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Revision as of 20:03, 15 November 2014

THE TYRIAN LODGE

Location: Gloucester

Chartered By: Joseph Warren

Charter Date: 03/02/1770 I-228

Precedence Date: 03/02/1770

Current Status: merged with Acacia Lodge to form The Tyrian-Acacia Lodge, 10/23/2003.

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NOTES

CORRESPONDENCE, OCTOBER 1859

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. XIX, No. 1, October 1859, Page 17:

We noticed last month the complaint of the Grand Lodge of California in relation to the initiation by Tyrian Lodge, at Gloucester, in this State, of a resident of the former State, contrary to the regulations of our own Grand Lodge, and of that comity which ought ever to mark the intercourse of Masonic bodies with each other. We have great satisfaction now inlaying before our readers the following explanation of the matter by the Master of Tyrian Lodge, and do not doubt that it will be favorably received by our Brethren in California:—

Gloucester, Oct. 14th, 1850.

Joseph S. Friend is a native of Gloucester, descended from a highly respectable family, and has always maintained an honorable reputation, which would entitle him to the honors of Masonry, whether conferred in this State or in any other State of the Union. He left Gloucester about seven years ago; since which time actual personal correspondence with those who have seen him and know him well, has been maintained. He has through his father, since he has been absent, paid taxes upon his real estate in Gloucester. To each and every member of Tyrian Lodge he was well known and respected. He returned from California to Gloucester last summer; he made his application at Tyrian Lodge as a resident of Gloucester, doubtless without knowledge on his part as to the regulations of the Craft. And with full knowledge as to the character and position of the man, violating perhaps the letter but not the spirit of the law, which, if I understand it, means, that a man should be made where he is best known,* Tyrian Lodge accepted his application and conferred the degrees of Masonry upon him. If this was an error it was done in good faith, because Tyrian Lodge knows too much of the kindness of the Lodges of California to doubt for one instant the fraternal feeling that exists among the brotherhood there.

We have to day in Gloucester what was once a poor forlorn and destitute orphan, who has been returned toils friends from California by the influence of Masonic charity. With this and other exhibitions of the true Masonic charity which has ever characterized the Lodges of California, it would be wrong in me for one moment to distrust the criticism of the Grand Lodge ot California, and I would therefore say, that Tyrian Lodge if it has committed an error in this respect is willing to tender to the Grand Lodge of California all fees received for the initiation, crafting, and raising, of J. S. Friend, and can cordially recommend him to the Craft, from actual and personal knowledge, as a man worthy of any honors which Masonry can confer upon him.

Yours, truly,
Fitz J. Babson, W. M. of Tyrian Lodge.

CORRESPONDENCE, MARCH 1863

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. XXII, No. 7, May 1863, Page 215:

Gloucester, Mass., March 23, 1863.

Br. Moore — Brother De Vries was shipwrecked on the coast of West Australia, in the Summer of last year, and as a slight appreciation of our gratitude toward the Brethren of Lodge of St John, No. 712, of Perth, West Australia, the following Resolutions were forwarded, and answer received. By a vote of Tyrian Lodge I am requested to forward them to you for publication in your Magazine.

Yours, Fraternally, Francis Proctor, Sec.

We, the undersigned, a Committee appointed by Tyrian Lodge of A. F. and A. Masons, at a meeting held at Gloucester, State of Massachusetts, U. S. A., on Tuesday evening, Aug. 15th, 1862, for the purpose of expressing the grateful appreciation of this Lodge for the important services rendered by the Master, Wardens and Brethren of Lodge of St. John, No. 712, West Australia, to our Brother Jacob De Vries, at the time of his shipwreck on a foreign shore, be it therefore

• Resolved, That the thanks of this Lodge be, and are hereby tendered to the Master, Wardens and Brethren of the Lodge of St. John, No, 712, West Australia, for the charitable disposition and warm hearted benevolence bestowed on Brother Jacob De Vries, immediately after being shipwrecked (some months since) on the coast of Australia.
• Resolved, That the excellent qualities which .adorn the Officers and Brethren of the Lodge of St. John, as men and as Masons, they sre endeared to us, and we shall ever hold them in grateful remembrance.
• Resolved, That a copy of these Resolutions, signed by the Master and Wardens, under the seal of this Lodge, be transmitted to the Officers and Brethren of the Lodge of St. John, No. 712, of West Australia.

Signed,
John S. Webber,
S. S. Day,
Joseph Dane
Committee.

The foregoing Resolutions, signed by A. J. Center, W. M., John Loyd, S. W, Joseph Dann, J. W., and signed under seal by Francis Proctor, Secretary of Tyrian Lodge, were duly forwarded to Lodge of St. John, Perth, W. Australia, and the following acknowledgment of them has been received:—

Perth, West Australia,
24th Nov., A. L. 5862.

To the Worshipful Master, Officers and Brethren of Tyrian Lodge, Gloucester, State of Mass., United States of America—

W. Master and Brethren — I am directed by the Worshipful Master, Officers and Brethren of the Lodge of St. John, No. 712, to acknowledge the receipt of the Resolutions adopted by Tyrian Lodge on the 18th of August last, conveying the thanks of the Lodge for the assistance rendered to. Brother De Vries on the occasion of his being shipwrecked on our coast last year.

It Is with feelings of pleasure, that our Lodge and our Masonic Brethren in the Colony notice your appreciation of those services rendered to Bro. De Vries, and we thank you for the expressions of your remembrance of our assistance to oar Brother, conveyed in those Resolutions.

Although we deeply sympathized with the misfortunes of Bro. De Vries, we were but too happy in exemplifying the distinguishing characteristics of a Freemason's heart, "Charity to the poor and penniless," and it will ever be to us a source of grateful remembrance, that we, in a slight measure, contributed to the relief of a distressed Brother.

Your Resolutions hare been duly recorded on our books, and wishing your Lodge, and yourselves individually, every prosperity, believe me, Tours, Fraternally,

I F. Stone, Sec. of Lodge of St. John, No. 712.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION, OCTOBER 1865

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. XXIV, No. 12, October, 1865, Page 366:

Tyrian Lodge, of Gloucester, is one of the oldest Lodges of Freemasons in the county, having been instituted, May 9th, 1770. Its Charter bears the signature of General Joseph Warren, of Bunker Hill fame, then Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Continent of America, and was granted to the following petitioners:—Philip Marnett, Andrew F. Phillips, Andrew Giddings, David Parker, John Fletcher, George Brown, Barnett Harkin, Epes Sargent, Jr. The first meeting of this Lodge was held at the dwelling house of the Widow Sargent, when its organization was perfected. The first list of officers was as follows : —

• Barnett Harkin, W. M.
• George Brown, S. W.
• John Fletcher, J. W.
• Eben Parsons, Treas.
• Epes Sargent, Jr., Secy.

List of Masters; added to section below

During the earlier years of the Lodge its meetings were held at private dwelling houses. Thus, it met at the house of James Prentice from 1770 to 79; house of Andrew Sargent, 1779—81; house of David Plummer, 1781—4; house of Philemon Haskell, 1784—90; house of Nath'l Sargent, 1790—4. In 1794 and 1795, it held its meetings at the Proprietors' School House, (still standing on School street, and occupied as a tenement house,) for which it paid a rental of £3 12s per annum; from 1795 to 1800 it met again at the house of Nathaniel Sargent, and from 1800 to 1805 at the hall of Jonathan Low. In 1805 and 1806 the meetings were again held in Proprietors' School House, and from 1806 to 1834 in Roger's Hall, occupying the present site of James' stable. In 1834, during the great Morgan excitement, the meetings were discontinued, and by vote of the Lodge the Charter was surrendered, but in 1843 it was restored to the Lodge, together with its Records and other property. Its meetings in 1843 and 1844, were held at the Engine house on Church street, afterwards at the Orthodox vestry, again at the Proprietors' School House, and then at Franklin Hall on Front street. From here it moved to Stacy's (since Odd Fellows') Hall, where the meetings were held until it moved into the handsome hall fitted up in Burnham's Building, which was burned in the great fire of 1864. It then met at Odd Fellows' Hall again until the completion of its present elegant hall. The Lodge has numbered among its members many of the prominent men of the town, aud is still a flourishing organization. Since its institution over four hundred persons have been made Masons, or raised, most of whom have been members of the Lodge, and thirty-six persons made members in other Lodges have been admitted to membership. As we have before intimated the influence of the war has been to increase the number of Masons, and this Lodge has apprenticed and raised sixty-six persons since the first of January, 1861.

Tyrian Lodge now numbers one hundred and twenty members. The following is a list of its present officers:—

• John Lloyd, W. M.
• Henry Center, S. W.
• Cyrus Story, J. W.
• S. S. Day, Treas.
• Robert R. Fears, Secy.
• George B. Honnors, S. D.
• E. L. Rowe, J. D.
• John P. Honnors, Tyler.

— Gloucester Telegraph

PRESENTATION, DECEMBER 1867

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. XXVII, No. 5, March 1868, Page 159:

Tyrian Lodge. — Presentation. — We learn from the Gloucester Advertiser that, on the evening of the 31st Dec, the Brethren of Tyrian Lodge, Gloucester, presented their excellent W. Master, Bro. Wm. Babson, with a rich and elegant silver TEA Service. The presentation was made by W. M. Fitz J. Babson, of Acacia Lodge, who briefly stated that the gift was purchased with funds contributed by the brethren, as a testimonial of their esteem and appreciation of the assiduity with which the Worshipful Master had performed the duties incumbent upon the office. The affair had been kept a profound secret by the donors, and the recipient was taken completely by surprise — so much so that he could scarcely control his emotions. In words befitting the time and occasion, he accepted the beautiful testimonial, remarking that he should ever consider it the proudest moment of his life, and trusted that he would ever merit the confidence of the Craft. At the conclusion of the meeting, the brethren adjourned to Logan & Co.'s saloon, where an Oyster supper was partaken of, and an hour spent in a most social and truly fraternal manner.

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PAST MASTERS

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HISTORY

175TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORY, MARCH 1945

From Proceedings, Page 1945-14:

By Right Worshipful Addison G. Brooks.

Adequately to portray the life of an institution during a century and three-quarters is a task beyond the scope of any historian who is so sharply limited in time as the present writer chooses to be.

When I was asked to prepare and deliver the history, which seems to be an inevitable feature of an anniversary program, I was reminded of the many historical papers I have heard read at similar functions and, remembering how hard it was to keep awake to the bitter end, resolved, if it be possible, to compress one hundred and seventy-five years of history into ten or fifteen minutes of high lights which, while they would not pretend to treat the subject with the completeness of our able historian of twenty-five years ago, our late Brother James A. Pringle, might yet succeed in presenting to us a recognizable portrait of our Lodge in the past, present and future.

It is probable that there were on Cape Ann from the earliest days of modern, organized Freemasonry, which dates from 1717 in England, men who were members of Lodges in the Mother Country. Certainly there must have been some soon after 1733, when Viscount Montague, then Grand Master of the Masons of England, gave Henry Price a dispensation to charter Lodges in New England and, in fact, all North America. At that time there were only two Grand Lodges in the world—England and Ireland. Later the Grand Lodge of Scotland was constituted, but our Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts is universally and practically unanimously conceded third place in the precedence of the organized Freemasonry of today.

In 1769 the Earl of Dalhousie, Grand Master Mason of Scotland, gave a dispensation to Dr. http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=GMJsWarren Joseph Warren ]to charter Lodges in part of the same area which Henry Price had encompassed with his St. John's Grand Lodge. Warren lost no time in acting under his dispensation, and the first Lodge he chartered was ours, which was constituted on March 2, 1770, under the jurisdiction,of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge.

It has been said that the St. John's Grand Lodge was of Tory leanings, while the Massachusetts Grand Lodge inclined to the Colonial side. Be that as it may, the roster of the junior Grand Lodge is studded with names of patriots. So it is easy to see why the handful of Free and Accepted Masons in Gloucester elected to petition the Massachusetts Grand Lodge for a charter on February 23, 1770. Apparently there was no probationary period of operating "under dispensation," for on March 2nd of the same year, Tyrian Lodge No. 1 was constituted.

Those of you who have carefully examined the attested copy of the charter which hangs in the East of the lodge-room will have noticed a blank space in the list of petitioners. Brother Pringle mentions seven petitioners. There are, indeed, seven names on the charter, but that blank space originally contained an eighth name, which has always interested me. He who reads may see the other seven, but who was the Brother whose name was erased after the charter was issued?

Our late Brother, Worshipful Edgar S. Taft, stated twenty-five years ago tonight that this mysterious petitioner was one Andrew Van Phillips, who was at that time an Entered Apprentice. What he did to cause his name to be expunged, we shall never know I fear, but the Lodge records show that he visited it once, and he was later expelled from Masonry without having been actually a member of Tyrian Lodge, nor a Master Mason, so far as we know.

Barnett Harkin, a school-master and surveyor, was elected Master; George Brown, Senior Warden; John Fletcher, Junior Warden; and Epes Sargent, Jr., Secretary. Evidently Philip Marett, Andrew Gidding and David Parker had no aspiration to leadership, not being permanent Cape Anners, and Brown and Fletcher, although honored by election as Wardens, never became Master.

The first meeting of the new Lodge was held on March 9, 1770, at the palatial home of the "Widow" Sargent, at the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets, where the Customs House later was erected. The Sargent mansion was then moved up Pleasant Street to the rear of the Customs House, and about fifty years ago, to Liberty Street, where, as "The Block," it still stands!

Worshipful Paul Revere made the officers' jewels and engraved a notice cover which is still used for the Lodge anniversary communication, in addition to signing the original charter as Senior Grand Deacon of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. His name appears again on our charter when, as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, formed by the fusion of the two concurrent Provincial Grand Lodges, he endorsed it.

It is perhaps idle to speculate as to the reason for selecting "Tyrian" as the name of the Lodge, but Gloucester and Tyre were both noted seaports, and Tyrian purple was a famous color. Also, of course, Tyrians play an important part in the ritual. Suffice it to say that it is a fine, dignified name, whether used alone or prefixed by "The."

On that issue there has been much controversy. The Lodge seal,bears the words "Tyrian Lodge, Gloucester, N. E." Revere's notice design says "The TYRIAN Lodge No. 1," but the use of the word "the" before the name was and is still customary among English Lodges. The fact that Revere engraved "the" in small letters, while "Tyrian" is in capitals, seems to me to signify that "Tyrian" was the real name of the Lodge, with "the" as a definite article preceding it according to custom. The charter makes the same distinction. However, I do not wish to resurrect an issue which seems to have been decently buried. By common consent, we speak of our Lodge as "The Tyrian" and we might as well continue to do so, just as we say "The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge."

As many English Lodges do to this day, our Lodge, after moving from the Sargent mansion, met at a succession of Taverns, the first where the Baptist.Church now stands, another on the site of the George Steele house on Middle Street, another where the brick house opposite the Baptist Church now stands, another at the West end of Main Street, opposite what is known as the Puritan House corner. These Tavern occupancies were interspersed with sojourns on School Street in a school house which became known as "Mason's Hall."

For many years the Lodge thus migrated from place to place, among them a location opposite the present Oddfellows' Block, then in that block for a year, then to Burnham's Block, on the site of the W. T. Grant Store. After being burned out there, it went back to the Oddfellows, then back to Burnham's, then to the Gloucester National Bank building, where it was again burned out. After this fire, when again its records and relics were rescued, the Lodge went back to the Oddfellows, then back to the Bank. Finally, in 1895, it moved into the apartments it now occupies, and where it hopes to remain for many years to come.

During the years of Anti-Masonic activity, from 1834 to 1843, the Lodge was in recess, its charter, being held for safekeeping by the Grand Lodge. What might have been a serious situation was averted by the zeal of Right Worshipful William Ferson, and the precedence of the Lodge remains unbroken. Aside from that interlude, the Lodge has had an uninterrupted sequence of communications for one hundred seventy-five years.

In each of the wars in which our Country has engaged, members of our Lodge have participated with distinction. The Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the War with Spain, the First World War, and now this second World War, have drawn the flower of our young manhood into action. A complete roster would be most impressive, but we may content ourselves for the moment with the inspiring thought that, in every crisis, men imbued with the high principles of our Craft have risen to the defense of the institutions they held dearest.

It is interesting also to note how many names written large on the pages of Gloucester history have also been prominent in the affairs of our Lodge. Always it has been true that men with the ability to achieve distinction in the community have found their

high level in Masonic associations. That is certainly to be said of those who wrought the pattern of our community's history. The list of our Past Masters is studded with such names.

Several of these names are also identified with the history of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. Eight of our Past Masters, Right Worshipfuls William Ferson, John S. Johnston, Isaac A. S. Steele, Herbert C. Taft, William Emerson Parsons, William H. Rider, Addison G. Brooks and Harold S. Maddocks, have served as District Deputy Grand Masters. Three, Right Worshipfuls William Ferson, William Babson and Addison G. Brooks, have been elected Senior Grand Warden. One, Right Worshipful and Reverend William H. Rider, was appointed Deputy Grand Master.

It is an interesting commentary on our way of life and the accelerated pace of the present century that of our seventy-four Past Masters, thirty are now living. For the first twenty-five years of its existence, the Lodge had four Masters, each of whom served in that position for six years or more. During its second quarter-century, the Lodge had seven Masters, and five during the third. During the last quarter of its first century, nine Masters served, and ten covered the first twenty-five years of its second century. Then, with the dawn of the nineteenth century, we see a change. During the twenty-five years from 1895 to 1920, the Lodge had seventeen Masters, and during the last quarter-century there have been twenty-four, including our Presiding Master.

Not since 1914 has a Master served more than one term, except for the situation in 1927, when there were no lawfully available line officers and a Past Master, Right Worshipful Harold S. Maddocks, bridged the gap by accepting election.

Does this mean that Masonic interests now command a less proportion of our time than in the old days ? I fear that is the inevitable conclusion. Our lives are far more complex than were the lives of our fathers, in that there are many more outside activities clamoring for a share of our time. Yet a day is still a day, and a week still has only seven days in it. We crowd ourselves with engagements and begrudge the effort necessary to attain maturity in any one field of activity because we are anxious to try something new.

For that reason, is our Fraternity in danger? It has survived for thousands of years, and even today, in remote places where the spirit of the pioneers still lives, it is a nourishing institution. But do the old traditions fail of adaptability to the present-day pace of life in our large cities? Even here in Gloucester—and we are typical—it is hard to fill the benches at our communications.

If Freemasonry were the only institution of unquestioned worth which has so suffered, one might feel with reason that its present state betokens something wrong with its structure or its appeal to men. But the Church itself has been subjected to the very same influences with similar results. We have heard it said that formal religion was an anachronism in the careless, materialistic age which preceded the great War in which we are now engaged.

I prefer to think that it is not the Church nor Freemasonry which has ceased to have force. Religion and the instinct for brotherhood have both been part of man's make-up since man has lived. Yet man has evolved in a series of uneven cyclical changes from the primitive half-brute of the stone age to the so-called cultured citizen of our present-day complex world. And his religion and his manner of living with his fellows have also been subjected to a comparable evolutionary process.

Yet through these changes in creeds and dogmas fundamental religion as we Masons profess it has maintained its integrity. So has Freemasonry survived repeated swings of the pendulum since its birth behind the mists of Time.

When the false and superficial encrustations which tend to grow on our souls during periods of easy irresponsibility are stripped away by an emergency like the present struggle, we find that our fundamental nature is still sound, that we are still capable of seeing things in their true values without distortion. No matter how cynical we have pretended to be, when our emotions are stirred to the depths, we still find God in our hearts.

So it is also with our zeal for brotherhood. As life became more complex, we rather took for granted many things which we once practiced consciously. But are we not today exemplifying the fact that our ideals of brotherhood are still unblurred? Are we not going beyond the primitive instinct for self-preservation in our present desperate struggle to effect a community of interest among all the nations of the World?

So I still have faith, as you should, in the basic soundness of our profession as Masons. I still feel confident that the present era of relative inattention to the operation of our Craft is only a passing phase, and that men will again find comfort and solace in the sort of brotherly contact of which these sterner days must remind them.

Let us look with reverence and admiration at the achievements of those who kept our altars lighted through the vicissitudes of past ages. But let us not be satisfied with reverence and admiration. Let us rather take the achievements of our fathers in the Craft as a challenge to us to build as truly as they did.

Even as we read history, we are inevitably making history in our turn. If we each resolve to live our Masonry, and shape well and square the Ashlers which we fashion, we need not worry about the future. For our sons and their sons will accept the challenge we lay before them and the universal brotherhood we practice will be the golden rule of all mankind.

YEARS

1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1795 1797 1804 1814 1819 1820 1821 1834 1835

charter vacated 1834; restored 1843 In the Pringle History in 1920 Proceedings, the Lodge was reported as returning the Charter to Grand Lodge "for safekeeping" on February 13, 1834.

1843 1844 1865 1881 1884 1886 1891 1892 1895 1901 1907 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1916 1918 1919 1920 1921 1926 1927 1930 1935 1942 1945 1956 1957 1959 1960 1970 1975 1976 1980 1982 1985 1986 1988 1989 1991 1992 1996 2003

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GRAND LODGE OFFICERS

• William Babson, Senior Grand Warden 1882
• M. Don Betts, DDGM, District 9 (Gloucester), 1962, 1963; SN
• Addison G. Brooks, DDGM, District 9 (Gloucester), 1926; District 9 (Gloucester), 1927; Senior Grand Warden 1933
• William Ferson, DDGM, District 2, 1850-1851; Senior Grand Warden 1852
• Weston U. Friend, DDGM, District 9 (Gloucester), 1950, 1951; N
• Ronald J. Gerring, DDGM, District 9 (Gloucester), 1986, 1987
• John S. Johnson, DDGM, District 2, 1853-1856; SN
• Stephen E. Linsky, DDGM, District 9 (Gloucester), 2002; District 10, 2003
• Harold S. Maddocks, DDGM, District 9 (Gloucester), 1938, 1939; N
• William Emerson Parsons, DDGM, District 9 (Gloucester), 1916, 1917; Memorial
• William H. Rider, DDGM, District 9 (Newburyport), 1903, 1904; Grand Chaplain 1902-1909; Deputy Grand Master 1910
• Sumner G. Ropper, DDGM, District 9 (Gloucester), 1974, 1975; N
• Isaac A.S. Steele, DDGM, District 9 (Newburyport), 1895; Memorial
• Herbert C. Taft, DDGM, District 9 (Newburyport), 1890, 1891; Memorial

DISTRICTS

1803: District 2 (Newburyport and North Shore)

1821: District 2

1835: District 2

1849: District 2

1867: District 5 (Salem)

1883: District 9 (Newburyport)

1911: District 9 (Gloucester)

1927: District 9 (Gloucester)

2003: District 10

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LINKS

Tyrian-Ashler-Acacia Lodge web site

Massachusetts Lodges