MAGLHChickering
HENRY CHICKERING 1819-1881
Senior Grand Warden, 1862
MEMORIAL
"The committee to whom was entrusted the preparation of a suitable tribute to the memory of R.W. Henry Chickering, Past Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge, respectfully and fraternally submit the following report: —
"The services to the community in which he lived and the Fraternity which he honored, of a man like him whose loss the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts deplores this day, cannot be adequately measured by any enumeration of the public stations which he held, or of the offices and posts of duty to which he was called. The force of character, the influence of a good life spent in retirement, may be often more potent and beneficial than the more pronounced yet sometimes superficial results which spring from prominent official station. The subject of our contemplation did not need the glitter of office or rank to establish himself in the respect and admiration of his Brethren and associates. The characteristics of his mind and heart asserted themselves above the mere accidents of position, -and the services he rendered to the Institution of Freemasonry were hot the resultants of any honors bestowed upon him. They sprang from the depth and purity of rhis Masonic principles, from his conviction of their essential utility, and from his warm love of his Brethren. The Fraternity of this Commonwealth, with which for thirty years he was in the closest alliance, alike by his convictions and his sympathies, can never fail in their rendition of honor to his life and memory.
"R.W. Henry Chickering was born in Woburn, in this Commonwealth, September 3, 1819. He was the son of Rev. Joseph C. and Sarah A. Chickering. When our deceased Brother was but three years old his father received a call to settle over the Congregational Church in Phillipston, Mass. The days of our Brother's boyhood were spent in Phillipston, where his elementary education was received. He, however, when of suitable age, was sent to the Phillips Academy, at Andover, and there completed such technical education as the school afforded. After finishing his term of study at the academy, he commenced the trade of a printer in Andover, and in that occupation continued until the time of his death, having during his business career been connected with the publication of several newspapers, the last of which was the Berkshire County Eagle, printed at. Pittsfield. Of this journal he was a part or the sole owner, from 1853 to the date of his death. His political views, while conscientiously and-tenaciously held, were kindly and courteously expressed, and his power as an editor and expositor of the doctrines of his party, over the area of its influence, was marked and beneficial. In the year 1853 he was elected a.member of the Executive Council over which Gov. Clifford presided, and held the same office the following year under Gov. Emory Washburn. In 1860 he was appointed a Trustee of the State Reform School at Westboro. Upon the accession of President Lincoln, in . 1861, he was appointed to the prominent, local position of Postmaster of Pittsfield, and for twenty years discharged the important duties of that office to the satisfaction alike of the department and the citizens. As a public man, toward whom the eyes of the people were constantly directed, as a citizen, a neighbor and friend, his life and example challenge the regard and admiration of all who knew him or came within the sphere of his influence. -
"Our R.W. Brother was initiated into Masonry, in Lafayette Lodge, North Adams, March 17, 1851, of which he became, Jan. 24, 1853, Junior Warden, and Dec. 12, 1853, Worshipful Master. Upon his removal to Pittsfield, to take charge of the newspaper established there, he was dimitted from Lafayette Lodge, and became, Dec. 24, 1857, affiliated in Mystic Lodge, of Pittsfield. Of this Lodge he was Worshipful Master from 1859 to 1861. At the formation of Crescent iodge, of Pittsfield, 1874, he became one of the Charter Members, and, receiving.a dimit from Mystic Lodge, Oct. 6, of that year, was elected the first Worshipful Master, holding the office for a term of two years.
"He received the Capitular degrees, in 1860, in Berkshire R.A. Chapter, of which Body he was High Priest in 1863 and 1864. He also served as Chaplain of the Chapter in 1874 and 1875. He was prominent in the establishment of Berkshire Council R. and S. Masters, which was formed in 1875, and of which he was the first Ill. Master, having received the Council degrees in Springfield Council, February 22, 1864. He held this position also for three,years, and in 1878 was appointed to the office of Chaplain, which he held at the time of his death. The Orders of Knighthood were conferred upon our distinguished Brother in Springfield Commandery in 1864, from membership in which he was dimitted Oct. 24, 1866. In 1865 he was one of the petitioners for a Dispensation to form a Commandery at Pittsfield. A Charter for this Body was granted in 1866, and Brother Chickering was elected First Generalissimo. In 1867 he was elected Commander, and served for two years. In 1874 he was again elected to the same station, which he held until the day of his death. Of this Body he was also Treasurer for the.years 1872, 1873, and 1874. He received the degrees of the A. & A. Scottish Rite to the 32° inclusive, in 1863, and, in 1880, the 33°. His connections with the various Grand Bodies of the Masonic institution were as follows, viz.: — In 1861 he was elected Senior Grand Warden of this Grand Lodge, and served with honor in that capacity during the following year. In December, 1862, he was appointed by Grand Master Parkman District Deputy Grand Master for the Ninth District, and discharged the duties of that important station, under successive Grand Masters, for six years. In 1863 he was elected Grand King of the Grand R.A. Chapter of Mass., and became Grand High Priest in 1868, holding that office for three years. In 1878 he was elected Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Council of R. and S. Masters of Mass., and in 1871 became Grand CapL Gen. of the Grand Commandery of Mass. and R.I., holding this station for two years.
"This simple statement of the number and variety of Masonic offices, held by our eminent Brother, may serve to show, although inadequately, not merely the high esteem,in which his zeal and attachment to the Fraternity were held by the Brethren, but the labor, skill, and devotion which he so freely gave to the important interests committed to his charge. His efforts were not confined even to the discharge of so large. a round of duties as were involved in the occupation of so many official positions. In the often more laborious and responsible duties of committees .upon grave subjects of legislative policy or jurisdictional rights he rendered an equal, perhaps a higher, service.
"But his work is accomplished, and his record completed. The kindly service he so often rendered to us, no less than to the poor and unfortunate, must be transferred to. other hands. His genial presence and welcome counsel will no longer be felt in the circle of personal friendship or the Grand Assembly of this Fraternity; but to many hearts the memory of his deeds of benevolence will; long remain. At the performance of the funeral rites in the church, which was thronged with sorrowing Brethren, neighbors, and friends, the officiating clergjonan, in speaking of the great void which the death of our Brother would leave in other homes than his own, observed that 'he had a habit, wholly beautiful, of going to the sick and poor with gifts, of many kinds. There are homes that will miss greatly his helpful visits and his helpful gifts.' But while these beautiful ministrations, the harmonies, so to speak, of a warm and benevolent nature, have ceased on earth, they formed but the prelude of a loftier harmony in the more beautiful region to which his soul has sped. Visions of that region came over his sight in his last hours. Said his pastor at the funeral, 'There is another experience of our friend in his last illness, which, while indicating much concerning him, may be made profitable to us. As the outward man perished, the inner man was .renewed day by day. As his connections with earth parted strand by strand, he discovered more and more clearly his eternal connections with things unseen. As his vision here became more and more narrow, as his eyesight failed, the inner eye was cleared, its vision, purified and enlarged, till he could look at the things which are unseen rather than at the things which are seen.' So has he spoken to us his .Hail and Farewell! Your committee recommend the adoption'of the accompanying resolutions,—;
Resolved, That the Grand Lodge has suffered a serious deprivation in the strength of its counsel and a calamity in its ties of affection, by the decease of our late Brother Right Worshipful Henry Chickering, of Pittsfield, Past Senior Grand Warden.
Resolved, That in the performance of the Masonic duties which he owed the Craft, our late Brother was eminently true to his obligations; that in the numerous posts of duty to which in a long career he had been called, both in the Lodges and in the Grand Lodge, our deceased Brother won the regard and confidence of the Masonic Fraternity, and gave the best evidence of the soundness of his judgment, the uprightness of his heart, and the marked intellectual ability which he brought to the performance of every duty with which he was charged by this Grand Lodge. The confidence reposed in him and the exemplary manner in which he repaid it are attested in the records of this Body, by the important positions he has been successively called to fill, and by the valuable reports of the committees of which he was a member, on subjects of the organization, policy, and economy of this Grand Lodge.
Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the records of this Body, and printed with its proceedings, and that a fair copy thereof be transmitted by the Recording Grand Secretary to the family of our lamented Brother, attested by the seal of this Grand Lodge ; and that the Grand Master be requested to offer to them an expression of our sympathy for their suffering under their bereavement.
For the Committee,
CHARLES LEVI WOODBURY,
Chairman.
