StPaulA

SAINT PAUL LODGE (AYER)

Location: Groton; Ayer (1871); Ashby ()

Chartered By: Paul Revere

Charter Date: 01/26/1797 tbd

Precedence Date: 01/26/1797

Current Status: Active

YEARS

1797 1804 1811 1851 1871 1872 1873 1897 1898 1899 1900 1913 1922 1928 1929 1930 1942 1947 1957 1959 1972 1977 1984 1986 1989 2000 2007

NOTES

FROM LODGE RECORDS

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol XXV, No. 6, March, 1866, p. 166:

Pepperell, March 18, 1866.

Bro. C. W. Moore, — I have been delving among the Records of St. Paul's Lodge, and send you the following:—

At a special meeting of the members of St. Paul's Lodge, held at their hall in Groton on the ninth day of August, Anno Lucis 5797, for the consecration thereof, - present, all the members of said Lodge, and a large concourse of visiting brethren, — the Lodge is opened on the first step of Masonry, after which they proceed to the First Parish Meeting-house in Groton, where an elegant and ingenious discourse is delivered by Br. Thadcus Mason Harris, and the officers of this Lodge are duly installed, and the Lodge is consecrated in form; after which a charge is delivered by the R. W. Br. Isaiah Thomas, and the Lodge return in procession to their hall, and in company with the Grand Lodge partake of a sumptuous dinner. The usual ceremonies having been gone through with, after much gratulation, joy, and festivity, the Lodge is closed. Attest, Samuel Dana, Secretary.

At a meeting of the members of St. Paul's Lodge, assembled at their hall in Groton on the third Monday of August, Anno Lucis 5797, Voted, That Br. Walton be a committee to obtain from the Rev. Br. Harris a copy of his discourse, delivered at the consecration of this Lodge, and that he procure three hundred copies thereof, to be printed for the use of this Lodge. The Lodge being cheered by songs, and Masonic toasts being drank, the same is closed at the usual hour in great harmony. Attest, Samuel Dana, Secretary.

At a meeting of St. Paul's Lodge, at their hall in Groton, on Monday, the third day of February, Anno Lucis 5800, Voted, To choose a committee to make all necessary arrangements on 22d February, instant, and chose R. W. M. Oliver Prescott, R. W. P. M. James Brazer, and Br. Treasurer, Thomas Gardner. Voted, That the brethren, after the exercises of the day of the 22d of February, meet at Captain I. Richardson's for refreshment. Voted, That if any brother belonging to the militia, being called upon by his officer, and fined for non-appearance, that this Lodge discharge the fine, provided they attend in Masonic order.

St. Paul's Lodge met according to agreement on the 22d February, at ten o'clock, a.m., A.L. 5800, at their hall in Groton, to attend the solemnities occasioned by the late decease of our Worthy Br. George Washington, which some time since were recommended by the united government of this country, at which time an oration was delivered by Br. Samuel Dana, who was appointed by a joint committee of the town of Groton and St. Paul's Lodge. A true copy. Attest, John Walton, Secretary.

R. W. M. James Brazer was the first Master of St. Paul's Lodge, and held the office three years. He was a blacksmith by trade, and formerly lived in Peppereli, where he carried on the business. Relinquishing that, he opened a West India goods store in that town for several years, to the satisfaction of all who traded with him, as being an honest trader. He then moved to Groton, where he continued in trade for a number of years. He built an elegant house on the Main street (which now belongs to the corporation of the Lawrence Academy). He was a justice of the peace for a number of years, and became wealthy by being economical and industrious. He possessed a noble mind, and an iron-bound memory. At the return of the annual Thanksgiving, the poor and needy of that town received from his store a certain amount of the "good things of this world," to make their hearts glad, "without fee or reward." He lived to a good old age before he was "gathered to the land where our fathers have gone before us."

Yours fraternally, Luther S. Bancroft.

P. S. — I have never been able to obtain the oration delivered by Br. Samuel Dana, February 22, A.L. 5800. It would be a treat to read it.

MEMORIALS

JAMES LEWIS 1785-1845

MM 1807, WM ? St. Paul (Groton)
Son and grandson of Masons; father was Master of St. Paul in 1813

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol IV, No. 5, May, 1845, p. 156:

Feb. 6th. Hon. James Lewis, of Pepperell, aged 60 years, died in Boston, where he had been sick a number of months, (rheumatic fever.) He was a peaceful and enlightened townsman, and a firm supporter of the Masonic Order. He had held various offices in St Paul's Lodge—presided as its Master a number of years—and as High Priest of St. John's Royal Arch Chapter, in Groton, Mass. One more has gone to swell the ranks of the slumbering dead. His soul, we trust, is now reposing on the bosom of his Maker in the holy of holies; in that Temple made without hands eternal in the heavens—where our Supreme High Priest forever presides and forever reigns. A Companion saw his body deposited in the silent tomb, and drop'd the tear of sympathy there! May we all have our minds garnished in the glorious lectures of Freemasonry, that we may be fitted and prepared to enter the Grand Lodge of eternity, as workmen who have not spent our strength and time for naught When we enter into the world and discover around us' the effects of the artifice of the tempter in the Garden, passed when first behold this existence. apostate transformed into a serpent, are called from this probationary scene and prostrated in the pallid leprosy of death, the second veil is drawn behind us. In the morning of the resurrection when the slumbering ashes shall arise, and we learn that the words of the woman of Tekoa are untrue, when she declares that "we are as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up," then shall the third veil be parted before us. Though the frosts of death may palsy the mortal tenement of the soul shrouding it in the coffin, and withering it in the tomb; the soul itself remains unaffected, flourishing in immortal vigor. Thus, when the faithful die - they have only given the watch word to the grim tyrant death, and passed on to serve a better Master.

- A Companion, R. A. Mason.

GRAND LODGE OFFICERS

Caleb Butler, DDGM, District 5 (Framingham, West and North), 1814, 1815, 1816, 1817, 1818; Senior Grand Warden 1818-1819; Deputy Grand Master 1824-1826; Grand Master 1840-1841.
Frank B. Crandall, DDGM, District 13 (Fitchburg), 1929, 1930; Grand Chaplain 1932-1953
Jeremiah Kilburn, DDGM, District 3, 1841-1843; SN
Franklin E. Morrison, DDGM, District 13 (Fitchburg), 1961, 1962; SN
Edward J. Sartelle, DDGM, District 11 (Lowell), 1900, 1901; Memorial
Leon J. Winch, DDGM, District 13 (Fitchburg), 1941, 1942; N