It
appears reasonable to assume that there were many Masons among
the early settlers of this country. There is no reason to doubt
that they did meet, hold meetings, and initiate candidates under
the "prescriptive right" meaning that they formed Lodges without
Warrants, acting upon their "right from time immemorial."
Over the centuries,
Freemasonry has developed into a worldwide fraternity
emphasizing personal study, self-improvement, and social
betterment via individual involvement and philanthropy. During
the late 1700s it was one of the organizations most responsible
for spreading the ideals of the Enlightenment: the dignity of
man and the liberty of the individual, the right of all persons
to worship as they choose, the formation of democratic
governments, and the importance of public education. Masons
supported the first public schools in both Europe and America.
There is evidence that
a deputation dated June 5, 1730, was granted to Daniel Coxe, of
New Jersey, by the Duke of Norfolk, Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of England, appointing him Provincial Grand Master of New
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Moreover, there is evidence
that Brethren meeting in Philadelphia applied to him in 1730 and
received authority to continue to meet as a regular Lodge.
However, no records of
such a Lodge are available to indicate that it continued or was
even ever established.
The earliest authentic
records of such a Lodge available to indicate that it continued
on was from "The First Lodge of Boston" in 1733. This was
warranted under a Provincial Grand Master.
On April 30, 1733,
this Provincial Grand Master Henry Price, who had received his
appointment a short time before from Viscount Montague, Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of England convened a number of
Brethren into a Provincial Grand Lodge, and then form and
constituted a subordinate Lodge on Boston. This Lodge, later
consolidated with two others, still functions in that city.
Many of Patriots of
the American Revolution were Masons including George Washington,
Ben Franklin, James Hamilton, and even the Marquis de Lafayette
to name just a few. There were enough Masons in the Continental
Army to establish traveling military Lodges, which allowed them
to continue to enjoy the warmth of fraternal fellowship.
American Union was just such a Lodge and was attached to the
Connecticut Line of the Army. The minute books of this Lodge
show that General Washington attended meetings of the Lodge on
several occasions.
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Rare and treasured portrait of George Washington in Lodge |
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Chief Joseph Brandt |
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The period of the
American Revolution also saw the first American Indian to be
made a Mason. Thayendangea was the son of the chief of the
Mohawks in the 1750's, and was brought up in the household of a
prominent British administration official, Sir William Johnson,
who was also a Freemason. Johnson gave him the name Joseph
Brant, and when Brant was an adult, he fought several battles
against the French with Johnson. Brant became Johnson's personal
secretary, and by the time of Johnson's death in 1774, Brant had
become accepted by the British administration. Brant traveled to
England in 1775, and was made a mason in a London lodge in 1776.
He then returned to America to enlist the Mohawks in the fight
against the American rebels. The Mohawks, under the command of
Col. John Butler and Brant, attacked and massacred the Americans
in several battles, and captured prisoners were turned over to
the Mohawks to be tortured to death. Brant, however, took his
Masonic oaths seriously, and in a few recorded instances,
released prisoners who made Masonic signs as they were about to
be tortured. After the war, Brant became a member of St John's
Lodge of Friendship No.2 in Canada, of which Col. Butler had
become Master, before returning to the Mohawks in Ohio.
