MAStJohnPrincetonNJ
ST. JOHN'S LODGE, PRINCE TOWN
Location: Princeton, New Jersey
Chartered By: Jeremy Gridley
Charter Date: 10/25/1765 tbd
Precedence Date: 10/25/1765
Current Status: extinct
NOTES
From the web site of Princeton Lodge #38:
"The first Princeton lodge was granted a charter on October 25, 1765 by Jeremiah Gridley, Grand Master of St. John’s Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. This was prior to the formation of New Jersey’s Grand Lodge which was on December 18, 1786, 21 years later. The charter stated the the lodge number would be #3, the third lodge formed in New Jersey and would meet in Prince Town, NJ. Its first worshipful master was Richard Stockton who later signed the declaration of independence. It is not proven but believed that lodge meetings were held at his home in Morven. It should be remembered that members of that early lodge were British subjects since America was a colony of Great Britain at that time. Prince Town Lodge #3 was evidently short lived because no record of Masonic activity in Princeton has been found from 1765 to 1813."
