Bethel
Contents
BETHEL LODGE
Location: Enfield
Chartered By: John Abbot
Charter Date: 09/14/1825 III-554
Precedence Date: 09/14/1825
Current Status: in Grand Lodge Vault; merged into Eden Lodge, 10/27/1939. Charter may have been surrendered some time between 1826 and 1858; restored 1858.
NOTES
RESTORATION OF CHARTER, JUNE 1858
From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. XVII, No. 6, April 1858, Page 164:
Among other matters of much local interest which came before the Grand Lodge of this Commonwealth at its late Quarterly Communication, was the following interesting Report from the Committee to whom at the previous meeting, had been referred the subject of restoring to the petitioners the Charter of Bethel Lodge, at Enfield, which, during the antimasonic persecution, had been surrendered to the Grand Lodge : —
To the M. W. Grand Matter, Grand Wardens and Brethren of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts —
"The Committee to whom was referred, with full powers, the application for the restoration of the Charter of Bethel Lodge, of Enfield, were waited upon by a com mittee of the petitioners, consisting of Brothers J. B. Woods and Ichabod Pope, who gave them such information as induced your Committee to decide unanimously in favor of the application. The Charter has accordingly been restored. The seven petitioners all reside in Enfield. There are in all sixteen members of the Lodge now surviving. Enfield itself is a town of about eleven hundred inhabitants. There were, prior to the antimasonic invasion, Lodges in Belchertown, five miles, and in Ware, seven miles, distant. The nearest Lodge now, is at Palmer Depot, distant twelve miles. There are two others — one at Northampton, and one at Barre — distant eighteen and seventeen miles.
"In the days of its prosperity, Bethel Lodge built a Hall, which was purchased, and is now owned by Brothers J. B. and Leonard Woods — two of the petitioners.
"Nowhere were our Brethren more accrimoniously persecuted during the dark ages, than at Enfield Their Lodge room was broken open, and their jewels stolen and divided among the thieves, as a reward for their virtuous and valorous attacks upon their peaceful and law abiding neighbors.
"The Records and seal were preserved ; and the more bulky furniture, but little injured, now remains the property of the Lodge.
"Since that time, now a quarter of a century, the Lodge room has remained as it was left, awaiting the time when the sound of the gavel should again call order oat of chaos ; and the Brethren to renew their peaceful labors.
"The Brethren to whom the Charter has been restored, are among the most wor thy and wealthy of the town. They are full of Masonic zeal — and rejoice in the restoration of a Charter identified with their early Masonic years ; that, in their old Hall and in their ancient seats, with a large and bountiful field before them, and with the mysteries of Masonry safely deposited in their faithful breasts, they may rebuild the Lodge of their youth in Wisdom, Strength and Beauty.
"Truth, though crushed to earth shall rise again."
Benjamin Dean, William W. Baker, William C. Martin, Committee.
PAST MASTERS
- Henry Fobes, 1825-1828; Mem
- Aaron Woods, Jr., 1829-1857
- Josiah B. Woods, 1858
- John Crosby, 1859-1863
- Cyrus F. woods, 1864-1866
- William S. Douglas, 1867, 1871, 1872; SN
- George S. Dixon, 1868, 1869
- Henry E. Brown, 1870
- William B. Kimball, 1873, 1874
- James G. Ford, 1875-1877, 1881-1884, 1890, 1891
- John W. Felton, 1878-1880
- Fred N. Pierce, 1885-1888, 1892-1894
- Eugene C. Lamson, 1889
- Lewis D. Sloane, 1895, 1896
- Henry Bittner, 1897, 1898, 1904, 1905
- William Milsop, 1899, 1900, 1902
- William F. Howe, 1901
- William Lisk, 1903, 1918-1920
- Frank Johnston, 1906, 1907
- Stewart Twible, 1908, 1909
- Thomas Hickland, 1910, 1911
- Edwin H. Howe, 1912
- James R. Lisk, 1913
- Charles W. Felton, 1914
- Herbert A. Coolbeth, 1915
- Edward B. Downing, 1916, 1917
- H. Morgan Ryther, 1921-1923; N
- J. Frederick Zappey, 1924, 1925; SN
- Hartwell J. Hill, 1926
- Elliott E. Harwood, 1927
- Charles D. Walker, 1928
- Albert E. Richardson, 1929
- Merton C. Pike, 1930
- William Metcalf, 1931
- Lester E. Hall, 1932, 1936
- Jerome L. Spurr, 1933
- Preston M. Putnam, 1934
- Charles A. Fitts, 1935
- Homer B. Briggs, 1937
- Oliver R. Snow, 1938, 1939
REFERENCES IN GRAND LODGE PROCEEDINGS
VISITS BY GRAND MASTER
BY-LAW CHANGES
OTHER
- 1829 (report on delinquency)
- 1857 (petition for restoration)
- 1858 (restoration granted)
- 1938 (in Grand Master's address: last meeting due to creation of Quabbin Reservoir)
GRAND LODGE OFFICERS
- William S. Douglas, DDGM, District 17 (Palmer), 1886, 1887, 1888; SN
- H. Morgan Ryther, DDGM, District 19 (Palmer), 1926; District 19 (Palmer), 1927; N
- J. Frederick Zappey, DDGM, District 19 (Palmer), 1936, 1937; SN
