Craft Masonry in Oneida County, New York - Onondaga and ...

the death of the father and husband, Mrs. Harrig removed to Forestport, where she provided for her family, until they were old
enough to provide for themselves. She later became wife of W. G. Sands of Forestport.
Albert Harrig at the age of twelve years, engaged as driver on the canal; when sixteen was promoted to steersman, and four years
later, he purchased a boat and began for himself. In 1889, he in partnership with William Syphert, engaged in the lumber business,
getting out spar timber in the winter, which they shipped to New York city in the summer. In 1892, he left the canal, and engaged
exclusively in the lumber business, and in 1893, they purchased the stage route between Alder Creek and Forestport. In the spring
of 1895, they erected the present pulp mill, from which they ship six boat loads a week of forty cord each. They own a 1, 200 acre
tract of timber land, and in connection with their pulp wood business, they furnish a Utica lumber company with logs; by contract
they also ship a large amount of spar timber to New York city. Mr. Harrig has served as excise commissioner, town committeeman,
etc. and is a member and Junior Deacon of the Masonic fraternity, Uriel Lodge No. 809, of Forestport, and is also a member of the
S. F. I. In 1892, he married Estella, daughter of Daniel and Anna Briggs, a native of Forestport, by whom he has one daughter.
Sconondoa Lodge No. 814, Vernon, New York
Frederick ‘Fred’ James Sisson b. 31 Mar 1879 in Wells Bridge, Otsego, NY; d. 20 Oct 1949. He was sheriff's attorney in 1913
and corporation counsel for the city of Utica in 1914; in 1922 he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Sixty-eighth
Congress and in 1928 to the Seventy-first Congress. He was member of the Whitesboro Board of Education from 1925 to 1933,
serving as president from 1926 to 1930. He was a graduate of Hamilton College in 1904; practiced law at Utica, NY, from 1911, and
was active in legislation to keep thr U.S. out of war. Member of Sconondoa Lodge No. 814, Vernon, NY, receiving degrees on
Feb. 20, March 6, 20, 1906. He died in Washington, D.C. and was interred was in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Whitesboro.
Carducci Lodge No. 924, Utica, New York
This Lodge was chartered in 1915 and merged with Oriental-Faxton in 2000. It is the Mother Lodge of Grand Warden, Dennis A.
Breheny. It was originally an Italian speaking Lodge. Moriah Lodge No. 958 was chartered in 1919 as a Jewish Lodge. Liberty
Lodge No. 959 was formed in 1919 and merged with Oriental-Faxton No. 224 in 1996. It was the Mother Lodge of Grand Master,
Gay Brown. Oriental and Faxton Lodges had merged in 1992 to form Oriental-Faxton No. 224 so now it is a merger of Carducci,
Liberty, Oriental and Faxton.
Appendix I
EARLY MASONIC HISTORY IN THE SAUQUOIT VALLEY.
“History of the Town of Paris, and the Valley of the Sauquoit,” by Henry C. Rogers (1832-1880), 1881. Pages 185-214.
http://books.google.com/books?id=tMYqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA244&dq=%22rogers,+hiram+c.%22#PPA185,M1
Transcribed and edited by R.’.W.’. Gary L. Heinmiller
Director, Onondaga & Oswego Masonic Districts Historical Societies (OMDHS)
www.omdhs.syracusemasons.com
The first record of any attempt to establish Freemasonry in the colonies of North America was a deputation granted by the Grand
Lodge of England, in 1730, Duke of Norfolk, Grand Master, to Samuel Coxe, for the provinces of New Jersey, New York and
Pennsylvania. But there is no record that Brother Coxe used his authority or performed any Masonic acts. The first charter for a
Provincial Grand Lodge in New York, was granted by the Grand Lodge of England, in 1737, by Grand Master Earl of Darnley to
Richard Riggs as Provincial Grand Master. The records of this Grand Lodge were destroyed during the war of the Revolution. In
1747, under the Grand Mastership of Lord Byron, provincial patents were issued for New York. Francis Goalet was Provincial Grand
Master. He was succeeded by George Harrison, in 1753, who was regularly installed in due and ancient form, December 27 of that
year. He was succeeded by Sir John Johnson in 1760, which office he held until the commencement of the war of the Revolution,
when he espoused the cause of the British, suspended the meetings of the Grand Lodge, and took possession of the records, etc.,
which were finally destroyed during the war, most of the lodges suspending business, and the work of the craft was transferred to
the army or traveling lodges. September 5 th , 1781, the Duke of Athol, Grand Master of the “Ancient Grand Lodge of England,”
granted a charter to Rev. William Walter to open a Provincial Grand Lodge as its Grand Master, the first meeting of which was held
December 5 th , 1782, at which nine city lodges and six military lodges connected with the British army were present. At the close of
the war and the evacuation of the city of New York by the British army, the military lodges and many of the grand officers left the
country. September 19, 1783, Brother Walter resigned and William Cock was unanimously elected Grand Master. February 4 th ,
1784, Brother Cock resigned and the Hon. Robert R. Livingston was elected Grand Master, from which we date our Grand Lodge.
There is no record as to when the Grand Lodge changed from Provincial to Independent, but it is generally conceded that when the
articles of peace were ratified, the change took place as a matter of course, without any formal action, and was a natural and legal
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