USA > Washington DC > History of the Grand lodge and of freemasonry in the District of Columbia : with biographical appendix > Part 35
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Graduating from the law department of the Columbian University, in 1893 he abandoned journalism for the legal profession, and entered upon practice in this city, in which he continued until 1897, when he was ap- pointed by President Mckinley an Assistant Attorney of the Department of Justice, in which honorable position he remained until his death.
M. W. Bro. Walker was made a Master Mason in Hiram Lodge, No. 10, November 17, 1882, from which time his progress in the Fraternity was steadily upward. He was exalted in Mount Horeb Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M., March 1, 1883; greeted in Washington Council, No. 1, R. & S. M., January 31, 1888; knighted in Washington Commandery, No. 1, April 25, 1883; received the degrees of the Scottish Rite in Mithras Lodge of Per- fection, Evangelist Chapter, Rose Croix, Robert de Bruce Council of Ka- dosh, and Albert Pike Consistory in 1889; and the thirty-third degree (honorary) in the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction, October 22, 1897.
He was Worshipful Master of Hiram Lodge in 1888; High Priest of Mount Horeb Chapter in 1886; Thrice Illustrious Master of Washington Council in 1895; Commander of Washington Commandery in 1896; and Wise Master of Evangelist Chapter, Rose Croix, in 1896.
M. W. Bro. Walker was also an active worker in the Order of the Mystic Shrine, being one of the founders of Almas Temple, of this city, in December, 1885, and serving that body four years as Illustrious Potentate and eleven years as Recorder. For many years he was a representative of Almas Temple in the Imperial Council for North America, and in 1894, as Chairman of the Committee on Revision of Ritual, he submitted a revision, largely his own work, which was adopted, and is now the ritual in use throughout North America.
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In the Masonic Grand Bodies of the District of Columbia M. W. Bro. Walker filled numerous official stations and rendered conspicuous service. He was Grand Master of Masons of the District of Columbia in 1903; Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons in 1894; and at the time of his death held the office of Grand Generalissimo in the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar.
Honors came to M. W. Bro. Walker as a just reward for his great usefulness to the Fraternity, and not of his own seeking. William of Orange said of Godolphin that he was "never in the way and never out of the way," and this could be said with equal truth of our beloved Brother. Modest and unobtrusive, content to follow when it was not for him to lead, he was ever dependable, and his time and means and the resources of his trained and well-balanced mind were freely given to the service of all branches of Masonry. Of genial and kindly disposition, and full of love for his fellow men, he abhorred piques and quarrels, and his influence always made for harmony and conservatism. He was a courteous and dignified presiding officer, an engaging speaker, and an accomplished writer. High on the roll of those who have served the Fraternity with ability and distinction, his name will be written among the noblest of Masons and the truest of men.
He passed away May 5, 1906.
JAMES A. WETMORE,
GRAND MASTER, 1904.
Brother Wetmore was born at Bath, Steuben County, New York, No- vember 10, 1863. At the age of seven years he was taken by his parents to Iowa, but after a sojourn there of a few years they returned with him to their former home in the Empire State, which thereafter became the home of the subject of this sketch. His early education was obtained in the public schools of Iowa and of New York, supplemented by private instruction in modern languages and certain of the arts. Completing his academic education at the age of eighteen, he began the study of law in his father's office, and was inducted regularly into a knowledge of those things which the student of law must know. Bro. Wetmore had unusual advantages in this particular, for his father was one of the leading practitioners at the bar of Western New York.
Bro. Wetmore realizing the value to be derived from knowledge of an art in which so many men have found the best opportunities of life, made himself so proficient as a writer of shorthand that he was appointed stenographic reporter of the county court of his county.
His ability was recognized by those with whom he came in contact, and before he had attained his majority many excellent openings for future success were presented to him. He was induced to relinquish his
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position as court reporter to accept a commercial position with a firm of importers of cattle, horses, and nursery stock, and a year or two later, acting for a prominent New York State banker, successfully exe- cuted a most difficult commission in Europe in purchasing and shipping 100 head of selected cattle to this country. After a year in this business he resigned and engaged in law and newspaper reporting and opened an office for general stenographic work. Among other important duties in which he was engaged during this period was that of reporting the testimony in an investigation into the subject of child labor in factories, conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of New York.
In 1885 he was appointed to a clerkship in the Treasury Department and came to Washington to live. Here he resumed his legal studies in the law department of Georgetown University and was graduated in 1896 with the degree of LL. B., and upon his admission to the bar of the District of Columbia was promoted to be chief of the law and records division in the office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury De- partment, which important position he still holds.
For a number of years prior to his appointment to his present position he was a clerk in the office of the chief clerk of the Treasury Department, and because of his knowledge of the work of that office, in its relation to the department, he was designated by the Secretary of the Treasury to act as chief clerk in the absence of that official, and so served during a large part of the years 1893, 1894, 1895, and 1896, a responsibility rarely, if ever before, placed upon a person holding an appointment of a lesser grade than that of chief of a division in the Secretary's office.
Bro. Wetmore began his career in Masonry in Evening Star Lodge, No. 44, at Hornellsville, N. Y., in which he was initiated as an Entered Apprentice on August 28, 1888, and at the request of that lodge he re- ceived the degrees of Fellow Craft and Master Mason in Benjamin B. French Lodge, No. 15, of this jurisdiction. He affiliated with the latter lodge on March 17, 1890. He served Benjamin B. French Lodge as Senior Steward, Senior Deacon, and Senior Warden, and in December, 1893, was elected Master, and served one year. He was elected Junior Grand Steward of the Grand Lodge in 1895, and served in all but two of the offices in the line of that body, being finally elected Grand Master and serving in that exalted office for the year ending December 27, 1904.
He received the several degrees of Capitular Masonry in Columbia Royal Arch Chapter, No. 1, and was an officer in the line of that Chapter, when he resigned his position to help organize Capitol Royal Arch Chap- ter, No. 11, of which he is a charter member, and of which he became King at the granting of its charter. He served as High Priest during the year 1899.
Bro. Wetmore is also a member of Adoniram Council, No. 2, Royal and Select Masters, having dimitted from Washington Council, No. 1, in which he received the cryptic degrees; is a Past President of the Con- vention of Anointed High Priests of the District of Columbia; was knighted in Columbia Commandery, No. 2, K. T., of which he is a mem- ber, on May 3, 1895; received the fourteenth degree of the Scottish Rite,
GRAND MASTER, 1909; GRAND HIGH PRIEST, 1905.
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and is a member of Mithras Lodge of Perfection, No. 1, and is a member of Almas Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
He is one of the Trustees of the Grand Lodge and among his important committee assignments may be mentioned his service on the Jurisprudence Committee of the Grand Lodge since 1905 and his Chairmanship of the Committee on By-laws of the Grand Chapter.
In Masonry, as in everything else, Bro. Wetmore has shown marked ability, and his promotion to the greatest honor conferred by the Craft was comparatively rapid. The confidence reposed in him by his brethren was well deserved, for he always proved, as they believed he would, careful, conservative, and conscientious in the performance of every duty. When convinced of the righteousness of any course he essayed, nothing could move him to abandon it. Firmness and fortitude are conspicuous traits in his character. Fond of books, his addresses in public and among the Craft gave evidence of much reading and broad culture. Modest and pleasing in demeanor, ever affable and courteous in manner, he is de- servedly popular in a large circle of brethren and friends. In all the re- lations of life, in the domestic circle, in the outer world as well as in Masonry, devotion to duty has characterized the career of our Brother. This has doubtless been the keynote of his success.
LURTIN RUFUS GINN,
GRAND MASTER, 1905.
Bro. Ginn was born near Mechanicsburg, Henry County, Indiana, November 11, 1860, and assumed the office of Grand Master when but forty-four years of age, one of the youngest brethren ever elected to this very important Masonic office.
His early education was obtained in the public schools of his native State. After completing his school career he entered the Central Normal College, located at Danville, Indiana, graduating in the classic course of that institution in 1882. Shortly afterward, while teaching in the district schools of Indiana, he took up the study of law, intending to enter that profession, but receiving an appointment to a clerkship in the Treasury Department he removed from Indiana to this city. After lo- cating here he resolved to continue his legal education, and entering the National University Law School, graduated in 1888.
He was appointed law clerk in the office of the Comptroller of the Treasury, July 1, 1901, which position he now holds. His high character and talents and his fidelity and efficiency in the administration of his important office have won for him the confidence of the authorities of the department and the esteem and friendship of many persons promi- nent in official circles with whom he is brought in contact.
Bro. Ginn was raised to the degree of Master Mason in Harmony Lodge, No. 17, April 14, 1887. His capabilities were at once recognized
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by the brethren of the lodge and he was immediately placed in the official line. Perhaps the greatest efforts of his Masonic career were put forth during the period when he was a junior officer of this lodge, which at that time, by the infusion of young blood, was entering upon the career of phenomenal growth which has since distinguished it. Here he was indefatigable in his devotion, carrying the welfare of the lodge into his daily life and devoting nearly every moment of his unoccupied time to the upbuilding of the Masonic organization, thereby ably assisting in promoting the impetus which the lodge secured at that time. In 1890 he was elected Master, serving for the year 1891, and becoming a perma- nent member of the Grand Lodge. November 11, 1896, he was elected Grand Pursuivant of the Grand Lodge, thus beginning an official career which ended December 27, 1905, as Grand Master of Masons of this jurisdiction ; a career crowned with high honor and great distinction.
The close of his official life witnessed no abatement, however, in his active interest and participation in Fraternity matters, and the years that have since elapsed have been full of valuable service to the jurisdiction. One instance of special importance that may be cited covers his connec- tion with the transfer of control of the New Masonic Temple to the Grand Lodge, a movement initiated by the Masonic Temple Association. Acting upon the invitation of the latter body the then Grand Master, A. B. Coolidge, in December, 1908, appointed Bro. Ginn Chairman of the Com- mittee of the Grand Lodge to consider ways and means looking to the taking over of the Temple by the Grand Lodge. This Committee made its report, which was unanimously adopted, without change, and an amend- ment to the grand constitution inserted providing for a Committee on Masonic Temple to be the proxy of the Grand Lodge at all meetings of the Temple Association. At the request of Grand Master George C. Ober Bro. Ginn accepted and is now filling the position of Chairman of this Committee.
When the present Masonic Board of Relief of the District of Columbia was organized in 1887 Bro. Ginn was appointed a delegate representing his lodge. In 1892 he was elected Secretary of the Board, to which office he was annually re-elected, declining further service in 1904. Janu- ary 4, 1906, immediately after retiring from the office of Grand Master, Bro. Ginn was elected President of the Board.
To his individual efforts may be largely assigned the success of the local Board of Relief, not only in the proper care of the indigent brethren whom unfortunate circumstances have forced to ask charity at the hands of the Masons of this city, but in protecting the treasuries of the lodges of this jurisdiction against the impostor and the unworthy. The repu- tation of the local board is second to none in the country, and the colleagues of Bro. Ginn on the Board are unanimous in testifying that to his intimate connection with and knowledge of its affairs this reputation is in some measure due. The Masonic "hobo" gives the District of Columbia a wide berth, while the unfortunate but worthy Brother does not apply for succor in vain.
For many years Bro. Ginn has attended as delegate from this juris-
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diction the biennial sessions of the Masonic Relief Association of the United States and Canada. September 28, 1905, at the session held at Syracuse, New York, he was elected Second Vice-President, having pre- viously served as Chairman of the Advisory Board, and after serving as First Vice-President was elected to the Presidency of the Association in 1909.
While active in Blue Lodge Masonry, Bro. Ginn has identified himself with the Chapter, Commandery. Scottish Rite, and Shrine. He was ex- alted in Mount Vernon Chapter, No. 3, R. A. M., October 31, 1887, and was its High Priest during the year 1895. He was knighted in Columbia Commandery, No. 2, K. T., October 16, 1891. He received the fourteenth degree in Mithras Lodge of Perfection, A. A. S. R., January 16, 1890, the Order of High Priesthood March 31, 1904, and in the memorable class of May 29, 1893, he traveled the "hot sands of the desert" under the auspices and guidance of Almas Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.
Past Grand Master Ginn's popularity has been evinced by his prac- tically unanimous election to every Masonic office he has held. Personally he is approachable, with a most engaging manner, and while serving as Grand Master he made it a rule to be at all times accessible to any Mason of the jurisdiction. whether an official or of the rank and file, who desired consultation or advice. Recognizing the responsibilities of the Grand Master he devoted himself to the study of the Grand Lodge Constitution, the ancient usages and customs of the Craft, and the deep. underlying principles upon which Masonry is founded, thereby equipping himself so thoroughly that his decisions as Grand Master were in every instance approved by the Grand Lodge and now have the force and effect of law.
He is strong in the love of his brethren because of the pure purposes and high ideals of his own life and of his forceful, earnest endeavors to measure his own conduct on the lines of a truly Masonic conception of his reciprocal duties to mankind. Considerate and sympathetic to those who are in trouble, kind and genial in his every-day life, and more than brotherly to those who approach him Masonically, his character is only to be measured on the broadest gauge of sterling manhood and the highest plane of integrity.
WALTER A. BROWN,
GRAND MASTER, 1906.
Bro. Brown is a native of the District of Columbia, having been born in the City of Washington November 25, 1866, and therefore had just passed the thirty-ninth anniversary of his birth when called upon to as- sume the responsible and exacting duties pertaining to the office of Grand Master of Masons, being one of the youngest men to fill that station in the history of the jurisdiction.
He received his education in the schools of the District of Columbia, and at Swarthmore College, in Pennsylvania, at which latter institution
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he was chosen president of his class, and also intrusted with the business management of the two magazines published by the students. The suc- cessful manner in which he handled the duties of that position gave early indication of his aptitude for affairs and grasp of details that were later to characterize his whole business career.
Upon leaving college he returned to Washington, and there found em- ployment in insurance and real estate offices, where he acquired such a proficiency in all the essentials of the work as to qualify him to go into those lines of business on his own account, which he did in 1891. In this venture he has been successful, and he feels that the best endorsement of his methods and abilities is to be found in the fact that he counts among his clients and business friends today many who intrusted the manage- ment of their properties to him when he started in business. He has been a director of one of our most prominent banks, of trust companies, and other corporations, as well as a member of the Chamber of Commerce and for many years a director of the Washington Board of Trade.
The Masonic career of Bro. Brown has been one of exceptional activity. He was initiated November 26, 1889, in Federal Lodge, No. 1, passed December 24, 1889, and raised January 28, 1890. At the first election oc- curring in his lodge thereafter he was chosen Senior Steward, and once having entered the line was regularly advanced, serving as Junior Warden in1 1894, Senior Warden in 1895, and Worshipful Master in 1896. His successor had not yet been installed as Master of the lodge when he was elected Senior Grand Steward in the Grand Lodge. He was regularly advanced in the Grand Lodge to the various stations and places, and was elected Grand Master on the evening of St. John's Day, December 27, 1905. Thus during the seventeen years of his Masonic existence he served his brethren actively and continuously, as an officer in his lodge and in Grand Lodge, for sixteen years-a distinction both rare and well deserved.
Because of the exceptional conditions which prevailed in Washington during the Civil War all the Masonic bodies in the District of Columbia experienced a period of unexampled prosperity, and the annual gains then made, numerically and financially, have rarely, if ever, been equaled dur- ing any particular year since by any of those bodies. It is, therefore, a matter of pride with Bro. Brown that the year 1896, when he was Wor- shipful Master of Federal Lodge, No. 1, was the most prosperous of any in its existence since the war.
Bro. Brown was exalted in Columbia Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M., April 22, 1891, and knighted in Washington Commandery, No. 1, K. T., Febru- ary 17, 1892. He is a member of Mithras Lodge of Perfection, No. 1, A. A. S. R., and of Almas Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.
He has been President of St. John's Mite Association since 1904, when the position became vacant through the resignation of Past Grand Master Robert B. Donaldson, who had held it for many years.
No Grand Master in this jurisdiction ever held the scales of justice in more equal poise, or showed a keener appreciation of the efforts of the officers of the constituent lodges. While it gave him pleasure to recognize
GRAND MASTER, 1910; GRAND HIGH PRIEST, 1903; GRAND COMMANDER. 1910.
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merit and ability and to bestow praise and words of encouragement where due, he did not shirk the duty of giving timely admonition to the lodges when conditions seemed to require it, and he knew how to do this in a way to effect his purpose without leaving any feeling of humiliation on the part of the brethren.
While kind, considerate, courteous, unassuming, and democratic to a degree, his dignity and poise in the discharge of his duties reflected the veneration in which he held the high office to which he had been chosen, and won the respect and esteem of his brethren.
Bro. Brown was called upon during the year to preside at a number of public functions, among the more important of which were the dedication of the completed wing of the Masonic and Eastern Star Home and the laying of the cornerstone of the Office Building of the House of Repre- sentatives. On the latter occasion our ceremonies-handed down from time immemorial and of deep significance to us-were performed in the presence of the Chief Executive of the Nation, the representatives of our own and foreign governments, and a vast concourse of spectators. On this occasion the President delivered an address on "The Man With the Muck Rake." It is believed that Bro. Brown cherishes no souvenir of his year's service as Grand Master more highly than the bound copy of that address, presented to him by the President, and bearing on the fly leaf, in the President's own handwriting, the inscription: "To Walter A. Brown, Esq., Grand Master of Masons, from Bro. Theodore Roosevelt."
FRANCIS JOSEPH WOODMAN,
GRAND MASTER, 1907.
W. Bro. Woodman is a native and a citizen of the Granite State, tho he has resided in the District nearly thirty years. Born in Somers- worth, New Hampshire, August 7, 1851, his early life was spent in that city, where he passed through the graded schools. At the age of nineteen he entered Phillips Academy at Exeter, N. H., from which he graduated in 1872. In the fall of the same year he matriculated in the academic department of Yale University, and during his course at "Old Eli" he joined the D. K. E. fraternity and the famous Yale Glee Club, of which he was the baritone soloist in his junior and senior years. Graduating in 1876, he returned to his native city and engaged in the management of The Free Press, a weekly newspaper conducted in connection with an extensive printing business. In 1879 he obtained, through a competitive examination, an appointment to a clerkship in the Pension Office, and two years later entered the Columbian (now George Washington) Medical School, from which he graduated in 1885. He advanced through many grades of the Pension Office, including Assistant Chief of Division, Medical Examiner, and Principal Examiner, to Qualified Surgeon, in which
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capacity he is at the present time chief of the examination section of the medical division.
He is an honorary member of Temple Lodge, No. 32, of this juris- diction, and of Fredericksburg Lodge, No. 4, of Fredericksburg, Va., in which Lodge George Washington was made a Mason, and of which the Marquis de LaFayette was an honorary member.
M. W. Bro. Woodman's Masonic history began in his senior year at Yale, when he was made a Master Mason in Adelphi Lodge, No. 63, of Fair Haven, Conn., December 14, 1875. February 21, 1889, he affiliated with LaFayette Lodge, No. 19, from which he withdrew May 8, 1895, to become a charter member of Takoma Lodge, No. 29. He was Master of the lodge in 1896. In 1897 he was appointed by Grand Master Matthew Trimble to fill a vacancy in the office of Junior Grand Steward, and was thereafter elected to each succeeding station in the progressive line of the Grand Lodge. On December 27, 1906, he was installed as Grand Master for the term which ended at the St. John's Day communication in 1907.
His Capitular history also dates from his college days. March 8, 1876, he was exalted in Pulaski Chapter, No. 26, of Fair Haven, Conn. Later he became a charter member of Edwards Chapter, No. 21, of Somersworth, N. H. At the organization of Capitol Chapter, No. 11, November 6, 1897, he was installed as the first High Priest, and served in that office during the following year. In 1900 he was appointed Grand Master of the Second Vail in the Grand Chapter of the District of Columbia, and was regularly advanced to the station of Grand High Priest, filling that office with conspicuous ability for the year 1909.
He received the Cryptic degrees in the Grand Council of Maryland at Baltimore November 14, 1896, and later affiliated with Washington Council, No. 1, R. and S. M., of Washington.
He was knighted in St. Paul Commandery, of Dover, N. H., March 19, 1878. On the organization of Orient Commandery, No. 5, of Wash- ington, October 19, 1895, he became a charter member, and served as Eminent Commander in 1901.
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