Letter of the month: March 2003

From: "Jo Ann Whitworth" <backpage@semo.net>
To: <masonry-ask@MIT.EDU>
Subject: Masons of Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 18:58:45 -0600

Hello, sorry to bother you, but don't know of anyone else to ask. Would you know the address/phone number/email for the Mason Lodge in or near Clarksville, Johnson County, Arkansas?

Reason for asking: I have recently learned that my great uncle was killed in a sawmill accident near Clarksville, Arkansas, on January 3, 1912. Today I learned he may have been a Mason and that the Local Masons placed a stone on his grave. Since I, and his relatives, have not been successful in finding his grave, I am trying to find out if the Clarkville Masons could help.

Thank you for any help you may be able to offer. And God bless.

Dear Ms Whitworth:

THE absolute best place to get information on a particular local lodge is from that state's grand lodge. You can find a pointer to the Grand Lodges, including Arkansas, in the POINTERS section of my website.

A grand lodge web-site will always have a mailing address, and almost always an e-mail address and a phone number as well. Ask for the office of the Grand Secretary; they can tell you if there is still a lodge in Clarksville, and they might even have historical records about your great-uncle. (Grand Lodges keep general information about all the lodges currently or previously located in their jurisdiction, but often they don't have complete historical records about all past members in those lodges.)

If there is still a lodge working in Clarksville, I am sure the members would be pleased to hear from you, and to give you whatever information they might have about local cemeteries where your great-uncle may have been laid to rest.

I hope you find what you're looking for.

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