in particular." (I-223) And it was so voted.

Thus, on March 5, 1792, a joint group of electors was chosen to determine "the first Officers of the Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons For the Common Wealth of Massachusetts." Rt. Wor. John Warren, Past Grand Master of Massachusetts Grand Lodge, was in the chair for the election of:

• Most Wor. John Cutler Esq. as Grand Master;
• Rt. Wor. Josiah Bartlet(t) as Senior Grand Warden;
• Rt. Wor. Mungo Mackay as Junior Grand Warden;
• Rt. Wor. Samuel Parkman as Grand Treasurer;
• Rt. Wor. Thomas Farrington as Grand Secretary.

Grand Master Cutler's first duties during this year were to inform the Brothers of the Lodge of St. Andrew of the union of the two Grand Lodges. This lodge, chartered in 1752, had stood aside from both St. John's and the Massachusetts Grand Lodge; indeed, a split among the brethren in 1784 had led to the founding of Rising States Lodge, which had come under the aegis of Massachusetts Grand Lodge in 1784. Despite the desire for unanimity in the jurisdiction, the Grand Master made no effort to coerce this lodge into inclusion, nor to isolate it from Masonic correspondence or communication – but it did not ultimately come under the Grand Lodge's authority until 1809, when its charter was endorsed by Grand Master Isaiah Thomas.

The year 1792 was significant in other ways for the Grand Lodge, as it instituted its own set of Constitutions and Laws (which appear at the very front of Volume II of the Proceedings); it established a standard form of lodge charter (shown on page II-22); and exchanged friendly correspondence with the most distinguished living Mason in North America, George Washington. By the end of the year, the new Grand Lodge had sent its Constitutions to all of its neighbors, put its record-keeping in place, and granted a charter and three dispensations for charters. At its annual communication on 10 December, the Grand Lodge re-elected John Cutler for a second year along with all of his officers.

JOHN CUTLER, Grand Master

QUARTERLY COMMUNICATIONS

• 06/21 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-21;
  • II-21: Request for lodges to provide member lists.
  • II-22: Proposal for design of charter.
  • II-26: Postponement of September 1792 Quarterly due to smallpox epidemic.

• 12/10 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-27;
  • II-27: Vote to send a copy of Grand Constitutions to George Washington.
  • II-28: List of lodges by seniority.
  • II-29: Returns of Rising States Lodge, Boston.
  • II-30: Accounts of Grand Lodge for 1792.

• 12/27 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-32;
  • II-32: Committee appointed to examine Grand Secretary accounts.

SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS

• 03/19 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-12;
  • II-12: Installation of Most Worshipful Brother Cutler and other officers.
  • II-14: Address by the Grand Master on "true Masonic principles"

• 04/02 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-15;
  • II-15: Letter to St. Andrew‘s Lodge.
  • II-17: Committee formed to create a Book of Constitutions.

• 06/01 (Bro. Coleman's, Boston): II-18;
  • II-18: Petition in Wiscasset (Maine) for "Zion or Rising Star Lodge"(name changed: recorded as "Lincoln" on p. II-19, p. II-28)
  • II-19: Committee to write charter.

• 06/11 (Salem): II-20;
  • II-20: Constitution of Essex Lodge, Salem.

• 06/25 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-24; (R.W. John Lowell, Deputy Grand Master, presiding.)
  • II-24: Feast of St. John the Baptist ceremonies.

LIST OF LODGES IN MASSACHUSETTS: 1792

Note: This list of lodges extant in Massachusetts in December 1792, ranked "according to their seniority", appears on page II-28.

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