MAGLFHamilton
FREDERICK W. HAMILTON
Deputy Grand Master, 1915
Grand Secretary, 1915-1940
Honorary Past Grand Master, 1935-1940
MEMORIAL
From Proceedings, Page 1940-184:
Most Worshipful Brother Hamilton, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge, died at the Massachusetts Osteopathic Hospital, Boston, May 22, 1940, after an operation performed the previous night. He was faithful in the discharge of his duties as Grand Secretary until the very end.
He was born in Portland, Maine, March 30, 1860, the son of Jonas and Angelina (Sawyer) Hamilton. He was twice married: to Florence Quintard Mead on June 25, 1884, and to Emma Tuttle James on March 4, 1912, both of whom pre-deceased him. He is survived by a son, Guy C. Hamilton, of Somerville, and a daughter, Miss Dorothy J. Hamilton, of Cambridge.
He graduated from Tufts College in 1880 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. As an undergraduate, he was active in debating, and in his senior year was editor-in-chief of the Tuftonian, the literary publication of the college. Tufts gave him his A.M. in 1886, his D.D. in 1899 (following a special course at the Divinity School), and in 1906 St. Lawrence University gave him his LL.D. He was a mernber of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity and of Phi Beta Kappa.
From 1880 until 1889, he was employed by a railroad company; in 1889 he entered the Universalist ministry, following this profession - with pastorates in Pawtucket, R. I., and Roxbury, Massachusetts - until 1906; in the fall of 1905 he was elected President of Tufts College, serving as such until 1913; he was a member of the Massachusetts State Board of Education from 1909 until 1920; Secretary of the Committee on Education of the United Typothetae of America from 1913-1927; and since March 10, 1915, he was Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts. FIe was largely responsible for the establishment of Jackson College as a co-educational division of Tufts College. He wrote considerably on civic problems, and he won several prizes from the American Humane Society for essays on a practical plan for the settling of disputes between Great Britain and Venezuela.
He was raised a Master Mason in Atlantic Lodge No. 81, Portland, Maine, October 19, 1881, and later affiliated with Union Lodge No. 10, of Pawtucket, R. I. He also became a member of Washington Lodge, in Roxbury, and Somerville Lodge, in Somerville, both in Massachusetts, and presided as Worshipful Master of these latter two Lodges in 1910 and 1912-1913, respectively. In the Grand Lodge, he was Deputy Grand Master in 1915, and ever since then he had served as Grand Secretary with the unusual distinction of an unanimous election to that office twenty-four consecutive times. His Brethren made him an Honorary Past Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts on December 11, 1935, he being one of only two Brethren ever to be thus honored; and he was also decorated with the Henry Price Medal.
Most Worshipful Brother Hamilton was exalted in St. Andrew's Chapter, R.A.M., Boston, March 7, 1907; greeted in Boston Council, R. & S.M., May 30, 1907; knighted in St. Bernard Commandery, K.T., Boston, May 8, 1907, and was its Eminent Commander in 1917. He had been Grand Chaplain of the Grand Council Royal and Select Masters of Massachusetts since 1908, and of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts since 1918; and he held the office of Associate Grand Prelate in The Grand Commandery of Knights Templars of Massachusetts and Rhode Island from 1911 to 1915. In the Scottish Rite, he was made a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret in Massachusetts Consistory, Boston, Aptil 27, 1906; created an Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, 33°, Northern Jurisdiction, September 21, 1909; and crowned an Active Member September 21, 1911. He rendered most valuable service to the Supreme Council in the following capacities:
- Member of Committee on Councils of Deliberation and that of Deceased Members, 1911-1912;
- Member of Committee on Rituals and Ritualistic Matter, 1912-1918; 1921-1925; and from 1934 to date;
- Trustee, 1912 to date, and Secretary of the Corporation for many years;
- Grand Keeper of the Archives, 1912-1928;
- Member of Committee on Deceased Members, 1918-1921;
- Illustrious Deputy for the District of Massachusetts, 1920 to date;
- Chairman Committee on Education from its establishment in 1922 to date;
- Grand Prior, 1928 to date;
- Member of Special Committee on Educational Administration Review in 1933;
- Member of Special Committee on History, 1933-1938;
- Grand Representative of the Supreme Council of the Dominican Republic near the Supreme Council.
Most Worshipful Brother Hamilton was a Republican, and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He had almost completed a history of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and also an encyclopaedia of Freemasonry.
Funeral services were held at Story Chapel, Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Saturday, May 25th, at two-thirty o'clock, the Very Reverend Percy T. Edrop, D.D., 33°, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, of Springfield, Massachusetts, officiating. A host of friends and Brethren, including a large representation from other grand Masonic bodies, filled the chapel to capacity, and the floral tributes were numerous and of unusual beauty. Interment was in Mount Auburn Cemetery.
The messages of sympathy received from all over the United States and Canada have expressed not only profound respect but a feeling of personal friendship and a sense of personal loss that are significant of the large place he occupied in the affections of the Masonic world. His nature was so noble, his stature so lofty, that his loss is not that of any single jurisdiction but rather that of all men of good will. He was deeply. troubled about the present status of world affairs but he was serene in his confidence in the ultimate triumph of right. His knowledge of the past was too great and too sure to permit any anxiety over the long view ahead. He was a scholar but also a friend of men. His influence was always constructive, his counsels always wise. Throughout his long life he builded an edifice of service and friendiiness that wilf long endure as a monument to his character and an encouragement to his Brethren.
Melvin M. Johnson
Arthur D. Prince
Frank L. Simpson
Herbert W. Dean
Claude L. Allen
Joseph Earl Perry
