USA > Washington DC > History of the Grand lodge and of freemasonry in the District of Columbia : with biographical appendix > Part 26
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councils of Select Masons had been established in some of the States independent of Royal Arch Masonry, which they re- garded as a great mistake and abuse of an authority delegated in relation to the Select degree, and that they recommended the subject to the consideration of the Grand Chapters, with the hope that they would see it to be for the general interest of the Craft " to take the degree under your recognizance and control, to whom it of right belongs."
This subject was referred by the Grand Chapter to a com- mittee and the committee reported : " That they are decidedly of the opinion that the Royal and Select Master's degrees should be recognized by and conferred under the direction of the several Grand Chapters of the respective States and Terri- tories of the Union. With regard to the proper time when these degrees should be conferred, whether before or after the Royal Arch degree, they declined to express an opinion, preferring that this point should be left to the determination of the General Grand Chapter." This report was laid on the table for the present, and when taken up again it was " Re- solved, That the further consideration thereof be postponed till the first Tuesday in August next; and that in the meantime the Grand Secretary be directed to forward a copy of the re- port this day made on that subject to the several councils of Royal and Select Masters in the District of Columbia."
At the special convocation of the Grand Chapter, held Au- gust 31, 1829, the following appears :
Companion Baldwin, from the committee appointed by the Council of Royal and Select Masters of the City of Washington (which body had been addressed on the subject by the Grand Secretary, pursuant to order), presented to the Grand Chapter the following letter and report :
WASHINGTON, August 31, 1829.
At a special meeting of the Council of Royal and Select Masters, held at the Central Masonic Hall, on Saturday the 29th of August, instant, the written report having been presented and read, was, on motion, ordered to be transmitted to the Grand Chapter of the District of Columbia at their next meeting.
I quote the following from the report of the committee of the council :
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Your committee are confident, from an intimate acquaintance with all the degrees, that those of Royal and Select Masters are not only posterior in order to the Royal Arch, but that in our opinion it would not be consistent with ancient Masonry to make them previous. Whether the interests of the Craft would be promoted by this extended jurisdiction your committee are unable to say, but should that course be thought advisable by the General Grand Chapter, in its solemn deliberation, your committee are decidedly of the opinion that it can only be done under the following restrictions :
1. That the degrees of Royal and Select Masters can only be conferred on Royal Arch Masons.
2. No one can be an officer of any chapter who is not both a Royal and Select Master.
Without these restrictions your committee can never consent to a change in the present established mode of proceeding.
The report of the committee made at the June convocation of the Grand Chapter was taken up and adopted and a copy thereof, and also a copy of the report of the committee of the council, was transmitted to the General Grand Secretary, to be laid before the General Grand Chapter. Companion Josiah H. Drummond, Past General Grand High Priest, in speaking of the convocation of the General Grand Chapter, held in 1829, says (see Gould's History of Freemasonry, Vol. iv, pp. 540-541) : " But the business which was of the most im- portance was the action in relation to the council degrees; a communication was made by Comp. Stapleton, of Maryland, in relation to these degrees, but it was based upon an entire misapprehension of the origin, history, and existing status of those degrees, as more recent investigation has fully demon- strated. But the General Grand Chapter, acting under the same misapprehension, by resolution and without mentioning the degrees in its constitution, advised the council 'to place the degrees under the authority of the State Grand Chap- ters,' and authorized the Grand Chapters to make arrange- ments for conferring the degrees, but only by consent of the Grand Council, in any State in which a Grand Council existed at that time." Comp. Drummond further says : " The council degrees, after the action already given, continued to be a sub- ject of discussion and difference, and in 1853 the matter was
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referred to an able committee, which reported that they had examined the various reports which had been made upon the subject in various State jurisdictions, and found, in substance, that the belief that the degrees were 'within the pale of the jurisdiction of Royal Arch Masonry' was based upon misap- prehension; and that the General Grand Chapter had no juris- diction over them: A resolution embodying this conclusion was adopted."
We have no records or accounts whatever in the District of Columbia as to what became of the " council"-or " councils," if more than one-referred to above. The chapters in this District continued to confer the Royal and Select degrees prior to the Royal Arch until 1833, when the Grand Chapter was dissolved. Several of the chapters again joined the Grand Chapter of Maryland, under whose authority they formerly worked, and the council degrees continued to be conferred prior to the Royal Arch until May 23, 1867, when the Grand Chapter of the District of Columbia was again organized, and on that day the New Grand Chapter, by resolution, unani- mously dropped those degrees from the curriculum of the chap- ter work. Soon after the organization of the Grand Chapter, in 1867, Companion Benjamin B. French, the Inspector Gen- eral of the Southern Jurisdiction for the A. A. Scottish Rite for the District of Columbia, issued three dispensations to form three new councils of Royal and Select Masters in the District of Columbia. Those who had received the degrees of Royal and Select Masters in regularly organized councils re- fused to join in this movement, and the question was soon agitated as to the legality and propriety of thus inaugurating a new method of propagating the Cryptic degrees, with the result that these three councils quickly gave up the ghost, and there now remains but little more than tradition respecting them. When the time was deemed judicious Companion Wil- liam R. Singleton and eight other regularly made council Ma- sons petitioned the Grand Council of Massachusetts for a dis- pensation to open and hold a council of Royal and Select Masters in the District of Columbia. This was granted Au-
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gust 1, 1870, and on October 3, 1870, the officers of the Grand Council of Massachusetts came to Washington and organized LaFayette Council, with Companion William R. Singleton as Most Illustrious Grand Master. Inasmuch as the great body of Royal and Select Masters in the District had received the degrees of Royal and Select Masters in their several chapters prior to the Royal Arch, it was decided by LaFayette Council that all such Royal Arch Masons, as well as those who had never received the council degrees, should have the degrees for a nominal sum (five dollars). Accordingly, in two nights' assemblies, the Grand Officers of Massachusetts conferred the Royal, Select, and Super-Excellent degrees upon 158 R. A. Masons. A charter was granted to LaFayette Council by the Grand Council of Massachusetts December 14, 1870, and it was instituted under its charter December 20, 1870, and started with flying colors, and enjoyed a fair degree of pros- perity for several years, when from internal dissensions the members lost their interest and ceased to attend the assem- blies, and the council passed out of existence.
At a convention held at Detroit, Michigan, in August, 1880, by the representatives of several Grand Councils, a General Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters for the United States of America was organized, officers elected and a con- stitution adopted, which was submitted to the several Grand Councils for approval, and on February 17, 1881, the General Grand Council became a fixed fact, as on that date, the ninth Grand Council in number, that of Louisiana, ratified the Gen- eral Grand Constitution.
On June 30, 1883, Josiah H. Drummond, General Grand Master of the General Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of the United States of America, issued a dispensa- tion for a council at Washington, D. C., under the name of Washington Council, upon the petition of Joseph S. McCoy, William R. Singleton, and eight other well-known compan- ions, formerly members of the late LaFayette Council. The first assembly of Washington Council under this dispensation was held in the office of the Grand Secretary of the Grand
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Lodge, in Masonic Temple, on the evening of July 16, 1883. The officers and companions present at this assembly were: Joseph S. McCoy, Th. Ill. Master; Samuel Baxter, Right Ill. Dep. Master ; Jeremiah C. Allen, Ill. Prin. Cond. of the Work; William M. Ireland, Lewis G. Stephens, Joseph Hamacher, Claudius B. Smith, Edward Fitzki, and William R. Singleton, who acted as Recorder. Three other assemblies were held while the council was U. D., viz : on July 21, July 27, and Au- gust 6, 1883, and at these assemblies eight companions were proposed for, and elected and received the degrees of Royal and Select Master. At the First Triennial Assembly of the General Grand Council, held at Denver, Colorado, August 14, 1883, a charter was granted by that body to the following named companions, "authorizing and empowering them to open and hold a council in Washington, D. C., under the name and title of Washington Council, No. 1, of Royal and Select Masters of the District of Columbia," viz: Joseph S. McCoy, Samuel Baxter, Jeremiah C. Allen, James Lansburgh, William R. Singleton, Claudius B. Smith, Joseph Hamacher, Edward Fitzki, Lewis G. Stephens, William M. Ireland, James H. Trimble, Howard M. Gillman, Charles B. R. Col- ledge, Harrison Dingman, Geo. Edgar Corson, Randolph Beresford, George W. Howland, and Henry A. Griswold. Through some delay in the delivery of the charter, Washing- ton Council was not constituted and set to work until the 31st day of March, 1887. On that date Geo. L. McCahan, of Baltimore, G. G. Marshal of the G. G. Council, acting for the General Grand Master, constituted the council and installed its officers as follows : Samuel Baxter, T. I. M .; J. C. Allen, R. I. D. M .; H. Dingman, I. P. C. W .; James Lansburgh, Treasurer; Geo. E. Corson, Recorder; Edward Fitzki, Cap- tain of the Guard; Joseph Hamacher, Cond. of the Council: C. B. Smith, Chaplain. Of the officers installed upon this oc- casion but three are now living, Companion Dingman, a Past Master of the council, and Companions Lansburgh and Cor- son, who have been continued as Treasurer and Recorder, re- spectively, to the present time.
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Steps were immediately taken to affiliate the members of the late LaFayette Council, who were in good standing when the charter of that council was arrested, and a dispensation was obtained from the General Grand Master for that pur- pose, and a large number of them became members of Wash- ington Council. Several companions who had received the Royal and Select degrees in their respective chapters, when said degrees were conferred under the authority of the Grand Chapter, desiring to affiliate with Washington Council, their wishes were made known by direction of the council to the General Grand Master, who authorized the council to accept and "heal" them upon their presenting "a certificate from the body that made them, which may be regarded in the light of a dimit." A number of companions were admitted to membership in Washington Council under this decision. A larger number would have availed themselves of this privilege, but unfortunately some of the old chapters could not furnish the required certificates, as their records failed to show that the degrees of Royal Master and of Select Master had been conferred upon their members. During the twenty-three years of its existence the following named companions have served Washington Council as Thrice Illustrious Masters, for the years designated : Samuel Baxter, 1887; Jeremiah C. Allen, 1888; Harrison Dingman, 1889; Joseph Hamacher, 1890; Alex. H. Holt, 1891; William Oscar Roome, 1892; E. H. Chamberlin, 1893; James H. Wardle, 1894; George H. Walk- e1, 1895; Walter B. Pettus, 1896; Charles H. Smith, 1897; A. M. Lambeth, 1898; David M. Cridler, 1899; James H. McIntosh, 1900 and 1903; Jacobus S. Jones, 1901; Claude F. King, 1902; Ernest H. Daniel, 1904; Roger O'Donnell, 1905 and 1906; William T. Hastings, 1907; John A. Colborn, 1908; Lafayette Leaman, 1909; August B. Douglas, 1910.
The possession of the Cryptic degrees not being a prere- quisite to the Orders of Knighthood, the growth of the Cryptic Rite in the District of Columbia has been slow, but of a sub- stantial and most gratifying character, as the degrees have been sought for largely by those who have desired to extend
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and increase their knowledge by receiving " further light in Masonry." The names of ten Grand Masters, eighteen Grand High Priests, and six Grand Commanders, with a hundred others of less official rank, have appeared, and the most of them still appear, on the roll of members of Washington Council. The work of building up the council and of popular- izing and propagating the Cryptic degrees has not been at all times of an encouraging character. In 1897, owing to the bankrupt condition of the council, and the lack of interest on the part of its members, it was proposed that its charter be surrendered, but at a summoned assembly this proposition, after due deliberation, was unanimously defeated. The mem- bers aroused from their lethargy, renewed their zeal and in- terest, and soon placed the council on a sound, safe footing and in a prosperous condition, and since then the council has gained largely in numbers, influence, and popularity, because of the ability, energy, and zeal displayed by many of its offi- cers and the increased interest of its members. Its assemblies are made attractive, interesting, and enjoyable by the use of the proper paraphernalia for the conferring of the degrees and instructing the candidates in their sublime lessons and teachings ; by the beauty and impressiveness of the work, and by that good-fellowship and sociability by which they are in- variably characterized.
The state of the Cryptic Rite in the District of Columbia was, however, for many years in a large measure that of satis- fied indifference. There being but one council, it left the pro- pagation of the Rite in the hands of a small number. These few, about the year 1905, saw that the trouble lay in the need for more workers, and decided that the only feasible way to increase the corps of workers and enlarge the field of useful- ness of the Rite was through the organization of a new council.
The representatives of Washington Council who attended the Ninth Triennial Assembly of the General Grand Council, in Boston, Mass., in 1906, witnessed an excellent and impres- sive rendition of one of the Cryptic degrees by Boston Council, and the report of these representatives, on their return, lent
MATTHEW TRIMBLE, GRAND MASTER, 1897; GRAND HIGH PRIEST, 1879-1880.
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momentum to the efforts already being put forth, with the result that Companions Louis A. Dent and John Speed Smith, with several other members of Washington Council, were re- quested to take up the work preparatory to the organization of another council. These companions secured the signatures of twenty-seven members of Washington Council to a petition for a dispensation to form a new council. Washington Coun- cil gave to this petition its cordial approval and recommenda- tion.
With this petition before him, on September 2, 1907, the General Grand Master of the General Grand Council, Henry Clay Larrabee, issued his dispensation to the following named companions to form and open a council of Royal and Select Masters in the District of Columbia, to be known as Adoniram Council, viz: E. St. Clair Thompson, Louis A. Dent, Henry B. Mirick, John Speed Smith, Dan C. Vaughan, Charles E. Baldwin, Jacob W. Collins, Herman E. Malzahn, Francis J. Phillips, Harry M. Luckett, Isaac B. Field, Roe Fulkerson, William H. McCray, Theodore T. Moore, Walter B. Pettus, August B. Coolidge, Lem. Towers, Jr., John H. Small, Claude F. King, Alexander Gordon, Jr., Harry G. Kimball, Henry C. Duncan, Harrison Dingman, James A. Wetmore, William W. Jermane, and Arthur F. Bloomer, and designated E. St. Clair Thompson, Master; John Speed Smith, Deputy Master, and William W. Jermane, Principal Conductor.
At the assembly for organization, on September 17, 1907, the Master appointed Henry B. Mirick, Treasurer; Claude F. King, Recorder; Roe Fulkerson, Captain of the Guard; Dan C. Vaughan, Conductor of the Council, and Louis A. Dent, Steward.
Adoniram Council entered at once upon a bright and pros- perous career. At the end of its first year, August 31, 1908, it had forty-six names upon its roll.
On September 16, 1909, it petitioned the General Grand Council for a charter, and directed its Master, E. St. Clair Thompson, to attend the coming Triennial Assembly of the
20
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General Grand Council and use every effort to secure the same.
At the Tenth Triennial Assembly of the General Grand Council, held in the City of Savannah, Ga., November 9, 1909, a charter was unanimously granted to " Adoniram Council, No. 2, Royal and Select Masters of the District of Columbia." At the date of its charter the council numbered eighty-six members.
On the evening of December 16, 1909, in the Knights Templar Asylum of the new Masonic Temple, Adoniram Council, No. 2, was constituted under its charter by M. P. Companion Henry Clay Larrabee, Past General Grand Master of the General Grand Council, and the following named officers were duly elected and installed: E. St. Clair Thompson, Master; Jacob W. Collins, Deputy Master; Wil- liam W. Jermane, Principal Conductor; Charles E. Baldwin, Treasurer ; Claude F. King, Recorder; Dan C. Vaughan, Cap- tain of the Guard; Carey S. Frye, Conductor of the Council; Roe Fulkerson, Steward.
The two councils, Washington, No. 1, and Adoniram, No. 2, are working together in perfect concord and harmony in the advancement of the Cryptic Rite and in the diffusion of its sublime teachings and principles, looking hopefully forward to the day when other councils shall spring up and join them in the good work, and when a Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters will be numbered among the governing Ma- sonic bodies in the District of Columbia.
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CHAPTER XX.
THE ORDERS OF CHRISTIAN KNIGHTHOOD IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
ARVINE W. JOHNSTON,
GRAND RECORDER OF THE GRAND COMMANDERY, K. T., OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
The history of Chivalric Masonry in the District of Colum- bia dates from December 1, 1824, when ten Sir Knights as- sembled in the City of Washington for the purpose of forming an encampment of Knights Templar. It is to be presumed that this " assembly," as it was called, was held under dispen- sation, as otherwise its proceedings would be without justifica- tion in the light of modern Masonic jurisprudence, but, sin- gularly enough, the records afford no evidence of such author- ity. Sir James Cushman presided as "Most Eminent Grand Commander," and on his right sat William Winston Seaton, Mayor of Washington and congressional printer, distin- guished alike in the political and Masonic annals of the Capi- tal City.
Petitions were received from two companions, who were balloted upon, elected and invested with the Orders forthwith. A Sir Knight who was " unknown to the members" and " un- able to manifest his faith" was " formally healed" as a pre- liminary to his admission as a visitor. Truly this inchoate body exercised remarkable powers.
At the assembly of January 4, 1825, it was resolved that " the style and title of this encampment shall be Washington Encampment, No. 1." A committee was appointed to draft
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by-laws, and the fee for the Orders was fixed at twenty-five dollars. The election of the first officers was held, resulting in the choice of Nicholas Blasdell as Most Eminent Grand Com- mander. A petition for a charter, bearing the date of this assembly, was presented " to the Most Eminent Henry Fowle, Esq., Deputy Grand Master of the General Grand Encamp- ment of the United States." On January 14, 1825, Most Eminent Sir Fowle issued a charter to the petitioners to form "Washington Encampment," by which designation the body was known for about thirty years, when it was changed to Washington Commandery, No. 1.
The first assembly under the charter was held April 6, 1825, when a committee was appointed to inquire into the probable cost of the " dress" of the Sir Knights, which is de- scribed as "a sash and apron." The "old black uniform" which has played so prominent a part in the history of the present Washington Commandery is probably an evolution of this " dress." Soon after by-laws were adopted, providing for quarterly assemblies and fixing the annual dues at fifty cents. We learn from the old records that the Encampment was given a roving commission by the Grand Encampment, and held its assemblies alternately in Washington and Georgetown. In 1828 it attended divine services at St. John's church in honor of the memory of Grand Master DeWitt Clinton. In 1829 it participated in the celebration at Baltimore of the building of the first railroad. In 1830 it united with the Grand Lodge of Virginia in ceremonies at Alexandria and Mount Vernon in honor of the memory of Washington. From the year after its organization the encampment struggled for existence against the fanatical persecution of Masonry which followed the disappearance of Morgan. In 1835, weary of the long conflict, it discontinued its assemblies, and for twelve years its banners were furled and its tapers extinguished. At this time thirty-eight members were borne on its roll.
In 1847 eleven fraters, inspired by the zeal of one of their number, the illustrious Benjamin Brown French, joined in a petition to Sir Joseph K. Stapleton, Deputy Grand Master of
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HOME OF TAKOMA LODGE, NO. 29, TAKOMA PARK, D. C.
F
MEETING PLACE OF KING DAVID LODGE, NO. 28, BROOKLAND, D. C.
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the Grand Encampment, for a dispensation to revive Wash- ington Encampment, which was issued April 22, 1847. On the 24th of the same month the reorganization was effected by the election of a line of officers. Sir Benjamin B. French was chosen Most Eminent Grand Commander, and continued in that station, with an interval of one year, until 1859, when he retired to become Most Eminent Grand Master of Temp- lars. His administrative genius laid the foundation on which the splendid superstructure of Washington Commandery, No. 1, has been reared. It was during his service in the chair that the name of the body was changed from "Encampment" to " Commandery."
The commandery took part in the ceremonies of the laying of the cornerstone of the monument to Washington in 1848, and was present at the dedication of that imposing obelisk in 1885. It acted as escort in the funeral procession of Presi- dent Lincoln in 1865, assisted in like duty when the remains of President Garfield were removed from the Capitol to the depot in 1881, and, with the other commanderies, was in line in the procession which escorted the remains of President Mc- Kinley from the White House to the Capitol in 1901.
The limits of this article preclude narration of the many pilgrimages and other events in which the commandery has taken part. Conservative, yet progressive, it bears upon its roll the names of many representative men in the professional, business and social life of the city, and many whose fame has gone beyond the limits of the jurisdiction. Among the latter we find the leonine Benjamin B. French; Albert Pike, soldier, poet, philosopher, Grand Commander of the Southern juris- diction of the Scottish Rite; the brilliant Charles F. Stans- bury, whose masterly defense of the "old black uniform" thrilled the Grand Encampment at New Orleans in 1874; Al- bert G. Mackey, eminent Masonic jurist; George C. Whiting, the able, earnest and eloquent Grand Master of Masons; and William R. Singleton, the veteran Grand Secretary and Ma- sonic writer. One of its Past Commanders, Harrison Ding- man, was Grand Captain of the Guard of the Grand Encamp-
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ment in 1907-1910. The strength of the commandery at the present time is 539 members.
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