Difference between revisions of "MassachusettsYear1850"

Latest revision as of 20:10, 25 May 2022

1850

EDWARD A. RAYMOND, Grand Master

George M. Randall , Deputy Grand Master
Thomas M. Vinson, Senior Grand Warden
Asa T. Newhall, Junior Grand Warden

NOTES

EVENTS IN 1850

QUARTERLY COMMUNICATIONS

Held at Masonic Temple, Boston

• 03/12: V-277;
• 06/12: V-285;
• 09/11: V-296;
• 12/11: V-301; (Annual Communication)

03/13 Agenda

• V-279: Report of the committee on the Washington Monument Association. Grand Lodge will furnish a piece of granite for the monument.
  • 06/12: V-286; Bro. Moses Kimball to procure stone for the monument.
• V-280: Grand Lodge invited to celebrate the Feast of St. John the Baptist with Middlesex Lodge, Framingham; accepted.
• V-281: Report of Committee on Regalia; new jewels obtained. The Committee also gave some suggestions regarding seating of Past Grand Officers.
• V-283: Committee appointed to consider a Grand Lodge Library.
  • 06/13: V-291; report of committee recommends an appropriation and a library committee. The Grand Master is authorized to appoint a committee.
• V-283: Resolution to direct the Grand Master to appoint a Grand Chorister.

06/12 Agenda

None.

09/11 Agenda

• V-297: Report on a General Grand Lodge; it and a minority report on the same subject were tabled until the next Communication.
• V-299: Resolution adopted to appoint a Grand Lecturer for each district.
• V-300: Proposal to create a Sinking Fund, to reduce and eliminate the debt due on the Boston Masonic Temple.

12/11 Agenda

• V-302: Reception of Most Ex. Robert P. Dunlap, General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter of the United States.
• V-304: Grand Lodge invited to celebrate the Feast of St. John the Baptist with Essex Lodge, Salem , in June 1851; accepted.
• V-304: Report of the Trustees of the Temple.
• V-305: Report of the Committee of Finance.
• V-306: Report of the Committee on the Library.
• V-306: Re-election of Grand Master Raymond (46 ballots), and other Grand Lodge officers.
• V-310: Surrender of charter by Constellation Lodge, Dedham.
• V-310: Committee appointed on installation arragements.

Grand Constitutions Amendment Proposals

• 06/13: V-294: Amendment to Grand Constitutions regarding Library Committee.

Proposed New Article: "The Most Worshipful Grand Master shall annually appoint a Library Committee, which shall consist of three members of the Grand Lodge, whose duty it shall be to take the oversight of the Library of the Grand Lodge, to make rules and regulations for its government, to appoint a Librarian to purchase Books, and to transact all other matters pertaining to the Library and to make report of its condition and of their doings, at the annual meeting of the Grand Lodge."

• Original document

• 09/11: V-297: Adopted as an addition to the By-Laws (Library Committee).

Grand Master's Address

None.

Necrologies and Memorials

• 06/13: V-287ff; Death of Rt. Wor. Winslow Lewis, Sr., Past Deputy Grand Master; memorial presented by a committee.

• 12/11: V-303ff; Death of Rt. Wor. Augustus Peabody, Past Grand Master. Resolutions of condolence.

• 12/27: V-318; Death of Rt. Wor. Asa T. Newhall; resolutions of condolence, presented by Rt. Wor. Rev. Benjamin Huntoon.

Petitions for Charters

• 12/11: V-304; Petition for Mount Tom Lodge, Holyoke; granted.

Petitions for Dispensation for Lodges

• 06/13: V-286; Petition for Mount Tom Lodge, Holyoke; dispensation granted.

SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS

None.

FEAST OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST

(held at Masonic Temple, Boston, 12/27/1850)

• V-312: Report of the Trustees of the Grand Charity Fund.
• V-314: Instruction session.
• V-319: Installation of Grand Master Raymond and other Grand Lodge officers. Order of proceedings noted. "Interesting, comprehensive and appropriate" address by R. W. Rev. Lucius R. Paige (see below)

Account of the Feast of St. John, from Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. X, No. 4, February 1851, Page 101:

Tne Grand Lodge of this Cornrnonwealth held its one hundred and seventeenth anniversary, at the Masonic Temple, in this city on Friday the 27th December last.

In conformity with its constitutional reqttirements, the Grand Lodge was opened at 9 o'clock in the morning, for the exemplification of the Work and Lectures of the first three degrees, under the direction of the Grand Lecturers. The object of this regulation is to establish and preserve uniformity, in this important respect, among the Lodges throughout the jurisdiction; and, while it accomplishes this end, it ensures a higher degree of accuracy in the entire ritual, than could be secured in any other way; and this, at a very inconsiderable expense, and little ineonvenience. Nearly or quite all the active Lodges in the State, are usually represented, and the entire day is given to the subject. The Brethren make a festival-day of it,- in the ceremonies of which the useful is happily blended with the rational enjoyment of fraternal intercourse and counsel. In the evening, the Grand Officers are installed, and other appropriate ceremonies performed.

At the recent meeting. the Lectures were delivered and tbe Work exhibited, with great accuracy and beauty, by the Grand Lecturers W. Brother Charles B. Rogers, of Charlestown, and William C. Martin, of Boston, assisted, in the Work by the Brethren present. The usual practice of the Grand Lecturers is, to open a Lodge, in form, on the first degree, and recite the Lecture. The Work is then exemplified, and the Lodge is closed. The same course is pursued in reference to the other degrees, This is found to be the most convenient method and we believe it gives general satisfaction to the Brethren. lt presents each degree entire, and the whole in an unbroken chain. At noon, the Brethren are called to the refreshment provided for rhem by the Grand Lodge, in one of the apartments of the Temple. This consumes about one hour and a half, and affords the members from a distance, an opportunity to exchange views and opinions with each other, and to make such lnquiries of the Grand Lecturers as they may deem necessary and useful. The Brethren are also at liberty, at the close of each section of the lectures, to ask for such explanations as they may judge needful to a Proper understanding of the subject. It is, however, not considered expedient that any question should be started for the mere purpose of discussion, while the lecture is progressing. Such discussions, therefore, are not encouraged. The business of the day is usually closed about sun-down.

In the evening, as before remarked, the Grand Lodge assembles for the installation of its officers. At the late meeting, the following order of exercises was reported by the Committee of Arrangements:-

1. Introductory Prayer. By the Grand Chaplain.
2. Hymn.
3. Installation of Officers. After the Installation of the S. G. Warden, Hymn No. 107, Power's Masonic Melodies, first three verses. (see below)
4. Hymn.
5. Address by W. Bro. Lucius R. Paige.
6. Hymn.
7. Prayer.
8. Doxology.

Note: the J. G. Warden, R. W. Asa T. Newhall, having deceased, subsequently to his election, and it not being competent for the Grand Lodge to fill the vacancy until its regular communication in March, the committee very tastefully selected the following, to be sung as a substitute for the installation services appropriate to that officer, - his vacant seat and pedestal being dressed in deep mourning:

Let notes of sadness gently rise
Upon our solemn rite;
Fraternal hearts and weeping eyes
In sorrow's bonds unite.

Rest, pilgrim, rest! thy journey o'er,
Immortal life begun!
Now safely reached a calmer shore,
Beyond a changing sun!

No painful thought, no anxious care,
Can e'er invade thy rest ;
The bliss above thy better share,
To Heaven's own glory blessed.

There was a very full attendance of the Brethren, and the ceremonies, were all of a high order of excellence. The elected officers were installed by the Grand Master (the Grand Master was installed by the R. W. Past Grand Master, Rev. Paul Dean), and the appointed officers by the Deputy Grand Master. The installations having been completed, ancl the usual proclamation made by the Grand Marshal, the M. W. Grand Master briefly addressed the Grand Lodge as follows.

The Grand Master having resumed his seat, the W. and Rev. Benjamin Huntoon, Grand Chaplain, rose- and, after briefly and appropriately adverting to the melancholy event that had thrown a gloom over the occasion on which the Grand Lodge was assembled, offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :-

• Resolved. That the sad intelligence of the death of the Hon. and R. W. Asa T. Newhall at his residence in Lynnfield on the 18th inst. has been received with the deepest sensibility by this G. Lodge of which he was a worthy officer and much esteemed member.
• Resolved. That as a testimony of respect for the memory of our distinguished Bro. and a token of our heartfelt appreciation of his estimable personal character, his amiable disposition, his private virtues and public services and his long and unwavering devotion to the Fraternity.—the station he held in the South be vacant for the space of three months and clad in the usual badges of mourning.
• Resolved, That as an expression of our sympathy with his afflicted family a copy of these resolutions be transmitted to them by the W. Secy.

The address of the evening was then delivered by W. Bro. Lucius R. Paige, Esq. of Cambridge. It is a chaste and elegant production, replete with good sense and wholesome counsel, and we recommond it to the Brethren, and particularly to the officers of our Lodges, as eminently entitled to their thoughtful consideration.

LIST OF LODGES BY DISTRICT: 1850

Derived from the O. P. list from 1849

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