USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > The history of the Masonic fund society for the county of Allegheny from the year 1847 to 1923; with biographical sketches of deceased members of the Board of trustees By Hiram Schock. > Part 27
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He became a member of St. John's Lodge, No. 219, November 18, 1848. The next year he joined Zerubbabel Chapter, No. 162, and received the orders of Knighthood in Pittsburgh Commandery, No. 1, May 7, 1850. He received the Scottish Rite degrees in 1852, and was also a member of Mt. Moriah Chapter, No. 2. In 1857 he was appointed D. D. Grand Master and served with distinction in that position until 1869. Writing of this valued brother, the late Brother Samuel Harper, 33º, said:
I know of no one accomplishing so much in the face of so many disadvantages as Brother Davage. As far as schooling was concern- ed, he had practically no education; the rough and stirring life he led for seventeen years offered him but little if any opportunity to overcome the disadvantages of his early life, and his connection with Masonry at the advanced age of forty-eight years could give him but little promise of usefulness to the Craft. But our Brother was by nature eminently fitted for the duties of a Mason. Possessed of a bright and active intelligence, a reverent and God-fearing spirit and a warm, expansive heart, he at once comprehended the nature and duties of this obligations and vows, and by his loyal duty, un- remitting toil and unflagging zeal, took high rank as a workman and became a respected authority in all branches of the Order.
He was Worshipful Master of St. John's Lodge, No. 219, in 1852 and again in 1862 and High Priest of his Chap- ter and Eminent Commander of his Commandery in 1856.
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After passing from the Chair in the Commandery, he assumed the duties of prelate, and was retained in that office many years. In the Scottish Rite, says Brother Sam- uel Harper, "he occupied the position next the throne in all the Bodies for several years, and at the death of Ill. Bro. Isaac Whittier, 33°, in 1869, he was urged to assume the duties of the office rendered vacant by that sad event. But this he declined to do, saying that his advancing age and impaired health would not enable him to discharge the duties either with credit to himself or profit to the brethren. Not only was brother Davage proficient in Masonic ritual, but he had an extensive knowledge of Masonic law and pro- cedure."
In 1875 an illness which had long afflicted him, grew worse, and Brother Samuel Harper has left a touching re- cital of his last days:
He called the writer, (Brother Harper) to him in the latter part of December to arrange the legal forms to secure the disposition he desired to make of his property; and when the execution of his will was complete he said: Now, all my worldly affairs are settled, and I am ready for the Lord's call at any moment." But he still lingered and suffered, in faith and hope, until April 14th, 1876, when he gently and peacefully entered into rest. Two days later he was buried in Allegheny cemetery, with full Masonic ceremonies, as he desired, the attendance of the brethren being the largest ever known in Pittsburgh. Besides a very large concourse of Blue Lodge Masons, three Commanderies, Pittsburgh, No. 1, Tancred, No. 48 and Alle- gheny No. 35, participated. The full burial service of the Blue Lodge and Commandery was performed, to which was added a very beautiful and impressive service peculiar to the A. A. S. Rite, arranged for the occasion by Ill. George W. Guthrie, 33º, at the time T. P. G. M. of Gourgas Grand Lodge of Perfection.
Ten years before his death the great services and high character of Brother Davage were signally recognized by giving his name to a new lodge, Davage Lodge, No. 374, constituted at Pittsburgh October 22, 1866.
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JUDGE CHARLES SHALER
To write a biography of Brother Judge Charles Shaler would not only require many pages, but also necessitate the recital of much of the early history of Pittsburgh and of Allegheny county. When it is recalled that his professional career began in the year 1815, that his public life started in 1818, that as early as 1822 he was a conspicuous member of the Masonic fraternity and that his days on earth ,did not end until five years after the close of the Civil War, it may well be claimed that no satisfactory recital of the life of this notable Mason can be crowded into the compass of a mere sketch.
Charles Shaler was born in the village of Middletown, Connecticut, in 1788, and received his early education in Schnectady, N. Y., where as a youth he took up the study of law. His father, however, was looking towards the then distant state of Ohio in which to find a new habitation for his family. Events favored him. He had been appointed as one of the commissioners to mark out the boundaries of the Western Reserve of Ohio, and while in this "Far West" territory he purchased a large tract (from that time known as Shaler valley) near Ravenna, Ohio. To that town the family removed, and in Ravenna young Shaler completed his legal studies. About the year 1815, Charles, who had previously visited Pittsburgh, made his permanent residence in that city. Within a few months he was admitted to prac- tice law at the Allegheny county Bar. Being a young man of engaging personality, good character and ready at public speaking, he soon became well known and secured the friendship of leading citizens of the place. In the year 1818 he was appointed Recorder in the Mayor's Court, an office of a good deal of importance in those early days, and held that position until he resigned June 13, 1824, having a few days before that date been commissioned as a judge of the Common Pleas Courts of Allegheny county. He continued on the bench until 1835 and then resigned, resuming the practice of law. He soon stood at the forefront of the legal profession in his community and was making a name as an
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attorney that was extending throughout the State. On May 6, 1841, he was appointed associate law judge of the District Court of Allegheny, but resigned that position May 10, 1844. Nearly ten years later he was appointed in the year 1853, by President Pierce, United States District Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. A few years later he was again back to the practice of law, having then wide- spread repute as an able jurist and lawyer and eloquent pub- lic speaker. An interesting episode in the professional life of Judge Shaler is that in 1846 he formed in Pittsburgh a law partnership with Edwin M. Stanton, later the celebrated Secretary of War under Lincoln. Mr. Stanton and Brother Shaler had long been intimate friends, and their partner- ship continued until Mr. Stanton removed to Washington, D. C. in 1853. Judge Shaler was not only a very able and cultured man, but he had great oratorical ability. His eloquence brought him in demand as a public speaker and there were few occasions in Pittsburgh when public ad- dresses were to be made in his day that his eloquent voice was not heard.
When Judge Shaler became in 1850 a member of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Fund Society he was one of the leading citizens of Pittsburgh. But his Masonic career had begun long before this period, and as a Mason he was also known throughout the Commonwealth. He was elected to the Board of Trustees at a special meeting held by the stockholders of the Masonic Fund Society held July 23, 1850, to fill two vacancies on the Board, caused by the death of Brother George W. Layng and the resignation of Brother William Noble. Work on the new Masonic Hall on Fifth street was then in progress, and the help of a man like Judge Shaler was most welcome to the trustees and the Craft in general. The first meeting of the Board attended by Brother Shaler was held August 8, 1850, and it was held in the store room of Brother James Shidle, one of the trustees, on Smithfield street. In those days the trustees of the Masonic Fund Society frequently met in the offices or business places of their respective associates. At this period Judge Shaler was not on the bench and was able to give a good deal of time to the promotion of Masonic in-
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terests in Pittsburgh. He was, as the minutes show, con- stantly active in the affairs of the Society, and was for years, whether he was a member of the Board or not, their chief legal adviser. But professional business kept interfer- ing with his Masonic activities, with the result that he was unable to continue regularly as a member of the Board of Trustees. His elections as trustee were intermittent. He was re-elected for the year 1851, the year in which the new Hall was dedicated. He served also through 1852, but was not on the Board during 1853. He was however elected for the years 1854, 1856 and 1857. The whole period therefore of his service on the Board of Trustees totalled five years and a half.
Judge Shaler began his Masonic life in old Ohio lodge, No. 113, in Pittsburgh. This lodge was warranted in the year 1809, but it was not known when he became connected with it. On June 24, 1818, he was admitted as a member into Lodge 45. At that period there were not many Masons in Pittsburgh and but few Masonic Bodies. A Mason of Judge Shaler's ability and energy would naturally soon be- come a leader in his lodge, and so we find that by the year 1819 he was Senior Warden of Lodge 45 and in January, 1822, was elected Worshipful Master, and served that and the succeeding year. We have mentioned that he early made a reputation as an eloquent speaker, and his Masonic brethren did not permit him to hide his talents. We find, for instance, in the minutes of Lodge 45 of a meeting held Tuesday, June 24, 1823, St. John's Day, the following:
The members of the lodge convened at the lodge room in con- junction with the members of Lodges Nos. 113 and 165, and formed in procession with and under the direction of the R. A. Chapter. The procession proceeded to the First Presbyterian Church, where a prayer was offered up to Almighty God by the Revd. Mr. Campbell, and an oration on Masonry was delivered by Br. Charles Shaler, our W. M., when a prayer & thanks to God being again offered by the Rev. Mr. Campbell, the procession returned to the Lodge room.
Late in the year 1848 Judge Shaler withdrew from Lodge 45 and became a charter member of Franklin Lodge, No. 221, which was constituted October 15, 1846. Busy with professional and Masonic affairs, he never became an officer in Franklin lodge, and two years later, December 21,
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1848, he withdrew from lodge, No. 221, and became again a member of Lodge 45. In that Body he was for the second time chosen W. M., serving through the year 1852, during which year he was also a member of the Board of Trustees. With the close of the year 1852 came the end of his work as an officer in any Masonic Body, for in the year 1853 he was appointed U. S. District Attorney for Western Pennsyl- vania. But to the end of his long life his deep interest in the welfare of the Craft never waned.
Judge Shaler was a member of the old Royal Arch Chapter, No. 113, as his name is listed among the member- ship of that body in the minutes of the proceedings of the Grand Chapter, dated November 15, 1824. His Masonic labors as D. D. Grand Master of the old Fifth district add splendor to his career as a brother of the Craft. He was first appointed in December, 1825, the district being then of enormous extent, embracing the counties of Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette, Greene, Washington, Butler, Beaver, Armstrong, Jefferson and Indiana. Judge Shaler's incum- bency of the office of District Deputy extended through the most trying times of Masonry in Pennsylvania, and indeed throughout the whole country. The waves of antimasonry were spreading from end of the land to the other, having begun in 1826. The storm waged with fury until the end of the year 1837. Brother Shaler served as deputy by re- appointment through the years 1826-27-28, and the fact that he was during these troublous years a judge of the courts of Allegheny county is evidence not only of the high prestige Masonry had already attained, but is also a splen- did evidence of his courage and devotion to the Order. The pressure of professional duties compelled him to refuse re- appointment as deputy for the year 1828. But later, in the year 1832, while still on the bench, and in the very midst of the wicked war against the Craft, he deliberately again accepted the office of District Deputy and served through the years 1833-34. He was a magnificent Masonic warrior, whom no foe could frighten and no persecution halt. When during the years 1835-36-37 nearly all the lodges in his great Fifth district had gone down under the onslaughts of the enemies of the Craft, and the Grand Master had ceased
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to appoint a District Deputy because there were no lodges for him to attend to, Judge Shaler with a courage and de- votion that rise to the heights of grandeur continued to act, without formal appointment, as deputy in the face of the bitterest and most malignant bigotry and persecution, and when in all of the wide extent of Allegheny county there remained alive but one lodge, old 45, to greet him. At last at the end of 1837 when the storm had greatly calmed down Judge Shaler relinquished the office of District Deputy and Brother John Birmingham was named to suc- ceed him. Brother Shaler was one of the shining marks at which the shafts of bigotry were aimed during the anti- masonry furore. In 1836 he with Brother George Wolf, former Governor of Pennsylvania, were summoned by sub- poena to appear before the antimasonry committee of the Pennsylvania legislature. Brother Shaler, however, never appeared before that body, which held its sessions at Harris- burg, Pa.
It is pleasing to turn from that period of enmity and hate, to the clear days just prior to the antimasonry out- break-to the year 1826, when Brother Shaler was serving his first year as District Deputy Grand Master. Brother David Nathans was then Grand Lecturer sent out by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. In 1826 he made an extend- ed tour among the lodges throughout the Pennsylvania jurisdiction and he has left, among the Grand Lodge records, an interesting account of the Craft in Allegheny county :
Lodges Nos. 45 and 165, Pittsburgh; No. 173 at Lawrenceville, near Pittsburg, 1826, June 30 and July 24. These lodges are in a thriving and flourishing condition, and the lecturer has had much reason to be gratified with the attention that was paid to his in- structions delivered and repeated in the course of seventeen meetings, summoned for the purpose of receiving his official visits. Zeal and attention to Masonic duties preeminently characterize the Masons of Pittsburgh and vicinity.
Many are the interesting episodes that might be re- lated connected with the career of Judge Shaler, but one or two must suffice. When Brother General Lafayette came in 1825 from France to make his memorable visit to the United States, Pittsburgh was one of the places at which
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he was a guest. Brother Lafayette had a splendid re- ception and the chief address of the day was delivered by Brother Shaler. In a book descriptive of that journey through the United States, written by Lafayette's secre- tary, Auguste Levasseur, that writer says: "I cannot, however, quit Pittsburgh without paying my tribute to the eloquence of Mr. Charles Shaler, who addressed General Lafayette in the name of the citizens."
A few of the public addresses of Judge Shaler are extant, and one of the most interesting and eloquent is the address made at a great gathering of Masons at Washing- ton, Pa., on St. John's Day, June 24, 1869. Another fine example of his eloquence is the beautiful and touching ad- dress delivered by the grave of Brother Samuel Mckinley, when that devoted Mason was laid to his rest on August 25, 1854. Brother Shaler's long, useful and notable life extend- ed over a period of 81 years, and ended in a peaceful death in Newark, N. J., March 5, 1869, at the home of his son-in- law, the Rev. Dr. Hodges. For several years before his demise Brother Shaler had become totally blind, and yet under the pall of that great affliction he kept at his pro- fession of the law and even argued cases in court when he could no longer see. At the time of his death he was on a visit to Rev. Hodges. As he had directed, his body was brought to Pittsburgh for burial. Upon the news of his death a Convocation of the brethren was called at Pitts- burgh by D. D. Grand Master Pollock. It was held March 8, 1869, in Freemasons Hall, and the place was filled to overflowing. The funeral took place on that date, the ser- vices being held in Trinity Episcopal Church, of which Brother Shaler was a member, the interment being in the Allegheny cemetery.
Brother Charles Shaler lived a conspicuous, useful and good life. He was generous, sincere and a man of honor and probity. He was a true brother and upholder of Ma- sonry, and as a jurist and attorney added lustre to the name of his city. He has been described as a "tall man, and had a grace and a personality which commanded the attention and respect of all with whom he came in contact."
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WILLIAM J. DAVITT
Brother William J. Davitt was a well known and respected citizen of Pittsburgh, and at the time of his elec- tion to the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Fund Society was engaged in the business of merchant tailor at No. 48 Liberty avenue, then known as a "street." He was elected trustee December 27, 1849, and served only through the following year. He was originally a member of Lodge 45, having been made Freemason in that body September 12, 1845. Later he withdrew from that lodge and became a charter member of St. John's Lodge, No. 219, constituted in 1846. At the first regular meeting of that Body he was unanimously chosen secretary and served until the close of the year 1848. On December 14, 1848, he was elected S. W. of St. John's Lodge, the smallness of the membership in those days frequently resulted in choosing brethren from the floor to fill elective offices. At the lodge election Decem- ber 13, 1849, he was defeated for the office of W. M. by Bro- ther Alexander Tindle; and in February, 1850, with Brother John C. Cole, who in that year was chosen a member of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Fund Society, withdrew from St. John's Lodge, No. 219.
When Brother George M. Dallas, then Vice President of the United States, and a P. G. M. of Pennsylvania Masons, visited Pittsburgh in 1847, a Convocation of the brethren of Lodges Nos. 45, 219 and 221 was held to receive him. On the committee to receive the Vice President personally Brother Davitt was appointed from St. John's Lodge. Bro- ther Davitt died at his home in Pittsburgh in August, 1851.
JOHN BIRMINGHAM
Brother Captain John Birmingham, who was a trus- tee of the Masonic Fund Society during the years 1856 and 1857, was when he died, April 19, 1886, at his home in Bellevue, a suburb of Pittsburgh, one of the Masonic patri-
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archs of Western Pennsylvania. His life had extended over a period of 83 years, and his Masonic career, active and use- ful to the end, reached the long limit of 58 years. The minutes of the meetings of the Board of Trustees show that he was sedulous in the then somewhat burdensome work of causing sufficient funds to materialize when they were needed.
Captain Birmingham was born in Ireland in 1805 and in 1809 the family came to America. In his early manhood he got started as a drug clerk; but being an aspiring youth, and somewhat adventurous, he dropped pill making and got a job as boatman on the Ohio river. That was long before the railroads were known in Western Pennsylvania, and the young man, seeing the value of river commerce, began to accumulate funds and to do river trading on his own hook. Within a few years he owned one of the finest packet boats running between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. When finally the railroads lessened the river commerce, Captain Birmingham quit the business, having amassed a comfort- able fortune. When he retired from active service on the rivers, he took much interest in civic and business affairs in Pittsburgh. He filled the office of Prothonotary of Alle- gheny county and later was warden of the Western peniten- tiary. He was president of the Pittsburgh Bank of Savings until the wind-up of its affairs, was manager of the Mor- ganza Reformatory, and was connected with various finan- cial concerns.
His long Masonic career was interesting and he was very helpful to the Order in its early days in the western part of Pennsylvania. He was made a Mason and was sec- retary in the old Ohio Lodge, No. 113, which went out of existence in 1837. On August 23, 1830, he was admitted into Lodge 45 and was its W. M. during the year 1833. He served with signal success as D. D. Grand Master during eight years, being first appointed by R. W. Grand Master John M. Read September 4, 1837. His experience as Dis- trict Deputy extended through the last years of the Masonic persecution. He succeeded Brother Charles Shaler, and we get an insight of the condition of the Craft in Pittsburgh
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at the time, from the following record of the Grand Lodge communication held September, 1837:
A letter was received and read from Brother James Paul on be- half of Lodges Nos. 45 and 113, held at Pittsburgh, asking that their dues be remitted; also containing the proceedings of Joint Meeting of those two Lodges held in Pittsburg the 30th June last, wherein Bro. John Birmingham, a past master and member of Lodge 45, was unanimously recommended for the office of D. D. Grand Master for that District.
Yet two years later the Order was being revived in a splendid manner throughout the jurisdiction and the Grand Master was able to say, with much jubilation, in 1838, that "from the observations made by the Grand Secretary the Order is flourishing the present year to an extent, he believes, unparalleled in the annals of Masonry."
Brother Birmingham's connection with Capitular Ma- sonry is interesting. He was admitted as a member of Zerubbabel Chapter, No. 162, at its formation February 8, 1847, but he had long before joined the old Chapter No. 113 held in Pittsburgh. It had been constituted in the year 1826 and as the records show, it met in the year 1826 with other Masonic Bodies, in the loft of a warehouse on Water street, near Ferry street, Pittsburgh. This chapter became extinct about the year 1836, and in 1840 Brother Birming- ham and some other members of the old Body made an un- successful effort to revive it.
ALEXANDER TINDLE, 32°
When Brother Alexander Tindle died December 26, 1889, the Masons of Western Pennsylvania lost a truly venerable patriarch. He had reached the great age of eighty-one years and his Masonic career had covered a period of sixty-one years. He served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Fund Society during the years 1853 and 1855, being then prominent as a member of the Craft and greatly esteemed as a business man. He was born in Wilmington, Del., October 2, 1808, and came
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with his parents to Pittsburgh in 1811. His father took part in the war of 1812 and was killed in one of the battles. The son was apprenticed as a saddler and later set up busi- ness for himself, becoming a wholesale and retail dealer in harness and other leather goods. In 1837 he conducted the business, as his advertisements in the old newspapers show, "in McMaster's Row in Liberty street." He was made a Ma- son by dispensation in old Milnor Lodge, No. 165, in 1828, at the age of 20 years. This lodge, unable to withstand the antimasonic storm, went out of existence in 1837.
Early in 1845 Brother Tindle and other Masons were successful in securing a charter for the institution of the new Milnor Lodge, but, as has been detailed elsewhere, in this volume, the warrant was burned up in the fire which destroyed the Masonic Hall in April, 1845. The lodge, how- ever, came into existence in 1854. In the meantime, Bro- ther Tindle, with Brothers James Shidle, George W. Layng, Richard Cowan and other well known Masons, applied for a warrant for another lodge, that of St. John's, No. 219, which was constituted April 8, 1846, with Brother Tindle as a charter member. He was the second W. M. of that lodge, serving through the years 1847 and 1848, and again serving as W. M. during 1850-51-52 inclusive.
In 1853 he withdrew from St. John's Lodge, No. 219, to aid in the reestablishment of the new Milnor Lodge. In this connection an interesting bit of history has been con- tributed by Brother P. M. David C. Kammerer, of Milnor Lodge, No. 287, as follows:
In the year 1853 the Hon. Wilson McCandless being feeble, de- sired to go to Cuba for the benefit of his health, and he wished to become a Mason before he left Pittsburgh. A dispensation was secured to confer all the three degrees at one time. A number of the Masonic brethren then met one afternoon, with Brother Tindle as W. M., Brother Herdman as S. W., and Brother English as J. W., and myself as master of ceremonies, when we entered, passed and raised Brother McCandless to the sublime degree of a Master Ma- son. After his return from Cuba, and still not belonging to any lodge, he wished to affiliate with one. At that time Brother Herd- man had a leather goods store five or six doors below Fifth street on Wood street. The room was about twelve feet wide, by 40 long, con- taining a small counter and rolls of sole leather. We met in this room in the evenings to discuss matters pro and con. One evening
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