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PHOENIX LODGE

Location: Hanover

Chartered By: John Abbot

Charter Date: 09/13/1826 IV-36

Precedence Date: 09/13/1826

Current Status: unknown. No record after 1829.

REFERENCES IN GRAND LODGE PROCEEDINGS

• Petition for Charter: 1826

HISTORY

• 1924 (Notes in 50th Anniversary History of Phoenix Lodge, 1924-46)
• 1973 (Notes in Centenary History of Phoenix Lodge, 1973-212)

FROM 50TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORY OF PHOENIX LODGE, MARCH 1924

From Proceedings, Page 1924-46:

June 9, 1826, application was made by the Rev. Bro. Calvin Wolcott, Aurora W. Oldham, and others for the approbation of Old Colony Lodge to a petition for a new Lodge to be called Phoenix Lodge, of Hanover, recommending Bro. Horace Collamore for Master. It was voted by the Grand Lodge to approve this petition on Sept. 13, 1826, and on Sept. 26, 1826, the Right Worshipful Honorable Seth Sprague, Jr., of Duxborough, of Corner Stone Lodge, District Deputy Grand Master for the Third Masonic District, was commissioned by Most Worshipful John Soley, Grand Master, to Constitute Phoenix Lodge and install its officers. A Deputy Grand Lodge was opened in form and the officers were invested and installed. Proclamation was made accordingly, a procession was then formed and proceeded to the Meeting House. On this occasion it was St. Andrew's Church, where prayer was offered by Reverend Brother Wolcott, the sermon was by Reverend Brother Bent, of Weymouth, and the oration by Reverend Brother Cutler, of Quincy, with a concluding prayer by Reverend Brother Perkins, of Braintree.

As far as I know, no records of the Lodge exist and we are deeply indebted to Wor. Bro. R. Willard Crane for such facts as have been put in permanent form.

Horace Collamore, of Pembroke, was Worshipful Master. He had attended Hanover Academy, was in business iii Boston several years, and he had been a member of Columbian Lodge, Boston.

Aurora W. Oldham, Senior Warden, was born in Pembroke in 1779, married, and lived on his fifty-six acre farm, a farmer and a prominent member of State Militia, rising to the rank of Major. He was Raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in Corner Stone Lodge only six months before Phoenix Lodge was instituted. He had eleven children, one of whom, George B. Oldham, it is interesting to note, became the first Senior Warden of our own Phoenix Lodge. Rev. Calvin Wolcott was Junior Warden. He was made a Mason in Columbian Lodge, Boston, receiving all three degrees in one evening, January 3, 1822. He was Rector of St. Andrew's Church until 1834. Ethan Allen Stetson, a descendant of Cornet Robert Stetson, was Secretary. He was employed as a clerk in his father's store near Teague's Bridge. Like Reverend Brother Wolcott he received the three degrees in one evening. He died in 1831 aged twenty-eight years.

Pelham W. Bonney, a Deacon of the Lodge, lived in that part of Hanson called New State. Before marriage he went to Baltimore, where he was made a Mason. He married a daughter of Aurora Oldham and she was the one who made the regalia for her father and other officers of the Lodge when it was instituted. With his brother Jonathan he operated an iron foundry where the Clapp Rubber Works now are.

The life of this Phoenix Lodge was brief. Just one week before it was instituted William Morgan of unpleasant memory disappeared. It was alleged that he was abducted by Masons, his throat cut from ear to ear, and his body buried in the rough sands of Lake Erie a cable tow's length from shore, because he had revealed the secrets of Freemasonry. The Anti-Masons became very active. They formed a political party to drive all Masons out of office. This party spread over a great part of the northern states and made some headway in the South. In the presidential campaign of 1832 it had a national ticket in the field with William Wirt, of Maryland, for President. The party polled a considerable vote and actually carried the state of Vermont. A determined effort was made to exterminate Freemasonry in America. Its secrets were laid bare. At least sixteen editions of Light on Free Masonry, by one JJavid Bernard, were printed, giving verbatim and complete, the signs, pass-words, and the grand Masonic words of all degrees of our Order, and for good measure, the last few editions contained complete revelations of Odd Fellowship.

Freemasonry bended very low before the storm, but it did not break. It offers conclusive proof of the upright character, the noble purpose, the high aim, the life-giving principles of our beloved and honorable Institution that it reappeared, as if from the dead, young and fresh as in the beginning, and is today a great and respected power still moving on in its quiet ways of usefulness, calmly and serenely not only preaching but also practising the glorious tenets of its profession.

As far as it is known only two men were Raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in old Phoenix Lodge: Nathan Dwelley, who lived at the Corners, and John Brooks, who lived in North Hanover. Both of them became honorary members of our own Phoenix Lodge, and in the case of Brother Brooks appear on our records for the first time resolutions on the death of a Brother:

Deacon John Brooks
died in Hanover, Mass., October 5, 1878.
The Memory of the Just is Blessed.

Laying down the cross cheerfully borne for the many years he has followed in the footsteps of his Divine Master, he has received from His hands the bright crown prepared as a reward for earthly toils.

"The Church, the Town, his neighbors all join in expression of sincere sorrow, and swell the wail of mourning, 'weeping with those who weep,' and we as members of a great Fraternity who were honored to welcome him as a Brother would add our testimony to his worth, and our lament at his taking away. For fifty years a Freemason lie has been with the Institute through the night of its trials, till the morning broke and until Truth crushed to earth rose again." Two of his grandsons, honored members of this Lodge, are present tonight.

OTHER

• 1827 (Constitution of lodge, IV-30)
• 1830 (Report on delinquency, IV-206)

DISTRICTS

1826: District 3

LINKS

Massachusetts Lodges