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 4
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It was a well formulated plan upon which to begin and continue operations. It first provided that seven persons should comprise the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Fund Society, and through the more than seventy years of the Society's existence that number has never been changed. Then came the manner of the election of the trustees by the stockholders, or share holders, as they are today designated. The time of their service and the manner of filling vacancies were then provided for, and particular and detailed provi- sions were made for securing the necessary funds and for the time of meetings. Out of this plan as reported came later the provisions of the Charter and the carefully-worded By-Laws. It is to be noted, however, that in the report presented by Brother Layng two essentials to the complete creation of the proposed organization are not mentioned. The plan presented provided for the election of a President and Secretary, but nothing is said as to the creation of the office of Treasurer. This omission was, however, doubtless made designedly, as the secretary could be empowered,
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prior to securing a charter, to receive and care for what- ever subscriptions might come in; and nowhere in the Re- port are there words even suggestive of a name for the pro- posed organization. In fact, we do not come across the name or title of the organization, "The Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny," until in the minutes of a meeting of the trustees held December 27, 1849, two months after the Charter had been granted by the local courts, for it was not until almost two years later that their Charter was se- cured.
The next meeting (the second) of the Trustees follow- ing that of January 1, 1848, was held one week later. From the wording of the minutes it may be believed that this was the first exclusive session of the seven Trustees, who had been selected at the Convocation of December 25, 1847. They met in the law office of Bro. George W. Layng, which was then located, according to his professional card in the newspapers, "at the corner of Fourth & Wood sts., over Sibbet & Jones' Exchange." At this time Brother Layng, while also busy with the practice of law, was a member of the Select Council of the city of Pittsburgh. Subsequent sessions of the Trustees were also held in his office, and it is altogether likely that it was there that he and Judge Charles Shaler and other of the brethren later drew up and completed the Constitution, the Charter and the By-Laws. The date of this first actual meeting of the Trustees was January 8, 1848; but whether there had been in the meantime another gathering of the stockholders is not known. These minutes are particularly important, as they designate the first officers elected by the Board of Trustees. The entry in the Minute Book is as follows:
Pittsburgh, January 8, 1848.
In accordance with the Constitution and call of the members composing the board of trustees, the board met at the office of Bro. Geo. W. Layng, when the following brethren were elected to fill the offices in the Board to serve until the next annual election.
President Bro. Geo. W. Layng
Secretary Bro. S. Mckinley
Treasurer Bro. James S. Hoon.
On motion it was resolved that a committee of three persons be appointed to prepare by-laws for the government of the board, when
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Bros. Layng, Wilson and Mckinley were appointed on said commit- tee.
Adjourned.
The three officers named were leading Masons, good business men, popular in the community and altogether competent to serve effectively in their several positions. Brother Samuel Mckinley, a Past Master of Lodge 45, was at this date District Deputy Grand Master of the Fifth dis- trict, comprising the counties of Allegheny, Beaver and Westmoreland. He was a charter member of Zerubbabel Chapter, No. 162 and resided in Allegheny City, which was then a separate municipality. His business announcements in the local newspapers of that period show that he was a "House, sign and ornamental painter & dealer in paints, No. 44 St. Clair st., Pittsburgh." Brother Layng as has been already stated, was an attorney and member of the City Councils. Brother Hoon, also a Past Master of Lodge 45, was one of the charter members of Zerubbabel Chapter, No. 162 ,and was engaged in the banking business with Brother Thomas Sargent, under the firm name of Hoon & Sargent, with their place of business at the corner of Wood and Dia- mond streets, the site of the present Citizens Savings Bank.
There now comes, after this meeting of January 8, 1848, a long interval of unrecorded action on the part of the Trustees and their officers. The Minute Book of the Masonic Fund Society furnishes no reports of meetings nor gives other information through a consecutive period of thirteen months. It was not until February 1, 1849, that a meeting is again recorded. What had been accomplished by the trustees in the meantime? The answer must be found a good deal within the realm of conjecture. First, we may be sure that the trustees were not neglecting the great work in hand. There were many important matters to be considered, which would not require attention at any formal meetings, until official action and confirmation were needed. By-laws had to be drafted, the Charter written out and papers arranged for application to the courts, a satisfactory site for the hall selected, negotiations for the purchase of the land started, and methods for the securing of sufficient funds adopted. The trustees thus knew what they had to do, and they had been vested with enough
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authority to go ahead and do it. Happily we are not wholly in the dark as to the work throughout the year 1848. In the Pittsburgh newspapers of date of April 25, 1848, is found this notice:
Masonic Notice :- The brethren will meet in the Lodge room in general convention this (Tuesday) evening, at 7 o'clock. A punctual attendance is requested.
Geo. W. Layng, Pres. Board of Trustees.
Then on May 4, 1848, appeared this notice in the local papers :
The Masonic Fraternity of Pittsburgh and Allegheny are re- quested to meet in convocation at their Hall this evening at 8 o'clock P. M.
By Order, S. McKinley, D. D. G. M., Masonic District.
While there are no records to be found of these convo- cations, it may be safely surmised that these gatherings were called for the purpose of hearing the reports of the Committee, of which Brother Layng was chairman, and to discuss the important matters placed before the brethren so assembled. At these two meetings and perhaps at others held later in 1848 the committee, which was in reality the first Board of Trustees of the Masonic Fund Society, was doubtless authorized to continue their activities and their successive plans adopted by the convocations. We may safely assume that much of their effort was directed during 1848 towards securing subscriptions, and according to the disclosures at subsequent meetings they did not fail in that important part of their undertaking. They obtained sub- scriptions, many of which were in fact donations, in vari- ous ways. The Masonic bodies in Pittsburgh subscribed in the aggregate a goodly sum. It is evident that many indi- vidual local Masons took an active part in getting these funds. In their various journeys, for instance, to Browns- ville, to Wheeling, to Cincinnati, to Philadelphia and other places they solicited and obtained subscriptions and dona- tions.
As to the choice of a site for the proposed Masonic Hall, there does not seem to have been any difficulty. There were many good locations available. They selected a site
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on Fifth avenue, then known as Fifth street. Their choice was a most fortunate one. From the beginning of the de- velopment of the city until the great fire of 1845, Market, Third and Fourth streets and the thoroughfares along the Monongahela river front, had comprised the chief centers for the ever advancing commercial and manufacturing interests. But when after 1845 the devastated area of the city was being rebuilt, the lower portion of the famous wedge of land which had always formed a great industrial and business center of Pittsburgh, began even at that date to be crowded. So by the year 1847 trade was overflowing into Fifth street and it was moving steadily up towards the historic Grant Hill. There came a demand for more busi- ness places on Fifth street, the chief theater was located there, and it was noised about that the government was going to secure a site and erect an imposing post office building on that thoroughfare, which not long after it actu- ally did, almost side by side with the new Masonic Hall. So that our practical brethren who had charge of this Masonic enterprise, saw that not only would a site on Fifth street be convenient, but would also turn out to be a satisfactory investment in the future. Besides as it was intended that a part of the Hall should bring in a revenue in the way of rentals from store rooms and an auditorium, a location on Fifth street would be particularly desirable.
While the trustees, with the support and approbation of the local brethren generally, were thus engaged in get- ting subscriptions and obtaining a site for the building, they also turned their attention to securing a Charter. This work was largely left to Brother Layng, as the only attor- ney on the Board of Trustees, and according to tradition he was materially aided by Judge Charles Shaler. The ap- plication for this charter was made in the local courts in the summer of 1849, and it was granted October 26, of that year. There are seventeen signatures to this charter, which was placed on record in the office of the Recorder of Deeds for the County of Allegheny February 18, 1850. The sig- natures of the incorporators as set down in the charter, as recorded, are in the following order :
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A. G. Reinhart James Stevens W. W. Wilson
Wm· Jenkins
T. S. Halfpenny Jas. S. Hoon
Thos. Sargent Geo. R. White
Geo. W. Layng
S. Mckinley
Jas. W. Hailman
Horatio N. Speer
John Porter
A. McCammon
H. J. Rogers
T. Quormael W. S. Davitt
The wording of the original Charter, without the sub- sequent amendment, relative to the manner of electing Trustees, made in 1893, is as follows:
Articles to govern the Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny.
Art. 1. The Society shall be known by the name and stile of the Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny.
Art. 2. The object of the Society shall be the distribution of Charity, the relief of such of the Masonic fraternity, their widows and orphan children as may require its aid.
Art. 3. It shall consist of such persons, citizens of this Common- wealth, as may be admitted members and comply with the rules here- inafter penciled.
Art. 4. The officers of the Society shall be seven Trustees who shall choose from among themselves a President, Secretary and Treas- urer, who shall receive no compensation for their services to the So- ciety by virtue of their office.
Art. 5. The election of Trustees shall be by ballot and shall be held in a suitable place in the City of Pittsburgh the 27th day of December in each and every year, (unless the same shall fall upon the Sabbath, in which case it shall be on the 28th). Each member shall be entitled to one vote and no vote by proxy shall be received. The Judges of said election shall be chosen by a majority of the members that may be present at said election. None but Masons shall be en- titled to a vote. The trustees shall continue in office one year and until others are chosen and organized; and in case of the death, resig- nation or refusal to act, of any trustee, the members may elect others to supply such vacancies, in such manner as is prescribed in this Article.
The trustees for the partial year shall be James W. Hailman, Samuel Mckinley, Alexander McCammon, W. W. Wilson, John Sar- gent, James Hoon & George W. Layng.
Art. 6. The said Trustees or a majority of them, or such one or more of them, to whom the power may be delegated by the Board, shall have the entire control, management and disposal of the funds and property belonging to the society during their continuance in office, and upon application to them for relief and assistance for those who come within the true intent, meaning and object of the society, the said Board, or such of them as are above designated, shall or may disburse to the applicant or applicants such portion of
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the Society's funds as may be just and proper, in conformity with the wants and necessities of the party to be relieved.
Art. 7. The funds of the society shall be constituted by periodi- cal contributions of the members, according to the rules and regula- tions to be laid down in the by-laws. The trustees shall have power to purchase, take and hold to them and their successors and assigns, and of selling and transferring in fee simple, or for any less estate, such lands, tenements and hereditaments as shall be sold, devised, conveyed or granted to them by deed, bequest or otherwise; and should the Society deem it necessary and proper to erect a suitable building in the City of Pittsburgh as a place for meeting or for the purpose of revenue, the trustees shall or may proceed to construct the same and to provide the means of paying therefor by voluntary . subscriptions, or by subscription of stock, or in any other way they may think proper, provided their acts in such proceeding shall not be inconsistent with the Constitution and by-laws of the Society, or inconsistent with the corporate privileges meant or intended to be granted by law. Provided also, that the clear yearly income of such real estate shall not exceed two thousand dollars. They shall pro- cure a common seal, with such device and inscription as they may think proper, and their official acts shall be authenticated by affixing the same.
Art. 8. The trustees, or a majority of them, shall have power to adopt such by-laws, rules and regulations as may be deemed expedient for the well governing the affairs of the Society, and shall have power to call special meetings of the members whenever they may think necessary; provided that such by-laws, rules and regulations shall not be inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of this Com- monwealth.
Art. 9. The members shall assemble in a suitable place on the first Monday in December in each and every year, when the accounts and transactions of the trustees shall be exhibited for their inspection and examination.
The names of the incorporators then follow, and then comes the decree of the court, in the following terms:
In the matter of the application of the Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny for a Charter of Incorporation.
And now to-wit: October 26, 1849, on proof of publication of notice, according to the preceding order, and no sufficient objection being shown to the contrary thereof, the Court hereby decree that the persons associated in accordance with the articles and constitu- tion of the Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny, be- come and be a Corporation or Body Politic, and that the said Articles of Association be recorded in the office for recording deeds, &c., in Allegheny County.
By the Court. (Seal.)
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed
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the seal of the said Court of Common Pleas at Pittsburgh this 31st day of January, A. D., 1850.
Geo. S. Hays,
Prothonotary of said Court.
Recorded Feb. 18, 1850.
This old Charter, with but one modification, still re -.. mains the source of the legal existence and authority of the Masonic Fund Society. This one change was brought about in the year 1893 by an amendment, on application to the courts, by which the voting status of the stockholders was modified. In Article 5, as found above, it is provided that "Each member shall be entitled to one vote, and no vote by proxy shall be received." This phraseology was changed and amended to read as follows:
Each member shall be entitled to one vote for each share of stock held by him, as shown by the books of the Society; but no share transferred within ten days of the election shall entitle the holder thereof to vote at such meeting, nor shall any vote by proxy be received. Shares of stock held by a Lodge or other Body shall be voted by a Trustee elected for that purpose, or in case of failure to elect such Trustee, by the presiding officer thereof."
This old charter is comprehensive, yet concise. It fixes the exact title or name of the organization as "The Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny." The number of trustees is restricted to seven, the officers are to be a President, a Secretary and a Treasurer. It designates as the first seven Trustees the brethren who were named as the first committee appointed at the Convocation held De- cember 25, 1847. The Board of Trustees shall have the en- tire control, management and disposal of the funds and property at any time belonging to the Society; they may purchase or receive by bequest and hold or sell any real property, and they may "erect a suitable building" as a place for meeting or for the purpose of revenue," and are empowered to provide the necessary funds in any way "they may think proper;" provided, of course, they keep within the range of the Constitution and laws of the Common- wealth.
It may now easily be believed that although the Board of Trustees held no formal meetings for more than a year after their organization-at least none of which any records have come down to us-they had accomplished a great and
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important amount of labor. The subscriptions came in rather slowly at first, then later they were more plentiful. Much of the money thus secured came as actual donations, "voluntary subscriptions," in the real sense, which the gen- erous donors did not expect to get back, nor upon which they desired any return as an investment. Brothers Mckinley and McCammon, two of the trustees, had made during the year 1848 trips to Philadelphia, where individual Masons and various of the Masonic Bodies made rather extensive subscriptions; and according to subsequent developments, these two brethren and other Pittsburgh Masons took every opportunity to get the Grand Lodge financially interested in the proposition to erect a Hall, and they succeeded to an admirable extent.
Meantime, the Board of Trustees had definitely chosen the site for the Hall. There were good reasons, as have been shown, for selecting the Fifth street location, and they proceeded to buy the necessary lot on that thoroughfare. The ground they decided to buy belonged then to Brother George R. Riddle, a real estate dealer at that time, with offices in "Avery Row," a row of brick buildings then standing on Fifth avenue, above Smithfield street. The dealings of the Trustees with Mr. Riddle are recited in the minutes of the first meeting held after the long silence of thirteen months. This session was of the date of January 1, 1849, and it was at this meeting that Brother Samuel Mckinley began his work as the first elected secretary, an office which he filled until January, 1853. The trustees at this session of February 1 again met in the office of Brother George W. Layng and there were present Brothers Hail- man, Layng, Wilson, McCammon and Mckinley. The bus- iness of the purchase of the lot on Fifth avenue is the only matter mentioned in the minutes, which say:
On motion made and seconded, it was resolved that we purchase the Lot in Fifth street owned by George R. Riddle, on the terms pro- posed by him, to-wit: Six thousand dollars, one thousand dollars to be paid at the delivery of the deed.
On motion resolved, that the President be instructed to inform Mr. Riddle of the same, and also to examine into the title, etc.
It became at the start a peculiarity in the course of Brother McKinley's efficient discharge of his duties as sec-
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retary of the Board that having once referred in his min- utes to a matter, up for discussion and disposal, he rarely, even though it was of much importance, referred to it in subsequent minutes, although it must have more than once come up again for consideration. This is the case with the matter of the purchase of the lot. He never gives us any more information about that transaction in his subsequent records. What he does say, however, in the above-quoted minutes provides ample authority for the assertion that it was not with out deliberate design that the Board had held no meetings for a period of over a year. They did not de- sire to hinder or retard the good progress of their import- ant preliminary work by discussions and "resolves" in for- mal meetings of the Board, nor did they wish to see their plans scattered and perhaps shattered by the interference at meetings of protesting brethren who might entertain di- vergent views as to the purchase of the property or the erection of the Hall. They were wise men. Seven compe- tent Masons, invested with due authority, could more ef- fectively carry out definite plans, than if there was a small army of brethren trying to put through the business.
The plot of ground bought on Fifth street is the same upon which have stood two Masonic Halls since the year 1851. The first was destroyed by a fire in 1887. The sec- ond, a splendid edifice, was dedicated June 24, 1889, and in the year 1914 was sold by the Masonic Fund Society, and is now entirely used for mercantile purposes, the fraternity having erected the magnificent Temple in the Oakland dis- trict, on Fifth Avenue. The transfer of the Fifth street property in 1849 was made by deed from George R. Riddle, grantor, to the Board of Trustees in their individual ca- pacity, as set forth in the conveyance, as follows :
Between George R. Riddle and Mary his wife, of the city of Pitts- burgh, and James W. Hailman, Samuel Mckinley, Alexander McCam- mon, W. W. Wilson, John Sargent, James Hoon and George W. Layng, Trustees of the Masonic Hall in the City of Pittsburgh.
The deed is dated February 17, 1849, and the ground thus transferred had a frontage of 20 feet on Fifth street, extending back towards, but not reaching, Virgin alley, now known as Oliver avenue, a distance of 120 feet. The con-
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sideration named in the conveyance was $3,000. In addi- tion to this amount there was on the property a mortgage, which the purchasers assumed, of $2,000, thus making the price of the lot and the buildings thereon, which were ancient and delapidated, $5,000. As by the deed from Mr. Riddle the title was held by the Trustees only as individ- uals, and not in their corporate capacity, a conveyance of the property was made by them to the Masonic Fund So- ciety, as a corporation, on January 10, 1850, after the char- ter had been secured. Long prior to the purchase of the property by the Trustees certain ground rents had been created in this land, and we find by the deed of the individ- ual trustees to the Society as a corporation that these charges had reached an aggregate annual rental of $180.
The plot of ground thus purchased was not, however, of sufficient frontage on Fifth street. There was an ad- joining plot belonging to William Blakely, and the Society proceeded to get title to this land by deed dated April 1, 1850, for the price of $5,000. It will thus be seen that the total cost of the real estate bought and owned by the Ma- sonic Fund Society at this period was $10,000, with an ad- ditional charge of old ground rents, which years after were extinguished by purchase.
We have now come to the period when we can follow, in orderly sequence, the minutes of the successive meetings of the Board of Trustees of the Masonic Fund Society. The next meeting after that of February 1, 1849, was held on the 17th of the same month, again in Brother Layng's law office, and the chief matter mentioned in the minutes was the adoption of a motion that the stockholders be required to "pay five per cent on stock every sixty days from and after the first of March, 1849;" which, of course, meant that as funds were then needed by the Board of Trustees, those who held stock at this date were to pay, at an early period, five per cent. of their subscriptions every two months until the total of their subscriptions had been paid in.
On December 27, 1849, a meeting of the stockholders was held, in accordance with the provisions of the Charter, in the Hall at Wood and Third streets, and the second elec- tion for trustees was held. Quite a change resulted in the
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personnel of the Board. Brothers McCammon, Wilson and Sargent dropped out. The following were chosen in their places : Brother William J. Davitt, a member of Lodge 45, and who had a merchant tailoring establishment at No. 219 Liberty avenue, then designated as a "street;" Brother Charles F. Wolf, who was a hardware merchant and be- longed to St. John's Lodge, No. 219; and Brother William Noble, a member of Lodge 45, and whose business was that of upholsterer. But apparently the election of these three brethren was carried through without their consent, as at the very next meeting of the Trustees they all sent in writ- ten refusals to serve. The minutes state that they gave ""reasons therefor," but the reasons are not set down in the record. We therefore do not know on what grounds they justified their rejections of their election as trustees. It is quite likely that their business affairs did not permit sufficient time to devote to the duties of trustees, which du- ties were certainly varied, important and exacting. The Board accepted the resignations of Brothers Wolf and Noble, but not that of Brother Davitt, and set a date for an election by the stockholders to again fill the two vacancies. They also at this meeting organized the Board for the com- ing year, as provided for in the charter. Brother Hailman was chosen President, Hoon Treasurer and Mckinley Sec- retary. Brothers Hailman, Hoon and Layng were named as a committee to draw up by-laws, and we find this inter- esting record in the minutes of this session :
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