USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > History of the Grand lodge and of freemasonry in the District of Columbia : with biographical appendix > Part 38
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ÄRVINE W. JOHNSTON,
GRAND SECRETARY OF THE GRAND LODGE, F. A. A. M.
Brother Johnston, who is also Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter, R. A. M., and Grand Recorder of the Grand Commandery, K. T., District of Columbia, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 28, 1856, but soon after his parents removed to Medina, in the northern part of the same State, where he retains his legal residence. His early edu- cation was acquired in the public schools, being supplemented by that most valuable addition to a public school education, an apprenticeship at printing in a newspaper office, to which he devoted a half dozen years of his young manhood, a portion of his time being given to reporting the news. His father, a soldier in an Ohio regiment, having been killed in the battle of Resaca, Ga., during the civil war, he was practically the architect of his own fortunes.
BEN W. MURCH DEPUTY GRAND MASTER 1911
CHARLES E. BALDWIN S. G. WARDEN 1911
THOMAS H. YOUNG G. LECTURER
J. RUSSELL VERBRYCKE G. CHAPLAIN
JOYCE ENG. CO.
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Bro. Johnston received an appointment in the Treasury Department in 1876 and came to this city, which has ever since remained his place of residence. During his incumbency of the clerkship he completed a course of law in the National University, of this city, graduating with the degree of LL.B. In the Sixth Auditor's Office he worked him- self up by regular promotions until he became assistant chief of his division. During the war with Spain he was appointed to a clerkship in the War Department, which he resigned in 1901 to devote his entire time to the duties of the various Masonic offices to which he had been elected.
As a man, Bro. Johnston has the respect and the warm friendship of the Craft, not alone of this jurisdiction, but of the prominent Masons of the country, with many of whom he has acquaintance by meeting them at various national Masonic gatherings, as well as by official correspondence.
For more than twenty years he has been a tireless student of Masonry in all its phases, and as a result brings to the discharge of his varied duties a ripened judgment, which, united with an infinite patience and tactful and courteous disposition, gives him the equipment of an ideal Grand Secretary.
Bro. Johnston is so well recognized an authority on the work and lectures of this jurisdiction, that in 1898, during his absence from the city, he was elected to the office of Grand Lecturer of the Grand Lodge, which position, however, he declined. For several years after the death of the erudite and world-renowned Bro. William R. Single- ton, he was the reviewer of foreign correspondence for the Grand Chapter, a field in which he found ample room for the display of his talent as a writer and a ripe student of Capitular Masonry and in which he won recognition in the Masonic world ..
Bro. Johnston was made a Master Mason in Harmony Lodge, No. 17, F. A. A. M., on September 27, 1888, and was Master of the lodge in 1894. He was exalted in Columbia Chapter, No. 1, R. A. M., February 20, 1889, and was its High Priest in 1893. May 17, 1889, he was knighted in Columbia Commandery, No. 2, K. T., and in 1895 assisted in forming Orient Commandery, No. 5, K. T., of which he became Eminent Commander in 1900.
He was appointed Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter of the District of Columbia May 18, 1896, and elected at the annual grand convocation in that year, and has been re-elected every year since. At his first appearance in a conclave of the Grand Commandery as a member, he was elected Grand Recorder of that body, a position to which he has been annually re-elected. March 16, 1901, he was appointed Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the lamented William R. Singleton, elected at the next ensuing an- nual grand communication, and re-elected annually since. During his occu- pancy of the office, he has made a card index of the more than 9,000 living Master Masons of this District and all who have ever been members-so copious and full that the complete Masonic history of
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each is at his fingers' ends at a moment's notice. He has also per- formed a similar service for Capitular Masonry, his card index of the Companions of the District being equally complete and valuable.
In 1897 he was President of the Convention of Anointed High Priests of this jurisdiction. He is also a member of Washington Council, No. 1. R. and S. M .; of Mithras Lodge of Perfection, A. A. S. R., and of Almas Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.
GEORGE EDGAR CORSON,
JUNIOR GRAND WARDEN, 1880.
While never having filled the position of Grand Master, W. Bro. Corson has been for many years one of the most active, best known, and de- servedly popular Masons in the District of Columbia, with a record of varied and distinguished service perhaps unequaled in the history of the jurisdiction.
Possessed of a dignified yet pleasing presence, a genial, affable, and courteous disposition, a broad, intellectual, and judicial mind, and an unflagging interest and energy in all the activities of local Masonic circles he has filled the many offices of trust to which he has been called with conspicuous ability.
Bro. Corson, whose ancestors were prominently identified with the early civil and military history of New England, was born in Lebanon, Maine, July 30, 1842. He received his early education in the public schools of his native town and in the Lebanon Academy. August 30, 1861, at the age of nineteen years, he enlisted at Dover, N. H., in the 17th U. S. Infantry, the regiment being at that time stationed and in process of organization at Fort Preble, Portland Harbor, Me. Soon after reporting he was placed on extra duty as acting quartermaster and commissary sergeant and assisted in the organization of the quartermaster and com- missary departments of his regiment and in arming and equipping it for service in the field. In March, 1862, he accompanied his regiment to Washington, D. C., where it was assigned to duty with the Army of the Potomac, with which it saw active and honorable service until the close of the war. In April, 1862, he was appointed commissary sergeant of the 1st Battalion of the 17th U. S. Infantry, which rank he held for the remaining period of his enlistment. He participated in all the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac-on the Peninsula, at Antietam, Chancellors- ville, Gettysburg, in New York, in the suppression of the draft riots, at Mine Run, and in the spring of 1864 through the Wilderness to Spottsyl- vania. Tho a non-combatant by virtue of his office as commissary ser- geant, his post of duty being with the wagon train in the rear, and being
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thereby exempt from all the risks and hazards of battle, yet having the patriotic and fighting blood of his colonial and revolutionary ancestors in his veins, and being desirous of seeing service with his comrades on the firing line, he, on May 8, 1864, applied for and obtained the permission of his superior officer to report to the commanding officer of his regiment for duty at the front. He did so at once and took part in the battle of Laurel Hill on May 10, and in the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864. In the last named engagement he received a severe gun- shot wound through his left side, which became the subject of great interest to the army surgeons, and is noted by Surgeon George A. Otis in his "Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion," among the cele- brated cases of gunshot wounds of the abdomen. For faithful and meri- torious service as a non-commissioned officer, and for courage and gal- lantry in action, he was recommended for a commission in the regular army, but being incapacitated by reason of his wound for service in the field, and having no liking for life at an army post, he declined the proffered honor, and at the expiration of his term of service, August 29, 1864, took his discharge.
A few weeks later he came to Washington, and on October 10, 1864, was appointed to a clerkship in the War Department, where he has con- tinued in various positions of trust and responsibility up to the present time 1911). In the early seventies, while Chief of the Endorsement Sub- division of the Record and Pension Division, Surgeon General's Office, he originated a system which was at once adopted and put into practice, of recording requests for information from the records and of filing all transcriptions and correspondence in connection therewith, now known as the "Record Card File." In 1894, upon the recommendation of the "Dockery Commission"-a commission created by Congress "to inquire into the business methods of the several Executive Departments"-this system was put in force, by the orders of the Secretary of War, in the several Bureaus of the War Department, and made to apply to nearly all their correspondence, which, by simplifying the work and substituting the "Record Card File" for the former numerous and expensive record books, has resulted in the saving of much clerical labor and many thousands of dollars to the Government of the United States.
He is an alumnus of the George Washington University, having been graduated from the Columbian Law School in June, 1871, with the de- gree of Bachelor of Laws, and was at once admitted to the bar and to practice in the courts of the District of Columbia.
He was mustered into the Grand Army of the Republic in 1871 and has been an active worker in that organization for forty years. He was one of the " Old Guard" that preserved and kept intact the Department of the Potomac, of which he was Department Commander in 1878.
He is a member of the Association of Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia, of the National Geographic Society, of the American National Red Cross, and of the Maine Association in the District of Columbia.
Bro. Corson was initiated in Harmony Lodge, No. 17, F. A. A. M., December 8, 1870; passed January 12, 1871, and raised February 9, 1871;
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served successively as S. D. and J. W. and S. Warden, and was Master of his lodge during 1877 and 1878. He was elected Senior Grand Deacon in 1879, and Junior Grand Warden in 1880.
He received the Capitular degrees in Potomac Chapter, No. 8, George- town, D. C., June 20 to July 25, 1871; the same year became Captain of the Host, and after filling the intervening stations was elected High Priest for the year 1875, and was re-elected in 1876. After serving in several of the subordinate chairs in the Grand Chapter he became Grand High Priest for 1886; was appointed Chairman of Committee on Work in 1887, and has served in that capacity to the present time.
At the Triennial Convocation of the General Grand Chapter of the United States at Minneapolis, Minn., in 1891, he was elected G. G. Master First Vail, and has been advanced at each succeeding convocation, now occupying the position of General Grand King, to which exalted station he was elected at Savannah, Ga., November, 1909.
He received the Cryptic degrees in Washington Council, No. 1, of Washington, in July, '83, and January, '91; was elected Recorder in 1886, and served in that capacity for twenty-three successive years.
He was knighted in Potomac Commandery, No. 3, K. T., Georgetown, November 10, 1871; served as Prelate in 1872 and 1873; as Generalissimo from 1874 to 1878, and as Eminent Commander, 1879, 1880 and 1881. He entered the line of the Grand Commandery in 1896 as Grand Standard- Bearer, and after filling the various stations between, filled the office of Grand Commander in 1902. He has served as Chairman of the Com- mittee on Correspondence for the Grand Commandery since May, 1907.
He received the fourth degree to the fourteenth degree of the A. and A. S. R. in Mithras Lodge, No. 1, in March, 1884, and served as Secretary thereof from January 1, 1884, to February 5, 1889; the fifteenth degree to the eighteenth degree in Evangelist Chapter, R. C., No. 1, June and July, 1884, and served as W. M. of that chapter from May 10, 1887, to April 10, 1890; the nineteenth degree to the thirtieth degree in Robert de Bruce Council of Kadosh, October, 1884, to January, 1885, and served as Commander in 1899 and 1900; thirty-first degree and thirty-second degree in Albert Pike Consistory, No. 1, April 1, 1885; was crowned thirty-third degree and proclaimed an Inspector-General (honorary) and a member of the Supreme Council of the A. A. S. R. for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States October 25, 1901.
He is a member of the Convention of Anointed High Priests and was President of the same in 1902.
He belongs to the Masonic Veteran Association of the District and filled the office of President of that organization for the years 1908 and 1909.
He received the degrees of the Royal Order of Scotland December 12, 1887, at Washington, D. C., under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Grand Lodge; was appointed First Grand Marischal by Bro. Josiah H. Drum- mond, the Provincial Grand Master, July 1, 1894, and has been annually reappointed to that office to date.
T. JOHN NEWTON J. G. WARDEN
1. HENNING NELMS ASST. G. CHAPLAIN
ALEXANDER GRANT G. MARSHAL
W. W. JERMANE S. G. DEACON
JAMES W. WITTEN J. G. DEACON
Joven ENG LO
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KENTON NEAL HARPER,
HISTORIAN, GRAND LODGE, F. A. A. M., DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
By A. W. Johnston, Grand Secretary.
In the pantheon of those who have rendered able and distinguished service to the Grand Lodge, the author of this work, Bro. Kenton Neal Harper, is deserving of a conspicuous place.
Bro. Harper was born at Gettysburg, Pa., May 15, 1857, and comes of good Masonic stock, his father, Bro. Robert Goodloe Harper, editor, judge, and man of affairs, having been one of the pioneer Masons in that section of Pennsylvania. During the anti-Masonic excitement the elder Harper engaged in the defence of our institution in a pamphlet controversy with the redoubtable Thaddeus Stevens, at whose instigation he was ar- rested and haled before the legislature at Harrisburg for his connection with the Craft.
As a boy of six young Harper was an eye-witness to many of the scenes of horror enacted in those dreadful days of July 1-3, 1863, when the tide of battle surged back and forth through his native town, and the memory of them remains with him vividly to this day.
His education was obtained in private schools and at Pennsylvania College, being a member of the class of 1876 from that institution. He then engaged in newspaper work for several years in Detroit, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Cumberland, Md., in the latter city holding the posi- tions of associate editor of the Daily Times and editor of the Weekly Alleghanian.
Coming to Washington, he held for a brief time a position in the Government Printing Office, and on March 8, 1886, entered the service of the War Department, where he has since remained, being at present in charge of the card index rooms of the Medical Division of the Adju- tant-General's Office.
Bro. Harper's Masonic career began in 1892, when he was initiated January 21; passed February 18, and raised March 17, in Naval Lodge, No. 4. His aptitude for Masonic work was at once recognized by the lodge, which conferred upon him the unusual honor of an election as Junior Warden in less than nine months after he was raised. After a service of one year in this station and two years as Senior Warden he was elected Master and presided over the lodge in the years 1896 and 1897, and on Dec. 1, 1910, was elected Secretary.
He was exalted in Washington Naval Chapter, No. 6, R. A. M., October 29, 1896, and served the Chapter as High Priest in 1901. In 1903 he was appointed Grand Master of the First Vail in the Grand Chapter, and has been regularly advanced to the office of Grand High Priest, in which he was installed February 9, 1910, for the term which will expire at the Annual Convocation of the Grand Chapter in February, 1911.
He was knighted in Orient Commandery, No. 5, K. T., February 19,
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1906, and after filling several stations in the progressive line was installed April 18, 1910, as Commander for the year 1910-1911.
He is a member of Adoniram Council, No. 2, R. and S. M .; of Martha Chapter, No. 4, O. E. S., which he served as Worthy Patron in 1901; and of the Board of Directors of the Masonic and Eastern Star Home of the District of Columbia.
Near the Grand bodies of the District of Columbia he is the Repre- sentative of the Grand Lodge of Idaho, the Grand Chapter of Iowa, and the Grand Commandery of Tennessee.
He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Washington.
Bro. Harper was made a life member of Naval Lodge in 1905 in recog- nition of his service in preparing the history of the lodge, which was pub- lished in that year under the title, "First Century of Naval Lodge, No. 4, F. A. A. M." His ability in collecting and arranging the data for this work and presenting it in a clear and vigorous narrative led to his appointment as Historian of the Grand Lodge by Grand Master Lurtin R. Ginn, and in the present work he has more than justified the wisdom of his appointment and rendered an inestimable service to the Craft. It is a splendid monument to his laborious research, his skill in arrangement, and his ability as a writer.
ALBERT PIKE,
GRAND COMMANDER OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL, 33º, A. A. S. R., SOUTHERN JURISDICTION, U. S. A., 1858-1891.
Knowing well that statues of marble and bronze fall to the earth, are swallowed by it, perish, and are forgotten, while the works of genius alone survive, Bro. Pike erected his monument in his poems, in his scholarly writings, and in books containing his profound Masonic and philosophical investigations which are as yet known only to the few. Like the great Roman he desired no other monument save that which is found in his works. The Supreme Council, over which he presided for so many years, has erected to his memory the bronze statue, the work of the great Italian Sculptor, Trentanove, which was unveiled at the celebration of the Centennial Anniversary.
No brief sketch such as must be given in this work can do justice to the life and work of Albert Pike.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 29th day of December, 1809, he was educated at Newburyport and Framingham. Compelled to teach in order to earn money to pay his board and tuition, he fitted himself to enter the junior class at Harvard College, but finding that to enter that class he would have to pay the fees of the Sophomore and Freshman classes before entering he declined to do so, and thus, as he said, "was
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deprived of the advantages of a collegiate education." Afterwards, while teaching, he educated himself by taking substantially the college courses. In 1834 he removed to Arkansas. A soldier in the war with Mexico he commanded a company in Colonel Archibald Yell's Regiment. He was Reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Arkansas, a Judge of that Court, and was regarded as the leading lawyer of the State. Having studied the Civil Law he removed to New Orleans in 1853 and engaged in practice there during that year. He was the first person who proposed to hold a convention for the purpose of considering the building of a railroad to the Pacific Ocean. Entering the Confederate Army he served for a time as a Brigadier-General. His estate was con- fiscated and was retained by the United States until after his death, when part of it was returned to his children. He removed to Washington and practiced law in that city until 1880, when he gave up the practice. Of his poems the great English critic, "Kit North" (Wilson), said, "they entitle their author to take his place in the highest order of his country's poets." He was versed in many languages, including the Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Sanskrit, French, Spanish, Italian, &c., and there remain as speci- mens of his work in the Library of the Supreme Council his manuscript translations of the Veda and the Zend-Avesta.
His labors for the Fraternity were the result of the conviction that he could render humanity greater service in that field than in any other, altho he could have achieved great distinction in political life or in the line of his profession. He was prominent and held numerous offices in the York Rite. He was made a Mason in Little Rock in July, 1850, a Royal Arch Mason November 29, 1850, a Knight Templar February, 1853. He received the degrees of the Scottish Rite from Albert G. Mackey on March 20, 1853, at Charleston, and received the thirty-third degree honorary on April 25, 1857, at New Orleans. He was crowned an active member of the Supreme Council March 20, 1858, at Charleston. He was Honorary Grand Commander of the Supreme Councils of Brazil, Egypt, and Tunis, Provincial Past Grand Prior of the Grand Priory of Canada, and was an honorary member of the Supreme Councils of Mexico, Colon, Hungary, New Granada, Italy, the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, Canada, and Greece. His ability, learning, and character, were thus recognized and honored throughout the world.
By reason of his long residence in this city and his active interest in York as well as Scottish Rite Masonry, he was well known, respected, and loved by the entire local Fraternity, and his death, which occurred in this city April 2, 1891, was felt to be an irreparable loss to the jurisdiction.
IN MEMORY OF THE LATE ALBERT PIKE.
In mystic glory with song and story The coming ages shall prolong thy fame, And o'er the ocean with deep devotion The true and faithful shall revere thy name.
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While streams are flowing and winds are blowing Along the boundless prairies of the West,
Thy manly bearing and dashing daring
Shall shine in honor with the brave and blest.
The good you brought us, the truth you taught us, Shall linger down the billowy tides of time- In templed tower with pride and power
In every heart and soul, and land and clime.
You taught us beauty and love and duty, And Truth, the great foundation stone of all,
That never falters and never alters,
But reigns triumphant over home and hall.
Masonic pages through unborn ages Shall paint the picture of thy lofty mien,
And tell to others that brave mystic brothers Shall keep thy memory in immortal green !
JOHN A. JOYCE.
Washington, D. C., October 25, 1899.
ALBERT GALLATIN MACKEY,
SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL, 33º, A. A. S. R., SOUTHERN JURISDICTION, U. S. A., FROM 1844 TO 1881.
This Brother was born in Charleston, South Carolina, March 12, 1807. When seventeen years of age he was appointed a teacher in the public schools of St. Johns, a place near Charleston, and while teaching he studied medicine, was admitted to the South Carolina Medical College, and was graduated in 1832, his Latin thesis obtaining the first prize. Some years afterwards he became Demonstrator of Anatomy in the college from which he had been graduated. He gave up the practice of medicine in 1842 and afterwards devoted himself to literature and Masonry, becoming a frequent contributor to the newspapers, magazines, and journals of the day.
He was made a Mason in 1841 and was elected Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina in 1843 and Grand Lecturer in 1845, holding these offices until 1866. He was elected Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter in 1854, and re-elected every year continuously until 1867. The office of General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter of the United States was filled by him in 1859. The thirty-third degree was conferred on him in 1844 and he was then elected Secretary General, holding the place until his death. Dr. Mackey's first book on Masonry was the "Lexicon," which was published in 1845. Then ap- peared in succession "The Mystic Tie," " Ahiman Rezon," " Principles of Masonic Law." "Book of the Chapter," "Text Book on Masonic
LEM. TOWERS, JR .. G. SWORD BEARER
JOSEPH H. MILANS G. PURSUIVANT
WARREN C. BICKFORD G TILER
J. HARRY CUNNINGHAM S. G. STEWARD
CHARLES J. O'NEILL J. G. STEWARD
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Jurisprudence," "History of Masonry in South Carolina," " Manual of the Lodge," "Cryptic Masonry," "Symbolism of Freemasonry," "En- cyclopedia of Freemasonry," and " Manual of Parliamentary Law." These works made the name of the author famous and they are still in use throughout the United States by many of the various bodies of the Fraternity.
In July, 1865, he was appointed Collector of Customs at Charleston, and in 1868 was elected President of the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina. He gave up political life in 1870, came to Washington, D. C., and devoted his attention to the duties of the office of Secretary General of the Supreme Council. General Pike thus describes Dr. Mackey, "Tall, erect, of spare but vigorous frame, his somewhat harsh but striking features were replete with intelligence and amiability ; idolized by his wife and children he loved them devotedly; plotted no harm against any one, and sought no revenge even when he did not for- give, not being of a forgiving race, for he was a McGregor having kinship with Rob Roy."
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