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Calendar Grand Lodge of San Diego Freemason
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In July 1863,
Confederate raiders rode into
Versailles, IN, capturing the local militia and stealing the county
treasury.
The next day, General John Morgan (CSA), learned that his men had also
made off
with the jewels of the local lodge. They were returned the following
day.
Morgan was from Daviess Lodge #22, Lexington, KY. Wheelock
Commandery No. 5 in Texas had all 55 of
its members killed serving in the Confederate Army. The Commandery
ceased to
exist. Missouri’s
first Confederate Capitol was the
Masonic Building in Neosho, MO. From here the legislature passed the
Act of
Secession. USA General
Thomas Benton, also Grand Master of
Iowa, ordered Federal troops to protect Albert Pike’s home and prevent
the
library from being burned, when his troops took Little Rock, AR. July 2, 1751,
Ferdinand VI of Spain issued an edict
against Freemasonry. Father Jose Torrubia
secured a special dispensation from the Pope, joined a lodge, secured
the names
of its members, and proceeded to have them arrested. Hundreds were
arrested,
persecuted, and imprisoned. Mussolini
ordered all Masonic references removed,
including the emblems on the base of Garibaldi’s monument in Rome. After the
restoration of the republic, fascist
emblems were removed and the Masonic emblems restored. In Fascist
Spain under Franco, it was a crime to be
a freemason. Masons convicted had to serve prison terms equal in years
to the
number of Masonic degrees possessed. Master Mason – 3 years. Chicago, IL has
three American Legion Posts whose
memberships are entirely Masonic. All four
Presidents of the Republic of Texas, David
Burnett, Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and Anson Jones, were Masons. Between 1737
and 1779 two sailing ships of interest
operated off the U.S. eastern seaboard, Freemason and Master Mason. The
Freemason caught fire and sank in Marblehead Harbor, Mass in 1779. On November 10,
1928, the Grand Lodge of California
held a special communication at Culver City, to lay the corner stone of
the
Masonic temple. The lodge room was so crowded that the Grand Lodge
officers
were unable to enter. They retired to the Ladies’ powder room to open
the grand
lodge for the ceremony. In 1892, the
tallest building in the world was the
Masonic Temple at Randolph and State Streets, Chicago, IL. The largest
Master’s chair is in Ophir Lodge #33
Murphys, CA. It is 15 feet long and can seat the Master, living Past
Masters,
and visiting dignitaries. On June 7,
1921, Mystic Lodge #21 of Red Bank, NJ
had conferred half of the MM degree on brother Lyman C. Van when the
power went
out. He didn’t receive the rest of the degree for several weeks, making
him for
a time, a “two and half degree” mason. When the great
Obelisk of Alexandria (Cleopatra’s
Needle) was moved to New York in 1880, there were discovered certain
emblems on
the original foundation and pedestal. One is clearly a square, causing
some to
conclude that Masonry existed in ancient Egypt. This issue is still
open to
debate. The two
structures in the U.S. that have elevators
which move sideways, in addition to up and down are the Arch in St.
Louis and
the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria On his famous
solo flight across the Atlantic, Charles
Lindbergh, a Mason, wore a square and compasses on his jacket as a good
luck
piece. Gordon Cooper,
in his Mercury capsule, carried a
Masonic coin and a blue Masonic flag on his 22 orbit flight, which he
later
presented to his mother lodge. Andrew McNair,
a Philadelphia Mason, rang the
Liberty bell in Independence Hall of July 8, 1776 to call the people
together
to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence. The bell
developed a
crack when it was rung for the death of Chief Justice Marshall, Past
Grand
Master of Virginia. Lodges in Mass.
have no numbers. In Penn. there are 11
lodges that have
numbers but no names. In Georgia
there are two lodges with the number 1. In
Maryland, Tennessee and Penn. there is no
lodge with the number 1. Masonic Place
Names in the US: Anchor, IL,
Beehive, MT, Boaz, AL, Charity, MS, Circle, MT,
Cowan,
TN, Emblem, WY, Eureka, WV, Faith, SD, False
Pass,
AK, Fidelity, IL, Five Points, AL, Freeborn,
MN, Grand
Pass, MS, Hiram, MA, Hope, AK, Jachin, AL,
Justice,
IL, Lodge, SC, Mason, KY, Masonic Home, KY,
Masontown,
WV, Square, MT, Steward, IL, Symbol, KY Temperance,
MI,
Tyler, TX. Hiram Abiff
Boaz, born Dec. 18 1866 in Murray, KY.
Received his degrees in 1922 before an unusually large crowd and served
as
Grand Chaplin (TX) in 1953. Joseph A.
Gilmore (1811-1867), former governor of
N.H. was made a Mason at sight on April 28, 1863. He received Scottish
Rite
degrees and was awarded 33rd degree on May 7, 1863 – only 9 days later. Between 1890
(when it became a state) and 1951,
every Governor of Wyoming, except one, was a Mason. The one, Mrs.
William A.
Ross, was the wife of a mason and a member of Eastern Star. In 1951, while
President, Harry Truman served as
Master of his lodge. Paul Revere was
a Mason, as was his cohort, Robert
Newman, who hung the lantern in the Old North Church. John Aasen of
Highland Park Lodge No. 382 in Los
Angeles, CA was the largest known MM ever raised. At the time he was
8.5 feet
tall and weighed 536 pounds. Charles
Stratton, a.k.a. Tom Thumb, was 24 inches
high and weighed 16 pounds when raised in 1862. |