GMRussell
BENJAMIN RUSSELL 1761-1845
Junior Grand Warden, 1811-1812
Senior Grand Warden, 1813
Grand Master, 1814-1816
TERM
MEMORIAL
From Proceedings, Page V-11, March 12, 1845:
Resolved— That the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts by the decease of its Past Grand Master, the late Hon. Benj Russell, has lost one whose memory should be ever dear and cherished for his many years of Masonic devotion, for his truly chivalrous defence of the Craft at periods when right was almost crushed by political might and traitorous backslidings, when regardless of the selfish policy which impelled so many to step aside from the recognition as Masons, he ever gave his presence and influence to uphold the time honoured and sacred character of the Order —
Resolved— That as a Patriot, a Citizen, a generous Friend, a distinguished mechanic, he preeminently shone; and that having lived an honor to his fellow-citizens, and a blessing to our Institution, his death shall excite in us an emulation of his worth.
Resolved– That this Grand Lodge be clothed in the habiliments of morning for the period of three months.
R. W. and Rev. Br. Huntoon offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously accepted: —
Resolved— That the Grand Lodge listened with uncommon pleasure to the eloquent, instructive and patriotic Eulogy, on their late Brother Benj Russell, delivered on the evening of the 10th, instant, by Hon. Br. Francis Baylies, and believing it is wanted by the friends of the deceased, and by the friends of the country;
Resolved— That a committee be appointed to present the thanks of the Grand Lodge to Brother Baylies for the address; and to request a copy of it for publication.
From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. IV, No. 6, April, 1845, p. 163:
EULOGY ON THE LATE BENJAMIN RUSSELL.
In pursuance of previous arrangements, a Eulogy was delivered before the Grand Lodge of this Commonwealth, on the life and character of our late distinguished Brother, Hon. Benjamin Russell, at the Melodeon, on Monday evening the 10th ult, by Hon. Francis Baylies, of Taunton. The hall, holding sixteen hundred persons, was filled to its utmost capacity, by members of the Fraternity, and the friends of the deceased, "whose demise has thrown a mantle of gloom over our city, and whose loss will be long felt in the community, of which he was, for many years, a useful member." There were probably between four and five hundred Brethren present in their regalia. The Grand Lodge, the Grand Chapter, and the Boston Encampment of Knights Templars, occupied the stage; and we are told by persons occupy. ing the body seats, that their appearance was beautiful and imposing. The Brethren of the different Lodges were seated on the lower floor in front of the stage, while the remainder of the hall and the galleries were filled with invited guests of both sexes, including the Governor and Council, members of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Judges of the Courts, Mayor and other members of the City Government, Clergy, and distinguished citi¬ zens. Indeed, a more intellectual and respectable audience was rarely ever before assembled on any public occasion in our city. The services were as follows:—
VOLUNTARY ON THE ORGAN, By Brother Geouge James Barrett, of Boston.
SELECTIONS FROM THE SCRIPTURES, By Rev. Br. E. M. P. Wells, of Boston.
PRAYER, By Rev. Brother Samuel Barrett, of Boston.
FUNERAL ODE, From Brother Thomas Power's Masonic Melodies, No. 109.
Music—Canterbury. A, Major.
What sounds of grief, in sadness, tell
A Brother's earthly doom,
No more in life's fair scenes to dwell,
A tenant of the tomb !
No more the friendly hand now pressed,
No gently-whispered word,
He finds a long unbroken rest,
Where rules his Heavenly Lord.
All earthly joys and sorrows o'er,
Each changing hope or fear,
He sees the light of that fair shore,
Without a sigh or tear.
Then bring to Him, whose holy care,
That better Temple forms,
Our wish that all may gather there,
Beyond life's coming storms.
EULOGY, By Hon. Brother Francis Baylies, of Taunton.
PRAYER, By Rev. Brother Joseph O. Skinner, of Dudley.
CONCLUDING HYMN, From Brother Thomas Power's Masonic Melodies, No. 108.
Music— Windham. E, Minor.
With bursting sighs, with notes of woe,
What saddening thoughts each bosom swell!
But hope directs from scenes below
To climes where joys immortal dwell.
There sorrowing thoughts and sighs no more
O'er death's cold form shall e'er unite:
No pain shall reach that cloudless shore,
Where Love reflects its holy light.
To Him, our Master, humbly bend,
Whose Spirit gave our mortal breath;
His hand our stay, when life shall end,
Will guide us through the vale of death.
Let Hope's immortal joys arise,
Where grief fraternal fills each breast!
Let faith direct to cloudless skies,
Where each shall find his peaceful rest!
BENEDICTION, By Rev. Brother Asa Eaton, D. D., of Boston.
THE ADDRESS.
The hall was hung in black, and the appointments and proceedings were in keeping with the melancholy nature of the occasion. The Eulogy was a well-written, eloquent and elaborate production. As an able statistical paper, it is of intrinsic value, and will be so esteemed by the reading and reflecting portions of the community. Many of its details, having an important bearing on the early history of our country as an independent nation, and on the organization of its government, were never before published. Much of the secret history of the Convention held in Boston for the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, was detailed by the speaker; and it is an interesting incident, that the only surviving member of that body, the Hon. Judge Davis, of this city, was present as a listener, and a witness to the truthfulness of the narrative. And whatever may be thought of the expediency of introducing so much of political history, we cannot think that any will, question the fitness or propriety of the measure, when it is known that Maj. Russell, though not a member, was an active and efficient agent in producing a favorable action in the Convention, and that he was likewise the reporter of the debates. He was therefore identified with the proceedings, as he was with most of the political movements of his times. His history can never be faithfully written, independently of the political history of the age in which he was a distinguished actor. The expediency of the measure was probably settled in the speaker's mind, by the fact stated, that there is but one member of the Convention now living, and he was needed as a witness.
There was another portion of the Eulogy, which was probably less interesting to a large portion of the audience than that to which we have just referred. It need not be said that Maj. Russell was a federalist, for whoever knows any thing of the history of parties, or of the country, knows that It was the gloty of his life, and be never failed to proclaim it in the streets and on the house-tops, everywhere and under all circumstances. This naturally, if not necessarily, led the speaker into' an examination of the history of the great leading principles on which that party acted. And perhaps a more uninteresting topic could not have come up before a mixed popular audience. But it formed a prominent feature in the public history of the deceased, and it may be a question whether the speaker could, in justice to himself and his subject, reject it. At all events, he met it, and met it boldly. If he did not do it fairly and truthfully,—if he played the partizan and mistated the facts, he will probably be corrected when the Eulogy is published.
The result of the matter was, however, that to the mass of the audience, the Eulogy was tiresome. It occupied two hours and thirtyfive minutes in the delivery, and the speaker labored under the disadvantages of a severe cold, and consequent want of clearness of enunciation. For what follows, with some corrections, we are indebted to one of the city papers, (the Daily Bee,)—preferring to give the views of one not a Mason, and, therefore, a disinterested listener, to any thing of our own:—
The Hon. gentleman who addressed the audience, evidently wrote with the ultimate view to publication, and the work will be found a very interesting and useful book—a succinct history of the leading events of the century behind us, "the times that tried men's souls." The Hon. Speaker apologized in the commencement of his address, for the lengthy historical details which he found it necessary to introduce, in order to show the important influence exerted by Major R., and turning to the Masonic Fraternity he began as follows:
We are assembled, my Brethren, to commemorate the life and death of our departed Brother, Benjamin Russell. His long journey through life is ended, and he has now reached that quiet place, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest
But we cannot find room for more than a mere outline of that portion of the address relating solely to Major Russell himself; and we gathered from it that he was the son of John Russell, and nephew of Joseph Russell, so long the town treasurer of Boston. He was born in Sept. 1761; and his family for four or five generations immediately preceding him were Bostonians. His English ancestor, John Russell, settled in Woburn, in 1635. I mention these things, said the speaker, to sho wbow thoroughly our departed Brother was identified with this locality. To him, Boston was a sacred city—as much so, as Jerusalem to a Jew.
At the early age of 13 years, while a school-boy under the instruction of the celebrated Master Carter, he came upon the stage of active life, and though in an humble sphere, bore a part in the exciting scenes of which his native city and its adjacencies were then the theatre. The speaker here read an account, from Maj. Russell's own pen, of the formation of the long line of British soldiers under Lord Percy, along Tremont street—then called Long Acre—preparatory to the march for Lexington and Concord, in which he states that Master Carter having sent one of the school-boys to reconnoitre, on receiving intelligence that the troops had taken up the line of march for the interior, immediately dismissed his scholars with the remark, that "war has begun, boys, and this school is now broken up." Several of the boys, Major R. among them, instead of going to their homes, followed the soldiers over into Cambridge, where they ascended a hillock and waited till the red coats returned in full retreat, under the galling fire of the pursuing provincials. The boys then descended the hill, and having been without food throughout the entire day, "began to search their pockets, but found them as empty as their stomachs." Farmer Hastings, who lived in the neighborhood, took them to his house and cared for them, as it was impossible to convey information of their situation to their families in Boston. During the eventful days just previous to the battle of Bunker's Hill, these boys were continually running about the gathering forces, and as General Putnam—who was a great favorite with them—passed and repassed the little squad, upon his long-tailed Connecticut horse, the enthusiastic little fellows would throw up their caps with a " hurrah for old Put!" at the top of their shrill voices.
Young Russell was received into one of the Companies as its Clerk, and going one day to the Commissary's with some of the soldiers for their rations, he met his father, who with others had effected his escape from Boston, and who had not seen or heard from his son since the 19th of April; the joy of the old gentleman was so great that "he seized hold of me," says Major R. in his narrative, " and gave me a good shaking for not having written to him," upon seeing which the soldiers interfered to protect "our Clerk," as they styled him. His father, however, obtained his discharge as a Revolutionary soldier—and took him immediately to Worcester, where he bound him as an apprentice to Isaiah Thomas, a Printer. At the age of 17 he again enlisted in the Army, and marched from Worcester to share the hardships and the glories of his patriotic countrymen in the field. He was one of the guard at the execution of Major André. At 21, he was again discharged, and at once resumed his trade. On the 14th March, 1784, he published the first number of the Columbian Centinel. While in the Army he had seen a meeting of Freemasons, among whom was General Washington, and he was puzzled to discern how it could be that a sergeant, also in the Lodge, should be above his venerated Chief; this led him to inquire into the practical benefits of Masonry, and resulted in his joining the Order, in which he finally rose to be a Grand Master. As a Mason his unbounded kindness and generosity 'have been felt by many ; he never held back the helping hand from a Brother in distress; and when the fiercest storms have gathered around the Order, he showed, like the steel of Damascus, that his temper was true.
An anecdote was here related by the speaker of an interview between the present King of the French and Major Russell, when the former was a fugitive to this country, in poverty and distress. To relieve the necessities of the suffering Prince without inflicting a wound upon his feelings, and with proper delicacy towards Greatness in distress, Major Russell purchased from him some books, which Louis Phillippe had with him; and one of these the speaker held up to the eager gaze of his audience. Another anecdote illustrative of the daring courage of Major R. and also of the benefits of Masonry, was related of his successful visit to the British frigate Nymph, during the last war, for the purpose of procuring the release of a relative of his, who was detained on board that vessel as a prisoner of war.
The speaker here returned to the Columbian Centinel newspaper, which he commended in the very highest terms, and to which he attributed the greatest influence in securing the safety and even the very existence of the federal Government To Major Russell's exertions among the mechanics and merchants of Boston, the Hon. gentleman ascribed the adoption of the Constitution of the United States; and certainly the vivid and graphic picture which he drew of the excitement incident to the discussion of that instrument in the meeting of delegates from the various towns of the Old Bay State, and the important Bearing of the Columbian Centinel and its editor upon them, warrant the belief that but for him the Constitution would have been rejected; an act which all the friends of the Union regarded as the precursor not only of its dissolution, but of general anarchy and confusion.
The patriotic efforts of Major Russell, through his paper, to allay the intense) and dangerous excitement during the famous Shay's Rebellion and in the quasi war with France, were also dwelt upon at length, and so, in short, were his effectual and beneficent exertions in behalf of his country, his countrymen, and all mankind, throughout his long life—as a Revolutionary soldier, as a Freemason, as a Printer, as a Representative of this, city, as a Senator of the County, as a Councillor, as a member of the City Government, as an honest, benevolent, upright man,—whose equal in usefulness, where shall we look for now ?
NOTES
CHARTERS GRANTED
- 09/12/1814 Freeport, Freeport
- 09/11/1815 Orion, Cummington
- 12/11/1815 Golden Rule, New Salem
- 06/10/1816 Good Samaritan, Reading
- 09/09/1816 Belfast, Belfast
