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HENRY SHERBORNE ROWE 1846-1939

HenryRowe1939.jpg

Grand Pursuivant, 1889, 1891
Junior Grand Steward, 1892
Junior Grand Deacon, 1893
Senior Grand Deacon, 1894
Junior Grand Warden, 1898

BIOGRAPHY

From New England Craftsman, Vol. XXIX, No. 5, January 1934, Page 150:

In another column is printed a brief resume of an unique organization, St. Bernard Commandery, prepared by one who has long been a devoted member of that body, and to whom it is greatly indebted.

As a record of service to the Craft the record of this gentleman is almost without parallel and serves to illustrate why the Massachusetts jurisdiction holds such high rank, when it can command the services of such able, busy men.

Henry Sherburne Rowe, of 58 Commonwealth Avenue. Boston, Mass.. was born in Lowell. Mass., February 2. 1846. His record:

  • He is the holder of the Henry Price medal and the Veteran's medal 67 years.
  • Tuscan Lodge, Lawrence. Mass.—
    • Entered Apprentice, April 8, 1867
    • Fellowcraft, May 13, 1867
    • Master Mason, June 17, 1867
    • demitted, Sept. 26, 1882.
  • Lodge of Eleusis, Boston, Mass.—
    • Admitted to membership. Nov. 16, 1882
    • Senior Steward, 1883
    • Junior Deacon, 1884
    • Senior Deacon, 1885
    • Junior Warden, 1886-1887
    • Worshipful Master, 1889-1890.
  • Grand Lodge of Massachusetts —
    • Grand Pursuivant, 1891
    • Grand Steward, 1892
    • Junior Grand Deacon. 1893-1894
    • Senior Grand Deacon, 1895
    • District Deputy Grand Master, 1896-1897
    • Junior Grand Warden, 1898.
    • Life Member — As Junior Grand Warden, assisted in laying corner stone of the Masonic Temple, in 1898.
  • St. Pauls R. A. Chapter. Boston-
    • Royal Arch, Feb. 20, 1883; demitted.
  • St. Andrew's R. A. Chapter, Boston —
    • Membership. Mar. 1, 1893
    • Life membership, Apr. 5. 1893
    • Trustee, 5 years, Oct. 2, 1895 to Oct. 3, 1900
    • Treasurer 5 years, Oct. 3, 1900 to Oct., 1905
    • Life Member.
  • St. Bernard Commandery No. 12, Knights Templar. Boston —
    • Red Cross, April 11, 1883
    • Temple and Malta, May 7, 1883
    • captain general, 1890-1891
    • generalissimo, 1892
    • commander, 1893-1894.
  • Grand Commandery of Mass. and R. I.—
    • Grand lecturer, 1895-1896
    • grand captain of the guard, 1897
    • grand standard bearer, 1898
    • grand lecturer, 1899
    • Life Member.
  • Lodge of St. Andrew, Boston—
    • Admitted membership March 24, 1932
  • Massachusetts Consistory, A. & A. S. R.
    • 32°, Oct. 27, 1893
    • Life Member.

MEMORIAL

From Proceedings, Page 1939-375:

Brother Rowe was born in Lowell February 2, 1846, and died in Boston, November 4, 1939.

Brother Rowe was well known and highly respected in business circles as a trustee.

He took his degrees in Tuscan Lodge in 1857. Dimitting in 1882 he affiliated with the The Lodge of Eleusis and was its Master in 1889-90. ln 1892 he affiliated with the Lodge of St. Andrew. He had long service in the Grand Lodge being a Grand Pursuivant in 1889 and 1891, Junior Grand Steward in 1892, Junior Grand Deacon in 1893 and 1894, Senior Grand Deacon in 1895, District Deputy Grand Master for the Second Masonic District in 1895 and 1897 by appointment by Most Worshipful Edwin B. Holmes and Most Worshipful Charles C. Hutchinson, and Junior Grand Warden in 1898.

He was the senior Permanent Member of the Grand Lodge in age and the senior in service, though he shared that honor with Right Worshipful Frank W. Kaan who was Senior Grand Warden in the same year that he was Junior Grand Warden.

Right Worshipful Brother Rowe was an earnest and devoted Mason retaining his active interest up to the very end of his long life. His old-world courtesy and kindliness made him a most delightful associate. He will be very greatly missed by those who had so long known and loved him.

From Proceedings, Page 1939-455:

Freemasonry in Massachusetts lost one of its oldest and most distinguished figures by the death on November 4, 1939, of Right Worshipful Brother Henry Sherborne Rowe, who, at the time of his demise, had been an active member of the craft for over 72 Years, and a permanent member of the Grand Lodge for 41 years. Though always a busy man of affairs, he devoted his time and energy zealously throughout his long life to the works and. interests of our Craft. Most and best of all he exemplified in his private character and in his dealings with all mankind the highest and purest tenets and virtues of Freemasonry.

Henry Sherborne Rowe was born at Lowell, Massachusetts, on February 2, 1846, son of George Ranson and Josephine Woodbury Rowe, and descendant, in all his ancestral lines, of pioneer settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Educated in the public schools of his native town, he evinced at an early age those mental characteristics of accuracy, capability, efficiency and responsibility which always distinguished him. His father had become the Assistant Postmaster and first City Clerk of the neighboring city of Lawrence and in 1862, in his seventeenth year, young Henry was elected City Clerk of Lawrence, pro tempore, and later succeeded his father in that office' It was always matter of legitimate pride and satisfaction to him that he was the youngest man ever to hold the position of City Clerk in any Massachusetts municipality.

In 1863, Henry Rowe removed to Boston and engaged in business in that city. In 1873 he was married to Anna Simmons White, granddaughter of John Simmons, the founder of Simmons College. They had two children, Edward Prescott Rowe and Anna White Rowe. In the happy years of their wedded life, Mr. and Mrs. Rowe made their home at 58 Commonwealth Avenue, in Boston. They travelled frequently in Europe, and it was during these journeys that Brother Rowe acquired many of the books and works of art in which he took so much pleasure and satisfaction. The death of Mrs. Rowe in 1911 and of his son in 1935 were the two great griefs of Brother Rowe's life. His daughter, now Mrs. George B. Poole, and three grandchildren, survive him.

Henry Rowe was always a man of literary tastes. He wrote an admirable biography of John Simrnons and edited numerous books for the Club of Odd Volumes, notably a sketch of Thomas Jefferson, published in 1924. He was a life member of The Country Club, Brookline, and of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society. At the time of his death he was senior member of the Beacon Society, the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Society, and the Club of Odd Volumes of Boston, whose collection was a source of lifelong delight which he shared with his many friends.

Always a careful, capable, and scrupulous administrator, Brother Rowe was concerned in numerous associations and did many excellent things. He was for many years Trustee of the Estate of John Simmons, of the Compton Trust, and of the Massachusetts Automobile Club Trust, and served long as President of the Massachusetts Automobile Club.

Henry Rowe's record of membership and service in Freemasonry is almost without parallel in the Massachusetts jurisdiction. He was entered in Tuscan Lodge of Lawrence on April 1, 1867, shortly after his twenty-first birthday anniversary, crafted on May 13, 1867, and raised on June 17, 1867. He demitted from this Lodge on September 26,1882, and on November 16 of the same year was admitted to membership in the The Lodge of Eleusis s, Boston. He served this Lodge as Senior Steward in 1883, Junior Deacon in 1884, Senior Deacon in 1885, Junior Warden in 1886 and 1887, and as Worshipful Master in 1889 and 1890.

In the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, Henry Rowe was appointed Grand Pursuivant in 1891, grand steward in 1892, Junior Grand Deacon in 1893 and 1894, Senior Grand Deacon in 1895, and District Deputy Grand Master for the Second Masonic District in 1896 and 1897. In 1898 he was elected Junior Grand Warden, and in that capacity assisted in laying the corner-stone of the present Masonic Temple. He was awarded the Henry Price Medal in 1922 and the Masonic Veteran's Medal tn 1927; and at the time of his death had been a permanent member of the Grand Lodge for forty-one years.

In capitular masonry, he received the Royal Arch degree in St. Paul's Chapter on February 23, 1883; but he demitted from that organization ten years later, and on March 1, 1893, was admitted to membership, and on April 5 on the same year to life membership, in St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, Boston. For five years, from October 2, 1900, to October, 1905, he was Treasurer. In St. Bernard Commandery, Knights Templar, Boston, he received the Red Cross degree on April 11, 1883, and the Temple and Malta degrees on May 7, 1883. He served that organization as captain-general in 1890 and 1891, as generalissimo in 1892, and as commander in 1893 and 1894. In the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, he served as Grand Lecturer in 1895 and 1896, Grand Captain of the Guard in 1897, Grand Standard Bearer in 1898, and again as Grand Lecturer in 1899. He was a life member of that organization.

In the Massachusetts Consistory, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, he received the thirty-second degree on October 27, 1893. He was a life member of that organization.

Henry Rowe was admitted to membership in the Lodge of St. Andrew, Boston, on March 24, 1932, and from then until within a year of his death was a constant and regular attendant at its communications and became one of its most beloved and esteemed elder brethren. Masonic funeral services for Brother Rowe, conducted at his late residence by St. Bernard Commandery and the Lodge of St. Andrew, were attended by many from the various bodies to which he belonged. Interment was at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

From its beginning to its end, everything in Brother Rowe's long, serviceable, and useful life was honorable and consistent. The gentleness and sweetness which were his distinguishing traits were based upon a character of firmness and sterling integrity.

As a trustee he was always scrupulous for the welfare of his beneficiaries; as a friend he was always considerate, kindly, loyal, and thoughtful. Those who were privileged through many years to enjoy his friendship, and his hospitality on birthday anniversaries and many other occasions, can never forget his quiet cordiality, courtesy, and gracious good-will. He was a gentlemen, in whom were exemplified to the highest degree the virtues of Christianity and of Freemasonry. To have been privileged to know him and to call him Brother was to know the spirit of a just man made perfect in this world.

"Small need had he to doff his pride or slough the dross of earth;
Even as he walked that day to God, so walked he from his birth,
In simpleness and gentleness and honor and clean mirth."

Robert M. Green
H. LeRoy Billings
Hugh Cameron

From New England Craftsman, Vol. VI, No. 10, July 1911, Page 343:

Worshipful Brother Henry M. Rowe, past master of Joseph Webb Lodge, Boston, died suddenly, Wednesday, June 7. Brother Rowe was an earnest Mason and an honest exponent of Masonic principle. By his will, which has been filed recently, he gives the house, 61 Harvard St., to the First Worshipful Masters Association of Massachusetts, and the house, 6 Hudson St., to be held in trust for the benefit of Joseph Webb Lodge.

The latter bequest designates that a part of the income from the property be used to pay the expenses of the 50th and 100th anniversary celebrations of the lodge.


Distinguished Brothers