MassachusettsHamiltonHistoryCh30
CHAPTER 30: A DIFFICULT PASSAGE
Richard Briggs was unanimously elected Grand Master.
Richard Briggs was born in Dedham August 23, 1829. When sixteen years old he was employed by a firm of crockery dealers in Boston. At twenty-one he became a member of the firm and ten years later became the sole proprietor of the business which he carried on successfully until his death. Bro. Briggs never held any public office. He became a member of Columbian Lodge in 1852. In 1856 he became a Charter member of Revere Lodge, and was its Master in 1862 and 1863. In 1865 he was a Charter member of the Lodge of Eleusis and was its Master in I867 and 1868. Ke served as Junior Grand Warden in 1870. He was elected a Director in 1867 and again in 1891, in both cases resigning in order to take office in the Grand Lodge.
Bro. Briggs' Masonic interests were wide. He was a member of St. Andrew's Chapter, High Priest and Grand High Priest and Grand Treasurer. He was a member of Boston Council and was Knighted in Boston Commandery. Later he became a Charter member, Recorder and Commander of St. Bernard Commandery. He was a member of the Boston Bodies of the Scottish Rite and had been elected to receive the Thirty-third Degree, but owing to the rule of a year's delay between the election to the degree and its conferring, he died before receiving it.
His contemporaries spoke warmly of the charm and beauty of his character, his integrity and uprightness in all the relations of his life, and his meticulous care with which he attended to all the details of every post of responsibility which he ever accepted.
At the March Quarterly an amendment to the Grand Constitutions was introduced to permit Lodges to provide by by-law that the names of candidates be not published on the notices of meetings at which a ballot. The proposition was referred to a Committee of which Past Grand Master Endicott was Chairman. At the June Quarterly the Committee presented a careful and well reasoned report, recommending rejection. It was rejected, although there were a considerable number of votes for acceptance.
At the June Quarterly of 1893 Grand Secretary Nickerson called attention to the fact that notwithstanding the very responsible duties entrusted to them the Directors had no rank or title in Grand Lodge. He introduced an amendment giving them the title of Right Worshipful and assigning them precedence immediately after the Corresponding Grand Secretary, The amendment was unanimously adopted at the September Quarterly. At the June Quarterly of 1893 Grand Secretary Nickerson presented a communication from the Grand Master of Illinois stating proposed arrangements for the preliminary organization of a "Congress of Masons." Certain selected jurisdictions were asked to send representatives to Chicago on August 11, 1893, as a part of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. He moved that the Grand Master be authorized to appoint three delegates to the Congress. After some discussion the motion was lost.
The Congress assembled as called. Representatives of thirty-nine Grand Lodges, American and foreign, were in attendance. The meeting lasted five days, and the Grand Master of Illinois reported. according to the Grand Master of Illinois many questions of importance to the Craft were discussed and conclusions reached. The conclusions, of course, were not binding upon the Grand Lodge represented. No steps were taken to make the Congress permanent or to provide for future meetings.
On Jul£ 29, 1893 Grand Master Briggs died after a very short illness. He was the first and only Grand faster to die in office since the union of 1792. As the law then stood Harvey N. Shepard, the Deputy Grand Master, became Grand Master for the remainder of the year.
Bro. Shepard was born in Boston July 8, 1848. He was educated in the Eliot Grammar School, at Boston, Wesleyan Academy, at Wilbraham, Harvard College and the Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1873 and actively practiced his profession in Boston to the very end of his life. For fourteen years he was a member of the Faculty of the Boston University Law School.
He was always keenly interested in public affairs. He was a member of Boston Common Council in 1878, 1879, and 1880, serving as President the last year. In 1881 and 1882 he was Representative to the state legislature, and from 1883 to 1886, inclusive he was first Assistant Attorney General. He was a member of the first State Forest Commission from 1914 to 1920, the last three years its Chairman. He was a member of the Civil Service Commission of the state from 1914 to 1920, and President of the Civil Service Commission of the United States and Canada in 1916. He was also a Trustee of the Boston Public Library.
He was raised in St. John's Lodge 1873-6-9 and was its Master in 1881 and 1882. He prepared and the Lodge published a history of St. John' s Lodge from 1733 to 1916. He was a member and Past High Priest of St. Andrew's Chapter and a member and Past Master of Boston Council. He was Knighted in Boston Commandery in 1883. Ke was District Deputy Grand faster for the First Masonic District in 1883, 1884, and 1885. He held no other office in Grand Lodge except that of Deputy Grand Master under Grand Master Briggs.
Bro. Shepard's ability ad reliability won him leadership in the Boston bar and many positions of trust. His culture was wide and deep, his human sympathies wide and inclusive, while his courtesy and kindliness were unfailing. He died very suddenly in April 14, 1936.
At the September Quarterly of 1893 the Committee on Grand Master Wells' annual address of December 1892 brought in an important report. The chief item had to do with the question of perpetual control over rejected applicants. An examination of the Article "Initiation of candidates" showed careless work in amendments and at least one contradiction. The Committee recommended a thorough rewriting of the article. This was done and the rewritten article was adopted at the September Quarterly of 1894. The important changes were a provision that a rejected applicant could not apply any where under six months, nor could he apply to any Lodge in this jurisdiction without recommendation from the Master, Wardens, and three members of the rejecting Lodge, (previously a rejected applicant might renew his application at once) and a provision that if the rejected applicant left the state he should be considered a. clandestineMason if he received the degrees in another state without the recommendation aforesaid within seven years of his rejection. In 1895 it was further specified that a recommendation must specify the Lodge to which the applicant was recommended. In 1897 the control over rejected applicants was made a uniform five years both within and without the jurisdiction.
While legislation of this type is very common it is open to one very obvious and rather fundamental criticism. It is really an attempt on the part of our sovereign Grand Lodge to impose its law on other equally sovereign Grand Lodges. Such a condition might well lead, indeed has led, to serious disagreements between Grand Lodges. Our law has . never been changed, but with the coming of the World War to America it was seen that under war-time conditions many disturbing incidents might arise. Grand Master Abbott determined in 1917, as a matter of administrative policy that the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts would recognize whatever was regular where it was done. This wise decision did much to ease the situation. Unfortunately there yet a few Grand Lodges which are not ready to accept the principle involved.
On November 16, 1893, the Grand Lodge joined Star of Bethlehem Lodge in celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. The anniversary was remarkable as definitely marking the end of the persecution period. Star of Bethlehem Lodge was the first Lodge to be constituted in Massachusetts after the persecution had died out.
The December Quarterly of 1893 saw the first assault on the "one man, one Lodge" principle. It was moved to amend the Grand Constitutions so that they should read "No Brothers, excepting members of Lodges under the jurisdiction of this Grand Lodge located in foreign countries, shall be a member of more than one Lodge." The Committee in charge of the proposition very materially improved it by making it read "No Brother shall be a member of more than one Lodge in this Commonwealth." The advantage of such a regulation to our overseas Brethren was stressed and the amendment was unanimously adopted at the following Quarterly.
This, however, was soon realized to be only temporizing with a fundamental proposition. At the March Quarterly of 1901 the Grand Constitutions were amended by striking out the words "be an active member of more than one Lodge in this Commonwealth." That finally disposed of the one man, one Lodge" principle and left the way open for unrestricted plural membership. At that time Virginia was the only other American Grand Lodge which permitted plural membership.
The reports submitted at the December Quarterly of 1893 showed a very healthy condition. In spite of business depression the membership had increased 1251 over that of the preceding year, and the number of initiations had also increased. The Orand Charity Fund in the hands of the Masonic Education and Charity Trust was gratifying, but the days of great growth for that fund had not yet begun.
At the election a very considerable number of votes were cast for M. W. Bro. Shepard for Grand Master, but the election finally went to Otis E. Weld. It is probable that Bro. Shepherd's slight experience in Grand Lodge was the reason for this attitude of the brethren.
Otis Weld was born in Boston May 20, I840. Educated in the Boston public schools he, at an early age, entered the employ of some of his relatives who were in the wine business. He later became a member of the firm and continued with it throughout his life. lie was also a Director of the Third National Bank and of the Boylston Insurance Company.
He was much interested in military matters, being for nearly forty years an active member of the Independent Corps of Cadets and for twenty years of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was a noncommissioned officer in that organization when Governor John A. Andrew called it out to garrison Fort Warren in 1862 when the regular garrison was sent to the front. By virtue of this service he became a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Bro. Weld became a member of the Lodge of Eleusis in 1866 and was its Master in 1872 and 1873. lie was elected a member of the Auditing Committee of the Grand Lodge in December 8, 1874 and held that office five years. In 1879 he was Grand Pursuivant and in 1880 Senior Grand Warden. He was a Director from December 1882 to December 1894. In the collateral branches of Freemasonry he was a member of St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, Boston Council of Royal and Select Masters, and of St. Bernard Commandery, of which, body he was Commander for two years. He was a member of the Scottish Rite Bodies of Boston and an Honorary Member of the Northern Supreme Council.
Failing health compelled him to decline to be considered a candidate after the end of his first year as Grand Master. He died while vainly seeking health in the South on March 17, 1897.
The Committee which presented a memorial of him in Grand Lodge summed up a very warm tribute to his memory by saying "Sympathy and generosity were his prominent characteristics." He delighted in using his ample means in works of benevolence and charity, wherever want, sorrow or distress became known to him. He left a bequest of $20,000 to the Grand Charity Fund, the first large bequest which came to it. For the money value in those days it was a very large sum.
One of Grand Master Weld's first acts was to appoint Rev. (later Dr.) Edward A. Horton Grand Chaplain. Dr. Horton was one of the best and most widely known Unitarian Ministers in the State. A veteran of the Civil War, an eloquent preacher, a leader in the affairs of his denomination and for twenty-five years Chaplain of the Massachusetts Senate, he was in the fore front of Massachusetts affairs. He held the post of Grand Chaplain until his death in 1931.
The year 1894 saw the laying bf the Grand Lodge of a group of non-Masonic corner-stones: the Richards Memorial Library, at North Attleboro, June 16; the Public Library at Nahant, July 23, and the First Universalist Church at Roxbury in October 29, 1894. This was the corner-stone of the second edifice to be used by this parish, the first having been burned shortly before. The corner-stone of the first edifice was laid by Washington Lodge in 1820.
During 1894 Bro. John H. Collamore presented to the Grand Lodge the title clear of two adjacent lots in Mount Hope cemetery to be a Masonic burial lot. The lots contained in the aggregate rather more than 5,500 feet. The use of this property has been a great boon in many ways.
The outstanding sensation of the year was the Masonic fall of Gifford H.G. McGrew. McGrew was a school teacher by profession. Born in Washington, Indiana, in 1851, he was now forty-three years of age. He was a man of fine appearance and ingratiating manners, and soon became very popular in Massachusetts, where he settled about 1883. He affiliated with Social Harmony Lodge in 1883 and was its Master in 1884 and 1885. The next year he was appointed District Deputy Grand Master for the Twenty-seventh Masonic District. On terminating his service there he was appointed Grand Lecturer in 1886 and was still in that office.
At the June Quarterly Grand Secretary Nickerson reported to the Grand Lodge that it had recently come to his knowledge that a new cipher purporting to contain the Massachusetts work had been put in circulation in and about Boston. Only two persons, himself and one other, could have had access to the official ritual sufficiently often and sufficiently long to prepare and print such a cipher. He emphatically declared that he himself had never even thought of such a work until he had come into possession of a copy.
Grand Master Weld was authorized by the Grand Lodge to appoint a Committee of five to investigate the matter and discover the guilty parties. The Committee was given authority to summon witnesses.
The Committee reported at the September Quarterly. The Committee was greatly obstructed by the attitude of witnesses in two particulars. Some witnesses were reluctant, though cognizant of the facts, to have their names associated in any way with so scandalous a case or to be the means of convicting Masonic Brethren however guilty. A more serious difficulty was the plea that their knowledge was imparted to them as a Masonic secret which they were bound to keep. The Committee insisted to these witnesses, and emphasized the point in its report, that no such obligation could be recognized when in conflict with a formal demand from the Grand Lodge. The Committee held, and the Grand Lodge concurred, that when a Brother is summoned to appear before Grand Lodge or by its authority to appear before it or before a Committee, he is under obligation to obey the summons and to answer fairly, fully, and frankly any questions put to him reserving only the constitutional right of appeal with regard to doubtful rights or questions. One witness, MoGrew, admitted that the plea in his case was a mere pretense and another, George H. Earl, was compelled to admit that as used by himself it was a downright falsehood.
The Committee found that when McGrew was Master of Social Harmony Lodge in 1884 and 1885 he used a written cipher, prepared by himself, which he thought he only could read. He had at about the same time prepared two or three ciphers for members of the Lodge. These were full and complete and could be easily read by the Brethren to whom he gave them. McGrew was appointed Grand lecturer in 1888, after serving two years as District Deputy Grand Master. Earl became Master of Social Harmony Lodge in 1888. He claimed that he had had for three years a cipher made by himself and corrected from McGrew's copy. From this he afterward made a copy corrected to date by McGrew, then Grand Lecturer.
From this he had plates made and a thousand copies printed, McGrew correcting the proof. The book was issued in March, 1894, and a few copies were sold, but the interested parties learned that the Grand Officers had found out about it and decided to suspend operations until the matter blew over. Earl declared that he had the books in his possession and intended to sell them. He had put his money into the venture and intended to get it out with a profit.
The cipher, which was absolutely correct, was in three small morocco-bound volumes in a small morocco covered case, and was sold for five dollars a set. McGrew, although a trusted officer of the Grand Lodge and fully aware that he was committing a very severe Masonic offense, assisted in the preparation of the cipher, sold copies himself, furnished Earl with names of prospective purchasers, recommended the cipher, and was probably financially interested in the sale. Earl himself had meanwhile served as a District Deputy Grand Master. The Committee recommended the expulsion of Earl and McGrew.
The respondents were present under summons from the Grand Master and were called upon for their defense. Both were belligerently defiant, McGrew admitted that there was "some trouble" in the statements made with regard to him. Earl admitted responsibility and said that he "expected"' to be expelled, and was prepared to take his medicine." Both Earl and McGrew were expelled. Earl is not again heard from, but not so McGrew.
In 1894 McGrew petitioned for restoration. The petition was referred to Charles T. Gallagher, now a Past Grand Master, George H. Rhodes, and William White, all members of the Committee which had recommended expulsion. The Committee reported that McGrew had been for five years connected with the University of California, at Berkeley, and was permanently settled there. Before leaving Massachusetts he had collected all the copies of the cipher he could lay his hands on and had turned them in, together with the plates, to a Past Grand Master thus, in so far as possible undoing the mischief he had done. A letter from several of the most prominent Masons in California accompanied the petition very strongly urging that it be granted. The Committee recommended restoration. There was a full discussion and as a result the Grand Lodge refused to concur in the recommendation and voted "that the petitioner have leave to withdraw." McGrew and the Grand Lodge of California were informed of the result of his petition.
In 1906 a strong appeal was made through the then Grand Secretary of Massachusetts by one of the Californian endorsers of McGrew's petition to the Grand Master of Massachusetts, then M. W. John Albert Blake, to exercise his prerogative and restore McGrew by edict. The reply, very properly, was that the Grand Master had no power to do what was requested and that the matter had been so recently decided by Grand Lodge that it was neither advisable nor proper to reopen it.
The matter rested there until February, 1912, when the Grand Secretary of Massachusetts learned from the printed proceedings of the Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite that McGrew had been made a Knight Commander of the Court of Honor in that jurisdiction.
Inquiry of the Grand Lodge of California brought the astonishing reply that McGrew had been affiliated with Durant Lodge of Berkeley, on a dimit from Massachusetts. This, of course, was taken from the returns of Durant Lodge to the Grand Secretary of California. Obviously there was something very wrong. Much correspondence followed and two long reports to the Grand Lodge, both drawn by Charles T. Gallagher, who had served on the original Committee on McGrew.
What had happened was this. McGrew, who was a man of attractive personality and pleasing address, had many friends in Berkeley. They were anxious for him to join their Lodge. When McGrew petitioned for restoration and was voted "leave to withdraw", he informed his friends in Durant Lodge of the result. He afterward claimed that he never considered this as anything but a denial of his petition. His Berkeley friends, however, indulged in some "wishful thinking" and interpreted it otherwise. They said that it was a permission to withdraw from Massachusetts and was equivalent to a dimit. They claimed that they were supported in this view by a decision of the Jurisprudence Committee of the Grand Lodge. This was not strictly accurate. They did consult one member of the Jurisprudence who rather casually endorsed their view. He did not consult other members of his Committee: he did not consult the Grand Master: and no such decision was ever reported to the Grand Lodge. On the strength of this alleged opinion Durant Lodge accepted the Massachusetts letter as a dimit, received Mc Grew as an affiliate, and so reported in its annual return.
At first the Grand Lodge of California seemed disposed to support Durant Lodge and for a time it looked as if the fraternal relationship between the two Grand Lodges were in danger of suspension. That, however, was the last thing either Grand Lodge desired. California recognized that the position of Durant Lodge was untenable and Massachusetts had no wish to press matters to extremes.
Mutual concession was made, each party recognizing the facts in the other's statement. Two Past Grand Masters of California, M. W. Edward H. Hart and M. W. William P. Filmer, came to Boston and conferred personally with M. W. Bro. Gallagher then a Past Grand Master. Finally at the December quarterly of 1915 a Committee consisting of Charles T. Gallagher, Edwin B, Holmes, George H. Rhodes, John Albert Blake, and Dana J. Flanders reported recounting the facts and recommending the restoration of McGrew. All the members of the Committee except Rhodes were Past Grand Masters. Rhodes, like Gallagher, had been on the original McGrew Committee. The restoration was voted without opposition. McGrew never knew it. He died that same night, before the news of his restoration reached California.
At the December Quarterly of 1894, Grand Master Weld declined to be considered for reelection, on account of the state of his health. During the year 1894 he had attended only two Quarterly Communications and none of the five Special Communications which were held. A large part of his work fell to his Deputy Grand Master, Edwin B. Holmes, who was elected to succeed him.
Edwin Bradford Holmes traced his ancestry to Thomas Holmes, of Colchester, England, whose son John came to the Plymouth Colony early in its history and is mentioned in its records in 1632, His great-grandfather served with the Revolutionary army for eight years and his grandfather served in the war of 1812. Edwin B. Holmes was born in North Abington, January 3, 1852. He was educated in the local public schools and at Easton's Commercial College in Boston. At the age of eighteen he entered the employ of a wholesale boot and shoe firm as a clerk. Advancing steadily in the business he became a partner and finally, with his son, proprietors of the business. He was for years a Director and Vice President of the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company and a Director of the Boylston Savings Bank. He was the first President both of the Shoe Wholesale Association of New England and of the Shoe Wholesalers Association of the United States.
Bro. Holmes was an extensive traveler, a big game hunter, and a club man, holding membership in a half dozen of the best clubs, social and yachting.
Bro. Holmes' Masonic activities were wide. Becoming a member of Revere Lodge in 1875, he was its Master in 1886 and its Treasurer from 1888 to 1994, inclusive. He served as Deputy Grand Master in 1894 under Grand Master Weld bearing as has already been stated much more of the burden of the Grand Mastership than usually falls to the Deputy. His ability and high standing in Masonry and in business won him the very unusual distinction of election as a Director at the Annual Communication in 1887, when only a year out of the Master's Chair. On his retirement from the Grand Mastership he again became a Director and remained one of the most active and influential members of the Board until his death. He was a Trustee of the Masonic Education and Charity Trust from 1897 until his death in 1924 and its Treasurer after 1911.
He was a member of St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, a member of Boston Council, Royal and Select Masters, a member and Past Commander of De Molay Commandery, and a member of the Scottish Rite bodies in Boston. He was made an Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, 33°, in 1896.
He was a man of enormous energy, and gave attention to the most minute details of every office, business or Masonic, which he undertook. Like all such men he was positive and direct and sometimes gave the impression of being a bit dictatorial, but he always had the interests of Masonry at heart and his great ability was always recognized. He was a man of fine appearance and in private life he was generous, kindly, and approachable.
During 1895 a number of amendments to the Grand Constitution were adopted, only a few of which were of vital importance. One provided that in case of the death of a Grand Master the Deputy Grand Master shall act ex officio as Grand Master until a new Grand Master is elected. Under the old law the Deputy Grand Master in such a case became ex officio Grand Master.
Another provided that "A Brother who has been suspended for nonpayment of dues, may be reinstated by a majority vote provided his dues have been paid or remitted." (In 1918 a further provision was added that if not reinstated he is entitled to a certificate of good standing in the Fraternity. This was added because under the law of 1895 a Lodge by refusing to reinstate a suspended member might keep him under a permanent suspension which amounted to suspension from Masonry, a power which belonged only to the Grand Lodge.) A Brother who has been discharged for non-payment of dues may, by a unanimous vote, be admitted to membership in the same or any other Lodge, provided his dues have been paid or remitted, subject, however to all the formalities usually a tending admission to membership". It was also provided specifically that "Discharge from membership terminates absolutely the Brothers connection with the Lodge."
Another tightened up the regulation regarding release and recommendation of rejected applicants. The request for release must be read in open Lodge and lie over until the next regular Communication, at the close of which the Master should announce his decision. The release and recommendation, signed by the Master, Wardens, and three members of the Lodge, must specify the Lodge which might receive the application of the rejected applicant. It is to be noted that the Lodge does not vote upon the question. There must be opportunity for members to state objections to the Master, but he is not bound to heed them unless he considers them valid.
On September 7, 1895, a fire broke out on the fifth floor of the Temple and destroyed the three upper floors and roof. The lower floors were badly damaged by water. Very fortunately the library, portraits, and records were saved with but little damage by water. The Grand Lodge met on the fourteenth in Odd Fellows Hall. The question of repairs, sale, or replacement of the Temple was referred to the Directors for consideration and report. Temporary quarters were secured just across the street, at 38 Boylston Street.
At a Special Communication on October 16, the Directors reported. For all practical purposes nothing remained but the walls, and their condition was none too good. Building regulations were much more strict then when the Temple was built. If repaired, the entire inside of the building would have to be removed. The Directors recommended sale of the property and were given authority to sell.
It was found impossible to make a sale at any satisfactory price and at the March Quarterly of 1897 it was voted to build a new Temple on the old site. The old building was torn down. About 800,000 old bricks were salvaged, most of them used in the new building. A large part of the granite was sold to the Roman Catholic Church. Part of it went into the construction of an educational and club building for the Mission Church in Roxbury, and the rest was used for St. Hugh's Church, also in Roxbury.
The corner-stone of the new Temple was laid June 8, 1898, and the completed Temple was dedicated December 27, 1899. The cost of the new Temple and contents was $523,221.30. This was met by the insurance on the old Temple, $110,179, and a mortgage of $400,000. and the issuance of short term notes. The indebtedness was steadily, but not rapidly reduced. More prosperous conditions brought increase in means and the debt was finally extinguished in 1928.
Grand Master Holmes was elected Grand Master at the December Quarterly in 1895.
During 1896 three actions of importance were taken by the Grand Lodge. It was ordered that an exemplification of the work and lectures of the several degrees should be held in each Masonic District at least once in every two years. As this required an exemplification of all three degrees on every occasion it was found burdensome and was modified in 1930 to permit the exemplification of less than three degrees at a time. The use of the stereopticon, "or other devices not in general use in the work and lectures of the degrees" was prohibited. The costuming of the officers and assistants in the work was also prohibited.
In May of 1896 the Grand Master received an invitation from the Grand Master of Masons in Hungary to attend or be represented at the consecration of a new end splendid Freemasons' Palace at Buda-Pesht, which was to coincide with the national festival commemorating the one thousandth anniversary of Hungary as a nation. The Grand Master commissioned Rev. R. Perry Bush, R. W. James T. Sherman, and R. W. John L. Eddy to represent the Grand Lodge on that occasion. The delegation duly attended, and Rev. Bro. Bush presented a very interesting report of this experience at the September Quarterly.
At the December Quarterly the Grand Master reported the death of one of Masonry's great benefactors, Bro. John H. Collamore. Bro. Collamore was a man of large means and generous disposition. His life had been eventful, including much travel, in the course of which he accompanied the French army in the war with Austria and witnessed the major battles of Solferino and Magenta. He became a member of Columbian Lodge in 1890, being then in his seventy-fourth year. He quickly became a member of all the other bodies of both the York and Scottish Rites. Although he never held any Masonic office, Masonry was the chief interest of the remaining years of his life. The list of his gifts is too long to recite. They included everything from burial lots, with monuments already erected, to Bibles and small gifts of swords and the like to individuals. At his death he left $20,000 to be held until it grew to $100,000, to the Grand Lodge and legacies to all the Masonic bodies, forty-in number, of which he was an honorary member.
During 1896 clandestine Masonry again reared its head. A considerable number of members of a certain Lodge were members of a clandestine Scottish Rite organization, forbidden by the law enacted in 1882, having taken their degrees subsequent to that time. At the annual election in that Lodge in September, 1896, several of these Brethren were elected to office, although Grand Master Holmes had endeavored by persuasion to prevent it. He, therefore, issued an order forbidding the installation of any officer elected or appointed, who was a member of the spurious body. The order was read in the Lodge and it was voted to postpone indefinitely the installation of officers. This retained in office several of the members of the spurious body, all of whom refused to renounce their connection with it.
Grand Master Holmes then issued an edict declaring the September election null and void, ordering a new election, and declaring the members of the spurious body ineligible to hold any office in the Lodge unless they renounced their spurious connection. The Lodge did not dare to rebel. A new election was held in compliance with the terms of the edict.
At the Annual Communication of 1896 Grand Master Holmes declined to be a candidate for re-election and Charles C. Hutchinson was unanimously elected Grand Master.
Charles Carroll Hutchinson was born in Andover, June 9, 1832, an d was educated in the Lowell Public Schools and at Inland Academy in West Springfield, near Holyoke. His whole active life was spent in banking and allied businesses. He was resident of the Traders and Mechanics Insurance Company and a Director of the Lowell Gas Light Company. He served his city as a member and President of the Commo Council and a Commissioner of the Sinking Fund.
Bro. Hutchinson took his Masonic degrees in Ancient York Lodge in 1854 and was its Master in 1858. The only office he held in the Grand Lodge before he became Grand Master was that of Director, which position he had occupied since 1892.
He was active in all the collateral Masonic bodies. He was an officer of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter, a member and officer in Ahasuerus Council of Royal and Select Masters, and Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar, of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He was a member of the Scottish Rite bodies of Lowell and past head of two of them, and a member of Massachusetts Consistory. He became, an Honorary Member of the Supreme Council in 1875 and an Active Member in 1896, serving for nine years as Deputy for Massachusetts. Personally Grand Master Hutchinson was tall and somewhat imposing in appearance. He was somewhat reserved and at times gave the impression of austerity. Those who were fortunate to penetrate the inner barrier of reserve found him a warm friend, always desirous of giving happiness to those who sought his counsel. He died April 29, 1915, at the age of nearly eighty-three.
The three years of Grand Master Hutchinson's administration were occupied by the building of the present Masonic Temple. To this he gave great care and attention, supervising the work with constant care. The building is in a very real sense his monument.
In 1898 an amendment to the Grand Constitutions shortened the control a Lodge exercised over rejected applicants from seven years to five. At the same time it extended it to cover all Lodges to which the rejected applicant might apply whether in or out of our jurisdiction. This is still the law except in so far as it is modified by the principle later adopted that this Grand Lodge recognizes as regular whatever Masonic acts are regular where they are done. Massachusetts realizes that it cannot legislate for other Grand Lodges. As a matter of Masonic courtesy, the Massachusetts claim is generally recognized by our sister Grand Jurisdictions. 701. At the June Quarterly of 1897 a curious and very mischievous amendment to the Grand Constitutions was proposed in the following terms.
"No one shall be eligible for either of the above named Grand offices (Grand Master, Grand Wardens, Grand Treasurer, and Recording Grand Secretary) unless he has been recommended for the office in writing, by at least ten members of the Grand Lodge, nor unless said recommendation shall have been placed in the hands of the Recording Grand Secretary at least fourteen days prior to the date of the Regular Quarterly Communication in December. The names of all candidates, and the names of the office for which each is recommended, shall be published on the notice for said Quarterly Communication."
The Committee to which the proposal was referred reported recommending rejection and the proposal was rejected by unanimous vote.
At the March Quarterly of 1898 Grand Secretary Nickerson called attention to the sale and use of cipher rituals purporting to be the ritual as used in Massachusetts. He recited the unanimously adopted resolution of December 1894 that any Brother who should print these rituals or cause them to be printed, or buy or sell them or cause them to be bought or sold, or use or circulate them was liable to Grand Lodge punishment, even to the extent of expulsion. This resolution is still in force.
On June 13, 1897, the Grand Master of Peru issued an edict commanding that the Bible be removed from the altars of all Peruvian Lodges and replaced by the "Constitutions of Freemasonry" and that in the ritual the word Bible be deleted and the words "the Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of Peru" be substituted therefor. This edict was ratified by the Grand Lodge of Peru on September 13, 1897. This was certainly a violation of the Landmarks. The volume of Peruvian Masonic law could by no stretch of the imagination be called a Volume of the Sacred Law. The action was in all probability an outgrowth of the perpetual conflict in Latin America between Freemasonry and the Roman Catholic Church, and was intended as an anti-clerical gesture. There have been other such actions by Grand Lodges,but they are always unfortunate. Such an act is really Masonic suicide. Moreover it furnishes a basis for the attack on Masonry as atheistic which is one of the favorite charges of our clerical opponents.
At the June Quarterly of 1898 this Grand Lodge put on record its "strong disapproval" of the action of the Grand Lodge of Peru and terminated fraternal relations with it, forbidding Massachusetts Masons to hold Masonic intercourse with Peruvian Masons.
The action of the Grand Lodge of Peru was so unqualifiedly condemned by other Grand Lodges, especially in Great Britain and the United States, that the Grand Lodge of Peru rescinded its order and elected a new Grand Master who had consistently opposed and denounced the objectionable decree. The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts accordingly, at the March Quarterly of 1899, rescinded its vote and resumed fraternal relations with the Grand Lodge of Peru.
At the September Quarterly of 1892 a request for recognition of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand had been received. At that time a minority of the Lodges in New Zealand had joined the new Grand Lodge, and England had refused recognition. Following its usual custom this Grand Lodge withheld recognition. During the succeeding five years the Lodges in New Zealand, with but few exceptions, had agreed to come into the new Grand Lodge and England had formally recognized it in April, 1897. This Grand Lodge accordingly extended formal recognition at the June Quarterly of 1898.
In his annual address in 1896 Grand Master Holmes had stressed the need of increasing the Grand Charity fund. At the time the fund was not sufficient to produce an income at all commensurate with the demands upon it. The Committee to whom the address was referred thought that the fund might properly be increased by a small annual assessment on our membership and recommended the appointment of a Committee to ascertain how such a proposition would be received throughout the jurisdiction. The recommendation was adopted and the Grand Master appointed a very strong Committee of nine, with Past Grand Master Holmes as Chairman to investigate the matter.
The Committee reported a plan for such an assessment at the September Quarterly of 1898, with a recommendation that the District Deputy Grand Masters take sense of their Lodges with regard to it. The essentials of the plan were (1) an assessment of one dollar per capita for ten years (2) the holding of one quarter of the proceeds for immediate use and the placing of the remainder with the Masonic Education and Charity Trust, and, (3) a provision that Lodges having relief burdens beyond their capacity to bear might apply for help to the Trustees of the Charity Fund. The particulars of the case were to be stated in their application;. the money was to be paid to the Lodge and used under the supervision of the Master. This last provision is in essential accord with the method later adopted by the Board of Masonic Relief and now in use.
This partial report was accepted and the Committee was given more time. The memories of the old capitation tax were too fresh, in some cases too unpleasant. The Brethren had no mind to assume another such tax, even for Masonic Charity. The Committee never made any further report.
At the December Quarterly of 1899 another ill advised proposition to amend the Grand Constitutions was submitted. This would have made all District Deputy Grand Masters Permanent Members of the Grand Lodge. The Committee to whom it was referred were greatly impressed with the importance of their task. At the March Quarterly on 1900 they submitted a report running to thirteen pages of the printed proceedings, recommending rejection. The Committee set forth, somewhat verbosely, an imposing array of arguments against the proposition. A few of the points raised were not entirely convincing, but enough remained,and those the most important, to show clearly the unwisdom of the proposal. It was rejected by a vote or 321 to 23. One wonders a little that even so many could be found to vote for the proposition.
It will be remembered that in some preceding administration the Grand Lodge laid a large number of non-Masonic corner-stones, mostly those of public buildings. Grand Master Holmes laid four in his two years, three being churches. Grand Master Hutchinson in his three years laid six, only one being a church. The Grand Lodge has never refused to lay such corner-stones when requested so to do. The number, however, has continued small. A feeling seems to have grown that it was not consistent to have corner-stones of public buildings laid by a body which represented only a small minority of the population. Such cornerstones are still occasionally laid, but infrequently.
At its Annual meeting of 1899 Charles T. Gallagher was unanimously elected Grand Master.
Charles Theodore Gallagher was born in South Boston May 21, 1851, and spent his whole life in Boston. His father was descended from one of Oliver Cromwell's soldiers, while his mother's ancestors served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. In 1864 he enlisted as a drummer boy in the Union Army and served until the close of the war. Returning home he resumed his studies in the Boston schools, at Harvard University and at the Boston University Law School, receiving his law degree in 1875. Dartmouth College gave him an honorary Master of Arts degree in 1894. On graduating from the law school he at once entered practice and built up a large and successful practice which lasted to the end of his life. His business and social activities were wide and very numerous. He was a Director in numerous commercial organizations, a savings bank, a national bank, two trust companies, a railroad, a life insurance company, and a fire insurance company. The educational, benevolent, and social organizations in which he held prominent place were too numerous to mention in detail. He served the city as a member and President of the School Board and the state as a Senator. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1884. He was a prominent layman in the Unitarian Church. Always from his early youth a wide reader, especially in history and biography, he contributed many interesting papers on these subjects to the proceedings of the Grand Lodge.
One wonders how so many and varied activities could be crowded into a life already occupied by professional duties, but he never accepted any position without giving of his best to its duties and responsibilities.
Raised in St. Paul's Lodge in 1873, he was its Master in 1878. He was Deputy Grand Master in 1899. He was for many years a Commissioner of Trials and had a long service as a member of the Board of Directors. In addition he placed his legal abilities freely at the disposal of the Grand Lodge, and in this ways of the greatest service to it.
He was a member of all the collateral bodies, but held no office in any of them. He became an Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, 33°, in 1900 and an Active Member in 1903. At the time of his death he was Deputy for Massachusetts.
Personally he was one of the most charming of men. Endowed with a keen sense of humor his conversation was always delightful. Busy as he was he had the rare gift of never appearing hurried or preoccupied. He died September 28, 1919.
At the June Quarterly of 1900 an amendment to the Grand Constitutions was proposed which would make Past Grand Treasurers Permanent Members of the Grand Lodge. The Committee to whom the proposal was referred reported adversely at the September Quarterly of 1911. The Committee pointed out that every living Past Grand Treasurer was already a Permanent Member. The qualifications for the office of Grand Treasurer, high integrity, business accuracy, general fitness to handle the finances of the Grand Lodge are quite definite and specific. When a proper man is found he should be kept in office as long as possible. To make Past Grand Treasurers Permanent Members would have a tendency to shorten the term of office and to cause competition among those lured by the prospect of Permanent Membership which might cause unfortunate choices. Any extension of the Permanent Membership should only be made for the very strongest reasons: the voting preponderance of the Lodge representation should not be disturbed. The Grand Treasurer receives a salary, very small, indeed, but yet a salary. It was of very doubtful expediency to attach the perquisite of Permanent Membership to any salaried office. (This objection could have been met easily enough, but the others were fundamental.) The proposal was unanimously rejected.
At the December Quarterly of 1900 the Trial Commissioners reported on charges which had been preferred against a member of Monitor Lodge and sent up for trial. The Trial Commissioners encountered a legal difficulty. The constitutional requirement for ex parte trials was that residence of the respondent should be out of the Commonwealth and unknown. It was not known whether the respondent, whose residence was unknown was in the Commonwealth or not. The Commissioners doubted their right to try the case ex parte and remanded it to the Lodge to amend the indictment if possible, or to deal with the respondent by suspension or discharge from the Lodge. A member of the Commission introduced an amendment striking out the words "out of the Commonwealth and", so that the provision would read simply "if the residence of tho accused be unknown." The amendment was adopted in due time, and this curious loop-hole was closed for the future.
At the December Quarterly of 1900 Grand Master Gallagher was unanimously re-elected. John Carr, who had been Grand Treasurer for thirteen years, declined re-election and was elected Senior Grand Warden. Charles H. Ramsay was elected Grand Treasurer and still holds the office.
At the Quarterly Communication in March, 1901, an appeal was presented from a ruling of the Grand Master. It appeared that a certain Lodge had elected a Junior Warden and a Treasurer, both of whom were members of a so-called Masonic body which was not one of those recognized by the Grand Lodge, and were active in soliciting for it. They could not plead ignorance of the statute because it had been posted in the ante-room of the Lodge. Learning of the situation, the Grand Master sent to the installing officer renunciations for the signature of the Junior Warden and Treasurer elect. They refused to sign and the Grand Master forbade their installation. The other officers were duly installed. The Grand Master declared the offices of Junior Warden and Treasurer vacant and ordered new elections. Their places were filled by two unimpeachable Brothers.
This was the action against which the appeal was made. The Grand Master made a full statement of the case to the Grand Lodge and it was unanimously voted that his action be approved and the appellants have leave to withdraw. This matter was an incident of a vexatious spurt of activity on the part of the Cerneau bodies of the Scottish Rite. This Cerneau Scottish Rite was quite spurious and was not one of the groups which the Grand Lodge had recognized in the legislation of 1882. The matter very soon came up again in a much more serious form.
At the Quarterly Communication in September, 1901, a petition was submitted asking the repeal of the 1882 legislation. The petition was signed by thirty-one Past Masters and one Presiding Master. All but three of them were members of Lodges in Boston or the immediate vicinity.
The Grand Master said the petition had just been brought to his attention and that if on examination he found it a proper subject to come before the Grand Lodge and in proper form, he would see that it received due consideration. The Grand Master had some doubts as to its being in proper form, as to its being properly presented , and as to the character of the matter contained in it. Desiring, however, to maintain an attitude of entire fairness, he waived any possible informalities and referred it to a Committee.
At the March Quarterly of 1902, the Committee presented a report drawn by its Chairman, R.W. Thomas W. Davis. The report is a very full and elaborate one, running to thirty-seven pages of the printed proceedings. The reasons for the repeal as set forth in the petition were practically the same as the arguments presented in opposition when the legislation of 1882 was before the Grand Lodge. As admitted before the Committee by counsel for the petitioners the real question at issue was the power of the Grand Lodge to pass the legislation in question. The petitioners urged, as had the objectors before them, that the whole thing was ultra vires of the Grand Lodge, which was legislating on matters over which it had no rights of control.
The Committee held a hearing at which the petitioners were heard in person and by counsel. After the hearing a pamphlet was prepared in support of the petition and was sent generally to the members of the Grand Lodge. This pamphlet contained matters which were not presented at the hearing. Moreover it contained garbled quotations 709. and statements which were entirely false.
The report of the Committee, which is very fully documented, goes over the ground in great detail. It concludes that the legislation in question was entirely within the powers of the Grand Lodge, and recommends that the petitioners have leave to withdraw. The report was accepted and the recommendation unanimously adopted. Grand Master Gallagher was one of the mildest and most courteous of men, but on occasions he was capable of very vigorous expression. After announcing the vote he administered to the petitioners the most terrible castigation which was ever pronounced from the East of this Grand Lodge. In calm accents and measured words he denounced an attack upon the Grand Secretary for his handling of the petition, contained as being "as unkind as it is uncalled for." After calling attention to the entire fairness with which the petitioners had been treated, even to the appointment of a Committee no member of which had ever taken any Scottish Rite degrees of any kind, he went on to say:
"No one will question the right of any number of Brethren to express themselves verbally, in writing, or by circulars, or any subject before the Grand Lodge. But when after being fully heard personally and by counsel before the Committee, there is sent through the mail to individual members of the Grand Lodge a document containing statements so incorrect and misleading as appear in the circular sent by some of the petitioners, a decent respect for the dignity of the Grand Lodge requires that I should notice it."
Referring to a refusal to allow installation, hereinbefore discussed, the circular stated "Neither their petition nor their appeal to the Grand Master being even read to the Grand Lodge that the case might be judged impartially." Concerning which the Grand master said that two of the signers of the circular were present when the petition and appeal were read, considered, and voted upon by the Grand Lodge, and said "to send such a statement, not only untrue and misleading, but tending to bring the Grand Lodge and its methods into disrepute, can only be characterized as reprehensible conduct . . ." A further statement in the circular was "We are most positive, the Grand Master's statement to the contrary notwithstanding, that this is the first case where a Brother Mason belonging to the Rite with which it is said that these Brothers are affiliated, has been refused installation for refusing to violate that obligation."
As a matter of fact the regulations sought to be repealed had for years been read in every Lodge prior to installations and the Grand Secretary's office held dozens of renunciations filed as a prerequisite to installation. In fact one of the signers of the circular himself signed such a renunciation in order to be installed as a Warden in his Lodge. The Grand Master closed by saying:
"When a circular is sent containing such willful misstatements, of which the signers could not have been ignorant I feel that the Grand Lodge and its integrity have been attacked and . . . I want to express my utter condemnation of the apparent attempt on the part of some of the petitioners to mislead the members of the Grand Lodge, as they have in their circular, not only by misstatement of fact by garbled and incorrect quotations of Masonic authorities."
At the June Quarterly of 1901 a petition was received from Concordia Lodge of Fairhaven to change its name to George H. Taber, and the petition was granted. The circumstance is noteworthy because it is the only case since 1783 of a Lodge changing its name and the only case since the administration of Grand Master Gardner of naming a Lodge for a living person.
George H. Taber was a very colorful person, and typical of the locality. Born in Fairhaven, a suburb of New Bedford, in 1808, his American ancestry ran back to 1634. One of his choicest possessions was the deed, dated November 28, 1682, by which John Cook, the last male survivor of the Mayflower passengerss conveyed the property on which Taber lived all his life, to a purchaser. The deed also bore the signature of John Alden. After such sketchy education as the local schools furnished Taber went to work at sixteen in a dry goods store. The next year he went to sea on a whaling ship. On his return he changed to the merchant marine and he commanded a brig. He sailed the seven seas as a merchant captain for ten years, without a single disaster at sea. Retiring at the age of thirty-four he immediately became prominent in town affairs. For many years he was a Trustee, and later President, of the Fairhaven Institution for savings. For many years he was a Justice of the Peace and was in great demand for marrying people. Enjoying to a marked degree the confidence of the community he had large experience in the probate of wills and the settlement of estates.
He became a Mason in Star in the East Lodge, of New Bedford, was its Master in 1855 and 1B56, and District Deputy Grand Master for the Seventh Masonic District in 1857, 1858, and 1859 throughout the administration of Grand Master Heard. Grand Master Dame appointed him District Deputy Grand Master for the then Fourteenth Masonic District in 1866 but he held that office only one year, being elected Junior Grand Warden at the end of that year. Bro. Taber was one of the petitioners for the Dispensation for Concordia Lodge in 1872 and was made an honorary member in 1874. This did not mean any loss of active interest on the part of Bro. Taber. His helpful activity in the Lodge lasted throughout his life.
Mr, Henry H. Rogers, a wealthy Standard Oil magnate, and a notable benefactor of Fairhaven, was much interested in the Lodge and particularly in Bro. Taber. He gave a building to the Lodge, indicating that it would please him if the Lodge would change its name in honor of his old friend. Doubtless this suggestion was not without influence on the prompt action of the Lodge and of the Grand Lodge.
Throughout Bro. Taber's long life he had enjoyed exceptional health. Unfortunately he presumed upon it too far. A few weeks after the ceremony attending the change of name, he traveled all alone to Philadelphia in order to pass his ninety-third birthday with his son. A cold contracted on the journey brought on serious complications and he died a few weeks later.
At the September Communication of 1902 two Brethren were expelled from all the rights and privileges of Masonry for selling degrees in a clandestine Lodge. It appeared that a group of men had started a Lodge called "Ancient Landmark No. 1,", claiming authority from an alleged Grand Lodge in Ohio. This so-called Grand Lodge was not recognized by any regular Grand Lodge in the world. Even if it had any claim to regularity it would have had no right to establish a Lodge in Massachusetts. This spurious Lodge was actively soliciting applications, selling its degrees for the sum of fifteen dollars, and assuring suspicious prospects that if admitted they could visit any Masonic Lodge in the world. Sometimes the proviso was attached to the premise that visitation was allowed only if they proved themselves regular Masons. To the applicant, of course, this was quite meaningless. The whole thing was a money making scheme, but unfortunately it met with some success.
