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NORTH STAR LODGE

Location: Ashland

Chartered By: William Parkman

Charter Date: 06/14/1865 VII-13

Precedence Date: 07/25/1864

Current Status: Active


PAST MASTERS

  • George F. Seaver, 1864-1867
  • Lecero J. Gibbs, 1870
  • James Henry Dadmun, 1868, 1869, 1871, 1872
  • S. Augustus Cole, 1873
  • Henry D. Marsh, 1874-1876
  • Channing F. Grout, 1877-1879
  • G. Henry Hooker, 1880, 1881
  • William F. Merritt, 1882-1884, 1887
  • Granville C. Fiske, 1885, 1886; Mem
  • Herbert A. Chandler, 1888, 1889
  • John H. Balcom, 1890, 1891; SN
  • William J. Dix, 1892, 1893, 1894
  • Charles F. Whithed, 1895, 1896
  • Willie B. Pike, 1897, 1898
  • Arthur A. Metcalf, 1899, 1900
  • Arthur W. Brooks, 1901, 1902
  • Victor V. Thompson, 1903, 1904
  • Estes R. Carpenter, 1905
  • James C. Metcalf, 1906, 1907
  • John Hodsdon, 1908
  • Walter G. Whittemore, 1909, 1910
  • C. Edwin Dearborn, 1911, 1912
  • Clarence E. Greenwood, 1913, 1914
  • Errol W. Fiske, 1915, 1916
  • Arthur H. Hogan, 1917, 1918; N
  • Ralph D. Harriman, 1919, 1920
  • George Morrison, 1921, 1922; N
  • Henry C. Burnham, 1923, 1924
  • William L. Logan, 1925, 1926
  • Frederick Williamson, 1927, 1928
  • Charles Arthur Davis, 1929, 1930
  • George E. Gipps, 1931, 1932
  • Nathaniel P. Sears, 1933, 1934
  • Eugene R. Edson, 1935, 1936
  • Alfred H. Williamson, 1937, 1938
  • Charles A. Bussell, 1939, 1940
  • William Smith, 1941, 1942
  • Herman W. W. Gast, 1943, 1944
  • P. Winston E. Gouzoules, 1945, 1946, N
  • Kenneth M. Foote, 1947
  • Frank M. Herland, 1948
  • Leonard E. Bees, 1949
  • Edward W. Jamison, 1950
  • Elba D. Wilder, Jr., 1951
  • Claude K. Kniskern, 1952
  • Paul E. Matson, 1953
  • Ralph L. Dyer, 1954
  • George P. Lentros, 1955
  • William S. Middlehurst, 1956
  • Cecil L. Stiffler, 1957
  • Garabed Hovhanesian, 1958
  • Charles A. Rund, 1959
  • Elmer R. Trenholm, 1960
  • Colby B. Scott, 1961
  • Richard M. Moulton, 1962
  • Willis J. Rice, 1963
  • William A. Reynolds, 1964
  • Charles W. Smith, 1965
  • Ernest F. Croy, 1966, 1967
  • William A. Trenholm, 1968
  • Edmund J. Outhouse, 1969
  • James S. Wilson, 1970
  • John G. Peterson, Jr., 1971
  • Richard D. Foote, 1972
  • George E. Leavitt, 1973
  • Curtis E. Crosby, 1974, 1975
  • Dante S. DeFazio, 1976
  • Michael P. Flynn, 1977
  • Edward V. Hicks, Sr., 1978
  • Robert P. Winterhalter, 1979, 2001; N
  • Earle H. Fletcher, Jr., 1981
  • Jeffrey T. Powers, 1984
  • Elbert L. Gray, 1985
  • Eliot A. Tanner, 1986
  • Charles A. Holman, 1987
  • Allen P. Newcomb, 1988, 1991
  • Edmund J. Nolan, Sr., 1989
  • Maurice C. B. von Fettweis, II, 1990
  • Gene B. Reid, 1992, 1993
  • John C. Powers, 1994, 1999, 2000
  • Scott C. Ramgoolam, 1995-1998
  • M. Scott Sullivan, 2002, 2003, 2007
  • Fernando M. Castro, 2004
  • Horace E. Fader, 2005
  • Helvio N. Correa, 2006
  • Fernando M. Castro, 2008-2011
  • Adriano M. A. Pimenta, 2012

REFERENCES IN GRAND LODGE PROCEEDINGS

  • Petition for Dispensation: 1864
  • Petition for Charter: 1865

ANNIVERSARIES

  • 1939 (75th Anniversary)
  • 1964 (Centenary)

VISITS BY GRAND MASTER

BY-LAW CHANGES

1869 1870 1873 1874 1881 1883 1885 1905 1907 1911 1913 1914 1918 1921 1923 1927 1943 1945 1949 1950 1953 1957 1965 1969 1971 1974 1978 1980 1982 1990 1993

HISTORY

  • 1939 (75th Anniversary History, 1939-258; see below)
  • 1964 (Centenary History, 1964-141; see below)

75TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORY, JUNE 1939

From Proceedings, Page 1939-258:

Favorable consideration having been given to a petition to the Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts for a Dispensation to form a lodge of Masons in Ashland, on August 15, 1364, a group of Masons living in that town, then a township less than twenty years old, having been incorporated in 1846, met under Dispensation issued on July 25, 1864 by Grand Master William Parkman in what is now known as the Ray Building for the purpose of forming a Masonic Lodge in Ashland.

The Dispensation was read and North Star Lodge, A.F.& A.M. was organized with Brother Eliab Holbrook, of Middlesex Lodge, of Framingham, appointed under the Dispensation as Master, Brother J. C. King as Senior Warden and Brother Josiah Balcom as Junior Warden, the Master making the following appointments — Bro. John Clark, Treasurer; Bro. Ezra Morse, Secretary; Bro. George F. Seaver, Senior Deacon; Bro. W. Henry Seaver, Junior Deacon; Bro. William Wheelock, Senior Steward; Bro. George A. Downs, Junior Steward; Bro. Benjamin H. Hartshorn, Tyler; Rev. Bro. A. H. Courier, Chaplain; Bro. Charles H. Tilton, Marshal. Nine petitions were presented for the Degrees in Masonry and referred to committees for investigation.

The matter of furnishings for the hall was the next business in order and seventy-eight dollars was raised by subscriptions; the Lodge voted to appropriate the sum of two hundred dollars and Dr. Rogers was appointed a committee to raise two hundred dollars more to further defray this expense.

Nineteen applications were accepted while working under the Dispensation, and on November 22, 1864, the first three candidates were raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason, Brothers Silas Bates, Horace Stevens, and Warren Blackman, with visitors present from Middlesex Lodge at Framingham and Meridian Lodge, of Natick.

During those stirring times men were enlisting and going away to the front and in the early months of 1865 three applications were voted on and the candidates immediately Entered, Passed, and Raised under special dispensation by the Grand Master.

On February 27, 1865, the Master under the Dispensation having other interests which interfered with his conduct of the Lodge, resigned at the request of the Brothers of North Star Lodge and Bro. George F. Seaver then acting as Senior Deacon was appointed by the Grand Master to act as Master under the Dispensation.

At the regular communication on May 15, 1865, the Lodge received word of the death of Bro. Horace Stevens, which occurred on May 13, 1865, his petition for the degrees in Masonry being the first to be read in the Lodge and he being one of the first three candidates to be raised in North Star Lodge.

At the first election of officers of the Lodge held on June 5, 1865, Bro. George F. Seaver was elected Master, Bro. Josiah A. Balcom, Senior Warden; Bro. W. Henry Seaver, Junior Warden; Bro. Alvah Metcalf, Treasurer; and Bro. Silas Piper, Secretary.

Ir was voted "That the Master Elect wait upon the Most Worshipful Grand Master to ascertain the time most convenient to him for the Constitution Ceremonies." It was also voted "That June 21, 1865, be the date if agreeable to the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, the ceremonies to start at ten o'clock in the morning."

Unfortunately there is no record of this event other than the report of Grand Master William Parkman which states on page 36, Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts 1863 to 1868, under Charters Issued, "June 14, 1865, North Star Lodge, Ashland. Consecrated the Lodge June 14, 1865, and publicly installed the officers in the presence of a large audience of ladies and gentlemen." (Note: A description appears later on this page from Moore's Freemason's Monthly.)

The Lodge was then in the Sixth Masonic District, composed of fourteen Lodges and extending from Natick to Warren and Ware and from Clinton to Southbridge, no mean territory for a person to cover in those horse and buggy days. District Deputy Grand Master James Dadmun in his report for the year 1865 stated that North Star Lodge was under "Dispensation."

On May 7, 1866, Bro. W. Henry Seaver presented to the Lodge a beautiful copy of the Holy Bible, the Great Light in Masonry, which was upon the altar of the Lodge until the Lodge moved into its new quarters in 1888, and on June 18, 1888, Bro. Alvah Metcalf presented to the Lodge the altar which is still a part of the furniture of our Lodge-room.

A notable occasion for North Star Lodge was the first official visitation of Rt. Wor. A. A. Burditt, District Deputy Grand Master for the Sixth Masonic District, on November 5, 1866, as this visit completed the full round of the ceremony of recognition by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge. The ladies of Masons in Ashland very early in the life of the lodge endeared themselves to the members when on June 17, 1867, Mrs. Mary V. Houghton, for them, presented to the Lodge a beautiful banner to be borne by the Lodge in the Masonic Procession at the Dedication of the Masonic Temple in Boston on June 24, 1867.

In the early days of the Lodge trials of two Brothers for conduct unbecoming to a Mason were held resulting in one Brother pleading guilty to the charge and being suspended by the Lodge and the other Brother after lengthy hearings and appeal to the Grand Lodge on the evidence submitted being acquitted by said body because of insufficient evidence, this trial having hinged around a horse trade and bankruptcy proceedings.

After its constitution ceremonies the first public installation of the officers of the Lodge took place on December 16, 1867, with Rt. Wor. A. A. Burditt, D.D.G. Master for the Sixth Masonic District as the Installing Master when Wor. James H. Dadmun was installed as Master for the first time for the year 1868. He succeeded himself as Master in 1869 and was again elected Master for the year 1870.

During his first term as Master the Lodge was invited to assist, on August 3, 1868, at the laying of the cornerstone of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Ashland; the Consecrating Cups used at this ceremony afterward being presented to North Star Lodge by Bro. Charles Alden as mementos of the occasion. The dedication address was delivered by Rev. Bro. L. W. F. Barnes, of Lynn, Mass.

This ceremony which of course had a bearing on the religious and civic life of our townspeople was followed on June 24, 1870, by the consecration service of Wildwood Cemetery in which the Lodge was privileged to participate and which opened to the people of Ashland as a last resting place for their beloved ones that beautiful natural spot in the southeast section of our village, nestling on the hillside which overlooks the Sudbury River basin.

The next event which comes to our attention as affecting our Masonic Brethren was that holocaust "The Great Chicago Fire" in 1871 and it is recorded that the Brothers of North Star Lodge sent a contribution to help the Lodges of Chicago burned out by the fire.

When in 1875 the quarters of Ashland Lodge, I. O. O. F. were damaged by fire, North Star Lodge tendered to them the use of its hall, which tender was gratefully accepted and was followed in 1876 by a lease being given for the use of the hall.

A rather unusual incident occurred in April, 1876, which not only sets forth the uncertainty of human life but which also shows the Masonic spirit and the broad mantle of brotherly love existing among all good Masons. Brother L. H. Kingsbury, a member of Norfolk Lodge, Needham, applied for membership in North Star Lodge but before the next regular communication of the Lodge the Brother passed away. The Masonic Burial Service was performed by the Lodge and at its regular communication the committee reported in full and favorable and "It was voted to place his name on our rolls."

Transportation facilities in those days were not so free and easy as to-day with our automobiles and when burials were to be held at a distance arrangements of time and travel had to depend on train schedules or the old horse and buggy, so when the burial was to be held in Hayden Row, of our Brother William Wheelock, it was voted to charter a train at a cost of twenty-five dollars from Ashland, to stop at the Center Station in Hopkinton to take on any wishing to attend the service at the cemetery in Hayden Row.

With Wor. Channing F. Grout as Master, the Lodge voted on September 9, 1878, after the reading of a report submitted by a committee consisting of Brothers William F. Merritt, M. S. Jones, and J. Newton Pike to establish the "Charity Fund of North Star Lodge and to adopt the rules for governing the same." The farsightedness of the Brothers of those early times has been on many occasions greatly appreciated bv the Lodge and we are glad to state that our Charity Fund is in good hands and well preserved after the many calls made on it through the years to render help and assistance to worthy Brothers.

Among the items of interest on display about the Lodge-room at this time you may be interested to examine the set of Working Tools made by Bros. Herbert A. Chandler and William F. Merritt and presented to the Lodge on December 9, 1878,— sixty-one years ago last December, — each of these brothers later becoming Master of North Star Lodge and serving its interests through a long series of years.

On June 6, 1881, it was voted to grant the use of the Lodge-room for the purpose of forming a Chapter of the Eastern Star and on August 8, 1881, it was voted to rent the hall to the Eastern Star Chapter for the sum of fifty cents per night and that the Chapter pay the extra expense to the Tyler for keeping the lamps and hall in order and I am happy to record at this time that the relations existing between North Star Lodge and Olive Branch Chapter No. 12, O. E. S., have been most friendly and cordial through all the years.

A committee was appointed by Wor. William F. Merritt, Master, on June 26, 1882, to confer with Mr. Abner Greenwood illative to securing a hall in his new building. This Committee reported on December 8, 1882, and was authorized to hire the hall if satisfactory arrangements could be made. On May 21, 1883, they reported that the hall, our present quarters, had been hired in the Greenwood Building at forty-seven dollars and fifty cents per quarter. The report was accepted and the same committee appointed to attend to "the whole matter of fitting and furnishing the same ready for use" and on August 15, 1883, it was voted "to dedicate the new hall."

hollowing this decision and at the time of the Dedication ceremonies many gifts in items of furniture were received by the Lodge. First at the regular communication in September, 1883, was the beautiful clock which hangs on the north wall of our Lodge-room, the gift of Brother William B. Callender. This clock has since been electrified, the work being a gift of our late Brother Albert J. Frank.

At the Dedication ceremony on September 20, 1883 the Lodge was honored by the large delegation of Grand Officers present and graciously received by Worshipful Master Merritt after being introduced by Most Worshipful Samuel C. Lawrence, Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts. Those accompanying the Grand Master as members of his suite were:

On this occasion two gifts were received from Olive Branch Chapter No. 12, O. E. S., the Book of the Sacred Law now on our altar, and a kerosene lamp chandelier for the center of the hall. An ice pitcher the gift of lady friends of Masons is on display-here this evening and a gavel, the gift of his family in memory of Wor. Brother S. Augustus Cole, Master in 1873 and 74, were also presented to the Lodge at this time.

Closely following this occasion was a surprise visit on November 12, 1883, by M. W. Grand Master Lawrence who spoke to the Lodge relative to "Commuting the Grand Lodge Tax" and it was then and there voted to Commute the Tax and from the reading of our records the writer gathers that the Lodge assumed its portion of the tax agreeing to pay the same over a period of years.

During this same year, 1883, the Lodge held a Masonic Fair for the purpose of raising funds for furnishing the new hall, the report of the fair committee showing total receipts of $905.07 which were applied as follows—Expenses in Hall $789.94, Donation to Charity Fund $100.00, Balance to Lodge treasury $15.13 and needless to say the Lodge was most pleased to be in its new quarters with all expenses paid. Thanks and appreciation by the Master were extended to all who had so graciously helped in carrying through the now accomplished change.

The next event to be recorded here is singular in a way as it has a direct bearing on this occasion and will particularly interest one of our official guests, is the first official visit on September 26, 1887, of Rt. Wor. D. D .G. M. Clark P. Harding, the father of our present D. D. G. M., Rt. Wor. Edward A. Harding. We are certainly pleased on this occasion to welcome him as a friend and Brother, a guest and in the same official capacity as his forbear, and the writer is convinced that through his perusal of the wonderful Scrap-Book kept by his father he keeps himself up to the times as to important Masonic events of long ago.

Then in 1889 the Lodge was twenty-five years old which event they voted to observe but three months later for reasons best known to those who have gone beyond, decided to rescind the vote.

On September 22, 1890, a set of officers' aprons was presented by Wor. William F. Merritt to the Lodge in behalf of Bro. Willis B. Temple, followed on November 24, 1890, by the Rough and Perfect Ashlers, a gift of Bro. Albert W. Fames, which are still a part of the furniture of the Lodge; then along came electricity to our parts and it was voted to light the hall by such means in March 1892.

The Lodge voted on April 24, 1893, to purchase a set of Working Tools which are still used by the officers in the degree work of the Lodge. During this year the Lodge was honored by the first official visit of the first D. D. G. Master to be appointed from North Star Lodge, Rt. Wor. John E. Balcom, and his Marshal, Wor. Channing F. Grout, Past Master of North Star Lodge, also by a fraternal visit of M.W. Harvey M. Shepard, (Acting) Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts.

In 1894 it was voted to hold a joint picnic with Olive Branch Chapter, No. 12, O. E. S., which turned out to be an excursion, but a good time was had by all and it netted each body the sum of $5.37½.

On August 5, 1895, an application for the degrees in Masonry was received by the Lodge from our oldest living Past Master, Wor. Arthur Webster Brooks, who became Master of North Star Lodge in 1901 and again in 1902; and on February 17, 1902, the oldest living Brother in our lodge to-day, Brother Charles T. Dearborn, then fifty years of age, presented his application to the Lodge, perhaps feeling quite kippy, as they say, just after celebrating his twenty-second wedding anniversary.

Affairs with the Lodge went along quite smoothly through the years, the Lodge even going so far at one time as to have a collation of oysters "with all the impertinances" [sic] at a visitation of a D. D. G. M.; on December 2, 1907, appropriate recognition was given the 500th Regular Communication of the Lodge and in 1909 the Lodge accepted the invitation of Rev. Clarence Pike, Pastor of the First Congregational Church of Ashland, to attend divine worship in observance of St. John's Day which the Lodge has continued annually during the past thirty years. In 1911 the quarters of the Lodge were redecorated, new light fixtures put in and the furniture re-upholstered and a few years later a new carpet was laid.

North Star Lodge was again honored in December 1913 by the appointment of another of its members as D. D. G. Master and on May 5, 1914, Rt. Wor. Granville Clarke Fiske, D. D. G. M. for the Twenty-third Masonic District paid his first official visit to the Lodge and on his second official visit he was received by his son Wor. Errol W. Fiske, whom he had only a short time before installed as Master.

Still another Masonic occasion in the life of this family was in 1916, when Rt. Wor. Bro. Fiske in the East of North Star Lodge, of which one son was the Master and another since passed beyond, Bro. Alden C. Fiske, was the Secretary, raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason his grandson Claude Granville Prouty.

On January 15, 1917, our good friend and Brother Wor. Channing F. Grout was presented the Henry Price medal, he having gained the honorable distinction of being for fifty years a Mason.

The official visitation of Rt. Wor. Sands S. Woodbury on November II, 1918, must still be a vivid memory to many here to-night. A person of virile manhood, beloved by his Brother Masons, gone now to his heavenly home, but the memory of him will always be there fresh in our minds when we bring to mind on this date the signing of the Armistice which ended the World War.

Again on May 29, 1919, another Brother of North Star Lodge reached that fifty-year mile stone and Brother Samuel A. Baker, whom many of us had never before seen in our Lodge was presented a Henry Price medal, while near the end of that year the Lodge was saddened by the death of its last Charter Member, Brother Ezra Morse, also a wearer of the Henry Price medal, and its first secretary.

In June of the following year the Lodge voted not to accept the demand of the Framingham Investment Co. then owners of this building, for a large increase in rent, also voting to accept the proposal of Ashland Lodge, I. O. O. F., and to move to their quarters before July 1, 1920, where for the next three years the Lodge and Olive Branch Chapter carried on their separate affairs along with those of the Odd Fellows and the Rebeccas.

In April, 1922, a Building Fund was started by a gift of $50 under the will of Mrs. Agnes Hodsdon, widow of Wor. John Hodsdon, Master of North Star Lodge in 1808, and on February 5, 1923, the Building Committee reported that they had paid $100 as an option on the Greenwood Block at a purchase price of $9540. The action of the committee was confirmed by the Lodge and the committee "authorized to purchase the block and to act for the Lodge in all matters pertaining to the operating and repairing of the building and that they report to the Lodge when said purchase has been completed and a clear title obtained." Thus North Star Lodge became its own landlord and by a Declaration of Trust established the Trustees of the Permanent Fund as the managers of all property of the Lodge except its current funds." In May 1923, the new quarters were opened to Masons, their families, the Order of the Eastern Star and invited guests.

Another gift of our late Bro. Albert J. Frank presented at this time was the electrically lighted letter "G" and the Low-Twelve.

While on the subject of our building please let me state that in April, 1925, Wor. Bro. Charming F. Grout presented the Lodge with the discharged second mortgage of $1000 and stated that Wor. Bro. Walter G. Whittemore also made a gift of all interest money due on that mortgage. Later, in 1929, under the will of Wor. Bro. Grout the Lodge received a further gift of $2500 which was applied to the reduction of the first mortgage and through the earnest work of the Joint Ways and Means Committee of the Lodge and Olive Branch Chapter, and the Lodge Brothers this mortgage has been very materially reduced so that to-day the Lodge is carrying only a very nominal debt on the building, thanks to the very fine cooperation given by all.

During the year 1928 the Lodge received and accepted the application of our present Master, Wor. Charles A. Bussell, and in 1930 a third Past Master of North Star Lodge was appointed a District Deputy Grand Master, this time for the Twenty-Third (Natick) Masonic District, and Rt. Wor. George Morrison made his first official visit to the Lodge on October 20, 1930.

During the year 1933 the Lodge was privileged to participate in two Bi-centennial Celebrations. On June 26th. at the Arena in Boston a large delegation from the Lodge attended the great gathering of Masons there assembled for the observance by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts of the Two-hundredth Anniversary of the beginning of Masonry in this Commonwealth and on November 21, 1932 the assembled brothers of the Twenty-Third Masonic District in the apartments of Montgomery Lodge at Milford fittingly observed the Two-Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of our Worshipful Brother, the Leader of the Continential Armies and the First President of the United States of America, General George Washington.

In September 1933 the Lodge made its first pilgrimage to the Masonic Home at Charlton and while there the Master, Wor. Nathaniel F. Sears, presented to the Home through Bro. Handy, the Superintendent, a former resident of Ashland, a Telechron Wall Clock which was placed in the second floor rotunda of the Davenport Annex.

We have now reached the "Depression Years" which of course affected North Star Lodge as they did most other Lodges throughout our land, members affected by the existing financial conditions dropped their memberships; there were very few new members made with the result that North Star Lodge with a peak membership of 135 in 1933 has now only 124 on its rolls but we trust that better times are ahead for all Lodges and Brothers and feel that the value of membership in a Masonic Lodge will be appreciated more and more as the years roll by and the history of our great country is developed.

On October 17, 1938, the Lodge received in his first official visit, although by that time he had become a frequent fraternal visitor, our present D. D. G. Master, Rt. Wor. Edward A. Harding, who has so graciously followed in the footsteps made by his father fifty-two years ago. North Star Lodge is proud of its present Deputy and pleased to welcome him here on this occasion.

Another occasion which should be here recorded occurred only one week ago when at a Special Communication for the purpose of conferring the Master Mason Degree on two candidates the degree was presented in full form by a group of Present and Past Rt. Wor. D. D. G. Masters from neighboring Masonic districts which as far as it has been possible to ascertain, is the first time that such a group has conferred the degree in this jurisdiction.

Thus we come to the conclusion of this chronological sketchy history of North Star Lodge, but this historical sketch would not be complete without my bringing to your minds something about some of our departed Brothers who had much to do with its early history and development.

Our Charter members, eighteen in number, of course have all passed to the Celestial Lodge Above but their names are engrossed for all to see on the Charter granted to North Star Lodge and which is always present in the Lodge-room.

I wish to present to you at this time Bro. Josiah A. Balcom, a Charter member and grandfather of our Bro. John Alvin Balcom, of Lynn, Mass. Wor. Bro. Balcom served as the first Junior Warden of the Lodge in 1864, was elected Senior Warden in 1865 and 1866, then seems to have disappeared from our records until elected Treasurer in 1884, serving in that station until 18%, a period of twelve years.

Another Charter member was Bro. Ezra Morse, the first Secretary of North Star Lodge, who when the writer became a member of this Lodge was a veritable, venerable patriarch presiding over the secretary's desk. He was elected Junior Warden in 1867, was elected secretary in 1892 and each succeeding year through 1901, a period of eleven years. Brother Morse joined the Celestial Lodge above in 1919 having been a member of North Star Lodge for fifty-five years.

An early member of our Lodge and one whose name appears in only one position on our roster was Bro. Benjamin Homer, appointed Chaplain each year from 1875 to 1884.

Our next is a Brother whom many here to-night will remember as a great lover of Masonry, who served North Star Lodge for forty-nine years, having been accepted in 1872, appointed Marshal in 1874, elected Secretary in 1879, 1880, 1881; Senior Warden in 1882, 1883, 1884; Master in 1885 and 1886; Proxy to the Grand Lodge in 1887, 1894, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899 and 1904. Appointed Junior Warden 1901-1902 and Marshal from 1903 to 1912. Appointed D.D.G. Master in 1914 and 1915 and Grand Standard Bearer in 1920.

Rt. Wor. Brother Granville Clark Fiske, a good citizen, a patriot, a true and trusted Brother Mason passed to the Eternal Lodge that haven of rest on August 11, 1921.

Next I present the picture story of Wor. William F. Merritt, accepted by the Lodge May 17, 1875, elected Secretary in 1876, 1877, 1878'; Junior Warden in 1879; Senior Warden in 1880, 1881; Master in 1882, 1883, 1884; served as proxy in 1885, Secretary in 1886 and again as Master in 1887. Was appointed Organist from 1896 to the year 1905, serving as such until his death on October 1, 1905.

The last of these brief sketches but not the least in the mind of any Brother of North Star Lodge is that relating to our friend and benefactor Wor. Channing F. Grout, raised in Middlesex Lodge, Framingham, August 28, 1865, he became a member of North Star Lodge on October 17 of that year, was appointed Junior Deacon in 1873 and Senior Deacon in 1874, 1875; filled a vacancy as Senior Warden during the latter year; was elected Senior Warden in 1877 and Master in 1878, 1879, appointed Junior Deacon in 1890, elected Treasurer from 1897 to 1904 and again in 1906. Served as D.D.G. Marshal in 1892, 1893. His love for Masonry and North Star Lodge kept him active in the Lodge for fifty-six years out of the sixty-three years he was a Mason.

Wor. Bro. Grout as previously stated aided the Lodge very materially during its struggle in becoming its own landlord and his memory will long be bright in the minds of his Masonic Brethren here in Ashland. Our Brother lived a long life, the last years of which were given over to travel and the visiting of distant friends and relatives, travelling on his last journey to his long rest and reward on June 19, 1929.

North Star Lodge during its seventy-five years has been fortunate, busy, true to the ideals and landmarks of Masonry, has always been ready to assume its part and place in the religious, civic, and social phases of our town, state, and national life.

The Lodge is now entering the last quarter of its first century and we ask that it may continue the high standard of its ideals, its position in our community, may ever be careful of its established reputation, that the memory of those of its members who laboured so earnestly and long for its success and permanency may never be sullied.

Your historian wishes to thank the Anniversary Committee fur the assignment to write the Historical Sketch of North Star Lodge. It has been a real pleasure to again read through the seventy-five years of records of our Lodge and then endeavor to put only such facts and items into words as would be of interest not only to members of the Lodge, to our fraternal Brethren in Masonry, but to any who might be forced to listen to its reading or to one who takes the time to read it for himself.

The quip states that "The first one-hundred years is the hardest," while those who have travelled life's long highway say-that as they grow older the years grow shorter. We know not what the next seventy-five years will bring forth except that as far as we are concerned many will have crossed the broad stream of life and those who are still upholding the standard of Freemasonry will look back and remark how swiftly the sands of time have passed away, yes almost imperceptibly, yet what a short space of time is seventy-five years.

CENTENARY HISTORY, JUNE 1964

From Proceedings, Page 1964-:

by R. W. P. Winston E. Gouzoules

Favorable consideration having been given on July 25, 1864 by the Most Worshipful William Parkman, Grand Master, to a petition for a dispensation to form a Lodge of Masons in Ashland, a group of Masons living in that Town met on August 15, 1864 in what is now known as the Ray Building for the purpose of forming a Masonic Lodge in Ashland.

The dispensation was read and North Star Lodge, A. F. & A. M., was organized with Brother Eliab Holbrook of Middlesex Lodge of Framingham appointed under the dispensation as Master, Brother J. C. King as Senior Warden and Brother Josiah Balcom as Junior Warden, the Master making the following appointments: Brother John Clark, Treasurer; Brother Ezra Morse, Secretary; Brother Reverend A. H. Courier, Chaplain; Brother Charles H. Tilton, Marshal; Brother George F. Seaver, Senior Deacon; Brother W. Henry Seaver, Junior Deacon; Brother William Wheelock, Senior Steward; Brother George A. Downs, Junior Steward. Nine petitions were presented for the degrees in Masonry.

Furnishings for the hall were considered, and Dr. Rogers was appointed a committee to raise $200 to defray this expense. Nineteen applications were accepted while working under the dispensation, and on Nov. 22, 1864, the first three candidates Were raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason. They were Brothers Silas Bates, Horace Stevens and Warren Blackman. During those stirring times men were enlisting and going away to the front, and in the early months of 1865 three applications were voted on and the candidates immediately entered, Passed and raised under special dispensation by the Grand Master. At the regular communication on May 15, 1865, the Lodge received word of the death of Brother Horace Stevens, which occurred on May 13, 186S, his petition for the degrees in Masonry being the first to be read in the Lodge and he being one of the first three candidates to be raised in North Star Lodge.

At the first election of officers of the Lodge held on June S, 1865, Bro. George F. Seaver was elected Master; Bro. Josiah A. Balcom, Senior Warden; Bro. W. Henry Seaver, Junior Warden; Bro. Alvah Metcalf, Treasurer; and Bro. Silas Piper, Secretary. It was voted: "that the master-elect wait upon the Most Worshipful Grand Master to ascertain the time most convenient to him for the constitution ceremonies." It was also voted: "That June 21, 1865, be the date if agreeable to the Most Worshipful Grand Master, the ceremonies to start at 10 o'clock in the morning."

Unfortunately there is no record of this event, other than the report of Grand Master William Parkman, which states on page 36: "Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts 1863 to 1868, under charters issued. June 14, 1865, North Star Lodge, Ashland. Consecrated the Lodge June 14, 1865, and publicly installed the officers in the presence of a large audience of ladies and gentlemen."

The Lodge was then in the Sixth Masonic District, composed of fourteen Lodges, and extended from Natick to Warren and Ware, and from Clinton to Southbridge, no mean territory for a person to cover in those horse and buggy days.

District Deputy Grand Master James Dadmun, in his report for the year 1865, stated that North Star Lodge was under "dispensation."

On A4ay 7, 1866, Bro. W. Henry Seaver presented to the Lodge a beautiful copy of the Holy Bible, the Great Light in Masonry, which was upon the altar of the Lodge until the Lodge moved into its new quarters in 1883; and on June 18, 1866. Bro. Alvah Metcalf presented to the Lodge the altar,
which is still a part of the furniture of our Lodge-room.

A notable occasion for North Star Lodge was the first official visitation of R. W. A. A. Burditt, District Deputy Grand Master of the Sixth Masonic District, on Nov. 5, 1866, as this visit completed the full round of the ceremony of recognition by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge.

The ladies of Masons in Ashland, very early in the life of the Lodge, endeared themselves to the members when on June 17, 1867, Mrs. Mary V. Houghton, for them, presented to the
Lodge a beautiful banner to be borne by the Lodge in the 
Masonic procession at the dedication of the Masonic Temple
in Boston on June 24, 1867.

In the early days of the Lodge trials of two brothers for conduct unbecoming a Mason were held resulting, in one Brother pleading guilty to the charge and being suspended by the Lodge, and the other brother after lengthy hearings and appeal to the Grand Lodge on the evidence submitted being acquitted by said body because of insufficient evidence, this trial having hinged around a horse trade and bankruptcy proceedings.

After its constitution ceremonies the first public installation of the officers of the Lodge took place on Dec. 16, 1867, with R.W. A. A. Burditt, D. D. G. M. of the Sixth Masonic District, as the installing Master, when Wor. James H. Dadmun was installed as Master for the first time for the year 1868. He succeeded himself as Master in 1869, and was again elected Master for the year 1872.

During his first term as Master the Lodge was invited to assist, on August 3, 1868, at the laying of the corner stone of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Ashland, the consecrating cups used at this ceremony afterward being presented to North Star Lodge by Bro. Charles Alden as mementos of the occasion. The dedication address was delivered by Bro. Rev. L. W. F. Barnes of Lynn, Mass.

This ceremony, which of course had a bearing on the religious and civic life of our town's people, was followed on June 24, 1870 by the consecration service of Wildwood Cemetery, in which the Lodge was privileged to participate and which opened to the people of Ashland as a last resting-place for their beloved ones that beautiful natural spot in the southeast section of our village, and nestling on the hillside which overlooks the Sudbury River basin.

The next event which comes to our attention as affecting our Masonic Brethren was that holocaust, "The Great Chicago Fire," in 1871; and it is recorded that the Brothers of North Star Lodge sent a contribution to help the Lodges of Chicago burned out by the fire.

When in 1875 the quarters of Ashland Lodge, I. O. O. F., were damaged by fire, North Star Lodge tendered to them the use of its hall, which was gratefully accepted and was followed in 1876 by a lease being given for the use of the hall.

Among the items of interest on display about the Lodge-room at this time one may be interested to examine the set of working tools made by Brothers Herbert A. Chandler and William F. Merritt and presented to the Lodge on December 9, 1878, eighty-five years ago last December, both of these brothers later becoming Master of North Star Lodge and serving its interests through a long series of years.

On June 6, 1881, it was voted to grant the use of the Lodge-room for the purpose of forming a chapter of the Eastern Star, and on August 8, 1881 it was voted to rent the hall to the Eastern Star Chapter for the sum of $.50 per night and that the Chapter pay the extra expense to the Tyler for keeping the lamps and hall in order, and I am happy to record at this time that the relations existing between North Star Lodge and Olive Branch Chapter No. 12, O. E. S., have been most friendly and cordial through all the years.

A committee was appointed by Wor. William F. Merritt, Master, on June 26, 1882, to confer with Abner Greenwood relative to securing a hall in his new building. This committee reported on Dec. 8, 1882, and was authorized to hire the hall if satisfactory arrangements could be made. On May 21, 1883, they reported that the hall, our present quarters, had been hired in the Greenwood Building at $47.50 per quarter. The report was accepted and the same committee appointed to attend to "the whole matter of fitting and furnishing the same ready for use" and on August 13, 1883 it was voted "to dedicate the new hall."

Following this decision and at the time of the dedication ceremonies many gifts in items of furniture were received by the Lodge. First at the regular communication in September, 1883, was the beautiful clock which hangs on the north wall of our lodge room, the gift of Brother William B. Callender. This clock has since been electrified, the work being a gift of our late Brother Albert J. Frank.

At the dedication ceremony on Sept. 20, 1883, the Lodge was honored by the large delegation of Grand Officers present and graciously received by Worshipful Master Merritt after being introduced by Most Worshipful Samuel C. Lawrence, Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts.

An ice pitcher, the gift of lady friends of Masons, is on display here this evening.

Closely following this occasion was a surprise visit on Nov. 12, 1883, by M. W. Brother Lawrence who spoke to the Lodge relative to "Commuting the Grand Lodge Tax," and it was then and there voted to commute the tax, and from the reading of our records the writer gathers that the Lodge assumed its portion of the tax agreeing to pay the same over a period of years.

During this same year, 1883, the Lodge held a Masonic fair to raise funds for furnishing the new hall, the report of the fair committee showing total receipts of $905.07, which were applied as follows: Expenses in hall, $789.94; donation to charity fund, #100; balance to Lodge treasury, $15.13. Needless to say the Lodge was most pleased to be in its new quarters with all expenses paid. Thanks and appreciation by the Master were extended to all who had so graciously helped in carrying through the now accomplished change.

On Sept. 22, 1890, a set of officers' aprons was presented by Wor. William F. Merritt to the Lodge in behalf of Bro. Willis B. Temple, followed on Nov. 24, 1890, by the rough and perfect ashlers, a gift of Bro. Albert W. Eames, which are still a part of the furniture of the Lodge; then along came electricity and it was voted to light the hall by such means in March, 1892.

The Lodge voted on April 24, 1893, to purchase a set of working tools, which is still used by the officers in the degree work of the Lodge.

During this year the Lodge was honored by the first official visit of the first D.D.G. Master to be appointed from North Star Lodge, R. W. John H. Balcom, and his Marshal, Wor. Channing F. Grout, Past Master of North Star Lodge, also by a fraternal visit of M. W. Harvey N. Shepard, Grand Master of Mason in Massachusetts.

In 1894 it was voted to hold a joint picnic with Olive Branch chapter, No. 12, O.E.S., which turned out to be an excursion, but a good time was had by all and it netted each body the sum of $5.37 1/2.

Affairs with the Lodge went along quite smoothly through the years, the Lodge even going so far at one time as to have a collation of oysters with all the "impertinences" at a visitation of a D. D. G. M.; on Dec. 2, 1907, appropriate recognition was given the 500th regular communication of the Lodge, and in 1909 the Lodge accepted the invitation of Rev. Clarence Pike, Pastor of the First Congregational Church of Ashland, to attend divine worship in observance of St. John's day, which the Lodge has continued annually.

In 1911 the quarters of the Lodge were redecorated, new light fixtures put in and the furniture reupholstered, and a few years later a new carpet was laid.

North Star Lodge was again honored in December, 1913, by the appointment of another of its members as D.D.G. Master and on May 5, 1914, R. W. Granville Clarke Fiske, D. D. G. M. of the 23rd Masonic District, paid his first official visit to the Lodge, and on his second official visit he was received by his son, Wor. Errol W. Fiske, whom he had only a short time before installed as Master.

On Jan. IS, 1917, our good friend and brother, Wor. Channing F. Grout, was presented the Henry Price medal, he having gained the honorable distinction of being for fifty years a Mason.

On May 29, 1919, another Brother of North Star Lodge reached that 50-year milestone, and Brother Samuel A. Baker was presented a Henry Price Medal, while near the end of that year the lodge was saddened by the death of its last charter member, Brother Ezra Morse, also a wearer of the Henry Price medal, and its first secretary.

In June of the following year the Lodge voted not to accept the demand of the Framingham Investment Co., then owners of this building, for a large increase in rent, and to accept the proposal of Ashland Lodge, I. O. O. F., and to move to their quarters before July 1, 1920, where, for the next three years, the Lodge and Olive Branch Chapter carried on their separate affairs along with those of the Odd Fellows and the Rebekahs.

In April, 1922, a building fund was started by a gift of $50 under the will of Mrs. Agnes Hodson, widow of Wor. John Hodson, Master of North Star lodge in 1908, and on Feb. 5, 1923, the building committee reported that they paid $100 as an option on the Greenwood block at a purchase price of $9540. The action of the committee was confirmed by the Lodge, and the committee authorized to purchase the block and to act for the Lodge in all matters pertaining to the operating and repairing of the building, and that they report to the Lodge when said purchase had been completed and a clear title obtained.

Thus North Star Lodge became its own landlord and by a declaration of trust established the Trustees of the permanent fund as the managers of all property of the Lodge except its current funds." In May 1923 the new quarters were opened to Masons, their families, the Order of the Eastern Star and invited guests.

Another gift of our late Bro. Albert J. Frank, presented at this time, was the electrically-lighted letter "G" and the low-twelve. While on the subject of our building, let me state that in April, 1925, Wor. Bro. Channing F. Grout presented the Lodge with the discharged second mortgage of $1000 and stated that Wor. Bro. Walter C. Whittemore had also made a gift of all interest money due on that mortgage. Later in 1929, under the will of Wor. Bro. Grout, the Lodge received a further gift of $2500 which was applied to the reduction of the first mortgage and through the earnest work of the joint ways and means committee of the Lodge and Olive Branch Chapter, and the Lodge brothers this mortgage was very materially reduced. This mortgage then amounted to $1500. It remained in effect until 1953. At this time the Trustees of the Permanent Fund negotiated a loan from the Framingham Trust Company of $2000. The old mortgage was paid off and the remainder was used toward payment of a new 20-year bonded roof.

This mortgage was set up as a ten-year reducing instrument and was completely paid off in January 1963 and at this time, the lodge is free of debt.

In 1961, some of the Brethren decided to redecorate the Lodge-room. A few of them met during spare hours and painted the ceiling and walls. New drapes were purchased and installed. Material was purchased and the furniture was recovered and new cushions were made for the altar. Shortly afterwards, a new rug was purchased by money taken from Lodge funds, donations by the Polaris Club and Olive Branch Chapter, O.E.S. This replaced the rug laid 47 years previously. Continuing the program, the floor in the entrance to the Lodge room was tiled and the walls and ceiling were painted.

In 1963, using funds from a bequest, a new organ was purchased. It was later decided to add to it a speaker enclosure in order to improve the organ reception. This was largely paid for by a donation from Bro. Frank Grout and Olive Branch Chapter No. 12, O. E. S.

It is hoped that plans will materialize to finish the redecorating and furnishing the rest of our Masonic Home.

In 1930 a third Past Master of North Star Lodge was appointed a District Deputy Grand Master, of the 23rd (Natick) Masonic District, and R. W. George Morrison made his first official visit to the Lodge on Oct. 20, 1930. Since then there have been two Past Masters of North Star Lodge who have received this honor: R. W. Arthur H. Hogan who served as District Deputy Grand Master during the years 1946-1947 and R. W. P. Winston E. Gouzoules who served as District Deputy Grand Master during the years 1962-1963.

During the year 1932 the Lodge was privileged to participate in two bi-centennial celebrations. On June 28 at the Arena in Boston a large delegation from the Lodge attended the great gathering of Masons for the observance by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts of the 200th anniversary of the beginning of Masonry in this Commonwealth. On Nov. 21, 1932, the assembled Brothers of the 23rd Masonic District, in the apartments of Montgomery lodge at Milford, fittingly observed the 200th anniversary of the birth of our Worshipful Brother, the leader of the Continental Armies and the first President of the United States of America, General George Washington.

In September, 1933, the Lodge made its first pilgrimage to the Masonic Home at Charlton, and while there the Master, Wor. Nathaniel P. Sears, presented to the home, through Bro. Handy, the Superintendent and a former resident of Ashland, a Telechron wall-clock, which was placed in the second floor rotunda of the Davenport annex.

The "depression years" affected North Star lodge as they did most other Lodges throughout our land. Members affected by the existing financial conditions dropped their membership and there were very few new members made. North Star Lodge, with a peak membership of 135 in 1933, dropped to 124 in 1939. However, during and after World War II our membership began to increase and at present our roll numbers 187.

North Star lodge, during its 100 years, has been fortunate, busy, true to the ideals and landmarks of Masonry, has always been ready to assume its part and place in the religious, civic and social phases of our Town, State and National life.

The Lodge is now entering a new century, and we ask that it may continue the high standard of its ideals, its position in our community. May it ever be careful of its established reputation, that the memory of those of its members who labored so earnestly and long for its success and permanency may never be sullied.

The complete history of North Star Lodge is available in the record books of the secretaries. Needless to say, much has been left out of this brief summary. It has been our purpose to simply highlight what may seem to be events which had significant impact on the life of the Lodge. We hope it has been of interest to you.

If our work in Free Masonry has taught us but one thing, and brought but one result and that result being the forming and cementing of true and lasting friendships, then our labors about the altar of Masonry will not have been altogether in vain.

OTHER

  • 1872 (Petition regarding formal charity to families of deceased members)

EVENTS

CONSTITUTION OF LODGE, JUNE 1865

From Moore's Freemason's Magazine, Vol. XXIV, No. 10, August 1865, p. 296:

NORTH STAR LODGE. This new Lodge was Constituted by the M. W. Grand Lodge, at Ashland on the 30th June last, having worked the preceding year under a Dispensation. The Institution ceremonies took place in the Town Hall, in the presence of a large assembly of ladies and gentlemen. At the conclusion of the ceremonies addresses were delivered by the M. W. Grand Master and Rev. Bro. Dadmun, after which the company repaired to the vestry room of one of the churches in the village, and partook of a supper provided by the Lodge for the occasion. The Lodge has done its full share of Work the past year, and its future prospects are encouraging. The officers installed are as follows :—

  • George F. Seaver, W. M.
  • J. A. Balcomb, S. W.
  • W. H. Seaver, J. W.
  • Alvah Metcalf, Treas.
  • Silas Piper, Sec.
  • George S. Downes, S. D.
  • B. H. Hartshorn, J. D.
  • C. H. Tilton, Marshal
  • A. M, Spofford, Chaplain
  • Elias Grout and Charles Alden, Stewards
  • Webster Brooks, Tyler.

GRAND LODGE OFFICERS

OTHER BROTHERS


DISTRICTS

1864: District 6

1867: District 12 (Milford)

1870: District 11 (Worcester)

1871: District 12 (Milford)

1883: District 20 (Milford)

1911: District 23 (Milford)

1927: District 23 (Natick)

2003: District 15

2009: District 15 (South)


LINKS

Massachusetts Lodges