MAGLTTolman

THOMAS TOLMAN 1791-1869

MEMORIAL

From Proceedings, 1869, VII-390ff:

"The Committee to whom was referred the death of the R. W. Thomas Tolman, member of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, respectfully beg leave to report:

The Hon. Thomas Tolman was born at Stoughton, Mass. February, 20. 1791, and died in Boston June 20, 1869, aged 78 years, 4 months. He was a lineal descendant in the sixth generation of Thomas Tolman, who born in England 1608-9 came to this country with the early settlers of Dorchester, and his [name] is appended to the Church Covenant of 1636, and also recorded as a Freeman May 13, 1640. The estate he acquired in Stoughton is nearly all in the possession of one of his descendants.

He took his degree at Brown University in 1811. when at Commencement he delivered a "Poem on Social Intercourse" : he also received the degree of A. M. from H. U. in 1822. Having studied Law he was admitted to practice and commenced at Canton in 1815, from whence he removed to a wider field in Boston in 1837. He represented Canton in the Legislature of this Commonwealth 7 years and Boston after his removal 5 years, He was Chairman of the Committee on "Contested Elections," in the years 1845, 6, and 7, and made several valuable reports, Under Gov. Briggs administration he was one of his Councillors in 1849, and 50. Brother Tolman was married to Elizabeth C. daughter of Col. Jacob Stearns of this city April 30, 1846, by the Rev. Ephraim Peabody, D. D. Though he entered the matrimonial vineyard at the eleventh hour, yet he received his penny. He was a happy man. His wife was a very amiable and pleasing woman, and of a domestic character. Her death transpired Nov. 26. 1866. at the age of 58. She left but one child, Miss Elizabeth S. Tolman, who was born April 5, 1851. Such is a brief summary of his public life.

His Masonic character stands high on the roll of the Craftsmen. He was initiated in Rising Star Lodge of Stoughton, of which he was elected Master several years. He was H. P. of Mount Zion, R. A. Chapter in Stoughton in 1823. G.H.P. of the G.R.A. Chapter of Mass. 1844, and 1848, and was Deputy G.H.P. in 1841, '42, '43 and '44, July 4. 1825, as District Deputy G. M. he was deputed to lay the corner stone of the Court house in Dedham, on which was afterwards erected a beautiful granite edifice of the Doric Order. He delivered an address on the occasion, neat and appropriate and spoken of in high terms by those who witnessed the ceremonies. He was elected S. G. Warden of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts three times, and in 1849, he succeeded the late lamented R.W. John J. Loring as Grand Treasurer, an office to which he was annually chosen until December 1861. thirteen years. His fidelity and correctness in that important station need no comment,

Two eventful incidents in his Masonic history ought not to be omitted. He was in that vast concourse of the Fraternity when on the 17th of June 1825, the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill monument was squared, levelled and plumbed by the M.W. Grand Master, the Hon. John Abbot, Gen. Lafayette, and Daniel Webster. The sky was auspicious, the spectacle sublime, and to those august ceremonies of that day, the eloquence of Webster gave a finish and splendor never surpassed, if ever equalled upon an occasion of this kind. He was also one of the 6000 Freemasons of Boston and its vicinity, who on the 31st day of December, 1831, nearly 40 years ago. signed that eloquent Declaration, exhibiting the nature and principles of our Institution, and protesting against the calumnies and prosecution of our enemies. He lived to see their unhallowed efforts vanish into oblivion, and Freemasonry emerge from the ordeal more vigorous and flourishing than ever.

Our deceased Brother was a man of fine literary taste and of extensive reading. He thought highly of our beautiful lectures and believed in the great antiquity of Freemasonry. He thought that a true and well informed Mason who cultivated his mind and carried into practice abroad what he was taught in theory at our meetings in the Lodge, was indeed a fair model of a man. He was never idle; he loved occupation. In his early life he compiled a Greek grammar for his own use. He wrote a history of his native town, Canton and Sharon, and it is to be lamented that he did not revise and publish it. Such works are becoming exceedingly precious, and the N. E. Historic Genealogical Society into which he was admitted April 1. 1863. has now in its library more than three hundred volumes of town histories. In his profession he was a well-read sound lawyer and excellent counsellor, ever ready to be a peacemaker among men too prone to go to law and waste their property in idle litigation.

In a word Brother Tolman always looking upon the bright side of human life, was an agreeable and cheerful companion, exemplary in all the relations of life, kind in his feelings and with the courteousness of a gentleman belonging to the old school. It was a fixed maxim to owe no man, and among the members of our Fraternity no one set a higher value on the moral teachings of the Square and Level.

He lived to a good old age, though some months before his death he began to fail, and he felt the truth of that striking oriental figure, "The grasshopper shall become a burden". He told his friends he was anxious to set his house in order; and he did. After a confinement of a few weeks, in which he was not a severe sufferer, he quietly went away, Passing through nature / To eternity! He has joined the silent assembly of our departed Grand Masters who were his cotemporaries, John Soley, John Abbot, Augustus Peabody, Paul Dean. Edward A. Raymond, Simon W. Robinson, and last of all, a member of the Grand Lodge, our worthy and enthusiastic Brother, Thomas Power, the lover of Poetry and Music, who has left us some sweet memories of his genius—wreaths of evergreen which he wove around the pillar of our temple. He was buried in Stoughton, where Rising Star Lodge, over which he once presided, dropped the sprig of Acacia into his grave.

Resolved, that in the death of our lamented Brother R. W. Thomas Tolman, we have lost a member of the Grand Lodge, who has sustained high offices in the same, as also in other Fraternities of our Order, and by his virtues, integrity, talents, and courteous, friendly demeanor has endeared his memory to all our Brethren and especially to this Grand Lodge.

Resolved, that during a long life, extending to a good old age, more than fifty years of which he was a Mason, always active and much of the time in high office, Brother Tolman has left a character honorable to Masonry and much respected in the community. As an evidence that your Committee is not too partial to his worth, they would refer to a happy epitome of the character of this excellent man in the Boston Transcript, June 22. 1869. He was one of the most gentle and amiable of men. universally beloved and esteemed wherever he was known.

JOHN H. SHEPPARD.
CHARLES W. MOORE. Committee.