MassachusettsYear1793
1793
JOHN CUTLER, Grand Master
John Lowell, Deputy Grand Master
Josiah Bartlett, Senior Grand Warden
Mungo Mackay , Junior Grand Warden
Contents
NOTES
In 1793, the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts got down to business.
The roster of lodges, enlarged by four entries in the previous year, added only one this year:|Morning Star Lodge of Worcester, a lodge still extant at present; its first master was Isaiah Thomas, who would be Grand Master only a decade hence. The Lodge was constituted during a special communication of the Grand Lodge in June, 1793; along with a visit to Trinity Lodge in Lancaster, it was an indication of the new Grand Lodge's growing interest in the Craft outside of Boston.
Also notable this year was a set of general instructions for Lodges holding charters under this Grand Lodge, issued on 03/11/1793 and detailed beginning on page II-36:
- There should be four Quarterly Communications, in March, June, September and December;
- Each lodge should provide an annual return of officers and a list of those men made Masons, with a fixed fee (3s) for charity for each new Mason;
- Each lodge should be represented at Grand Lodge by a Master, Wardens or Proxy, and each Proxy should be a member of a Massachusetts Lodge;
- The quarterly fee for each lodge should be $2 (the so-called quarterage);
- Any Brother that "shall so misbehave, so that the Lodge of which he is a member shall expel him, his name, with his crime, shall be transmitted to the Grand Lodge."
- These instructions should be recorded in each Lodge's By-Law book and be read regularly.
At the end of a very successful year, Grand Master Cutler was elected for a third term at the Annual Communication in December.
QUARTERLY COMMUNICATIONS
- 03/11 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-33;
- II-33: Correspondence with George Washington.
- II-35: Acknowledgement of standing of American Union Lodge, Marietta, Ohio.
- II-35ff: Correspondence.
- II-36: Petition for Morning Star Lodge, Worcester.
- II-36: Resolution of instructions to accompany charters; fees and requirements.
- 06/14 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-39;
- II-39ff: Correspondence.
- II-40: Returns of St. John's (Boston) and The Massachusetts Lodges.
- 09/09 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-44;
- II-44: Petition for St. Paul's, Boston; referred to committee.
- II-44: Petition for Inseperable Lodge, Boston (dismissed).
- II-45: Vote to grant 50s. "Legal Money" for printing expenses.
- II-45: Committee to be appointed to "consider the state of the Grand Lodge" and to visit all lodges "they deem necessary"; to report in December.
- II-45: Return of officers of Harmonic Lodge, Boston.
- 12/12 (Concert Hall, Boston): II-48;
SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS
- 06/11 (Worcester): II-42;
- II-42: Constitution of Morning Star Lodge (Rt. Wor. Isaiah Thomas).
- 11/27 (St. John's (Boston)): II-47;
- II-47: Grand Master‘s and Deputy Grand Master‘s addresses; constitutions read.
LIST OF LODGES IN MASSACHUSETTS: 1793
No. | Location | Lodge | Precedence Date | Chartering Body |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Boston | St. John's (Boston) | 07/30/1733 | St. John's Grand Lodge |
2 | Boston | Master's | 01/02/1738 | St. John's Grand Lodge |
3 | Boston | Rising States | 11/30/1752 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
4 | Marblehead | Lodge at Marblehead | 03/25/1760 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
5 | Portland (Me.) | Lodge at Portland | 03/30/1762 | St. John's Grand Lodge |
6 | Newburyport | St. John's (Newburyport) | 07/17/1766 | St. John's Grand Lodge |
7 | Gloucester | The Tyrian | 03/02/1770 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
8 | Boston | The Massachusetts | 05/13/1770 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
9 | Nantucket | Union (Nantucket) | 05/27/1771 | St. John's Grand Lodge |
10 | Newburyport | St. Peter's | 03/06/1773 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
11 | Stockbridge | Berkshire | 03/08/1777 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
12 | Lancaster | Trinity | 02/15/1776 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
13 | Machias (Me.) | Warren | 09/04/1778 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
14 | Ipswich | Unity | 03/09/1779 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
15 | Charlestown | King Solomon's | 09/05/1783 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
16 | Northampton | Hampshire | 01/30/1784 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
17 | Williamstown | Friendship | 07/23/1785 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
18 | Boston | Harmonic | 12/08/1790 | Massachusetts Grand Lodge |
19 | Salem | Essex | 06/11/1792 | Grand Lodge of Massachusetts |
20 | Wiscasset (Me.) | Lincoln | 06/01/1792 | Grand Lodge of Massachusetts |
21 | Hanover | Old Colony | 12/10/1792 | Grand Lodge of Massachusetts |
22 | Blandford | Federal | 12/10/1792 | Grand Lodge of Massachusetts |
23 | Worcester | Morning Star | 06/11/1793 | Grand Lodge of Massachusetts |