USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 68
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He is active in social as well as business life, being a member of the Powelton Club, City Club and Newburgh Wheelmen, the Old Orchard Club of Middletown, and the Press Club and Republican Club of New York. He is a past exalted ruler of Newburgh Lodge of Elks ; a member of Continental Lodge No. 287, F. and A. M .; Jerusalem Chapter No. 8, R. A. M .; Palestine Commandery No. 18, K. T .; New York Consistory, Scottish Rite, 32°; Mecca Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; president of the Wilbur H. Weston Shriners' Association; president of the Newburgh Automobile Club, and a member of the New York State and Amer- ican Automobile Associations.
Mr. Wilson resides in a handsome residence owned by him at 268 Liberty street, Newburgh.
RUTTENBER, J. W. F .- The editor of the Newburgh Telegram is J. W. F. Ruttenber, who was born at Newburgh, N. Y., December 14, 1857. After receiving a good education in the public schools of his native city, he became associated in business for several years with his father, E. M. Ruttenber. Subsequently he em- barked in several newspaper ventures, and finally started the Newburgh Sunday Telegram in 1889. This is a non-partisan paper, and is especially devoted to local events and local characters, in the discussion of which a full opportunity is afforded the editor for the exercise of that wit and caustic humor, with which he is well equipped. The Telegram was a success financially from the start and has now developed into a very valuable newspaper plant.
In Middletown the Times-Press has as editor John D. Stivers : as editorial writer Alexander W. Russell, and as city editor Melvin W. Brown. On the Argus the editor is A. B. Macardell, ably assisted by Henry P. Powers and Horace A. Mac- Gowan as city editors. The Signs of the Times is published by Gilbert Beebe's Son, with Elders F. A. Chick and H. C. Ker as editors.
On the Port Jervis Union is Fred R. Salmon, business manager ; Merritt C. Spei- del, assistant and formerly city editor ; W. T. Doty as editor, and Albert L. Stage, city editor. On the Gazette is Evi Shimer, business manager; William H. Near- pass, editor ; Mark V. Richards, city editor, and James Skellinger, assistant. The New York Farmer is edited by Henry A. Van Fredenberg.
In Goshen Frank Drake is editor and manager of the oldest newspaper in Orange County, the Independent Republican; and George F. Gregg, the editor and man- ager of the next oldest paper, the Goshen Democrat.
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JOURNALISM IN ORANGE COUNTY.
At Warwick the Advertiser's business manager and editor is Hiram Tate; while the Valley Dispatch has George F. Ketchum as editor and business manager.
At Montgomery the old Standard and Reporter has Lyman Taft as editor and proprietor, with Charles H. Miller as associate editor.
The Walden Herald's editor and proprietor is Ward Winfield; and the Citizen has a clergyman editor and publisher in the Rev. J. H. Reid.
At Cornwall-on-Hudson is the Local-Press, with L. G. Goodenough editor and proprietor.
The Pine Bush Herald's editor and proprietor is George W. Jamison, a former school teacher and an educated man and good writer.
Monroe has the Ramapo Valley Gazette ( started March, 1908), with J. B. Greg- ory as publisher and proprietor.
The Orange County Record at Washingtonville has Montanye Rightmeyer as editor and manager.
JUST A FEW REFLECTIONS.
Inspecting the field of Orange County journalism one sees the glebe strewn with wrecks of ambitious effort, and sympathy goes out to the disappointed strugglers, they of tattered aims and ambitions : of immo- lated hopes and desires.
Looking at the files and samples of the papers of to-day and the relics of early journalism in Orange County, one's pride over progress in certain lines is mixed with humiliation. The old papers were printed with artistic ideals. The type was neat, the page was pleasing to the eye, and the printer showed evidence of intelligence. Words were divided at the ends of lines with some idea of method and reason ; the break-lines were made neat. The old-time compositor who would have divided "campaign" on the "p" and i un "aign" over, or worse yet, made a break-line of "ed," "ly." or a single or even two numerals, would have been laughed out of the office by his companions. The writer will never forget an incident in his own very early career at the "case." when he divided "Messrs," running the "srs." over into the next line. It was a long time before he heard the last of that break, and it was never repeated. To-day one sees all sorts of divisions-anywhere, everywhere: it matters not whether it is on the vowel or the syllable or between-it all goes. The outrage on neatness of a single numeral making a full break-line is no longer confined to the blacksmith" who was aiming to get a "phat line." but is seen in the work
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THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
turned out from the marvelous Mergenthaler linotype, the excuse being that it "takes too much time" to space and adjust the line neatly. This same excuse is given for a lot of other abominations-really intolerable and vexatious-that one sees in the machine-set newspaper. Really, if modern mechanical appliances are sweeping the "art preservative" back to the most crude and primitive specimens of workmanship, there is cause for deep regret. Neatness should go hand in hand with improved methods and aids.
The old-time newspaper was not a hand-bill. It was a model of taste and neatness. The idea of the average editor, publisher and printer to- day seems to be how he can make his paper the most hideous to the eye, and to the esthetic senses. Big, black type for headlines, and glaring, sensational, spectacular, flaring "big heads" are the order of the day.
Compare these modern newspapers with almost any of those printed one hundred, fifty, forty, thirty years ago. The contrast is so markedly in favor of the papers printed under the old regime that one who really loves the art is disgusted with modern printers and printing as applied to newspapers.
This criticism, it should be borne in mind, is made with reference to newspapers, and not of "job work." The man who is getting out bill- heads, letter-heads, etc., is constantly striving for neatness, and his work is a great advance over that done by his predecessors in the "job depart- ment." This is as it should be.
The modern job printer is an artist; the modern newspaper printer a botch. The printer may blame the editor or publisher, but that does not excuse his vile distortions and caricatures on the art. The publisher or editor may blame the "popular demand" for his efforts to cater to the sensational and hideous ; but that does not help the matter any, nor does it tend to elevate the art of newspaper printing.
Journalism, indeed, seems to have fallen, or wandered, into dangerous or demoralizing ways. This, also, is laid at the door of "popular de- mand," etc. The old-time editor had a personality, and this he infused into the columns of his paper. He was not always right, of course, but the general tendency of such journalism was to breed a spirit of inde- pendence, of character, of research. The consensus thus evolved by the masses was wholesome.
; To-day the editor is a mere machine. His individuality is" suppressed,
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JOURNALISM IN ORANGE COUNTY.
and the effort is to keep him entirely under the thumb and rack-screw of the publisher, who manipulates the finances, the "business" end of the concern. This publisher generally gets his "cue" from his banker, who may be his backer, and, who, at any rate, sets the pace for editorials, news-and in fact the whole tone of the paper. In all this there is concert. From some great business center the word goes out, and the newspapers catch up the echo. In this way the individual, the great personality that once made the newspaper a power for good, is lost ; instead, the press has become a mob-the most dangerous mob that ever existed, for it comes in the guise of instruction, of morals, of culture, of learning. Thus mas- querading, journalism to-day is fast lapsing-or rather plunging-into a vortex that is positively appalling in its aspects. How and when the remedy will come is of grave concern. The mob may, in sheer despera- tion, rend itself, commit hari-kari; or it may go on until in frenzy, the long-deluded and outraged populace shall rise and revolutionize news- paperdom.
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THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
FREEMASONRY.
BY CHARLES H. HALSTEAD.
T HE earliest authentic record of masonry in New York, or in fact in the American colonies, is the deputation appointing Daniel Coxe, of New Jersey, to be provincial grand master of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, signed by the Duke of Norfolk, grand master of the grand lodge of England, and dated "this fifth day of June, 1730, and of Masonry 5730."
From that date and until 1781 there were five different masonic depu- tations granted to provincial grand masters for New York, by the grand lodge of England.
During this period there were two provincial grand lodges in the State of New York, organized at different periods by authority of rival grand lodges in England, which were termed the "Moderns" and "Ancients."
In 1813 these two grand bodies united into what is now the "United Grand Lodge of England."
The provincial grand lodge authorized by the AAtholl warrant, dated September 5, 1781, existed from December 5, 1782, to September 19, 1783, when the British troops evacuated New York City. and as the grand lodge was essentially a royalist institution, and a majority of its officers and members were connected with the evacuating army, the brethren were in a quandary, the solution of which we find in the minutes of a grand lodge of emergency, held on the nineteenth of September, 1783, when "The propriety of leaving the grand warrant by which this lodge is estab- lished in the province of New York, being fully discussed, it was resolved, that the same should be left and remain in the care of such brethren as may hereafter be appointed to succeed the present grand officers, the most of whom being under the necessity of leaving New York upon the removal of his majesty's troops."
This necessitated the election of a complete new set of officers, which was immediately done.
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FREEMASONRY.
The lodges throughout the State, which had received charters from the "Modern" provincial grand lodge, in the interim between the disso- lution of that body and the organization of the "Ancient" Provincial grand lodge had pursued an independent existence and naturally under their existing conditions, were loath to surrender their warrants to the new body ; therefore. it was a number of years before all the lodges were brought under the control of the new grand lodge.
This provincial grand lodge, so far as existing records show, made no returns to the parent grand body, and in all matters acted as an inde- pendent grand lodge.
This state of affairs caused some of the lodges to question the legality of its proceedings, and the propriety of paying grand lodge dues.
This question was settled for all time on the sixth of June, 1787, by the grand lodge adopting the report of a committee which reported : "Your committee appointed at the last quarterly communication, in con- sequence of certain resolutions of St. John's lodge, respecting the warrant under which the grand lodge is established, report their opinion as fol- lows, viz .: That the grand lodge of this State is established, according to ancient and universal usages of masonry, upon a constitution formed by the representatives of the regular lodges, convened under a legal warrant from the grand lodge of England, dated the fifth day of September, in the year of masonry five thousand seven hundred and eighty-one, the most noble Prince John the Third, Duke of Atholl, being the then grand master. And your committee further beg leave to report that, in their opinion, nothing is necessary or essential in the future proceedings of the grand lodge upon the subject matter referred to them, but that a com- mittee be appointed to prepare a draft of the style of warrant to be here- after granted by the grand lodge, comformable to the said constitution. All of which is, nevertheless, most respectfully submitted to the wisdom of the most worshipful grand lodge." In this manner the grand lodge de- clared itself an independent grand body, supreme within its own jurisdic- tion. The date of transition of the grand lodge from a provincial to an independent State masonic organization might be a subject of difference of opinion, but the grand lodge, however, numbers its annual communi- cations from the earlier date, viz .. 1781, under the charter issued by the "Ancients."
The grand lodge of the State of New-York, under this charter, guar-
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THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
antees certain rights and privileges to 775 masonic lodges having a mem- bership (December 31, 1906), of 146,026 master masons.
At different times the grand lodge has been disrupted by internal strife and schisms which continued several years, but since June, 1858, peace and harmony have prevailed among the fraternity.
The severest trial that freemasonry has had to endure was the anti- masonic crusade that began in 1826, which assailed the fraternity throughout the land and resulted in many of the lodges having their charters forfeited.
A political party was founded at the time on prejudice and hatred. Politicians mounted the whirlwind, and rode into power on the storm. Fanatics in the forum, at the bar and in the pulpit inflamed the passions of men and aroused the bitterest enmity against freemasonry. Men of the highest social and masonic standing were threatened with political ostracism ; to be a mason was to be an object of suspicion and often of persecution ; the lodge rooms were deserted, charters were surrendered, and the craft became disheartened at the situation. Some members of the fraternity openly declared their withdrawal and were known as "seceding masons" in the community. After ten years of bitter feeling and hatred against the society of Free and Accepted Masons, the storm of persecu- tion began to subside; the calmer and better judgment of men prevailed; the craft took courage and masonic lodges again opened their doors and resumed labor. In 1840 there was not a masonic lodge in Orange County.
It would appear from the meager information given in the proceedings of grand lodge or in the minutes of subordinate lodges in the early days that the brethren were imbued with the idea that the very existence of the fraternity depended upon shrouding with great secrecy their every act and surroundings, consequently very few details can be gathered con- cerning matters that would make history.
Steuben Lodge, No. 18 .- The first mention of a masonic lodge in Or- ange County is found in the proceedings of grand lodge on the fourth of June, 1788, where we find this minute: "A petition from F. A. Morris and nine others praying for a warrant to hold a lodge at Newburgh, under the name of Steuben. Granted."
Th charter was issued to Ebenezer Foote, master; Francis Anderson Morris, senior warden, and Peter Nestell, junior warden, and was dated
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FREEMASONRY.
September 27, 1788. It was signed by Robert R. Livingston, grand master ; Richard Harrison, deputy grand master, and Jacob Morton, grand secretary. Baron de Steuben was an honorary member of the lodge. The minutes embrace the period between the thirteenth of November, 1788, and the twenty-seventh of December, 1792. Doubtless the charter was surrendered soon after 1800, as at the communication of grand lodge of that year report was made of the irregularities that prevailed in Steuben lodge. This lodge is among the number whose charter cannot be revived by resolution of grand lodge.
The charter and minute book of Steuben Lodge, No. 18, are in the keeping of Hudson River Lodge, No. 607, as custodian.
St. John's Lodge, No. 21 .- Subsequent to the disbandment of the troops in the war of the Revolution the warrant of St. John's regimental lodge- the first military lodge warranted by New York or any provincial masonic power-was taken by some of its members to Clark's Town, in the county of Orange, and here it remained until interest was revived in masonry by some of its officers in 1784, who came at that time under the jurisdiction of the grand lodge.
Lodge meetings were held under this warrant at Warwick as well as at Clark's Town, when on the twenty-third of December, 1789, a petition signed by John Smith. David Miller and Thomas Wing, was made to grand lodge stating that they were the presiding officers of a lodge now held at Warwick, working under an old warrant and known by the name of St. John's Lodge, and formerly held at Clark's Town, and praying that, as the warrant properly belonged to the brethren at Clark's Town, "a new warrant be issued to them as officers of a lodge to be held in the county of Orange, on the west side of the mountain, by the name of St. John's Lodge." The petition was granted and the warrant dated the twenty-sixth March, 1790. On December 4. 1793, the proxy of St. John's Lodge stated to grand lodge the low condition of the funds and offered as a compromise for the amount due the grand lodge the sum of fio, which was accepted.
The lodge was represented by proxy in grand lodge as late as 1802, but does not appear thereafter until June 4. 1819, when "the numerical designation of St. John's Lodge, No. 19, held at Warwick, was changed to No. 18." On June 12, 1822, "all lodges in arrears for dues for three years and upwards were summoned to show cause why their warrants
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THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
should not be surrendered," and among the number was St. John's, No. 18. The charter was declared forfeited on the eighth of June, 1832, by grand lodge.
Orange Lodge, No. 45 -- At a meeting of grand lodge held on the second of March, 1796, petitions for warrants were read and among the number was one "for a lodge to be held in the town of Goshen, by the name of Orange Lodge." The warrant was dated April 12, 1796.
The lodge was represented by proxy in the grand lodge at the commu- nication of January 2, 1799, but thereafter we find no mention of it except in the "list of lodges whose charters cannot be revived conform- able to resolution of grand lodge adopted on the fourth of June, 1819."
James' Lodge, No. 65. On the 6th of September, 1797, a petition was presented to grand lodge "From Adam I. Doll and others, to hold a lodge in the town of Middletown, county of Ulster, by the name of James' Lodge, and the same was referred to the grand officers." At that time Middletown was embraced in the county of Ulster. The warrant was dated January 6th, 1798, No other information is obtainable concerning this lodge, but it appears as one of the lodges whose charters cannot be revived.
Montgomery Lodge, No. 71. The minutes of grand lodge of Decem- ber 7th1, 1796, read: "The petition of Brother John Schmidt and sundry other brethren, for a warrant to erect and hold a lodge in the town of Montgomery, county of Ulster, with some accompanying papers, were then severally read, and referred to the presiding officers of the grand lodge, with powers to order a warrant to be issued if they find the appli- cants deserving." The warrant was not issued, however, until the 6th of June. 1798, when the dispensation was returned to grand lodge. The lodge was represented by proxy in grand lodge up to the 4th of March, 1812. The warrant was doubtless forfeited some years later.
Olive Branch Lodge, No. 102. At the communication of grand lodge, held on the 7th of December, 1803, we find this minute: "A similar petition from sundry brethren residing in the town of Minisink, Orange County, praying a warrant for a lodge to be held in said town, to be known by the name of Olive Branch Lodge, was read and referred to the grand officers." The lodge was located in the village of West Town, and its meetings were held on the upper floor of the academy building. On December 4th, 1811. "Olive Branch Lodge, No. 102, prayed that the
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FREEMASONRY.
payment of their dues (to grand lodge) might be postponed until the next year on account of several losses sustained by the lodge the present year, which was granted." The lodge was reported as being in arrears for dues for two years and upwards in 1822. The charter was declared forfeited. June 8, 1832.
Hiram Lodge, No. 131. At the communication of grand lodge, held on the 19th of February, 1806, "A petition from sundry brethren to establish a lodge at Newburgh, by the name of Hiram Lodge, was read and the prayer thereof granted." The first officers of the lodge named in the charter were Jonathan Fisk, master; Charles Baker, senior warden ; John R. Drake, junior warden.
General Lafayette was the guest of Hiram Lodge on the occasion of his visit to Newburgh on the 14th of September, 1824.
The charter was surrendered to grand lodge in 1835.
The anti-masonic furor having subsided, the brethren sought to reopen the lodge, and to that end presented a petition to grand lodge that the charter might be restored to them, which was granted in June. 1842, but the number of the lodge was changed to 92. The first officers under the revived charter were Peter F. Hunn, master: Minard Harris, senior warden ; James Belknap, junior warden. The last record of the lodge is dated June 16, 1845, and we infer that the charter was soon thereafter surrendered to grand lodge. The charter of Hiram Lodge is now in the keeping of Hudson River Lodge, No. 607, as custodian.
Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 189. A petition was presented to grand lodge to establish: "A lodge in the town of Wallkill, its meetings to be holden at the house of Thomas Everson or others in the said town of Wallkill." A charter was granted under date of December 6th, 1800. Doubtless the lodge was held for some years in private dwellings as on the 2d of December, 1812, at the communication of grand lodge : "A petition from Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 189, held at Wallkill, Orange County. praying for a remission of dues in consideration of its having built a commodious lodge room, for the expenses of which it was still in arrears. was presented and read, and the prayer of the petitioner refused." Doubt- less the lodge at that time was held in the upper room of the school build- ing in the village of Mount Hope, as at a later date masonic emblems, carved in wood. were to be seen in the room then used for school pur- poses.
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THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
Returns were made to grand lodge as from Wallkill, and also, "Re- turn of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 189, held at Mount Hope, Wallkill, county of Orange, and State of New York." The charter of this lodge was declared forfeited on the 4th of June, 1835.
Corner-Stone Lodge, No. 231. At the communication of grand lodge, held on the 2d of March, 1812, "A petition for a warrant to hold a lodge in the town of Monroe, in the county of Orange, to be called Corner- Stone Lodge; recommended by Washington Lodge, No. 220, was read and granted." The warrant was dated May 26, 1814. This lodge is among the number in arrears for dues for two years and upwards on the 24th of June, 1822. The charter was declared forfeited on the 24th of June, 1832.
Jerusalem Temple Lodge, No. 247. At the communication of grand lodge, held on the 6th of September, 1815: "A petition from a number of the brethren to hold a lodge in the town of Cornwall, in the county of Orange, to be called Jerusalem Temple Lodge; recommended by Hiram Lodge, No. 131, was read and granted."
The lodge was constituted at the house of Ebenezer Crissey, in the village of Canterbury on the 5th of October of the same year; James B. Reynolds, master of Hiram Lodge, No. 131, performed the ceremony. The first officers named in the charter were Wyatt Carr, master ; Abra- ham Mead, senior warden; Southerland Moore, junior warden. The charter was declared forfeited June 8th, 1832.
Washington Lodge, No. 220. This lodge was located at Blooming Grove. The charter was dated June 10th, 1813. No record of its work is extant, but it was one of those lodges that went down in the anti- masonie period, and its charter was declared forfeited by grand lodge on the 5th of June, 1834.
Lawrence Lodge, No. 230. On the Ist of December, 1812, the pro- ceedings of grand lodge read: "A petition for a warrant to hold a lodge at Ward's Bridge, in the county of Orange, to be called Lawrence Lodge, recommended by Hiram Lodge, No. 131, was read and granted.
Ward's Bridge was afterwards known as Montgomery. The lodge was doubtless named in honor of the gallant Captain James Lawrence, who, being mortally wounded in the engagement with the Shannon, uttered: "Don't give up the ship!" which have become household words
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FREEMASONRY.
in this country. The lodge was reported as inoperative on the 4th of June, 1819.
Hoffman Lodge, No. 300. At the communication of grand lodge on the 4th of March, 1818, the grand secretary stated that a warrant had been issued "on the 3d of December, 1817, to John Kirby, Stacey Beecher and Isaac Otis, to hold a lodge at Wallkill, in the county of Orange, by the name of Hoffman Lodge, No. 300." The lodge held its meetings in the house of Isaac Otis, at Mechanicstown, which at that time was a more pretentious place than Middletown. The lodge was named in honor of Martin Hoffman who was grand master of the (city) grand lodge during 1823. 1824 and 1825. He presented the lodge with a copy of the Holy Bible which is still in use by Hoffman Lodge. No. 412. The charter of this lodge was declared forfeited by grand lodge on the 7th of June. 1833.
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