Difference between revisions of "Harmony"

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=== HISTORY ===
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==== CENTENNIAL HISTORICAL ADDRESS, JUNE 1896 ====
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''Presented at the Centennial Celebration, June 17 1896, by Wor. and Dr. Rollin C. Ward, beginning on Page 1896-155:''
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On the fifth of May, 1796, fifteen of tlie Brethren, from Northfield, Winchester and Hinsdale, met in Edward Houghton's Hall (now the Loveland House, standing on the opposite corner), and decided to form a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Northfield under two special agreements: first, that one-half of the festivals should be held in Northfield; second, when the Brothers from Winchester shall wish to form a Lodge in their town they shall have the free and hearty consent of this Lodge. Solomon Vose was elected chairman and Dr. Samuel Prentice secretary of this meeting. They voted to petition the Grand Lodge for a charter; named the Lodge Harmony; and appointed committees to wait on Republican Lodge, of Greenfield, and Jerusalem Lodge, of Westmoreland, for certificates of approbation. They cliose Solomon Vose to present the petition to the Grand Lodge, and voted that each subscriber to the petition should pay to "Samuel Brewer the sum of one dollar at the next meeting.
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Solomon Vose was elected Master; Stephen Hawkins, Senior Warden; and Noadiah Kellogg, Junior Warden. Meetings were held on the third Wednesday of each month. At the meeting held June 29, they elected the remainder of the officers, appointed committees to frame a code of by-laws and to procure jewels, aprons, etc., for the Lodge. Voted: That each subscriber pay. to-the Treasurer $5 in one week from this time to pay for charter, jewels, etc., and to allow 12£ per cent, to any Brother who would loan the money to the Lodge. Voted: To allow the Tyler 50 cents for each evening's attendance, and he be excluded from every expense.
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August 17, a committee was chosen to.secure a minister to preach the installation sermon, (the word installation being used as we now use Constitution), and it was voted to install the second Thursday of October, the tickets to be $1.25. At 10 o'clock in the forenoon, Oct, 13, 1796, they met in Edward Houghton's Hall for the purpose of installation. "The reverend gentlemen of the clergy " were requested to join in the procession. [http://www.masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=GMThomas Isaiah Thomas], Senior Grand Warden, acting Grand Master, took the chair and informed the Brethren that he was ready to install the Lodge. "The procession was formed and , in Masonic .order proceeded to the meeting-house, preceded by a band of music." The ceremonies of the day were introduced by a prayer from Rev. Ezra Conant; an appropriate hymn was then sung, accompanied by instruments. A sermon, suited to the occasion, was delivered by Rev. Samuel C. Allen. A spirited charge by [http://www.masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=Thomas Isaiah Thomas] was given, after which the officers of Harmony Lodge were invested with the badges of their several offices, and the Lodge was constituted in due form. Music then closed the ceremonies, and the procession returned to the Hall, where an elegant dinner had been provided.
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After dinner a number of Masonic toasts being drank, the reverend gentlemen of the clergy retired and the Lodge resumed its business. A committee was chosen to wait on Right Worshipful Brother Isaiah Thomas, and the other Brethren who officiated as officers of the Grand Lodge and return them the thanks of Harmony Lodge for their services this day, requesting Brother Thomas to accept compensation for the same. They replied they were amply repaid by the satisfaction they had received in our company. Happy will Harmony Lodge be if her future historian can write the same for to-day.
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The festival of St. John the Evangelist was held in Winchester, Dec. 26, 1796. Sermon by Rev. Brother Bunker Gay. An elegant dinner was served at Noadiah Kellogg's, after which a number of Masonic toasts were drank. June 27, 1797, the festival of St. John the Baptist was held in Northfield, introduced by prayer' from Rev. Samuel C. Allen. Sermon by. Rev. Samuel Reed. An elegant dinner was provided, after which a number of Masonic toasts were drank, the reverend gentlemen of the clergy then retired, and the Lodge resumed its business.
 +
 +
It is noticeable that the reverend gentlemen of the clergy did not retire until the toasts were reverently cared for. The agreement that one-half of the festivals should be held in Northfield is now properly explained. Prohibition in those days was not, and is not to-day, one of the tenets of Freemasonry; but intemperance was then, and is now, considered disreputable by our Institution, and by all true Masons.
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In consequence of the anti-Masonic excitement the Lodge did not meet after May 5, 1830, until February 17, 1836. The District Deputy Grand Master called for the charter and regalia. The Master, Richard Colton, told him that the Lodge had violated no requirement of the Grand Constitutions, or any of the ancient Masonic usages, and declined to give it up until a meeting of the Lodge could be called. The Lodge, at a meeting held Feb. 17, 1836, voted not to surrender the charter unless peremptorily ordered so to do by the Grand Lodge.
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I hold in my hand that charter. It has always remained in the custody of Harmony Lodge. It is the most valuable instrument we have connecting us with the Grand Lodge of one hundred years ago, through our revered Past Grand Master, [http://www.masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=GMRevere Paul Revere]. On its margin stands his name in bold and honest letters. It was written with a pen made from a quill drawn from the pinion of an American goose. This pen would have been presented to us with the charter had not [http://www.masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=Republica Republican] Lodge, of Greenfield, claimed the priceless quill by reason of her seniority. We learn from Masonic tradition as well as from profane history that she returned this pen to the Grand Lodge at the same time she surrendered her charter.
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No meeting of the Lodge' was held after the 17th day of February, 1836, until the 20th clay of February, 1850, . when the Lodge convened and unanimously voted to hold regular Communications thereafter, which has been done. So intense was the anti-Masonic feeling that the Master, Brother Colton, fearing the charter might be stolen, secreted it in the hollow of an oak tree then standing at the south end of our beautiful street.
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This magnificent oak, whose widespreading branches sheltered the untutored . red man from the scorching rays of the noon-day sun, long before the foot of white man pressed the virgin soil of NorthSeld, was the first meetinghouse in this town, for under this tree was the first sermon preached by Elder William Jones. It had still another noble mission to perform. In after years it served as a safe repository for this valuable and venerated paper against depredation or surrender.
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The charter members numbered twenty-two: Solomon Vose, Stephen Hawkins, Noadiah Kellogg, Edward Houghton, Samuel Brewer, Samuel Prentice, Jonathan Carver, Eliphaz Alexander, George Farrington, Samuel Smith, Moses Howe, Philip Goss, Jr., Elisha Knapp, Jr., Lyman Taft, Levi Ripley, Reuben Alexander, Jr., Joseph Proctor, Obadiah Dickinson, Nathaniel Stone, Noadiah Pease, Elijah Butler and Samuel Hunt. Afterward members were admitted from all the surrounding towns, also from Guilford, Wardsboro, Windham, Newfane and Grafton, Vt., Oakham, Petersham, Sunderland, Whately and Northampton, Mass. I am indebted to our Secretary, Brother Stearns, for the biographical sketches that follow.
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* Solomon Vose was a lawyer; graduated from Harvard College, 1787. Was first postmaster in Northfield. At that time the mail was brought from Worcester by stage once a week, and usually contained five or six letters and three or four Boston papers. He was one of the incorporators of the Northfield Aqueduct Company, also of the fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Company. Was first Master of Harmony Lodge. District Deputy Grand Master in 1802, since which time we have had no D.D.G.M. Removed to Augusta, Me., where he. died in 1809. While in Northfield he lived in the house now occupied by C. Linsley.
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* Stephen Hawkins was an innkeeper in Winchester, and was a charter member of Philesian Lodge, June 13, 1822.
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* Noadiah Kellogg was an innkeeper in Winchester.
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* Edward Houghton came from Hinsdale in 1793. He drove a stage from Worcester. After the turnpike was built he bought the corner lot and built a hotel where the Loveland House now stands.
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* Samuel Brewer kept a store and distillery. He went to Boston in 1797; was town treasurer 1794-7.
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* Samuel Prentice, M.D., served as surgeon in his father's regiment in the Revolutionary war. He settled in Worcester and afterward removed to Northfield in 1786. He died Dec. 3, 1818.
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* Samuel Smith, captain, settled in Winchester 1801. He gave an organ to the church Sept. 4, 1801. Died Jan. 20, 1823. March 5, 1798, the town voted to purchase a bell of between six hundred and seven hundred pounds. This bell was cast by Paul Revere and hung in the same church.
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* Moses How was an innkeeper in Vernon, Vt.
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* Lyman Taft was a farmer in Montague: died July 24, 1833. Joseph Proctor was a lawyer living in Orange, Master of the Lodge from 1800 to 1803.
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* Obadiah Dickinson, graduate of Yale College in 1778, a prominent man in town affairs; owned one of the first chaises that came to Northfield; was Master of the Lodge 1805; died March 9, 1844.
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* Samuel Hunt was one of the largest landowners in Northfield. Was selectman for many years. In 1796 or 1797 Lawyer Barrett built a good, two-story house, now occupied by Captain Duncan. Captain Hunt built one on the corner south of our present school-house, a little better than Mr. Barrett's. Competition, stimulated by pride, added another story to each of these houses, without adding to beauty or comfort. The Captain Hunt place was sold to the Northfield Academy corporation for school purposes, and was so used till 1843, when it was' occupied as a temperance hotel.
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* Timothy Swan was a composer of music in addition to his trade as hatter. He was the author of ''China'', ''Poland'', and other sacred music, and published the ''New England Harmony'' in 1801. One of his compositions was written one night wrhen his child was dying. ''China'' was written in the sand with his finger, on Beer's Plain. He had a great love for the poplar and lilac, and with these his house was hidden from view. These trees were a favorite resort for blackbirds, which were his pets, and which lie zealously guarded. It is said of him that he was a "fine-looking old gentleman, suffering much, but always looking on the bright side." A niece says: "My personal recollections of him are always pleasant." He died in Northfield, July 23, 1842.
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* [http://www.masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=MAGLTPower Thomas Power] was born in Boston, Oct. 8, 1786; graduated from Brown University in 1808; came to Northfield in 1812; founded the Northfield Social Library in 1813, which in 1878 became the Northfield public library. Our street is largely indebted to him for its beautiful shade- trees, many of which he set out himself in 1815. He studied law with Judge Charles Jackson, and was admitted to the Suffolk Bar in 1811. He returned to Boston in 1815; served for seven years on the School Committee; in 1822, when Boston became a city, he was .appointed Clerk of the Police Court, a position which he held for about thirty-five years, until obliged to relinquish it on account of ill health. He delivered the oration before the city authorities on the fourth of July, 1840. He served as Recording Grand Secretary from 1820 to 1833 inclusive, and as Junior Grand Warden in 1844. He delivered an oration before [http://www.masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=Monitor Monitor] Lodge, of Waltham, June 25, 1821, which was printed; published a poem entitled ''Secrecy'' in 1832, and a volume of ''Masonic Melodies'' in 1844. He was an accomplished musician, one of the earliest members of the Handel and Haydn Society, of Boston, musical critic of the Boston Atlas for many years. "A shrewd lawyer and remarkable skater." He removed to South Framingham in 1860, where he died Sept. 9, 1868. He was buried in Duxbury, Mass.
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* Maj.-Gen. John Nevers, of the 15th division of Massachusetts militia, was a lawyer, high sheriff for Franklin County sixteen years, district attorney in 1811, representative for three years; died March 30, 1847.
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* Richard Colton was a surveyor and deputy sheriff. He was the third captain of the Northfield artillery company, organized in 1811. He was Master of the Lodge from 1817 to 1821, and from 1829 to 1856; representative in 1827, and selectman for several years; died Aug. 8, 1872.
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Horatio G. Newcomb, William A. Prentiss, Jonathan Belcher, Daniel Callender and many others, worthy of special mention, must be omitted, as Time raises his warning finger. When agriculture was the chief pursuit of the inhabitants in the Connecticut valley, Northfield excelled the surrounding towns in her products of the soil. She produced and exported corn, wine and oil; emblems of health, plenty and peace. Within her limits lived talented lawyers, ministers and doctors. She had men of extraordinary muscular power, and daughters whose feminine qualities wrere unexcelled in the world. Thus she represented wisdom, strength and beauty. Commerce, which rose in the East, has spread to the West. The great arteries, through which courses the business of our New England, have been changed from rivers to railroads which lie without our borders. We are thus deprived of some of our revenue. We have left to us three grand supports, however, — the reverend gentlemen of the clergy, the gentler sex, whose feminine graces still remain unexcelled, and Harmony Lodge, which starts on her second century with a steadfast determination to adhere to the noble principles of Free and Accepted Masonry.
  
 
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Revision as of 19:07, 15 January 2013

HARMONY LODGE

Location: Northfield; Warwick (1814); Northfield (); Montague ( )

Chartered By: Paul Revere

Charter Date: 06/15/1796 II-85

Precedence Date: 06/15/1796

Current Status: Active


PAST MASTERS

  • Solomon Vose, 1796-1800; SN
  • Joseph Proctor, 1801-1803
  • Amos Woodward, 1804, 1805, 1807, 1809, 1810
  • Obadiah Dickinson, 1806
  • Nathaniel G. Stevens, 1808, 1811, 1812, 1815
  • Ashbel Ward, 1813, 1814
  • Franklin Ripley, 1816
  • Thomas Power, 1817
  • Richard Colton, 1818-1821
  • Willard Arms, 1822-1824
  • Horatio G. Whitcomb, 1825-1827; SN
  • Jonathan Belcher, 1828, 1829
  • Richard Colton, 1830-1856
  • Elijah Stratton, 1857
  • William H. Bass, 1858, 1863, 1867
  • George Alexander, 1859-1862, 1864
  • William S. Severance, 1865
  • Walter Field, 1866
  • Harry Evans, 1868, 1870, 1871, 1876, 1880
  • Daniel R. Davis, 1869-1874
  • George F. Alexander, 1872, 1873, 1875
  • George W. Page, 1877, 1885
  • Josiah M. Morrill, 1878, 1879, 1889
  • George N. Richards, 1881, 1882
  • Sumner G. Titus, 1883, 1890
  • Hiland G. Stockwell, 1884
  • George J. Bacon, 1886-1888
  • Frank E. Stimpson, 1891, 1892
  • Rollin C. Ward, 1893, 1894; SN
  • David May, 1895
  • Edward S. Bardwell, 1896, 1897
  • Thomas R. Callender, 1898, 1899
  • Ernest C. Field, 1900, 1901
  • Edwin A. Pratt, 1902, 1903
  • Benjamin F. Field, 1904, 1905
  • Fred W. Doane, 1906, 1907
  • Charles H. Webster, 1908, 1909
  • Nelson D. Alexander, 1910
  • Henry W. Russell, 1911, 1912
  • Henry A. Smith, 1913, 1914
  • Norman P. Wood, 1915, 1916
  • Henry H. Mason, 1917, 1918
  • Leon R. Alexander, 1919, 1920
  • Elmer F. Howard, 1921, 1922; Memorial
  • Richard G. Holton, 1923, 1924; N
  • Robert B. Thomas, 1925
  • Leon P. Lilly, 1926, 1927
  • Merritt C. Skilton, 1928, 1929
  • Theodore F. Darby, 1930, 1931
  • Clarence M. Steadler, 1932
  • Walter W. Hyde, 1933, 1934
  • Ralph M. Forsaith, 1935, 1936, 1944; N
  • Martin E. Vorce, 1937
  • Willis K. Parker, 1938
  • Charles L. Johnson, 1939
  • Edgar J. Livingston, 1940
  • Harold F. Bigelow, 1941
  • Vernal G. Hurlbut, 1942
  • George McEwan, 1943
  • Horace W. Bolton, 1945, 1946
  • Ralph S. Livernoise, 1947
  • George M. Leonard, 1948
  • George H. Sheldon, 1949, 1950; SN
  • Roy J. Fish, 1951
  • Philip M. Mann, Jr., 1952
  • Joseph G. Morgan, 1953, 1954
  • Marshall R. Lanphear, 1955
  • Harry R. Johnson, Jr., 1956
  • Hubert J. Eastman, 1957
  • Harry W. Snow, 1958
  • Donald Q. McCollester, 1959, 1974, 1975, 1983, 1992, 1996; PDDGM
  • Herbert H. Maynard, 1960, 1976; SN
  • Paul J. Doaldson, 1961
  • G. Gilman Abar, Jr., 1962
  • Robert P. Barnes, 1963
  • Delmar P. Magoon, 1964
  • Perry A. Barber, 1965, 1977
  • James H. Morgan, 1966, 1967
  • Edward B. Snow, 1968
  • James A. DeCarteret, 1969
  • John H. Thayer, 1970
  • Daniel F. Morgan, 1971
  • Francis B. Reed, 1972, 1973
  • Norman B. Phelps, 1978, 1979
  • Lester A. Black, 1980, 1981, 1995; PDDGM
  • Daniel F. Morgan, 1982, 1999, 2000
  • Herbert H. Maynard, 1984, 1994
  • 1985?
  • William J. Black, 1986
  • Charles P. Tranfield, 1987, 1988
  • Curtis D. Shepard, 1989-1991
  • Owen A. Jones, 1993
  • Raymond R. Leonard, 1997
  • Perry A. Barber, 1998
  • Donald R. Black, 2001-2004
  • Richard J. Podlenski, 2005, 2006
  • Donald T. Campbell, 2007-2009
  • Zachery T. Billings, 2010-2012

YEARS

1796 1812 1813 1814 1815 1836 1872 1878 1879 1882 1896 1905 1916 1919 1926 1934 1942 1946 1949 1950 1951 1956 1960 1961 1962 1966 1967 1970 1971 1977 1996 1997 2004 2005 2006 2008

HISTORY

CENTENNIAL HISTORICAL ADDRESS, JUNE 1896

Presented at the Centennial Celebration, June 17 1896, by Wor. and Dr. Rollin C. Ward, beginning on Page 1896-155:

On the fifth of May, 1796, fifteen of tlie Brethren, from Northfield, Winchester and Hinsdale, met in Edward Houghton's Hall (now the Loveland House, standing on the opposite corner), and decided to form a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Northfield under two special agreements: first, that one-half of the festivals should be held in Northfield; second, when the Brothers from Winchester shall wish to form a Lodge in their town they shall have the free and hearty consent of this Lodge. Solomon Vose was elected chairman and Dr. Samuel Prentice secretary of this meeting. They voted to petition the Grand Lodge for a charter; named the Lodge Harmony; and appointed committees to wait on Republican Lodge, of Greenfield, and Jerusalem Lodge, of Westmoreland, for certificates of approbation. They cliose Solomon Vose to present the petition to the Grand Lodge, and voted that each subscriber to the petition should pay to "Samuel Brewer the sum of one dollar at the next meeting.

Solomon Vose was elected Master; Stephen Hawkins, Senior Warden; and Noadiah Kellogg, Junior Warden. Meetings were held on the third Wednesday of each month. At the meeting held June 29, they elected the remainder of the officers, appointed committees to frame a code of by-laws and to procure jewels, aprons, etc., for the Lodge. Voted: That each subscriber pay. to-the Treasurer $5 in one week from this time to pay for charter, jewels, etc., and to allow 12£ per cent, to any Brother who would loan the money to the Lodge. Voted: To allow the Tyler 50 cents for each evening's attendance, and he be excluded from every expense.

August 17, a committee was chosen to.secure a minister to preach the installation sermon, (the word installation being used as we now use Constitution), and it was voted to install the second Thursday of October, the tickets to be $1.25. At 10 o'clock in the forenoon, Oct, 13, 1796, they met in Edward Houghton's Hall for the purpose of installation. "The reverend gentlemen of the clergy " were requested to join in the procession. Isaiah Thomas, Senior Grand Warden, acting Grand Master, took the chair and informed the Brethren that he was ready to install the Lodge. "The procession was formed and , in Masonic .order proceeded to the meeting-house, preceded by a band of music." The ceremonies of the day were introduced by a prayer from Rev. Ezra Conant; an appropriate hymn was then sung, accompanied by instruments. A sermon, suited to the occasion, was delivered by Rev. Samuel C. Allen. A spirited charge by Isaiah Thomas was given, after which the officers of Harmony Lodge were invested with the badges of their several offices, and the Lodge was constituted in due form. Music then closed the ceremonies, and the procession returned to the Hall, where an elegant dinner had been provided.

After dinner a number of Masonic toasts being drank, the reverend gentlemen of the clergy retired and the Lodge resumed its business. A committee was chosen to wait on Right Worshipful Brother Isaiah Thomas, and the other Brethren who officiated as officers of the Grand Lodge and return them the thanks of Harmony Lodge for their services this day, requesting Brother Thomas to accept compensation for the same. They replied they were amply repaid by the satisfaction they had received in our company. Happy will Harmony Lodge be if her future historian can write the same for to-day.

The festival of St. John the Evangelist was held in Winchester, Dec. 26, 1796. Sermon by Rev. Brother Bunker Gay. An elegant dinner was served at Noadiah Kellogg's, after which a number of Masonic toasts were drank. June 27, 1797, the festival of St. John the Baptist was held in Northfield, introduced by prayer' from Rev. Samuel C. Allen. Sermon by. Rev. Samuel Reed. An elegant dinner was provided, after which a number of Masonic toasts were drank, the reverend gentlemen of the clergy then retired, and the Lodge resumed its business.

It is noticeable that the reverend gentlemen of the clergy did not retire until the toasts were reverently cared for. The agreement that one-half of the festivals should be held in Northfield is now properly explained. Prohibition in those days was not, and is not to-day, one of the tenets of Freemasonry; but intemperance was then, and is now, considered disreputable by our Institution, and by all true Masons.

In consequence of the anti-Masonic excitement the Lodge did not meet after May 5, 1830, until February 17, 1836. The District Deputy Grand Master called for the charter and regalia. The Master, Richard Colton, told him that the Lodge had violated no requirement of the Grand Constitutions, or any of the ancient Masonic usages, and declined to give it up until a meeting of the Lodge could be called. The Lodge, at a meeting held Feb. 17, 1836, voted not to surrender the charter unless peremptorily ordered so to do by the Grand Lodge.

I hold in my hand that charter. It has always remained in the custody of Harmony Lodge. It is the most valuable instrument we have connecting us with the Grand Lodge of one hundred years ago, through our revered Past Grand Master, Paul Revere. On its margin stands his name in bold and honest letters. It was written with a pen made from a quill drawn from the pinion of an American goose. This pen would have been presented to us with the charter had not Republican Lodge, of Greenfield, claimed the priceless quill by reason of her seniority. We learn from Masonic tradition as well as from profane history that she returned this pen to the Grand Lodge at the same time she surrendered her charter.

No meeting of the Lodge' was held after the 17th day of February, 1836, until the 20th clay of February, 1850, . when the Lodge convened and unanimously voted to hold regular Communications thereafter, which has been done. So intense was the anti-Masonic feeling that the Master, Brother Colton, fearing the charter might be stolen, secreted it in the hollow of an oak tree then standing at the south end of our beautiful street.

This magnificent oak, whose widespreading branches sheltered the untutored . red man from the scorching rays of the noon-day sun, long before the foot of white man pressed the virgin soil of NorthSeld, was the first meetinghouse in this town, for under this tree was the first sermon preached by Elder William Jones. It had still another noble mission to perform. In after years it served as a safe repository for this valuable and venerated paper against depredation or surrender.

The charter members numbered twenty-two: Solomon Vose, Stephen Hawkins, Noadiah Kellogg, Edward Houghton, Samuel Brewer, Samuel Prentice, Jonathan Carver, Eliphaz Alexander, George Farrington, Samuel Smith, Moses Howe, Philip Goss, Jr., Elisha Knapp, Jr., Lyman Taft, Levi Ripley, Reuben Alexander, Jr., Joseph Proctor, Obadiah Dickinson, Nathaniel Stone, Noadiah Pease, Elijah Butler and Samuel Hunt. Afterward members were admitted from all the surrounding towns, also from Guilford, Wardsboro, Windham, Newfane and Grafton, Vt., Oakham, Petersham, Sunderland, Whately and Northampton, Mass. I am indebted to our Secretary, Brother Stearns, for the biographical sketches that follow.

  • Solomon Vose was a lawyer; graduated from Harvard College, 1787. Was first postmaster in Northfield. At that time the mail was brought from Worcester by stage once a week, and usually contained five or six letters and three or four Boston papers. He was one of the incorporators of the Northfield Aqueduct Company, also of the fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Company. Was first Master of Harmony Lodge. District Deputy Grand Master in 1802, since which time we have had no D.D.G.M. Removed to Augusta, Me., where he. died in 1809. While in Northfield he lived in the house now occupied by C. Linsley.
  • Stephen Hawkins was an innkeeper in Winchester, and was a charter member of Philesian Lodge, June 13, 1822.
  • Noadiah Kellogg was an innkeeper in Winchester.
  • Edward Houghton came from Hinsdale in 1793. He drove a stage from Worcester. After the turnpike was built he bought the corner lot and built a hotel where the Loveland House now stands.
  • Samuel Brewer kept a store and distillery. He went to Boston in 1797; was town treasurer 1794-7.
  • Samuel Prentice, M.D., served as surgeon in his father's regiment in the Revolutionary war. He settled in Worcester and afterward removed to Northfield in 1786. He died Dec. 3, 1818.
  • Samuel Smith, captain, settled in Winchester 1801. He gave an organ to the church Sept. 4, 1801. Died Jan. 20, 1823. March 5, 1798, the town voted to purchase a bell of between six hundred and seven hundred pounds. This bell was cast by Paul Revere and hung in the same church.
  • Moses How was an innkeeper in Vernon, Vt.
  • Lyman Taft was a farmer in Montague: died July 24, 1833. Joseph Proctor was a lawyer living in Orange, Master of the Lodge from 1800 to 1803.
  • Obadiah Dickinson, graduate of Yale College in 1778, a prominent man in town affairs; owned one of the first chaises that came to Northfield; was Master of the Lodge 1805; died March 9, 1844.
  • Samuel Hunt was one of the largest landowners in Northfield. Was selectman for many years. In 1796 or 1797 Lawyer Barrett built a good, two-story house, now occupied by Captain Duncan. Captain Hunt built one on the corner south of our present school-house, a little better than Mr. Barrett's. Competition, stimulated by pride, added another story to each of these houses, without adding to beauty or comfort. The Captain Hunt place was sold to the Northfield Academy corporation for school purposes, and was so used till 1843, when it was' occupied as a temperance hotel.
  • Timothy Swan was a composer of music in addition to his trade as hatter. He was the author of China, Poland, and other sacred music, and published the New England Harmony in 1801. One of his compositions was written one night wrhen his child was dying. China was written in the sand with his finger, on Beer's Plain. He had a great love for the poplar and lilac, and with these his house was hidden from view. These trees were a favorite resort for blackbirds, which were his pets, and which lie zealously guarded. It is said of him that he was a "fine-looking old gentleman, suffering much, but always looking on the bright side." A niece says: "My personal recollections of him are always pleasant." He died in Northfield, July 23, 1842.
  • Thomas Power was born in Boston, Oct. 8, 1786; graduated from Brown University in 1808; came to Northfield in 1812; founded the Northfield Social Library in 1813, which in 1878 became the Northfield public library. Our street is largely indebted to him for its beautiful shade- trees, many of which he set out himself in 1815. He studied law with Judge Charles Jackson, and was admitted to the Suffolk Bar in 1811. He returned to Boston in 1815; served for seven years on the School Committee; in 1822, when Boston became a city, he was .appointed Clerk of the Police Court, a position which he held for about thirty-five years, until obliged to relinquish it on account of ill health. He delivered the oration before the city authorities on the fourth of July, 1840. He served as Recording Grand Secretary from 1820 to 1833 inclusive, and as Junior Grand Warden in 1844. He delivered an oration before Monitor Lodge, of Waltham, June 25, 1821, which was printed; published a poem entitled Secrecy in 1832, and a volume of Masonic Melodies in 1844. He was an accomplished musician, one of the earliest members of the Handel and Haydn Society, of Boston, musical critic of the Boston Atlas for many years. "A shrewd lawyer and remarkable skater." He removed to South Framingham in 1860, where he died Sept. 9, 1868. He was buried in Duxbury, Mass.
  • Maj.-Gen. John Nevers, of the 15th division of Massachusetts militia, was a lawyer, high sheriff for Franklin County sixteen years, district attorney in 1811, representative for three years; died March 30, 1847.
  • Richard Colton was a surveyor and deputy sheriff. He was the third captain of the Northfield artillery company, organized in 1811. He was Master of the Lodge from 1817 to 1821, and from 1829 to 1856; representative in 1827, and selectman for several years; died Aug. 8, 1872.

Horatio G. Newcomb, William A. Prentiss, Jonathan Belcher, Daniel Callender and many others, worthy of special mention, must be omitted, as Time raises his warning finger. When agriculture was the chief pursuit of the inhabitants in the Connecticut valley, Northfield excelled the surrounding towns in her products of the soil. She produced and exported corn, wine and oil; emblems of health, plenty and peace. Within her limits lived talented lawyers, ministers and doctors. She had men of extraordinary muscular power, and daughters whose feminine qualities wrere unexcelled in the world. Thus she represented wisdom, strength and beauty. Commerce, which rose in the East, has spread to the West. The great arteries, through which courses the business of our New England, have been changed from rivers to railroads which lie without our borders. We are thus deprived of some of our revenue. We have left to us three grand supports, however, — the reverend gentlemen of the clergy, the gentler sex, whose feminine graces still remain unexcelled, and Harmony Lodge, which starts on her second century with a steadfast determination to adhere to the noble principles of Free and Accepted Masonry.


GRAND LODGE OFFICERS


DISTRICTS

1803: District 7 (North Central Massachusetts)

1821: District 7

1835: District 9

1849: District 9

1854: District 10

1867: District 8 (Greenfield)

1883: District 13 (Greenfield)

1911: District 14 (Greenfield)

1927: District 14 (Greenfield)

2003: District 26


LINKS

Massachusetts Lodges