USA > Indiana > A history of freemasonry in Indiana from 1806 to 1898 > Part 27
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creeks; have seen much signs of Indians, such as camps where they have lain, killed logs and cattle to live on, and made many canoes to approach our settlements; and I am conscious if you had not ordered out the additional com- panies and made those excellent arrangements of the 9th of February, the whole of the frontier would have been murdered ere now. The citizens are now living between hope and despair, waiting to know their doom."
At the first election under the State Constitution he was elected sheriff of Harrison county, which position he filled two terms. In 1819 he was elected to represent his county in the State Legislature. While a member of that body he served on the committee to select the site for the location of the State capital, which selection was made in June, 1820. He was re-elected to the Legislature in 1821, and at the following session was chosen one of the commission- ers to locate the boundary line between Indiana and Illi- nois. In March, 1823, he was appointed general agent for the Pottawattomie Indians on the upper Wabash, Tippe- canoe and Yellow rivers, and established the agency at Fort Wayne, which was afterwards removed to Logansport.
At the session of the Legislature in 1831 he was elected United States Senator to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of James Noble, and was re-elected in 1833 for the term of six years.
He was made a Mason in Pisgah Lodge at Corydon, and took an active interest there, in the Grand Lodge and at Logansport until he died, April 5, 1839. Tipton Lodge, at Logansport, was named in his honor, as was also the town of Tipton and Tipton county.
In his "Early Indiana Trials and Sketches," the author, Oliver H. Smith, has this to say of him:
"He was about the medium height, well set, short face, round head, low, wrinkled forehead, sunken grey eyes, stern countenance, good chest, stiff sandy hair standing erect from his forehead. He was not what is called an elo- quent debater, still he was plain and strong as a speaker. He saw the question clearly, and marched directly at it without rhetorical flourishes. He was a strong if not an
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elegant debater, and was always formidable upon the sub -. ject he had in charge, and he seldom or never interfered with the business of others beyond a silent vote."
He was in every way a useful citizen, and did as much, or more, to free Indiana from the hostile Indians and to render the people secure in their homes as any other man of his time.
JOHN SHEETS, of Madison, was elected Grand Master at the meeting of the Grand Lodge held at Corydon on the 12th of September, 1821, Grand Master Tipton having de- clined a re-election. After the election had been held, the minutes show that the Grand Lodge was called from labor to refreshment for one hour, and then called to labor again, when Grand Master Tipton informed the Grand Lodge that during the time of refreshment John Sheets, Grand Master-elect, had been installed as such according to an- cient usage, and with the customary rites and ceremonies.
At the annual session of 1822, October 9th, he was again elected Grand Master and "thrice proclaimed accordingly." He served until October 7, 1823, when he was succeeded by Governor Jonathan Jennings.
JONATHAN JENNINGS, of Corydon, and later of Charles- town, the first Governor of Indiana after its admission into the Union as a State, was elected Grand Master October 7, 1823, but for some reason, which does not appear of rec- ord, was not installed until October 4, 1824, the first day of the session of that year. He was re-elected and served from that date until October 5, 1825, when he declined a re- election.
He was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, in 1784. Ilis father was a Presbyterian minister, and soon after Jonathan's birth removed to Pennsylvania, where later he received a liberal education. He also studied law, but be- fore being admitted to the bar he started for the Indiana Territory. At Pittsburg he took passage on a flat-boat and floated down the Ohio river to Jeffersonville, where he landed, having determined to make that town his home. Here he completed the study of the law and became a prac-
JOHN SHEETS.
JONATHAN JENNINGS.
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titioner in the courts of that and other towns in the Terri- tory. He was subsequently made clerk of the Territorial Legislature, and while discharging the duties of that posi- tion became a candidate for Congress against Thomas Ran- dolph, Attorney-General of the Territory. IIe was elected by a small majority. He was re-elected in 1811 over Wal- ler Taylor, and in 1813 was chosen the third time. Early in 1816 he reported a bill to Congress to enable the people of the Territory to take the necessary steps to convert it into a State. Delegates to a convention to form a State Constitution were elected in May, 1816, Brother Jennings being chosen one from the county of Clark. When the convention assembled he was honored by being chosen to preside over its deliberations, and in the election which fol- lowed he was elected Governor of the new State by a ma- jority of 1,277 votes over Governor Posey, his competitor. In this office he served six years, also acting as Indian Con- missioner in 1818 by appointment of President Monroe. At the close of his term as Governor he was elected Repre- sentative in Congress and was chosen for four consecutive terms. In 1830 he was again a candidate, but was beaten by General John Carr. In his "Biographical and Histor- ical Sketches of Early Indiana," the author, W. W. Woollen, says:
"The defeat of Governor Jennings at this election (1830) was not because the people had lost confidence in his judg- ment or ability to serve them, but because they believed such a result would conduce to his good. He was of con- vivial habits, and at Washington had become a regular drinker. His friends saw the habit was growing on him. and were fearful that if they continued him in public life he would become a drunkard. Therefore, many of them voted against him, believing such a course was best for him. The habit, however, had become so fastened upon him that his retirement to private life did not cause him to leave it off. He continued to drink while he lived, and in his later years was often incapacitated for business by the too free use of liquor he made on his farm. This habit- the single vice of his life-followed him to the grave.
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"On leaving Congress he retired to his farm near Charlestown, where he remained until his death. He re- mained on his farm, cultivating the soil and spending his leisure in his library, until July 26, 1834, when the end came. He died at home, surrounded by his family and friends, beloved by them all. The next day his body was placed in a common farm wagon and taken to Charlestown and buried. The day was intensely hot, and but few were at his burial, these few being members of his family and particular friends. He was laid at rest on a hill overlook- ing the town, and his grave was unmarked by head or foot- stone, and thus it has remained to the present time. He was twice married, but no child was born to him.
"Governor Jennings was a man of polished manners. A lady who knew him well and was often a guest at his house said she never met a more fascinating man. He was always gentle and kind to those about him. He was not an orator, but he could tell what he knew in a pleasing way. He wrote well-as well, perhaps, as any of his successors in the Governor's office. He was an ambitious man, but his am- bition was in the right direction-to serve the people the best he could. He had blue eyes, fair complexion and sandy hair. He was about five feet eight and one-half inches high, and in his latter days inclined to corpulency. He was broad-shouldered and heavy-set, and weighed about 180 pounds. He died comparatively young, but he did as much for the well-being of Indiana as any man that ever lived."
In his "Early Indiana Trials and Sketches," Oliver H. Smith says of him:
"Governor Jennings I also knew very well. His great forte, like that of Martin Van Buren, was in managing the wires that controlled popular elections. Still he was by no means destitute of talents. His messages read well, and he made a useful business member of Congress. As a public speaker he was not admired, but on paper he was a very formidable competitor."
Nothing of special importance occurred during his two terms as Grand Master. He made no addresses or sugges- tions to the Grand Lodge, as it was not the custom at that time for Grand Masters to report to the Grand Lodge their
HONKer Ena M
MARSTON G. CLARK.
ISAAC HOWK.
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acts during vacation. He was serving as a member of Con- gress during that period, and had little leisure to devote to the details of Masonry.
MARSTON G. CLARK, of Salem, was elected Grand Master October 5, 1825. His administration of the office was of short duration. He presided at two sessions at the com- munication at which he was elected. Although the next meeting, in 1826, was held at Salem, where he resided, he was not in attendance at the opening of the session, and sent the following note:
"BRETHREN-Business imperatively calling me from home, induces me to tender this, my resignation as Grand Master; and permit me to say that I do not wish to be considered as a candidate for that office the ensuing year."
He appeared, however, in the Grand Lodge shortly after- wards and presided during the election of officers, and, hav- ing installed the Grand Master-elect, asked and obtained leave of absence for the remainder of the session.
At the meeting of the Grand Lodge January 15, 1818, at its organization, as the representative of Melchizidick Lodge, on behalf of the members of said lodge he surren- dered its charter and declined to receive a charter from the new Indiana Grand Lodge. IIe had been elected Junior Grand Warden the day previous. Thereupon, on motion, it was
"Resolved, That this Grand Lodge do now proceed to the election of a Junior Grand Warden in the place of Brother Marston G. Clark, who has forfeited his seat in the Grand Lodge of Indiana by surrendering the charter of Melchizi- dick Lodge."
Upon taking the ballot it was found that Benjamin V. Beckes, of Vincennes Lodge, was duly elected. He was then installed. Brother Clark did not make his appear- ance in the Grand Lodge again until 1824, when, Melchizi- dick Lodge having asked for and obtained a charter from the Grand Lodge in the name of "Salen" Lodge, he was elected Senior Grand Warden, and afterwards advanced to the Grand East, as above stated.
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From notes of his career obtained from various reliable sources it is learned that he was born in Virginia in 1774, and when quite young, with his parents, settled in or near Louisville, Ky., about 1800, and a few years later moved to Indiana, and finally settled in Salem, where he resided at the time of the formation of the Grand Lodge. His father is said to have been a brother of General George Rogers Clark, and was one of twenty-six children by the same father. Marston was at the battle of Tippecanoe, which occurred early on the morning of November 7, 1811, as one of General Harrison's aids. He was a brave soldier, and distinguished himself in heroism on that sanguinary battle- field. He was afterwards appointed and served as major- general of militia.
In political life he was elected and served as a member of the Legislature. He was also appointed and served as In- dian agent for a considerable length of time.
He is represented to have been a man of marked individ- uality, determined to succeed in whatever he believed to be right; was honest, generous, benevolent, and true to his friends. He died at Salem, Ind., in 1842.
ISAAC HOWK was a resident of Charlestown. He was elected Grand Master October 3, 1826, and served as such until October 3, 1827, when he was succeeded by Elihu Stout.
IIe was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, July 23, 1793, and was educated at Williams College, in that county. In 1817 he settled in Charlestown, Ind., and en- gaged in the practice of law, being one of the pioneer law- vers of the State. In 1820 he married Miss Elvira Vail, daughter of Dr. Gamaliel Vail, who had emigrated to In- diana Territory in 1806.
Brother Ilowk was an old-line Whig in politics. He was elected prosecuting attorney of the Second Judicial District of Indiana, and was commissioned by Governor Noble on the 30th day of December, 1832. . In 1828 he was elected to the Legislature, and was chosen Speaker of the House at that session.
In his manners he was quiet, sedate, and to strangers was
ELIHU STOUT.
ABEL C. PEPPER.
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distant and hard to get acquainted with, but no man had a kinder heart or more sympathetic soul. True to the prin- ciples of the Fraternity, of which he was a distinguished member, he was ever ready to give succor to the distressed and to aid the widow and orphan. He was not a member of any church.
He died, after a brief and sudden illness, May 24, 1833, while attending Supreme Court at Indianapolis.
ELIHU STOUT, of Vincennes, was elected Grand Master October 3, 1827, and served until November 27, 1828, when he was succeeded by General Tipton, who had previ- ously been elected, in 1820.
He was born on the 16th of April, 1782, in the city of Newark, New Jersey. His paternal ancestors were Ger- mans, and his maternal English. He came West before he was of age, and went to Lexington, Kentucky, and entered the printing establishment of the "Kentucky Gazette." Here he learned the printer's trade, and remained in the employ of the publishers, the Bradfords, until the winter of 1803,when he determined to embark in business on his own account. He selected Vincennes, then the capital of the recently organized Indiana Territory, as the place of location. In March, 1804, he shipped on a keel boat from Louisville, Kentucky, a press and type which he had pur- chased. The boat was propelled by hand down the Ohio river, and up the Wabash, arriving in Vincennes in June, 1804. Ile immediately commenced preparations for pub- lishing a paper. The first number of the paper appeared on the 4th of July, 1804, and was called the "Indiana Ga- zette." The publication of this paper was regularly con- tinued as a weekly until November, 1805, when the office was destroyed by fire. New material was immediately pur- chased in Louisville, Kentucky, and transported to Vin- cennes on pack horses over the old Buffalo trail. In the latter part of January, 1806, his paper again appeared, this time under the name of "The Western Sun." This was the first paper published in the Indiana Territory, and, except- ing the "Cincinnati Gazette," published at Cincinnati, was
-
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the first one published in the entire Northwest Territory. It was at first published weekly, but in course of time ap- peared semi-weekly, and is yet published both as a daily and weekly. He continued the editor and publisher of the paper until November, 1845, when he was appointed post- master at Vincennes, and sold out the paper. He was printer to the Indiana Territory until the fall of 1813, when the capitol was removed from Vincennes to Corydon.
The "Sun" from its first publication was an ardent sup- porter of Jefferson and his principles, and has ever contin- ved faithful in the support of the Democratic party and its candidates.
HIe was a warm personal friend of General Harrison.
When the General was a candidate for President in 1840 he visited Brother Stout at Vincennes and tried to induce him on account of old personal friendship to support his claim to the presidency. But the "Sun," notwithstanding its editor's personal friendship for Harrison, remained true to Democratic principles, and warmly supported Van Buren in the exciting campaign. The "Sun" was from the start the leading paper in the western country.
When Brother Stout resided in Lexington, Kentucky, and was connected with the "Gazette" he became person- ally acquainted with Henry Clay. A warm friendship sprang up between them, which continued uninterrupted for over a quarter of a century. In 1817 Henry Clay vis- ited him in Vincennes, and they were on terms of intimacy. In 1824, when four candidates for the presidency were be- fore the people, they all claimed to be National Republi- cans. In fact, it was the era of good feeling, as it was called, and the candidates claimed to stand on common ground. Brother Stout, exercising his right, determined to advocate the "Hero of New Orleans" and postpone the claims of "Ilarry of the West" until General Jackson had enjoyed presidential honors. During the canvass nothing occurred to mar the friendship that had previously existed between them. But the election being thrown into the House of Representatives by the failure of the electoral college to elect, and the action of Henry Clay in voting for
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and securing the election of John Quincy Adams, and ac- cepting office under the Adams administration, subjected Mr. Clay to the charge of bribery and corruption, and the "Western Sun" openly took that view, and as a matter of course alienated them, and they were never reconciled, al- though the action of Mr. Clay in regard to the compromise measures of 1850 placed them in the same political fold once more.
He was never a politician, but was for several years in- duced to act as justice of the peace, and limited the duties of that office mostly to the performance of the marriage cere- mony, and united nearly all who were married at Vin- cennes up to about 1825. He was also for a period of nearly twenty-five years, until 1827, almost continually ap- pointed foreman of the grand jury. He was also treasurer of the common land funds, postmaster at Vincennes under President Polk, and from 1850 until his death recorder of deeds of Knox county.
He was a very devoted and enthusiastic Mason. He re- ceived the degrees in Kentucky, and was a charter member of Vincennes Lodge, the first lodge established in Indiana Territory, in 1809. He remained a member until his death, which occurred June 22, 1860, and was buried by the lodge with the honors of Masonry.
ABEL C. PEPPER, of Rising Sun, was elected Grand Mas- ter December 2, 1829, and served as such until the annual election the year following, when he was succeeded by Philip Mason. He was not present at this meeting, and the sessions were presided over by Grand Masters pro tem. He was made a Mason in Lawrenceburg Lodge, and at the time of the formation of the Grand Lodge was Master of a lodge under dispensation at Rising Sun, and represented that lodge in the convention that resolved to form a Grand Lodge, and was made one of the committee to notify the Grand Lodges of Ohio and Kentucky of that determination. He was the first Master of the lodge at Rising Sun under charter, and nearly always filled some office until the time of his death.
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He was elected and served four terms, from 1847 to 1850, as Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of In- diana.
He was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, 1793, and died at Rising Sun March 20, 1860. He had filled numer- ous offices under the State and Nation, always with entire acceptability. Especially did he render valuable service to his State in securing treaties with the Indians in northern Indiana, by which the lands reserved for them by former treaties were ceded back to the government and opened to entry by the white settlers of that time. Between Decem- ber, 1834, and September, 1836, he had, without assistance, concluded eight treaties for lands held by the Indians north of the Tippecanoe river, embracing about 80,000 acres. In all these treaties a provision was inserted that the Indians should remove within two years to a reservation provided for them by the government west of the Missouri river. When the time arrived a majority of the Indians refused to go, and in September, 1838, were removed by order of the government, under the immediate command of Brother Past Grand Master Tipton, with Brother Pepper as assist- ant. They started from an Indian village about five miles southwest of Plymouth. When the caravan moved it num- bered 859 Indians, squaws and pappooses. When they ar- rived at their destination west of the Missouri, 103 had died and escaped.
In all the walks of life Brother Pepper was an exemplary citizen and Mason, and "a man, take him for all in all, we shall not soon look upon his like again."
MASONIC CAREER OF PHILIP MASON.
Past Grand Master Philip Mason was made a Mason in Warren Lodge No. 15 at Connersville, Ind., having been initiated therein December S, 1820, passed December 26th, and raised a Master Mason February 2, 1821. In his boy- hood, as is learned from his autobiography, from which the information for this sketch is mostly obtained, he had some- how become enamored with the Masonic Institution, but why he never could tell. He at once took an active interest
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in everything pertaining to the Order, and at the first elec- tion was chosen Junior Warden, and rapidly advanced to the position of Worshipful Master, which position he held in all fourteen years. He made his first appearance in the Grand Lodge in December, 1828, as the representative of Warren Lodge, and at that meeting was appointed District Deputy Master. Under this appointment he visited all the lodges in eastern Indiana, eight in number, extending from Vevay on the Ohio river to Fort Wayne on the north. He visited the lodge at Fort Wayne in mid-winter, traveling through a forest of fifty or sixty miles, coming across but one house in the whole distance, and that was on the Wa- bash river. The only road was a path, the underbrush being cut out so that a wagon could pass. He was kindly treated, he said, by the brethren at Fort Wayne, and was received in the most kind and hospitable manner. In De- cember, 1829, he made his report to the Grand Lodge, and at that session was elected Junior Grand Warden, and at the October meeting, 1830, in the absence of all the officers above him, he was elected and installed Grand Master, and was re-elected from time to time, and served in all nine years, being a greater length of service than any of his predecessors or any that have followed him. In 1833, as chairman of a committee, he reported a Constitution for the Grand Lodge, which was adopted. It was written, he said, with his own hand, and without the assistance of anyone. It was continued in force until 1849, when it was revised and an almost entirely new draft made. The Constitution which he drew presented many new and important features over the document which it supplanted. At that time in this State anti-Masonry was at its height, and many lodges had suspended work. But nine lodges were repre- sented at that meeting, and others were much reduced in numbers, leaving only a few fearless spirits to keep alive our much-beloved Institution.
At the session of the Grand Lodge in 1843 he opened it with an address, calling the attention of the members to such subjects as in his opinion should be acted upon. This was the first address of that kind that had ever been deliv-
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ered by a Grand Master in this State. It met with such a degree of favor that the custom has been observed by every Grand Master up to the present time. The address em- braces about four pages of the printed proceedings, and is a model of excellence in its construction, its elucidation of the principles of Masonry, and its recommendations, which it is difficult to improve upon. At this meeting, before the ballot was taken for the election of a Grand Master, he de- livered a valedictory address, in which he declined a re- election on account of advancing years, domestic cares and a laborious profession. At this time, owing to bad man- agement of the finances and the tardy payment of dues, the Grand Lodge was without funds to pay for printing the. proceedings, and so Brother Mason took the copy of the Constitution, with an abstract of the proceedings, and had them printed at Connersville, Warren Lodge advancing the money to pay for the same.
At the session of 1844, in addition to his opening address, which embraced a complete resume of the business of the past year and suggestions for the future, he reported an elaborate plan for a Masonic school, which was received and may be found printed in full in the proceedings of the year following.
He was made a Royal Arch Mason in Cincinnati in 1837, and soon after took the Council degrees in Richmond, Ind., and received the Past Master's degree in the Grand Lodge in 1828. He received the Order of High Priesthood in 1858. He served several years as High Priest, and Il- Instrious Master of the Chapter and Council at Conners- ville, and was made an honorary member of the Grand Chapter and Grand Council of the State.
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