V. HISTORY
(1) Where did Masons come from?
(2) What US Presidents have been Masons?
(3) Was Thomas Jefferson a Mason? Patrick Henry? Abraham Lincoln?
(4) What famous people have been Masons?
(5) What famous buildings in the US have been laid Masonically?
*(6)* What's the difference between AF&AM and F&AM?
(7) Was Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints
(Mormon), a Mason?
(8) What is the oldest Lodge Room in the world? In the US?
(9) Is it true that all of George Washington's generals during the
Revolutionary War were Masons?
(10) Is it true that all the signers of the Declaration of
Independence were Masons? The Articles of Confederation? The
Constitution?
(11) George Washington turned down the title of "Grand Master of
the United States"-- true?
(12) Why do some Lodges meet on a certain day of the week
"following the full moon"? Are Masons some kind of moon
worshippers?
(13) Did Masons suffer at the hands of the Nazis?
*(14)* Are Masons connected to Greek-letter college fraternities?
*(15)* I want information on Masonic history. What books would be
good introductions?
(16) My local Library doesn't have any books on Freemasonry,
where can I find them?
*(17)* What movies/books feature Masonry?
(1) Where did Masons come from?
A fascinating question! And, alas, impossible to answer
within the confines of this FAQ. There are a number of theories,
a lot of debate, and a lot of musty history books. Some of the books
listed in question 15 of this section should be of help. As a
*very* brief overview, here is part of an essay by Henry C. Clausen,
a noted Masonic author. This is, of course, just one point of view--
many other theories exist, but Cluasen nicely covers the basics:
"Our Masonic antiquity is demonstrated by a so-called Regius
Manuscript written around the year 1390, when King Richard II reigned
in England, a century before Columbus. It was part of the King's
Library that George II presented to the British Museum in 1757.
Rediscovered by James O. Halliwell, a non-Mason, and rebound in
its present form in 1838, it consists of 794 lines of rhymed
English verse and claims there was an introduction of Masonry
into England during the reign of Athelstan, who ascended the
throne in A.D. 925. It sets forth regulations for the Society,
fifteen articles and fifteen points and rules of behavior at
church, teaching duties to God and Church and Country, and
inculcating brotherhood. While the real roots of Masonry are
lost in faraway mists, these items show that our recorded history
goes back well over 600 years. Further proof is furnished
through English statutes as, for example, one of 1350 (25 Edward
III, Cap. III) which regulated wages of a "Master...Mason at 4
pence per day." The Fabric Role of the 12th century Exeter
Cathedral referred to "Freemasons."
The historical advance of science also treats of our
operative ancient brethren who were architects and stonemasons of
geometry. It is apparent from this portrayal that they had a
very real and personal identification with the Deity and that
this fervent devotion provided energy to build cathedrals. They
embraced the teachings of Plato and understood and applied
Pythagorean relationships. Just as there is a beauty of harmony
credited to mathematical relationships on which music is based,
in precisely the same way these master geometricians treated
architecture. The architects and stonemasons became the
personification of geometry, performing extraordinary feats with
squares and compasses. Geometrical proportion, not measurement,
was the rule. Their marks as stonemasons were derived from
geometric constructions. The mighty works they wrought,
cathedrals with Gothic spires pointing toward the heavens, and
especially their "association," were not without danger and
opposition, bearing in mind the Inquisition established in 1229,
the Saint Bartholomew's Eve Massacre of 1572, and the revocation
of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. These historical points remind
us of the need for our cautions against cowans and eavesdroppers.
Our operative Brethren of the Middle Ages thus were the
builders of mighty cathedrals throughout the British Isles and
continental Europe, many of which still stand. These skilled
craftsmen wrote in enduring stone impressive stories of
achievement, frequently chiseled with symbolic markings. With
these architectural structures of these master builders there was
a companion moral code. These grew up together. Out of this
background modern Freemasonry was born.
Although "Lodges" had existed for centuries, four of the
"old" Lodges met in London on St. John the Baptist's Day, June
24, 1717, and formed the first Grand Lodge of England, thereafter
known as the Premier Grand Lodge of the world. No longer
operative as of old, the Masons carried on the traditions and
used the tools of the craft as emblems to symbolize principles of
conduct in a continued effort to build a better world.
The American colonial Masonic organizations stemmed from
this Grand Lodge of England and were formed soon after 1717. Its
then Grand Master appointed Colonel Daniel Coxe as Provincial
Grand Master of New York, New Jersy and Pennsylvania on June 5,
1730, and Henry Price of Boston as Provincial Grand Master of New
England in April 1733." -- Henry C. Clausen
(2) What US Presidents have been Masons?
George Washington
James Monroe
Andrew Jackson
James Polk
James Buchanan
Andrew Johnson
James Garfield
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Warren G. Harding
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman
(Lyndon B. Johnson)
Gerald R. Ford
Notes (in chronological order):
William McKinley's Masonic membership has not been confirmed 100%,
though his name does appear on several lists. Hopefully, someone
will be able to provide a definitive yes or no.
William Howard Taft was made a Mason At Sight by the Grand Master
of Ohio and later raised to Grand Master of Ohio in 1909.
Harry S. Truman was also Grand Master of his home state, Missouri.
Lyndon Johnson was an Entered Apprentice, but never progressed
beyond that degree.
Ronald Reagan is not a craft Mason. He was made an honorary 33rd
degree Mason by the Southern Jurisdiction of the AASR and an honorary
member of the Imperial Council of the Shrine, but he was never entered,
passed, and raised as a Mason, nor was he ever made a Mason at sight.
(Source: Robinson's _Born in Blood_)
Bill Clinton is not a Mason, though he was involved in DeMolay for
a time.
Many other leaders in government have been Masons: "They have included
fourteen Presidents and eighteen Vice Presidents of the United States;
a majority of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court, of the
Governors of States, of the members of the Senate, and a large percentage
of the Congressmen. Five Chief Justices of the United States were Masons
and two were Grand Masters. The five were Oliver Ellsworth, John Marshall
(also Grand Master of Masons in Virginia), William Howard Taft, Frederick
M. Vinson and Earl Warren (also Grand Master of Masons in California.)"
-- Henry C. Clausen
(3) Was Thomas Jefferson a Mason? Patrick Henry? Abraham Lincoln?
No, no, and no. As for the first two, "an exhaustive search of Masonic
records in Virginia, and elsewhere, offers no iota of evidence to make
them Freemasons. Jefferson participated in the cornerstone laying of his
University at Charlottesville, which was done Masonically. He praised
Freemasonry and his own words proved he had never been a member of the
Craft." (FMBITS.TXT)
There is some evidence that Abraham Lincoln intended to become a Mason
when he returned to Springfield after his second term in office, had he
not been assassinated in 1865.
(4) What famous people have been Masons?
This is by no means a complete list. This list also includes
Prince Hall Masons.
FROM THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (other than Presidents): Benjamin Franklin,
John Hancock, Paul Revere, John Paul Jones, LaFayette, Rufus King,
James Otis, Baron von Steuben, Joseph Warren, Benedict Arnold (well, you
can't win them all)
POLITICAL LEADERS: Winston Churchill, Simon Bolivar, Edmund Burke,
Benito Juarez, Edward VII, George VI, Bernardo O'Higgins, Jose' de
San Martin, Francisco de Paula Santander, Jose'Rizal, Jose' Marti,
Pandit Nehru, Lajos Kossuth, Jonas Furrer, Guiseppe Mazzini,
Eduard Benes, John A. MacDonald, Aaron Burr, George McGovern, Barry
Goldwater, Estes Kefauver, Adlai Stevenson (not the governor of Illinois,
but his father who was Vice President in 1892), Thomas E. Dewey, Alf
Landon, Hubert H. Humphrey, Wendell Wilke, W.E.B. DuBois, William
Jennings Bryant
MILITARY LEADERS: Omar Bradley, John J. Pershing, Douglas McArthur,
General Winfield Scott, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle,
General Mark Clark, General George C. Marshall
REPUBLIC OF TEXAS: Sam Houston, Stephen Austin, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie,
William B. Travis (and, it should be added, General Santa Ana)
FINE ARTS: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (and his father, Leopold), Ludwig von
Beethoven, Jean Sibelius, Franz Liszt, Josef Haydn, Irving Berlin,
Gutzon Borglum, Charles W. Peale, Alfons M. Mucha, John Philip Sousa,
both Gilbert & Sullivan, George Gershwin, George M. Cohen, Count Basie,
Nat King Cole, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Signmund Romberg
ACTORS: John Wayne, Red Skelton, Clark Gable, W.C. Fields, Will Rogers,
Burl Ives, Roy Rogers, Danny Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Oliver Hardy,
Tom Mix, Audie Murphy, Gene Autry, Wallace Beery, Eddie Cantor
INDUSTRY & LABOR: Henry Ford, Samuel Gompers, Walter P. Chrysler,
John Wanamaker, S.S. Kresge, J.C. Penney, John Jacob Astor, John L. Lewis
ADVENTURERS: Lewis & Clark, Charles A. Lindberg, Kit Carson, Roald
Amundsen, Adm. Richard Byrd, Commodore Robert Peary
PHILOSOPHERS: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gotthold E. Lessing,
Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet)
ATHLETES: Bob Feller, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, Paul "Dizzy" Trout,
Harry Carey, Dell Rice, Jimmy Fox, Joe Tinker (of "Tinker to Evers
to Chance"), Jack Dempsey, Arnold Palmer, Jack Arthur Johnson
ASTRONAUTS: Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., Leroy Gordon Cooper,
Donn F. Eisele, Virgil I. Grissom, Edgar D. Mitchell, Walter M.
Schirra, Jr., Thomas P. Stafford, Paul J. Weitz, James B. Irwin,
John Glenn.
WRITERS: Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Sir Walter Scott, Rudyard Kipling,
Robert Burns, Wassily I. Maikow, Heinrich Heine, Jean P.C. de Florian,
Leopoldo Lugoner, Antonio de Castro Alves, James Boswell, Alexander
Pushkin, Arthur Conan Doyle, Johnathon Swift, Oscar Wilde
LAW: John Marshall, Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall
MEDICINE: Drs. Alexander Fleming, Jules Bordet, Antoine DePage, Edward
Jenner, Charles and William Mayo, Karl and William Menninger
SCIENCE: Hans C. Orsted, Jons Jakob Frk. von Berzelius, Alfred Edmund
Brehm, Luther Burbank, Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Albert Abraham Michelson,
Gaspard Monge, C.F.S. Hahnemann, Pedro N. Arata, Alexandre Gustave
Eiffel, Alexander Fleming, James Smithson
...as well as Harry Houdini, Norman Vincent Peale, David Sarnoff,
Thomas J. Watson, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Cecil J. Rhodes,
Marvin Zindler, and many, many more.
(5) What famous buildings in the US have been laid Masonically?
The U. S. Capitol
The Smithsonian Institution
Jackson Hall
The National Education Association Building
The Army War College Building
House of Representatives Office Building
The Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is in Alexandria, Virginia, and honors
our first President and Brother Mason, George Washington. (FMBITS.TXT)
*(6)* What's the difference between AF&AM and F&AM?
F&AM means "Free & Accepted Masons."
AF&AM means "Ancient Free & Accepted Masons".
In practical terms, there is no difference, since the jurisdictions
that are termed "ancient" F&AM are no different than those that are
simply F&AM. The distinction is a historical one, owing to differences
in Grand Lodge names. (someone will provide more information on this
topic, I hope)
(7) Was Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints
(Mormon), a Mason?
(This section provided by Brother Bob Dixon; the use of the first
person is his)
"Joseph Smith was a mason, as were the following four presidents of
the LDS church.
From about 1839 to about 1846 most of the members of the church
gathered to Nauvoo, Illinois, and there were at least four lodges in
operation there. Joseph Smith was a very flamboyant individual and had
a disagreement with the Grand Lodge of Illinois over the way the Nauvoo
lodges were operated. Accordingly, their charters were revoked by the
Grand Lodge.
He was murdered by a mob in 1844, and Brigham Young felt it was as a
result of a masonic conspiracy. He prohibited Mormons from being
Masons, which remained in effect until the last ten years or so. The
ill feelings went both ways, as the Grand Lodge of Utah refused to
accept Mormons as members until about 1984.
There are no particular restrictions on Mormons being Masons. We are
continually counselled to put our families and Christ first, which many
interpret as counsel to avoid most activities outside family and church.
This is a personal choice, though, and not a matter of strict doctrine.
We perform certain ordinances such as baptisms for the dead and
eternal marriages in our temples, and minor portions of those ordinances
bear very surface similarity to parts of the Masonic degrees. The whole
scope and character is much different, though. Where (I feel, anyway)
that the masonic degree work revolves around our place in God's kingdom
here on the earth, our temple rituals deal with creation and our place
in the eternities."
(A minor historical note: Smith was made a Mason at Sight by the
Grand Master of Illinois)
(8) What is the oldest Lodge Room in the world? In the US?
"St. John's Chapel, Edinburgh, Scotland is said to be the
oldest Masonic Lodge Room (1736) in the world. The oldest known Lodge
Room in the U.S. is situated in Prentiss House, Marble head,
Massachusetts (1760).The oldest Masonic Lodge Building is the Lodge
Hall of Royal White Hart Lodge No. 2, Halltax, Northings, North Carolina
(1771)." (FMBITS.TXT)
Other information disagrees with this, stating that the oldest
American Lodge Room is "Masons Hall in Richmond, Virginia, the home of
Richmond Randolph Lodge No. 19 and Richmond Royal Arch Chapter No. 3. The
building owned by Royal White Hart Lodge wasn't built until 1821. Masons
Hall was built in 1785. It was originally the home of Richmond Lodge No.
10, the first wholly new Lodge chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia.
It was also the first permanent home of the Grand Lodge of Virginia."
(from Northern Light)
(9) Is it true that all of George Washington's generals during the
Revolutionary War were Masons?
No. 33 of the generals serving under Washington were Masons. A
substantial number, but not "all".
(10) Is it true that all the signers of the Declaration of Independence were
Masons? The Articles of Confederation? The Constitution?
No. Masons constituted ten of the signers of the Articles, nine signers
of the Declaration, and thirteen signers of the Constitution.
Additionally, Edmund Randolph, Grand Master of Virginia, was an active
participant at the Constitutional Convention, though he didn't sign the
document. It should also be noted that four Presidents of the
Continental Congresses were Freemasons: Peyton Randolph of Virginia, John
Hancock of Massachusetts, Henry Laurens of South Carolina, and Arthur St.
Clair of Pennsylvania. (Northern Light)
(11) George Washington turned down the title of "Grand Master of the United
States"-- true?
Yes, sort of. The American Union Lodge proposed that Washington
become "General Grand Master of the United States", a title to
be held in the "National Grand Lodge". However, there were many
others who also disagreed with the idea, so it was never a serious
proposal.
Washington was Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22 in Virginia, whose
Grand Master was then Edmund Randolph. Washington was never Grand
Master of Virginia (or any other jurisdiction).
(12) Why do some Lodges meet on a certain day of the week "following the
full moon"? Are Masons some kind of moon worshippers?
The reason is actually simple practicality. Masonic Lodges meet at
night, since their membership typically works during the day. Before
street lights were available in the 19th century, men walked to Lodge
in the dark of night and it was common to schedule Lodge meetings
shortly after a full moon to provide maximum illumination for
Brothers' walk to and from Lodge.
Obviously, this is no longer an issue, though some Lodges whose
history stretches back into the 19th century or earlier still
schedule their meetings by the moon's period. These are sometimes
referred to as "moon Lodges".
(13) Did Masons suffer at the hands of the Nazis?
Yes. The exact numbers are unknown. Lt. Col. David Boyd wrote that
85,000 German Masons were killed by the Nazis, though other research has
found that this number may be off by as much as a third. This figure
does not include any of the nations the Nazis occupied.
Regardless of the actual number killed, it is clear that Hitler viewed
Masonry, which exalts truth, toleration, brotherly love, and free
thought, to be dangerous and a threat to his regime. Ironically, in his
last days in his bunker in Berlin, Hitler had a painting of Frederick the
Great in his chambers. Frederick the Great was a Mason.
*(14)* Are Masons connected to Greek-letter fraternities?
*(15)* I want information on Masonic history. What books would be good
introductions?
Virtually anything by Allen Roberts.
Robinson, John J. _A Pilgrim's Path_
Robinson, John J. _Born in Blood_
Stevenson, David, PhD. _The Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's
Century 1590-1710_ (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University
Press, 1988).
_Coil's Masonic Encyclopedia_ is an excellent reference.
(16) My local Library doesn't have any books on Freemasonry,
where can I find them?
Many Lodges maintain their own libraries as do the Grand Lodges.
Some larger public Libraries also may have a better collection than
a smaller Library. Unfortunately, bookstores do not typically carry
a wide assortment of Masonic related books, however, there are
several sources to purchase books:
Macoy Publishing (804) 262-6551
P.O. Box 9759
Richmond, VA 23228
Anchor Communications (804) 737-4498
110 Quince Ave. Drawer 70
Highland Springs, VA 23075
Look at Roger Ingersoll's home page or FTP site for free
publications and addresses of other sources of Masonic books.
*(17)* What movies/books feature Masonry?
_The Man Who Would Be King_, by Brother Rudyard Kipling. A good
story, later made into an excellent film, starring Michael Caine,
Sean Connery, and Christopher Plummer. Its portrayal of Masonic
history is quite fanciful, of course.
_Murder by Decree_ A Sherlock Holmes movie, concerning the Master
Sleuth's hunt for Jack the Ripper. It does not portray Masonry in
an honest, accurate, or favorable light. A good movie, but it is
important to remember that no Mason would ever knowingly commit
a crime for a Brother. Incidentally, Edward VII was actually a Mason.
(The story is not one of Brother Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's).
The "Turmgesellschaft" in Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" novels is
certainly of Masonic origin.
In Tolstoy's "War and Peace", the Masonic initiation ritual of the
character Pierre Besouchoff is described in great detail.
There is also a modest body of Masonic poetry: Kipling's "The Palace"
and "Mother Lodge," Burns's "Masonic Farewell," Goethe's "Mason Lodge,"
Leigh Hunt's "Abou Ben Adhem," Carruth's "Each in His Own Tongue,"
Burns's "On the Apron," Meredith's "Ebony Staff of Solomon,"
Bowman's "Voice of America," Malloch's "Father's Lodge" and Nesbit's
"I Sat in Lodge with You." (Carl H. Claudy)
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