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BENJAMIN APTHORP GOULD 1824-1896

MEMORIAL

From Proceedings, 1896-366:

"It is not often that the Masonic Body is called to lament the death of one not only prominent in Masonry, but of world-wide fame in matters outside of the Fraternity. The great statesmen, great men of affairs, great scientists, the leaders of the world's thought and action, whose names are known through two continents, are rarely known also as great Freemasons. The reason for this is not far to seek. These men, although they may perhaps have taken the degrees, are usually too busy in their own affairs, or think themselves too busy, to spend the time upon matters of administration and ritual required of all who aspire to high Masonic office. When, therefore, it sometimes happens that one whose life is given to scholarship, to science, to education, still refuses to be too busy in these pursuits for active Masonic work as well, and is ready to find beneath the garb of ceremonial the living body and spirit of our beloved Institution, it is matter of note and of good omen. Such a one was Benjamin Apthorp Gould.

"He was born in Boston, September 27, 1824. His father's name, the same as the son's, was familiar to the students of fifty years ago upon the title-page of various classical works. The grandfather was Capt. Benjamin Gould, an officer of the Revolutionary army. Gould's childhood was precocious. It is currently reported that he could read when three years old, and that at the age of five he translated an Ode of Horace. His preparation for college was mainly in the school long famous as 'Thayer's,' and now as 'Chauncy Hall,' and in the Boston Latin School. His versatility in college may be inferred from the fact that at the junior exhibition he had a Greek part and at the senior exhibition a disquisition upon the 'Association for the Advancement of Science.' His part at graduation was a mathematical disquisition, and the Order of Exercises, with its italicized Mathematics and Physics against his name, shows that he had already attained distinction in the branches which he subsequently made so largely his own. He notes in the class book that he did not deliver this part for lack of declamatory ability. This will not surprise those who remember his rare and diffident attempts to speak in Lodge. He always said exactly what he meant to say and in the most terse and well-considered words, but anything less oratorical cannot well be imagined.

"After graduation he taught for a while and then, in 1845, sailed for Europe to study astronomy, the science which for more than half a century was the main occupation of his life. He studied for three years in the great observatories of England, France and Germany, visited all the important observatories of Europe, and returned home to improve upon and practise what he had learned. This is not the time or place to recount the services rendered by Dr. Gould to Science. They will be recorded in the memoirs of the various learned societies of Europe and of America which sought his membership. Besides the diplomas of' these societies, he also bore the distinction of Doctor of Laws of Harvard and of Columbia, Doctor of Philosophy of Göttingen, and Knight of the Order of Merit of Prussia. One thing is worth mentioning — a thing that can be said of few — that when death came to him the lifework which he had laid out for himself had been accomplished. It was granted to him to pursue it to the end in the fulness of strength. His last great work, that upon the Southern Stars, for which he had collected material during his official residence in the Argentine Republic, a book which it was his one desire to live to finish, is in such a condition of completeness that it will be given his brethren of science as from his own hand.

"Of Dr. Gould's well-known interest in American history and genealogy it is enough to record that he was President of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and Vice President of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, and of the Bunker Hill Monument Association. Dr. Gould's delightful domestic life, his hospitality, the wit, charm and sympathy of his conversation, need only be mentioned to awaken the keenest sense of loss iu the minds of all who knew him. It remains to speak of him as a Mason. He entered upon Masonry somewhat late in life, being forty-five years old when he received the Master's Degree in Liberty Lodge, Beverly, June 28, 1869. He was at that time full of his great plan for exploring the Southern celestial hemisphere, and was contemplating a long residence in the Argentine Republic and the founding, of an observatory there. It may be guessed that this plan furnished the immediate impulse for joining the Masons, for he probably knew that no other institution could so well give him that friendship and companionship which every stranger needs in a foreign land.

"He took the degrees of the Scottish Rite in March and April, 1870. In May he embarked from New York, and after brief visits to Hamburg, Berlin and Paris, arrived at Buenos Aires the August following. The years from then until 1872 were occupied in organizing his observatory at Cordoba, and from then until 1885, with the exception of occasional visits home, in carrying out his contemplated astronomical work. He evidently, in spite of engrossing labor, made time for Masonic work as well; for, from 1879 to 1882, we find him Worshipful Master of the Lodge of the Southern Cross at Cordoba under the Grand Lodge of England, and on his return in - 1885 he was made an honorary member of this Lodge. He was also an honorary member of the District Grand Lodge under the Grand Lodge of England. He was likewise interested in the Bodies of the Scottish Rite. On one of his visits to Boston, in 1874, he received the Thirty-third Degree, and from that time until 1885 he was the special representative of the Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States to that of the Argentine Republic. He was an honorary member of the Argentine Supreme Council, of the Lodge Piedad y Union and the Chapter of Rose Croix of the same name at Cordoba, under that Council, and of an English Chapter of Rose Croix at Buenos Aires.. He often helped them in their labors, for he worked equally well in Spanish and in English. Since his return he has sometimes been heard to say that he was probably the only Mason of New England that had conferred the first three degrees in a Body of the Scottish Rite.

"Meantime, he was not forgetful of the duty of keeping himself in touch with the Masonry of his own State. On one of his visits home, in 1880, he received the Chapter Degrees in St. Andrew's Chapter, and on another, in 1883, the Templar Orders in St. Bernard Commandery. After his return, to Boston to reside permanently, he became a member of St. Bernard Commandery, and also of the Lodge of St. Andrew. In this old Lodge he took the greatest interest, and one of his cherished plans was to become its historian on the occasion, a few years hence, of its 150th anniversary. His Masonic spirit was shown in nothing better than in the fact that although he had borne so many of the higher honors of the Order, he did not hesitate in this Lodge to assume the humblest offices. In 1887 he was Junior Steward. From that he came by degrees to be Senior Warden in 1894, and this office he held until his death.

"In 1890 he assumed, by appointment of Grand Master Wells, the duties of Deputy Grand Master of Massachusetts, and discharged them for two years with his wonted fidelity. As a Permanent Member of this Grand Lodge he was rarely absent from a meeting, and it is here, more than anywhere save in his own beloved Lodge, that he will be best remembered and most regretted as a Mason.

Dr. Gould died from the effect of a fall, but without pain, on November 26, 1896. Three days later he was followed to his grave at Mount Auburn by those connected with him by ties of family, friendship and science, as well as by a large assemblage of his Brethren of the Lodge of St. Andrew, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and the Saint Bernard Commandery.

Fraternally submitted,
S. LOTHROP THORNDIKE,
SAMUEL WELLS,
CHARLES M. GREEN,
Committee.

Distinguished Brothers