USA > Rhode Island > Providence County > Providence > State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the end of the century : a history, Volume 3 > Part 57
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
Doric Lodge No. 38, Auburn, was the next lodge constituted in Rhode Island. A dispensation was granted April 29, 1891, and the charter was granted and dated May 18, 1891; the lodge was duly constituted December 16, 1891. Many of the members of this lodge were formerly members of Harmony Lodge No. 9, Pawtuxet, and the good will of the old lodge was shown by its presentation of a set of Great Lights to the
526
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
new organization at the time of its constitution. Linus A. Webster was the first Master of Dorie Lodge.
Saint Andrew's Lodge, No. 39, Riverside, is the last lodge chartered by the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island. The dispensation was dated November 21, 1894, the charter was granted May, 1895, and the eon- stitution of the lodge oceurred May 30, 1895. James G. Whitehouse was the first Master. Located in a rapidly inereasing community, this lodge seems destined to beeome strong and prosperous.
Capitular Masonry .- This title originated in America and desig- nates the degrees conferred by a Chapter of Royal Areh Masons. Four sueh degrees are recognized, viz .: Mark, Past, Most Exeellent Master, and the Royal Arch. It is not clear how the term, Royal Arch, originated, but it is believed that Royal Arch Masonry is an evolution of the English system. The title was used there as early as 1756, and it probably had its origin some years earlier than that. What is positively known is, that the Royal Areh degree was made distinetive in form and ceremony about the middle of the eighteenth eentury, and was then authoritatively conferred as being the explana- tion or complement of the Third Degree. In 1813, when the two rival Grand Lodges came together and the two systems were merged in one, the United Grand Lodge issued a declaration defining Aneient Craft Masonry to consist of three degrees, "ineluding the Holy Royal Arch".1 The opinion has been expressed by William James Hughan, the distinguished English writer on Masonie subjeets, that the records of Fredericksburg Lodge, Virginia, eontain evidence of the earliest known conferring of the Royal Areh degree in the world; the entry in the book is under date of December 22, 1753. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, in 1795, gave permission for the formation of a Grand Chapter in that State. Previous to that date, from about the middle of the eentury until after the close of the Revolutionary War, lodges in Philadelphia, as well as elsewhere, had occasionally conferred the Royal Areh degree. St. Andrew's Lodge, Boston, conferred the degree as early as 1762, and a chapter was formed there in 1768. There is evidenee that the brethren in Providenee and Newport eul- tivated the Royal Areh degree in the early years of Masonry in this State, ineluding to some extent other degrees held to be preparatory to that grade, and without other authorization than their lodge war- rant. In those days the Royal Arch ceremony probably presented many features of the present system; but the degrees preparatory thereto-Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master-were either unknown or were set forth in quite different rendering from the modern method. There is evidence of many and important changes in methods and ritual following the visits of Thomas Smith
""Freemasonry in Rhode Island," Rugg, p. 173.
527
FREE MASONRY AND ODD FELLOWSHIP.
Webb to Boston in the closing years of that century. The records of Providence Chapter, however, establish the fact that the three preparatory degrees mentioned above were conferred by that body at the time of its formation in 1793. Washington Chapter, of New York, claimed to be the Mother Chapter, and issued charters to the early subordinate bodies. To that chapter certain members of St. John's Lodge, Providence, who were in posses- sion of, and who had associated for the cultivation of the Royal Arch degree, made a request for a charter. Bro. Daniel Stillwell went to New York as representative of the lodge, and made his report on the evening of October 5, 1793, when he "presented a Dispensation from the Washington Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, in New York, empow- ering him, with Brethren Thomas W. Moore, John Warner, Jonathan Donnison, Jacob Smith, and others of the Sublime Degree here, to convene a Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons, under the style of 'The Providence Royal Arch Chapter' ". So reads the record. The date of the warrant was September 3, 1793, but the chapter was not formally constituted until November 23, when Rt. Wor. Moses Seixas, 45th deg., of Newport, Peleg Clarke, and Thomas W. Moore, all craftsmen of very high standing, assisted in the interesting ceremonies. There were then admitted to the chapter Jeremiah F. Jenkins, Samuel Snow, John Carlile, 2d, Bennett Wheeler, William Wilkinson, William Magee, Gershom Jones, Ephraim Bowen, jr., Caleb Ormsbee. Samuel Eddy, who held the office of secretary of state twenty-one successive years, and Rev. Abraham L. Clarke, rector of St. John's church, Providence, from 1792 to 1800, were admitted to the chapter in its early years. A code of by-laws was adopted January 9, 1794, which, among other regulations, fixed the fee for the three preparatory degrees at $8, and for the Royal Arch degree, $14. The chapter was represented at the Convocation in Hartford, Conn., January 24, 1798, where a Grand Body was created to have jurisdiction over New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New York, with the title of "Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the Northern States of America". Providence Chapter approved of the action of this Convocation, and measures were adopted to establish a "Deputy Grand Chapter" for the Rhode Island jurisdiction. Such a body was established March 12, 1798, and in the next year was merged in the organization known as the Grand Chapter of Rhode Island, now in existence. Of this body Moses Seixas was the first Grand High Priest, and was succeeded in 1804 by Thomas Smith Webb, who remained at the head eleven years. In January, 1799, the General Grand Chapter convened in Providence, where it received marked courtesies from the brethren of Providence Chapter. Thomas Smith Webb was the most influential and active force at this Convoca-
528
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
tion. A revision of the constitution was adopted, in which the lines between lodges and chapters were more clearly defined, with other needed legislation. Upon the adoption of this constitution officers were elected for terms of seven years. Thomas Smith Webb was elected General Grand Scribe, and Rev. Abraham L. Clarke, General Grand Chaplain. Mr. Webb was elected, also, to the office of High Priest of Providence Chapter, February 10, 1801, and served until November, 1802, when he declined longer service and was succeeded by John Carlile.
Providence Chapter was from the beginning a flourishing body, steadily growing in numbers and influence. It was not long before Royal Arch Masons in Newport, Bristol, Warren, Pawtucket, and at other points in the State were desirous of organizing in Capitular Masonry. On September 18, 1806, a petition was granted by the Grand Chapter to Newport petitioners for a chapter to be called Hiram's Chapter No. 2. This was duly constituted shortly after, but under the title, Newport Chapter. Measures were adopted soon after this date to perfect organizations in Warren, Bristol, and Glocester. Authority was granted in 1806 to form a Mark Masters Lodge No. 1 in Bristol, and the dispensation continued in force a number of years. being represented in meetings of the Grand Chapter and making re- turns thereto until a little time before the beginning of the anti- Masonic crusade. About 1825 this Mark Masters Lodge was merged in Hope Chapter, which, after remaining some time in a dormant state, was formally reorganized and chartered February 18, 1869, as Hope Chapter No. 6. An address was delivered by Rev. Companion Sidney Dean, and a poem was read from the pen of Rev. Companion Mark Trafton, who was unable to be present. In 1807 a dispensation was issued for a Mark Masters Lodge in Glocester, but no permanent organization was effected.
Temple Chapter, Warren, was organized soon after the date of constituting the Newport Chapter, but it worked under dispensation several years. Its charter was granted by the Grand Chapter, March 18, 1817, and it was constituted June 23 of that year. The service was conducted by Grand High Priest John Carlile and was open to the public. This chapter is numbered 3 on the registry.
In 1816 a dispensation was granted to "sundry brethren in Paw- tucket", authorizing their organization into a Mark Masters Lodge, and two years later, on July 30, 1819, a dispensation was granted to Pawtucket Royal Arch Chapter, in which the first named organization was merged. Pawtucket Chapter No. 4 was duly constituted on May 24, 1820, the procession gathering "in Rev. Mr. Blake's Meeting House, where an excellent Masonick Discourse was delivered by Rev. Chaplain Bates"; after the services were concluded the assemblage
529
FREE MASONRY AND ODD FELLOWSHIP.
marched "to Nelson's Hotel, at which place they partook of an ex- cellent dinner prepared for the occasion".1
A Mark Masters Lodge was established in Cumberland in 1824, regarding which the following appears in the record book, under date of June 15, 1825 :
"Agreeably to a vote passed at the annual meeting a Dispensation has been executed & delivered to sundry Brethren of Cumberland bearing date March 27, A. L. 5824, empowering them to open a Mark Master's Lodge in that place by the name or title of Cumberland Mark Master's Lodge No. 2; whereof Br. James Whipple to officiate as first Master, Br. Jeremiah Whipple, as first S. Warden, and Br. Joseph Whipple, 3d, as first J. Warden, until our next annual meeting; for which Dispensation received of Brother Jeremiah Whipple by Note on interest, the usual fee of 20 Dollars."
Partly, at least, owing to the outbreak of anti-Masonry at this time, this Cumberland organization maintained a nominal existence a few years, but was forced to discontinue under the oncoming discouraging conditions.
Throughout the trying period of anti-Masonry the chapter in Rhode Island, as a whole, suffered equally with the lodge. Membership de- creased, resources declined, and almost no work was done for twenty years. Providence Chapter held its meetings with considerable fre- quency, and a few other bodies occasionally came together; but there was a serious decline in Royal Arch Masonry, as in other departments of the Order. Providence Chapter supplied the legislative committee who made the investigation before described with the forms of obliga- tion belonging to the Capitular ritual; this was done in 1832 and the action reported to the Grand Chapter.
In 1840, when Masonry was rapidly reviving, the Annual Convoca- tion of the Grand Chapter appointed a committee "to make enquiry into the standing of all Mark Lodges and Chapters under this juris- diction which have not of late been represented in this Grand Chapter"; but it was not until five years later that the delinquent bodies were communicated with in a direct attempt to secure their reorganization. Several of the bodies then came again into active life, largely through the energy of Companion William Field, who was then Grand High Priest. On May 7, 1846, a Special Convocation was held by the Grand Chapter in Newport, when the officers of Newport Chapter were installed in their several stations of office, under direc- tion of the Grand High Priest, and Newport Chapter "was restored to all its rights and privileges". Only this and Providence Chapters were represented at the meeting of the Grand Chapter in 1847. At that session, beginning on June 8, action was taken relative to the
1From records of Pawtucket Chapter.
34-3
530
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
question of Councils of Royal and Select Masters coming under the rule of State Grand Chapters. The following vote was taken :
"Voted, Unanimously, That this Grand R. A. Chapter Approve of the connection of Providence Royal Arch Chapter & Providence Council of Royal & Select Masters".
In the years following 1850 Capitular Masonry enjoyed brighter prospects, and at the Annual Convocation of Grand Chapter, held in Providence March 11, 1851, four chapters were represented, each of which reported renewed activity among its members.
At the Semi-Annual Convocation of the Grand Chapter, held in What Cheer Building, Providence, September 8, 1857, a petition was presented from fifteen companions, asking for authority to form a chapter in Woonsocket, to be designated Union Royal Arch Chapter No. 5. Companion Samuel Greene was recommended in the petition for the office of High Priest ; Companion George I. Wardwell for King, and Companion Peter Place for Scribe. A dispensation was accord- ingly issued to the brethren, and on March 9, 1858, a charter was granted and the new chapter was duly constituted and the officers installed.
From this time Royal Arch Masonry in this State has had a steady growth. The constitution of Hope Chapter No. 6, Bristol, has already been noticed in connection with its absorption of Mark Masters Lodge of that place. On September 20, 1869, Franklin Chapter No. 7, of Hope Valley, was constituted. An address was delivered by Rev. Companion Samuel P. Kelley, and Grand High Priest Thomas A. Doyle presided, as he did also at Bristol.
Scituate Chapter No. 8, located at Clayville, was constituted Septem- ber 28, 1869, on which occasion the address was delivered by R. E. Companion Rev. Henry W. Rugg. This event was followed by the granting of a dispensation, dated March 15, 1869, to certain com- panions of Portsmouth, authorizing the formation of Aquidneck Chapter. This was done and a charter was granted at the Annual Convocation of the Grand Chapter, March 8, 1870. Aquidneck Chap- ter No. 9 was duly constituted by Grand High Priest Doyle on No- vember 22, 1870.
The last chapter to be formed in this State is Landmark Chapter No. 10, of Phenix, which was duly constituted October 11, 1871. These ten chapters of Rhode Island Capitular Masonry now have a total membership of 2,647, according to the report of 1900, of which number the membership of Providence Chapter is 1,177.
An official act which distinguished the administration of Grand High Priest Doyle demands brief attention. He assumed that in exercise of his authority conferred by his high office, he had the right to cxalt a brother at sight, thus claiming a prerogative similar to that of the Grand Master of Masons to make a Mason at sight. This action
531
FREE MASONRY AND ODD FELLOWSHIP.
was criticised, and the matter came before the Grand Chapter in a proposition to so amend the constitution that the question would thenceforward be clearly defined. A committee was appointed, who reported Marchi 8, 1870, against the position taken by Grand High Priest Doyle, but no amendment to that effect was made to the con- stitution.
"Capitular Masonry in Rhode Island now holds a distinctive posi- tion as regards organizaton. It does not regard itself as a constituent of the General Grand Chapter, although this last named body affirms that the former connection is not altogether severed. Providence Chapter, as already stated, was one of nine chapters of Royal Arch Masons which, in 1798, laid the foundation of a General Grand Chap- ter; and when on March 12, 1799, a constitution was adopted for the Grand Chapter of Rhode Island, it was stated in the preamble of said constitution that this Grand Chapter 'is organized agreeably to the Second Article of the Constitution of the General Grand Chapter' -- the General Body then asserting authority over the 'Northern States of America', but after a few years broadening its rule and taking the title 'General Grand Chapter of the United States', etc., as since held. In the early period the relations between the Grand Chapter and the General Grand Chapter were close and cordial; and they so continued until the time of the Civil War. Rhode Island was represented in the Convocation of the General Grand Chapter held at Chicago, Sep- tember, 1859, when important amendments were incorporated into the constitution. The war broke out, preventing any attempt to hold the Triennial Convocation of the General Grand Chapter in 1862. Three years later such a Convocation was held at Columbus, Ohio, since which time there has been no interruption in meetings or an orderly course of administration on the part of the General Grand Chapter. Rhode Island has not participated in such meetings, however, nor re- garded itself as a constitutional member. Grand High Priest Doyle convened the Grand Chapter of Rhode Island in a Special Convoca- tion, at Providence, August 15, 1865, and gave expression to his view that, by its failure to meet in 1862, the General Grand Chapter had practically ceased its existence, and there was no good reason why the Grand Chapter of Rhode Island should assist in or consent to its reorganization. The following resolution was passed :
" 'Resolved, That in the judgment of this Grand Chapter, the late General Grand Chapter of the United States dates its decline and complete dissolution from its meeting in Chicago, in 1859, and that neither the prosperity or utility of Royal Arch Masonry require that it should be resuscitated'.
"Since the date named Royal Arch Masonry in Rhode Island has maintained a strictly independent position".1
""Freemasonry in R. I.", Rugg, pp. 196-7.
532
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
March, 1898, the Grand Chapter of Rhode Island voluntarily retired from its independent position, and by its own vote enrolled itself a constituent of the General Grand Chapter.
Cryptic Masonry .- This term, in the modern classification of the Masonic system, includes the degrees of Royal, Selcet, and Super- Excellent Master. "The last named degrec, however, has no close relation with the others, and in a strict limitation of the word would not be designated by the name Cryptic".1 The root meaning of the word is subterranean, and Cryptie Masonry, technically, is the Ma- sonry of the Seerct Vault, and as an important adjunct it is connected with the degree of the Holy Areh.
According to the best authorities it is impossible to determine just when and where Cryptic Masonry first took its rise; its early history is fragmentary and uneertain. Bro. W. J. Hughan, whose authority has already been quoted, expressed the opinion that it was known in England about the middle of the eighteenth century, but not at all in its later perfection, and that it was given little consideration. He frankly admits that Cryptic Masonry, as now understood, is an American production. He says, "Whatever may have been the origin of the Council degrees or from whatever source they may have emanated, in their propagation and diffusion they are strictly Ameri- can". He believed that the degrees down to about the beginning of the last century were detached and not united in a system, and were not conferred by any authority that was generally recognized. In some parts of the country the degree of Royal Master was recognized, while in others the more important degree of Seleet Master was known to a few brethren. It was not, however, until 1818 that organizations were created for conferring both of these degrees, and still later before the degree of Super-Excellent Master was ineluded. It seems to be well settled that the Cryptie degrees were early disseminated and the system promoted through the influenee and efforts of the Scottish Rite bodies, noticed further on; but some good authorities claim descent from the " Aneient York Rite", the mother of all speculative Masonry, one writer stating that "our birth was that of an independent organi- zation with no fealty or other incident of servitude to any foreign body."? These points are likely to remain in dispute. Credit is given to Jeremy L. Cross, who was made a Royal Areh Mason in Champlain Chapter No. 2, at St. Albans, Vt., on July 11, 1815, for extending and adapting the Cryptie degrees for Masonie uses. In 1816 Mr. Cross was in Providence, where he perfceted himself in knowledge of the Royal Areh system, and for some time lectured in Masonic lodges in this and other jurisdictions. He became interested in Cryptic Masonry, and while in Baltimore (probably in 1816), re-
""Freemasonry in R. I.", Rugg, p. 200.
From paper on Cryptic Masonry, by Br. - Warvelle.
533
FREE MASONRY AND ODD FELLOWSHIP.
ceived the degree of Select Master. Learning soon afterward that a "Grand Council of Select Masters" in New York was granting char- ters to subordinate bodies, he asked for authority to establish councils and grant warrants, which was granted him in 1817. Two years later, he having meanwhile received the degree of Royal Master, he was given broader powers, and on the 29th of September, 1819, acting under authority of the "Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters", of Maryland, he gave a charter, "without expense", to Providence Council of Royal and Select Masters, which was the first organization of Cryptic Masons in Rhode Island. There appear upon the charter the names of thirty-eight persons, many of whom were prominent craftsmen.
The first steps were taken towards forming this organization at a meeting held March 28, 1818, and at an adjourned meeting, May 19, 1818, it was voted that "the degree of Select Master be attached to this Council". This first council was prosperous until the anti- Masonic excitement began, but was dormant during that period. Re- viving in 1841, the council has since that date maintained its existence with well-deserved success.
The charter issued by Cross to this council was recognized up to the time of the organization of the Grand Council of Rhode Island in 1869, and the council stood aloof from any governing powers outside of itself.
This State was at one period open territory in respect to council organizations; thus, in 1847, Pawtucket Council was established by sanction of the Grand Council of Massachusetts; and in 1860, Webb Council, of Warren, was chartered by the Connecticut Grand Council. In 1849 the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction, Scottish Rite, authorized the establishment of a Lodge of Perfection in New- port, and sanctioned the conferring of degrees now included in Cryptic Masonry by a Council of "Select Masons of 27", organized as within said lodge. This body flourished for a time in a semi- detached relation to other bodies organized on a different basis; but as no return of work done was made to the Supreme Council, the fact of its existence was not known to officers of that body until 1870; the Grand Commander in that year suspended its au- thority, and it was fully revoked at the next session of the Supreme Council.1 The organization then came into line with the other subor- dinate councils of Rhode Island and accepted a charter as De Blois Council, which is still in existence as one of the five in the State.
The Grand Council of Rhode Island was organized on October 30, 1860, when the number of Cryptic Masons in the State was less than three hundred. A convention was called at the request of interested brethren, which met in Masons' Hall, Providence, March 9, 1860, three
1History of Cryptic Rite, J. Ross Robertson, 1888.
534
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.
of the four councils then existing being represented, the exception being De Blois Council, Newport. An invitation to that body to attend was courteously declined. After several sessions it was decided to form the Grand Council, and October 30 was fixed upon as the date for public recognition of the new organization. Prominent craftsmen from Massachusetts and Connecticut were invited to attend the service of installation of officers, in which Ill. Companion E. P. Moore, Grand Master of the Grand Council of Massachusetts, and Ill. Companion H. B. Ensign, Grand Master of the Grand Council of Connecticut, took leading parts. Rev. Chaplain Sidney Dean officiated as Grand Chap- lain. The following companions were installed grand officers: Ill. Companion James Salsbury, M. P. Grand Master; Ill. Companion. Charles H. Titus, D. P. Grand Master; Ill. Companion Samuel Lewis, T. 1. Grand Master; Ill. Companion Henry F. Smith, G. P. C. W. . Companion Bela P. Clapp, Grand Treasurer; Companion John F Driscol, Grand Recorder; Companion Edwin Howland, G. C. G .; Companion Rev. Sidney Dean, G. C .; Companion Christian M. Nestell, G. S .; Companion E. B. White, G. G.
By vote of this Grand Council the local councils of the State were requested to accept its charters and come under its jurisdiction, which they did. Besides those councils already noticed, Woonsocket Council No. 4 was organized April 8, 1868, making the five now in existence. The successors of Mr. Salsbury as Grand Master have been James H. Armington, Charles R. Cutler, Stillman White, Albert H. Cushman, John F. Adams, Amos A. Pevey, Edwin Baker, Rev. William N. Ackley, Osmond H. Briggs, Horace K. Blanchard, William J. Hunt- ington, Arthur H. Armington, Albert L. Anthony, Isaac Gill, George W. Pettis, Horace S. Richardson, Enos A. Clark, Charles B. Manches- ter, Eugene Stevens, William L. Chatterton, S. Penrose Williams.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.