MAGLFWhite
FERDINAND E. WHITE d. 1853
Grand Pursuivant 1818, 1823
Grand Marshal 1824-1826
Deputy Grand Master 1848
- MM 1812, WM 1820-1822, 1827, 1831, 1846-1847, St. John's (Boston)
- One of the first A.A.S.R. in Massachusetts; see MFM pp. 124, 158, 222
MEMORIAL
From Proceedings, 1853, Page V-438:
"Resolved. That death has made a chasm in our body of no common character. It has severed from us and the community one, an ornament to society—the upright merchant — the good man — the kind father — the model Mason — the gentleness of his demeanor, the courtesy of his every act, in short his whole life and actions have endeared his memory to us, which time may never obliterate. May this loss be sanctified to us, and we be stimulated to that performance of duty here which shall hallow our memory, when with us, time shall be no more,
Resolved. That we mingle our grief with those who have lost their guide and councellor, invoking the kind father of all to shed his blessings on them and to uphold them in this their dark hour, and may the remembrance of the virtues of the lost and loved whisper peace to their souls.
From Moore's Freemason's Monthly Magazine, Vol. XII, No. 4, February 1853, p. 124:
And still another eminent Brother has been taken from us! - another to be added in the catalogue of distinguished Masons who during the past year have been gathered to their fathers! The subject of this notice dired in this city on the 5th of January last. He was a native of Boston, and one of its most respectable and honored merchants. He was initiated into Masonry almost forty years ago, and has sustained nearly every office within the gift of his Brethren, and always to their entire satisfaction and and his own honor. He was some years since elected to the office of Deputy Grand Master. At the expiration of his term, the office of Grand Master was tendered him, and declined on account of pressing business engagements. (Note: there is no allusion to this in the Proceedings.) He had been a member of the Grand Consistory (32 degree) of this State, for the past twentyfive years, and took an active interest in the cultivation of this branch of Freemasonry. A writer in the Boston Courier, who knew him long and intimately, speaks of him as follows: -
"It was not merely as a merchant that Mr. White had an elevated rank in the estimation of his fellow-citizens. He was equally esteemed as a neighbor, a friend, a Christian, and a parent. He was inexpressibly dear to his family, and to them his death is an irreparable loss. The sentiment of society is elastic, and soon recovers from any ordinary disruption of its ligaments; but widowhood and orphanage feel, long and deeply, the stroke that separates the heart from the revered object of its affections. The parents of Mr. White belonged to the Baptist communion, and their whole family, while under parental guidance, attended the ministrations of the celebrated Dr. Stillman; but the subject of this notice joined the Episcopal congregation of St. Paul's Church, where he was a constant and conscientious attendant, and where his full and manly voice might be always heard in the devotional response of the Liturgy. Mr. White was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, and as true and faithful a Brother as ever took upon himself the obligations of Freemasonry. He was not ambitious of titular distinction; but such honors as the society could bestow were eagerly placed before him for acceptance, and no man, on whom the duties and responsibilities of office were laid, ever fulfilled the requirements of official station with more dignified deportment and conscientious devotion to duty. By his death, the Genius of Freemasonry has lost one of the brightest and loveliest gems in her crown."
His funeral took place at St. Paul's Church on the 10th, and was attended by a large concourse of mourning friends, among who were the Grand Master and other officers and members of the Grand Lodge, and Brethren of other Masonic bodies.
