cr ft m sonry - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic District Historical ...

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Did William Morgan choose the easier way, disappear with five hundred dollars from a dangerous situation, eliminating from his responsibilities a wife and family suddenly burdensome, and, in a new freedom, ship on a vessel from Montreal and out into the world, there to come to an unknown end? Or was he basely murdered by Masons who thought the crime less than the evil results to follow on the publication of Morgan's Book. No man knows. No incontestable evidence can be adduced -- or was ever adduced -- definitely to prove either solution. All that is undoubted is that William Morgan was apparently kidnapped and did disappear. It is difficult, a hundred years after, to understand the extent and power of the widespread excitement and passions this incident created. For the fame and infamy of the Morgan affair spread over an immense territory. It was the beginning of an anti-Masonic sentiment which grew and spread like wild fire. Meetings were held, the Order was denounced by press and pulpit. An anti-Masonic paper was started -- with Thurlow Weed as Editor -- soon joined by the Anti-Masonic Review, in New York City. The many groups in Pennsylvania, already opposed to any oath bound society (Quakers, Lutherans, Mennonites, Dunkards, Moravians, Schwenkfelders, German Reformed Church) were aroused to a high pitch of feeling against the alleged "murderers" and "kidnappers" -- the Freemasons. The anti-Masonic excitement spread -- and fast and far. Gould, in his History of Free-Masonry, thus epitomizes the spirit of that time: "This country has seen fierce and bitter political contests, but no other has approached the bitterness of this campaign against the Masons. No society, civil, military or religious, escaped its influence. No relation of family or friends was a barrier to it. The hatred of Masonry was carried everywhere, and there was no retreat so sacred that it did not enter. Not only were teachers and pastors driven from their stations, but the children of Masons were excluded from the schools, and members from their churches. The Sacrament was refused to Masons by formal vote of the Church, for no other offense than their Masonic connection. Families were divided. Brother was arrayed against brother, father against son, and even wives against their husbands. Desperate efforts were made to take away chartered rights from Masonic Corporations and to pass laws that would prevent Masons from holding their meetings and performing their ceremonies." Reverend Brother John C. Palmer, Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, says in his little classic of the Craft, Morgan and anti-Masonry (Volume 7 of The Little Masonic Library, published by The Masonic Service Association in 1925): "The pressure was so strong that withdrawals by individuals and bodies were numerous. In 1827, 227 lodges were represented in the Grand Lodge of New York. In 1835, the number had dwindled to forty-one. Every Lodge in the State of Vermont surrendered its Charter or became dormant; and the Grand Lodge, for several years, ceased to hold its sessions. As in Vermont, so also in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut; and in lesser degrees in several other states. The Masonic Temple was cleft in twain; its brotherhood scattered, its trestleboard without work; its working tools shattered. Thus Masonry endured the penalty of the mistaken zeal of those fearful brethren who thought that the revealing of the ritual to profane eyes would destroy the Order and who hoped to save it by removing the traitor within the camp." Space here is not sufficient to retell the interesting, often exciting, and always varied story of the political campaigns which were predicated on, and took much of their ammunition from, the anti-Masonic excitement which followed the Morgan affair. It is not to be supposed that the abduction and alleged -- never proved -- murder of Morgan was the sole cause of this outburst, any more than was the assassination in 1914 the sole cause of the World War. Both were triggers which set off guns which, in turn, caused other explosions. Suffice it here that a wave of hysteria was seized upon by able politicians, fanned by demagogues, increased by the righteous indignation of good men and true who saw not beneath the surface, helped onward by press and pulpit with the best of intentions but little understanding, until the whole east flamed with passion and Freemasons were spit upon in the streets, lodges threw away their charters, and Freemasonry bowed its head to a storm as unjust and undeserved as all religious persecutions have always been. Like any other hysteria, this passed. Passions wore themselves away. A few sturdy and brave men stood staunchly by, a few Grand Lodges with high courage and the strength of the right never ceased to proclaim their allegiance to the principles of the Order. Little by little, Freemasonry raised its head; one by one, lodges took heart; brother by brother, Craftsmen returned to their Altars. After a period following almost twenty years of more or less complete eclipse, the sun of Freemasonry shone again, and the world was treated to a spectacle that has been a heartening lesson to millions and will be to counted millions yet to be born anew at the sacred Altar of Freemasonry -- the strange sight of an Order many had thought dead, suffering from uncounted thousands of stabs to the heart, coming again to life to grow and thrive and attract to it then, as it had in the historic past, men of the highest character. It is for this that the Craft of today can offer thanks to the Great Architect for the Morgan affair. Dreadful as it was to the men who lived through it, terrible in its consequences to the brethren who suffered, it demonstrated again -- and it may be hoped and believed, once for all -- that the underlying faith of Freemasonry, its Ancient Landmarks, its foundation upon Deity and the Great Light, together are stronger than any evil, more lasting than any calumny, more enduring than any human passions. --------------- This is a Working Draft. Lodge Masters & Secretaries please read and update missing information, biographies and history beyond 1976. 4
In Part I of this work, covering the period 1799-1826, sketches for the early Craft Lodges were presented, as follows: Craft Lodges in Onondaga County 1799-1826 Charter or No. Name Village Warrant Ceased Labor 80 Village Marcellus 08 Jan 1799 1819 Dropped; no record of dissolution 93 Military (215) Manlius 02 Sep 1802 Charter returned by GL 26 Oct 1886; see history 98 Onondaga Onondaga Hollow 12 Jan 1803 7 Jun 1833; in archives of Onondaga Historical Association 156 Philanthropic Pompey 04 Mar 1807 5 Jun 1835; Forfeited 166 Farmers Delphi 02 Mar 1808 5 Jun 1834; Forfeited 219 Selected Friends Camillus 03 Jun 1813 5 Jun 1834; Forfeited 245 Mt. Moriah Otisco (Amber) 23 Jun 1815 5 Jun 1834; Forfeited 287 Franklin Fabius 05 Jun 1817 1831; Surrendered 290 Morning Star Marcellus 05 Jun 1817 5 Jun 1734; in archives of Morning Star Lodge 524; 1962 327 Salina Salina 02 Dec 1819 4 Jun 1834; Forfeited 330 Cicero Benevolent Cicero 09 Jun 1820 5 Jun 1835; Forfeited 341 Jamesville Manlius 05 Dec 1821 7 Jun 1833; Forfeited 354 Pleiades Baldwinsville 04 Dec 1822 7 Jun 1832; Forfeited; in archives of Seneca River Lodge 160 355 Corinthian Onondaga 04 Dec 1822 7 Jun 1833; Forfeited 379 Camillus Camillus 04 Jun 1824 5 Jun 1834; Forfeited 381 Leonidas Liverpool 04 Jun 1824 5 Jun 1834; Forfeited 444 Farmers Spafford 01 Jun 1825 1831; Surrendered 456 Village Skaneateles 10 Jun 1826 5 Jun 1834; “Dormant” 484 Syracuse Syracuse 09 Jun 1826 5 Jun 1835; Forfeited In this present work will be sketched the Lodges from the period 1826 through 1976 that have ceased work or have merged or consolidated with another Lodge in Onondaga County. There were no Lodges chartered in Onondaga County 1827-1843. The shifting sands of time affect people, communities, states, countries and organizations. Freemasonry, too, shifts with these times. The above Lodges all ceased work in the wake of an Anti-Masonic movement that took to wings of its own following the Morgan incident. It is not the intent of the present work to elucidate on this incident; it has been ably discussed in many other works, other than to note that, politically, the Anti-Masonic Party used the Morgan incident somewhat to its own purposes, as a study of its early leaders will attest. When the furor had abated, those Lodges, or rather Brothers, who were dormant returned to work, some having continued to work quietly during the period. The first to officially reemerge for this period was Syracuse Lodge No. 102 which petitioned the Grand Lodge of the State of New York in May 1844 and was granted its Charter 23 July of that year. Craft Lodges in Onondaga County 1826-2001 Many of the Lodges listed below have living members who were Raised in the Lodges recorded, but are now members under a different Lodge number or style (name) and/or in a different village. No. Name Village Warrant Merged, Consolidated or Split 102 Syracuse Syracuse 23 Jul 1844 23 Sep 1860; split: Syracuse Lodge 501 and Central City 305 215 Military Manlius see discussion in this present work 222 Corinthian Skaneateles see sketch 7 March 1855, last minutes; see sketch 305 Central City Syracuse 11 Jun 1853 Consolidated with Fayetteville Lodge No. 578 501 Syracuse Syracuse 05 Jul 1860 Consolidated with Liverpool Lodge No. 525 520 Salt Springs Syracuse 1861 Consolidated with to become Crossroads Lodge No. 520 525 Liverpool Liverpool 03 Jun 1863 Consolidated with Syracuse Lodge No. 502 578 Fayetteville Fayetteville 1865 Consolidated with Central City Lodge No. 305 648 Centerville North Syracuse 18 Jul 1867 Consolidated with Onondaga Lodge No. 802 768 Sapphire Camillus 13 Jun 1876 Merged with Morning Star Lodge No. 524 802 Onondaga East Syracuse 1892 Consolidated with Centerville Lodge No. 648 864 Mount Sinai Syracuse 01 Jan 1908 Merged with Philo Lodge No. 968, 1980 949 Uncas Syracuse 08 May 1918 Consolidated to become Crossroads Lodge No. 520 955 Salina Syracuse 19 May 1919 Consolidated to become Crossroads Lodge No. 520 957 Danforth Syracuse 19 May 1919 Merged with Liverpool Lodge No. 525 968 Philo Syracuse 18 May 1920 Merged with Mount Sinai Lodge No. 864, 1980 2-983 Sea and Field Syracuse May 1921 Merged with Centerville Lodge No. 648 1109 William S. Farmer Solvay Jun 1931 Consolidated to become Crossroads Lodge No 520 1168 Piety Hill Syracuse 1968 Merged with Centerville Lodge No. 648 * Indicates that this Lodge met originally in the village indicated, but elsewhere in its later history. Syracuse Masonic Temple To the above listing must be added the advent of the Syracuse Masonic Temple, dedicated 22 Feb 1917, which was noted in its time as “distinctively marking the division between the old and new in the local history of Free Masonry in Syracuse . . .” A sketch of this Temple is given in the body of the sketch for Central City Lodge No. 305 in the succeeding pages of this present work. 5
Page 1 and 2: 208 years of CR FT M SONRY in Onond
Page 3: That he was really a Mason is doubt
Page 7 and 8: Syracuse Lodge No. 102 recorded 256
Page 9 and 10: Selected Biographical or Historical
Page 11 and 12: Alvin Munn Ball, son of Lebbeus, Jr
Page 13 and 14: Robert Gilmore, elected Master 1827
Page 15 and 16: Notes - glh: Oliver Hessler appears
Page 17 and 18: Syracuse Masonic Temple 5. In 1917
Page 19 and 20: The following items are especially
Page 21 and 22: Edward Heywood Brown was born 15 Au
Page 23 and 24: Winchell Hall Dormitory for Women,
Page 25 and 26: Central NY. Crowds lined the street
Page 27 and 28: It is unfortunate that none of thes
Page 29 and 30: Bro. Ide left for the south on 11 N
Page 31 and 32: 21 Nov 1853 Initiated Entered Appre
Page 33 and 34: Marching Songs dedicated to Captain
Page 35 and 36: Also among the distinguished Brothe
Page 37 and 38: Latterner, Nicholas 1878-79 Crenan,
Page 39 and 40: 1954 Master of Ceremonies, Council
Page 41 and 42: 27 Jun 1887 Lodge of Perfection, 4t
Page 43 and 44: Vol 1 - the work of George J. Gardn
Page 45 and 46: Scharfblick eines geborenen Geschä
Page 47 and 48: $1,000, but lost everything because
Page 49 and 50: Sherwood, John F. * Sixbury, Charle
Page 51 and 52: Everyone received a wooden tray wit
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employees of Capt. Wilkinson, on th
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William Lilly Day - 2 May 1999 The
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At the close of the war he received
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with the privilege however of havin
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Muster-In Roll of Col. Gustavus Sni
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Because of his schedule, Gordon was
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25 Nov War Savings Stamps, $500. Wo
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Do, by these Presents appoint, auth
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Smith, Peter J. B. 1896-98 Hurst, H
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O. H. Chapman H. E. Anderson S. Hol
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R∴W∴ George G. Hancock (S) Jr.
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Pare, W. Karl 1949 Merrill, E. John
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stables for Mrs. H. G. Curry, built
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6 Dec 1921 “A communication was r
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Sapphire Lodge No. 768 Camillus, Ne
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Thus was the beginning of Onondaga
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Lessinger, Charles 1959 Weingarten,
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Frank Weedon http://www.phoenixmaso
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Newton Earl Klock, life resident of
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The overseas mission asked for pass
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In the old Coast Defense a Club had
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came to us in Paris, and through a
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The roster of No. 2 was consolidate
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Biographical M..W.. William S. Farm
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