MAGLFHamilton
Contents
FREDERICK W. HAMILTON 1860-1940
Deputy Grand Master, 1915
Grand Secretary, 1915-1940
Honorary Past Grand Master, 1935-1940
SPEECHES
CORNER STONE LAYING IN CAMBRIDGE, JUNE 1910
From Proceedings, Page 1910-118:
Most Worshipful Grand Master, Grand Officers and Brethren: We are assembled to lay the corner-stone of a temple for the Masons of Cambridge. We have laid the stone in accordance with the ancient customs and usages of the Craft. It has seemed good that some comment be made on the meaning and purpose of the ceremony and of the building which is to rise on this spot.
This service is of interest to the Brethren, and it is of value and importance to us all that there be in this ancient city a proper home for our Order, wherein its teachings may be communicated and its tenets transmitted for generations according to custom.
The Brethren will find within the walls of this Temple satisfaction for one of the great needs of men. Masonry is more than a club; it is more than a means of society and enjoyment; it is more than a medium of good fellowship, and more than an arrangement whereby a man may find friends when traveling away from home. It is all this, and more. It is an opportunity for the satisfaction of one of the deepest needs of humanity, the social instinct which lies at the foundation of all that makes the life of man high, noble and beautiful.
It is the instinct of men to co-operate, and the nature of men to gather together, for man is in a sense a gregarious animal. This instinct lies at the very foundation of civilization and religious institutions. Man cannot live alone or pray alone, and it is satisfying an instinct for men to gather together. Moral and religious culture soon cease to exist among men when they cease to assemble together for their cultivation. The consciousness of a common purpose is needed. We need the institutions of religion to apply our social instincts to the cultivation of the high and noble purposes of life. God is very near at all times and is not very far away at any time, but we seem nearer to God when assembled together than when alone. We need such institutions; so we form associations and we form fraternities.
Wherever men are, there are associations. Men fall into groups whenever and under whatever conditions they meet. Boys and girls fall into groups on the street, which are often known as the gang. In school and college, fraternities spring up for the pursuit of common purposes and instincts. So in maturer years come such fraternities as this, in which we are interested and for which this building is to be erected. Here we may meet together and share each with the other not only of the open purse, but the open heart. Here we may share not only our substance, but our mental, moral and spiritual acquisitions. Whatever gifts we have received from Almighty God may here be shared, each with the other, the richer with the poorer and with those Whose opportunities have been less. So in years to come we may here learn the old lessons anew and renew our pleasures and share the hopes and anticipations of the future, not in hired quarters, but in a building built by the Craft and hallowed by its associations.
It is proper to say at this time that what we have done here is an act not only of Masonic significance, but of public significance. It is not only for the advantage of the Craft, but also for the advantage of the community that this Temple should be located here in this historic city, right on this public thoroughfare, where thousands pass daily and may be inspired by this object lesson.
In free government like ours everything depends upon the character of the men who form the citizenship of each community. Little depends on exterior things. We build big cities and build big buildings, but a community is not great because much wealth is created in it, and is not stable because of great buildings. A community is not just because of equitable laws or because of that legal machinery which, while indispensable to free government, does not constitute free government. A community is great when men and women are great, free-hearted and high-minded. It is stable when their lives are founded on the everlasting rock of righteousness and justice.
More and more the citizens of the United States are taking hold of the work of government, and are realizing the possibilities of free government. The assumption of duties, rights and privileges involves the assumption of great responsibilities.
Men who are to govern each other must learn to respect and understand each other — to respect each other's interests and to be just and generous. They must learn that it is base for men to take advantage of other men and to rise to power over the misfortunes of others. They must learn that it is base to legislate for themselves and to the disadvantage of others.
Our Fraternity exists for the purpose of teaching those deep lessons so often unfolded before us. May we always remember how important it is for us that we should learn these lessons, and for the community that there should be a large and increasing number of men in its midst who have learned these lessons and who are striving to reach them. These things lie at the basis of citizenship, at the root of character, and at the foundation of religion.
1 am glad to see this Temple rising beside yonder church with which I happen to be personally connected. I am glad it is located on this thoroughfare. I am glad that the Fraternity is to be properly housed. I am glad for the community that this Temple is to be located here, sending forth the lessons of Masonry among those who may never cross its threshold and who may never have revealed to them the secrets of the Craft.
May the blessings of heaven rest upon the Brethren here assembled.
THE MASONIC FRATERNITY, MAY 1939
Radio Address; From Proceedings, Page 1939-201:
By way of introduction of what the Grand Master will presently say, let me take a glance at the Masonic Fraternity as the non-mason may see it. Masonry is the oldest, largest, and most widely diffused of all fraternal organizations. While its ancestry, much of it clear!) traceable, goes far back into the dim past, in its present organized form it came into existence in England in 1717. Four London Lodges met and organized a Grand Lodge. The movement was successful in giving a central organization and authority to the Masonry which had long existed in a formless and un-controlled condition. As soon as it felt strong enough to do so, the Grand Lodge ordained that no Lodge should be considered regular unless it had a Charter or a Warrant from a Grand Lodge or a Grand Master, and no Mason should be recognized as such unless he was initiated in such a Lodge. This was soon generally accepted and has been the law of the Fraternity ever since.
Masonry rapidly spread to the Continent of Europe and wherever British soldiers, sailors, and traders were to be found. Regular Masonry came to America in 1733, when a warrant as Provincial Grand Master was given by the Grand Master of England to Henry Price, of Boston. Freemasonry spread rapidly through the American colonies. An eminent authority has pointed out that during the colonial period, when the colonies were divided in spirit and almost hostile to each other, Freemasonry was the one unifying element common to all, and thus played a great part in making the Revolution possible.
After the Revolution, each state organized a Grand Lodge, as the new states were formed beyond the original thirteen the same process took place. There are now in the United States forty-nine Grand Lodges, one in each state and one in the District of Columbia. The same process has gone on all over the world. Lodges are planted here and there. When they are strong enough, they organize a Grand Lodge for the state or country in which they are located.
Every Grand Lodge is absolutely sovereign and independent of any and every other Grand Lodge. They all accept certain general principles known as the Ancient Landmarks. Their varying codes of Masonic law are all based on certain fundamental principles laid down in a book known as "The Anderson Constitutions" prepared by James Anderson and accepted by the Grand Lodge of England in 1723. They all require an unequivocal declaration of belief in a Supreme Being from ever) applicant for membership. They all teach the same system of morals. Spiritually the Grand Lodges are one the world over. Materially they are many, each independent of all others.
Every year the Grand Masters of the United States meet in Washington for conference. This conference never votes or resolves. It has no more authority than the conferences of Governors, or Mayors, or Police Chiefs, which are held from time to time.
Ir cannot be too strongly asserted that there is not, never has been, and never can be any group or any individual ruling and directing the world's Freemasonry. There has long been a myth that there are such invisible chiefs, of whom the common Mason knows nothing. It is a myth, pure and simple. Freemasonry is pure democracy. Very possibly that is why some persons do not like it.
Definite statistics are not available, but there are at least four million Masons in the world. There are about two and a half millions in the United States. The Grand Lodge of England has about four hundred thousand members in slightly more than five thousand Lodges. Lodges are much smaller elsewhere than in the United States. Scotland has over twelve hundred Lodges. Ireland has over seven hundred scattered all over the island and overseas. There are Grand Lodges in each Canadian Province, in Central and South America, in Australia, in Asia, and in Africa. On the Continent of Europe Freemasonry is strong, though not very numerous, in the Scandinavian countries, in Switzerland, and in Holland. In three great countries it has been suppressed by the government. In some others it is frowned upon by the government. In France there is a numerous Freemasonry, but it lacks general recognition because it has departed from the requirement that every applicant must profess belief in a Supreme Being.
All Freemasonry is based on the Lodge. From the Lodge one may go on and join other Masonic groups. Freemasonry officially recognizes as Masonic bodies Chapters of Royal Arch Masons, Councils of Royal and Select Masters, Commanderies of Knights Templar, and the several bodies of the Scottish Rite, with its elaborate system of thirty-three degrees. These are sometimes called "higher degrees." They arc higher only in the sense that they have higher numbers and that some of them are prerequisite to be taken by others. The man who has received the three degrees in the Lodge is a Master Mason. There is nothing higher and nothing superior to him in Masonry. '["here are certain other organizations, the best known of which are perhaps the Shrine and the Grotto, which are nor > learly understood by the general public. They are not Masonic organizations. They are organizations of Masons. That is to say, they draw their membership from the Masonic Fraternity, but they are not a part of it.
This, very briefly, is the body of Freemasonry. The Grand Master will tell you about its soul.
The Grand Master's address followed this commentary.
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
