MarthasVineyard
Contents
MARTHA'S VINEYARD LODGE
Location: Tisbury; Oak Bluffs (1982)
Chartered By: Winslow Lewis
Charter Date: 09/12/1860 VI-323
Precedence Date: 08/10/1859
Current Status: in Grand Lodge Vault; merged with Oriental Lodge to form Oriental-Martha's Vineyard Lodge, 01/29/1994.
PAST MASTERS
need list of living PMs
- Joseph T. James, 1860-1862
- Benjamin Clough, 1863, 1864
- Henry Bradley, 1865, 1866
- William Leach, 1867, 1869, 1876
- J. Weldon Holmes, 1868
- Stephen A. Thomas, 1870-1872
- Henry Beetle, 1873-1875
- William Hillman, 1877, 1878
- Matthew L. Smith, 1879, 1880
- Gilbert L. Smith, 1881-1887, 1893, 1898, 1899; SN
- Cyrus H. Pease, 1888-1890
- John H. Cowell, 1891
- Charles F. Chadwick, 1892
- William W. Niefert, 1894, 1895
- William D. Harding, 1896, 1897
- Herbert N. Hinckley, 1900, 1901
- William J. Look, 1904-1907; Mem
- Alvin Cleveland, 1908, 1909
- Abbot L. Baker, 1910, 1911
- Ulysses E. Mayhew, 1912, 1913; SN
- Norman Johnson, 1914, 1915
- Lester H. Bumpus, 1916
- Dana C. Swift, 1917, 1918
- Alton C. Tuckerman, 1919
- Stephen Carey Luce, Jr.; N
- Fred K. Snow, 1922, 1923
- George G. Churchill, 1924, 1925
- Winthrop C. Rheno, 1926
- Erwin C. Burleigh, 1927, 1928
- Charles B. Dunbar, 1929, 1930
- Hariph C. Hancock, 1931, 1932
- Walter E. Flanders, 1933, 1934
- Walter S. Booker, 1935, 1936
- William A. Colby, 1937
- Curtis S. Athearn, 1938
- Joseph C. Allen, 1939
- Elijah W. Crowell, 1940
- John E. Palmeira, 1941-1944; 'N
- Arthur A. Mayhew, 1940; N
- Theodore C. Howes, 1945, 1946
- James F. Morris, 1947
- James A. Boyle, 1949
- S. David Cronig, 1949, 1950; PDDGM
- Lawrence W. Winterbottom, 1951, 1952; SN
- E. Everett Howell, 1953, 1954
- Louis M. Greene, 1955, 1956
- William E. Adams, 1957
- Philip V. Cole, 1958, 1959
- Robert B. Boren, 1960
- B. Crume Lamb, 1961, 1962
- David L. Welch, 1963, 1983; N
- A. Douglas Stewart, 1964-1966, 1969, 1985; N
- Charles V. Maida, 1967, 1968, 1976
- R. Donald Bermudes, 1970, 1971
- Ronald H. Tolin, 1972
- Sidney G. White, Jr., 1973, 1977
- David R. Guay, 1974, 1975
- Clayton Taylor, Jr., 1978, 1979
- Richard R. Mello, 1980, 1984
- Kenneth Ward, 1981
- James M. Beckman, 1982, 1990
- Arthur J. Bailow, 1986, 1987
- Christopher Keniston, 1988, 1989
- Alfred H. Hopp, 1991
- Nathan Hunt, 1992
- Leonard P. Reid, 1993, 1994
REFERENCES IN GRAND LODGE PROCEEDINGS
- Petition for Dispensation: 1859
- Petition for Charter: 1860
- Consolidation Petition (with Oriental Lodge): 1993
ANNIVERSARIES
- 1959 (Centenary)
VISITS BY GRAND MASTER
- 1860 (Lewis; Constitution of Lodge and installation)
- 1884 (Howland; Hall dedication; Special Communication)
- 1895 (Holmes; Hall dedication; Special Communication)
- 1959 (A. Jenkins; Centenary; Special Communication)
- 1964 (Osgood)
- 1965 (Osgood; Sojourners' Night)
- 1966 (Osgood; Sojourners' Night)
- 1967 (Booth; Sojourners' Night)
- 1982 (Berquist; Oak Bluffs Hall dedication; Special Communication)
- 1988 (Ames)
BY-LAW CHANGES
HISTORY
- 1959 ("History of Freemasonry on Martha's Vineyard", 1959-111; see below)
- 1994 (Historical essay at consolidation, 1994-14)
HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD, JUNE 1959
Martha's Vineyard Lodge celebrated its Centenary in June 1959, and an extensive history of Freemasonry on the island was prepared by Rt. Wor. Dwight L. Robb, PDDGM, for the occasion. It includes notes on earlier lodges, the material for which appears on those lodges' pages.
��������Martha's Vineyard Masonic Lodges: Past and Present
INTRODUCTION
The original intent, when this paper was started, was to write a history of Martha's Vineyard Lodge of Tisbury, preceded by a few paragraphs about several older lodges, that were either proposed or constituted on Martha's Vineyard, an island of about one hundred square miles in extent, off the southern coast of Massachusetts. However the information available or obtained by correspondence dealing with the older lodges, caused a change in the arrangement of this paper. Therefore, in the first part following this introduction, only a few paragraphs are devoted to Martha's Vineyard Lodge. This treatment or slight on the writer's part is rectified in the second part, by devoting it entirely to the history of the Lodge that prompted the writing of this treatise.
A perusal of the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts discloses that, probably, from 1791 there have been at least seven Masonic Lodges either proposed or erected on Martha's Vineyard. The first Lodge listed below presents so many probabilities as from what higher authority it received its Charter, that more space will be devoted to it. It appears that it was granted a Rite of Perfection charter (referred to as a Scottish Rite Lodge in this paper), whereas the second Lodge listed was actually continuing the Masonic labors of the older Lodge, but under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.
The Masonic Lodges that once were, or now are located on Martha's Vineyard, to be considered, some at length, others but briefly, are:
- 1st — King Solomon Lodge of Perfection, 1791 to 1797.
- 2nd — King Solomon Lodge in Perfection, 1797 to 1822.
- 3rd — Royal Arch King Solomon Lodge, 1787.
- 4th — Seven Stars Lodge of Edgartown, 1820 to 1824.
- 5th — Martha's Vineyard Lodge of Tisbury, organized in 1859.
- 6th — Oriental Lodge of Edgartown, organized in 1866.
- 7th — Ocean Isle Lodge, Oak Bluffs, proposed 1878.
While we are considering the first two Lodges listed above, whose names are so similar, and to make clear which Lodge is referred to, the first Lodge will have the word "of" italicized to distinguish it from the second Lodge that will have the word "in" italicized.
OTHER
- 1921 (Informal visit by Grand Master during 150th Anniversary celebration of Union Lodge, Nantucket; 1921-227)
GRAND LODGE OFFICERS
- S(idney). David Cronig, DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1971, 1972
- William J. Look, DDGM, District 27 (Nantucket), 1908, 1909; Memorial
- Stephen Carey Luce, Jr., DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1921, 1922; Senior Grand Warden 1924; N
- Arthur A. Mayhew, DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1953; N (died in office)
- Ulysses E. Mayhew, DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1918, 1919; SN
- John E. Palmeira, DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1945, 1946; N
- Dwight W. Robb, DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1953, 1954; SN
- Gilbert L. Smith, DDGM, District 27 (Nantucket), 1895, 1896; SN
- A. Douglas Stewart, DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1981, 1982; N
- David L. Welch, DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1987, 1988; N
- Lawrence W. Winterbottom, DDGM, District 31 (Nantucket), 1961, 1962; SN
DISTRICTS
1867: District 14 (New Bedford)