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EDWIN WRIGHT 1821-1899

EdwinWright.jpg

Deputy Grand Master, 1881-1883

MEMORIAL

FROM PROCEEDINGS, 1899

From Proceedings, Page 1899-11:

"Again it becomes the sad duty of the Grand Lodge to pay its tribute of love and respect to the memory of one of its number. Edwin Wright passed on to a higher degree, Jan. 21, 1899, in his seventy-eighth year. He was born in 1821, in North Coventry, Conn. His academic education was completed in the great college of his native State. His scholarship and early love of letters are plainly shown by the fact that he was the valedictorian of his class, — the Yale class of 1844. His scholarly tastes and acquirements lasted and increased throughout the whole of his long life. After graduation he was for a while a successful teacher in schools in Boston and Medford, and then studied law, part of the time at Harvard, and was admitted to the bar in 1850.

"His legal career was perhaps uneventful, in that it was not distinguished by the trial of any great causes; but he was a wise counsellor, a lawyer of ample learning, and a prudent man of affairs. In the early part of his career he was best known as a Judge of the Police Court of Boston. When the Rebellion broke out in 1861 he was a Special Justice of that Court, and. on the departure for the seat of war of Col. George Duncan Wells, one of the regular Justices, Judge Wright was requested by him, under the statute as it then stood, to fill his place in his absence. Bro. Wright sat in this capacity until Colonel Wells' death in battle, and afterward was continued upon the bench until the Court was superseded by the present Municipal Court.

"The importance of a Court of primary jurisdiction, under whatever name, is not chiefly in the initiation of proceedings afterward to be carried higher, but in dealing discreetly, both as to law and fact, with the affairs of the humble classes, the poor, the oppressed, perhaps the criminal. In such matters Judge Wright's legal skill as well as his common sense, discretion and kindliness had abundant opportunity for exercise, especially in the treatment of young offenders, and it is said that none of his decisions that were carried to a higher tribunal were ever reversed. After leaving the bench he continued in practice, mainly in matters of real estate, until his final illness, sustaining to the last his position as a careful and industrious lawyer and wise adviser.

"Judge Wright was always a great reader and a diligent student of many topics outside of his profession, — religion, ethics, politics, general literature and the problems of education. He was a ready, even a brilliant, speaker, and an interesting lecturer, not merely in the Boston Law School, but before literary societies. He also rendered valuable service in the General Court for two terms, and for many years on the Boston School Board. In politics he was a consistent Republican.

"He died after a very brief illness, leaving behind him a widow, daughter of the late Paul Curtis, one son and one married daughter. On the third day after his death his funeral from the Old. South Church was attended by a large body of the officers and members of the Boston Commandery of Knights. Templar.

"Brother Wright became a Mason somewhat late in life, being forty-six years old when he received the Master's degree in The Massachusetts Lodge, Jan. 20, 1868, but his devotion to the Fraternity grew apace, and his advancement was rapid. He received the. Royal Arch degree in May, 1869, in St. Paul's Chapter, and served as High Priest of that Chapter in 1874, 1875 and 1877. In 1879, 1880, and again in 1890, he was Master of Massachusetts Lodge. He was Grand King of the Grand Chapter in 1879, and Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge in 1881, 1882 and 1883. He was made a Knight. Templar in Boston Commandery in 1874, and served that Body in various offices, ending with that of Eminent Commander in 1883. He also received the various degrees of the Scottish Rite, being created Inspector General 33°, Sept. 19, 1882. In all these offices he bore himself with dignity and grace.

"He was fond of the Masonic ritual, and was sometimes called upon to perform it in other Bodies than his own. If the degrees conferred by him were perhaps not quite in touch with the latest revised text of the Grand Lecturers, they were always most serious and impressive. In this Grand Lodge, his voice used often to be heard upon the matters under discussion. Of late years his age has frequently induced his absence or his silence; but among the older of us he will be remembered as for many years one of the most characteristic figures in the Masonry of Massachusetts.

Respectfully submitted,
S. LOTHROP THORNDIKE,
GEORGE E. HENRY,
CHARLES A. NEILL,
Committee.

FROM COUNCIL OF DELIBERATION, 1900

From Proceedings of the Massachusetts Council of Deliberation AASR NMJ 1900, Page 39:

In the death of Ill. Bro. Edwin Wright we are called to mourn the loss of one who, through a long course of years, had taken a prominent and most useful part in the active work of Masonry in this jurisdiction. He passed away at his home on Beacon street, Boston, after a brief illness, Jan 21, 1899, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

Edwin Wright, the son of Jesse and Philura (Fuller) Wright, came of a respectable New England ancestry and was born in North Coventry, Conn., March 7, 1821. His father, educated for a physician, removed to Lebanon, Conn., in 1825, where he engaged in trade, and his son, in his boyhood years, rendered him valuable assistance in the conduct of the business of a country store, doubtless gaining an experience in practical affairs which was of great use to him in after life. Young Wright received his early education in the public schools of the town in which he resided and afterwards in Bacon Academy at Colchester, Conn., where he fitted himself for entrance into Yale College, at which he graduated in 1844, receiving as valedictorian the highest honors of his class. After leaving college he taught in the English High School in Boston, then as principal in the Medford High School, and still later as principal of the Eliot Grammar School in Boston He gained a high reputation as an educator, his fertile mind devising original methods of instruction and his vivid personality, of itself, giving him a strong hold upon his pupils.

He retired from teaching to enter upon the study of law, which he pursued for a season at the Harvard Law School and afterwards as a student in the office of Benjamin F. Brooks, where he was soon entrusted with the charge of the preparation of contracts and other legal papers, and of all matters pertaining to the department of conveyancing. He was admitted to the bar in 1850 and a year later began practice on his own account. Although fully equipped for general practice he gradually, as the years went by, devoted himself to the business of a real estate lawyer and as such gained the confidence of a large clientage and the respect of his professional brethren, justly due to his spotless integrity, sound judgment and thorough knowledge of the law.

In 1861 he was appointed a justice of the Boston police court and served until the court was abolished in 1866 He performed Abe duties of his position, involving the trial of a great variety of cases, civil and criminal, with a good sense and judgment which were never questioned: and it is said that through his term of service no decision of the court was ever reversed on appeal to a higher tribunal. In the exercise of his functions as a magistrate he especially distinguished himself by his wise and humane treatment of juvenile offenders, using the power vested in him by law for their redemption and reformation. His efforts in behalf of this class of criminals were often successful in their results and he received frequent proof that they were most gratefully remembered by those who benefited by them. His kind heart asked for no better reward.

On his retirement from the bench lie resumed a growing practice to which he devoted himself up to the close of his life. Ho did not. however, forget the duties which devolve upon good citizenship. He took an active interest in politics and in 1857 and 1867 was elected a member of the Massachusetts house of representatives from East Boston, where he rendered able service as a legislator. He also served for several years as a member of the Boston School Board, to which he brought a personal knowledge and educational experience, of great value to his associates He gave several courses of lectures before the law school of Boston University and was frequently called upon to deliver lectures and addresses before literary and other societies. He possessed great readiness as a speaker, had a fine command of language, and his oratory was often marked by passages of glowing rhetoric which were sure to awaken the applause of his audience. We have all listened to him with delight on such occasions and we sadly remember that the silver tongue is now silenced forever!

Our beloved brother was fond of books and of those studies which touch the progressive life of humanity and the improvement of its conditions: religion, education, the higher literature and the broad field of social science and social ethics He read only the best books and to the latest period of his life he kept himself in sympathy with the age in which he lived, sharing its hopes and aspirations, and thoroughly believing in man’s capacity for infinite improvement. It may be said of him that his outlook upon life was always Masonic and that, though he came late into our fold, he was born in the purple of the institution.

Brother Wright married Oct. 29, 1850, Helen M., daughter of Paul Curtis of Boston. His widow and two children, the Rev Merle St. C. Wright and Mrs. Theodore C. Williams, both of New York, survive him.As has already been intimated, Brother Wright was thoroughly interested in Masonry and devoted much time and thought to its service. He was made a Master Mason in Massachusetts Lodge Jan. 20, 1808, and was affiliated with it Feb. 17, 1868. He was elected Wor. Master of the Lodge Dec. 15, 1879, and served two years; he was again elected to that office Dec. 15, 1890, and served a third year. His attachment to his Lodge was strong and hearty and he seized every opportunity to advance its interests.

He was exalted to the Royal Arch degree in St. Paul’s R. A. Chapter, May 18, 1869, and became a member of the Chapter, June 15, 1869. He was elected M. E. High Priest, Dec. 16, 1873, and served two years. He was again elected to that office Dec. 19, 1876, and served a third year. He was Grand King of the Grand R A. Chapter of Massachusetts in 1879.

He received the degree of Royal and Select Master in Boston Council Dec. 28, 1876.

He was dubbed a Knight Templar In Boston Commandery April 15, 1874, by Em. Commander Samuel C. Lawrence, who was a pupil in his school twenty-nine years previous, and his reception of the Orders was indeed a renewal of a cherished companionship of youth. He became a member of the Commandery May 20, 1874, and was its Senior Warden from October, 1877, to October, 1879; Captain-General from October, 1879, to October, 1881; Generalissimo from October, 1882, to October, 1883; and Eminent Commander from October, 1883, to October, 1884, when he became an Honorary Member thereof.

In the A. A. Scottish Rite, the degrees were conferred upon him in Lafayette Lodge of Perfection, Oct. 5, 1877; in Giles F. Yates Council of P. of J. Oct. 12, 1877; in Mt. Olivet Chapter of Rose Croix, Oct. 19, 1877; and in Massachusetts Consistory, Feb. 22, 1878. He held the following offices in Lafayette Lodge of Perfection: Junior Warden in 1878, Senior Warden in 1879, 1880 and 1881, and Deputy Grand Master in 1882, 1883 and 1884. He was I11. Grand Secretary of the Massachusetts Council of Deliberation for three years from June 30, 1887, to June 27, 1890. He was created a Sov. Gr. Inspector-General, 33°, and Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, in Boston, Sept. 19, 1882. He continued his membership in his Lodge, Chapter and Commandery and in the bodies of the Scottish Rite to the close of his life. He was thoroughly conversant with the Masonic rituals, which he rendered with remarkable effect, and by invitation he often worked the degrees in other bodies than his own. He took especial delight in the services of installation and frequently performed them in public.

He was R. Wor. Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts for three years from Dec. 28, 1880, to Dec. 27, 1883, and in that capacity rendered inestimable service to the Craft in furthering the efforts of the Grand Master to induce the Lodges throughout the State to commute the tax levied to pay the Temple debt. As a Permanent Member of the Grand Lodge he took an active part in its deliberations. His counsels were always listened to with respect, and he lent a helpful hand in furtherance of its work.

Enough has been said to show that Ill. Brother Edwin Wright discharged with scrupulous fidelity the duties of every Masonic office which he was called upon to fi11. The Institution, its precepts and its ritual, meant much to him, and all that they lent to him he gave back to others in full measure. A more loyal member of the gentle Craft never lived.

Love and honor to his memory!

Fraternally submitted,
Samuel C. Lawrence, 33°,
Charles C. Hutchinson, 33°,
Charles C. Dame, 33°,
Committee.


Distinguished Brothers