Freemasonry and My Ancestors

Freemasons are easily found in early American history.  It is known that several of our country’s founding fathers were Freemasons including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.  Freemasonry originated in England, spread to Scotland and Ireland, and later to Colonial America.  Freemasons or Masons are members of fraternal organizations that trace their early origins to stonemason guilds of the 13^th century.   By the mid-1700’s there were American Lodges in Philadelphia, Boston and Maryland, and Lodges existed in each state soon after the American Revolution.

Freemason Lodges were social organizations known for secrecy, rituals, symbolism, social, cultural and political connections, and shared beliefs.  Individuals are grouped locally in Lodges and governed by a regional Grand Lodge.  Within a Lodge, members are ranked with three degrees:  first as new Entered Apprentices, next as Fellowcraft, and the top level is a Master Mason.

In my family history research, I have found three of my ancestors that were members of Masonic Lodges.  The earliest instance that I found was my 3^rd great grandfather David Bill Dickinson who was born in 1787 in New London, Connecticut.  Capt Dickinson was a mariner known to be a clipper ship captain who sailed as a privateer with a United States marquee during the War of 1812.  After the War of 1812, he sailed as a merchant ship captain for many years [see the blog post dated October 17, 2020, “A Career Aboard the Midas of Baltimore”].

David Bill Dickinson shows up in February of 1811 in the United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers as a member of the London Naval Tavern Lodge No. 197 in England, and where he is listed as a “Captain”.  Note that it is called the Naval Tavern Lodge and may well have been a grouping of individuals involved in London mariner occupations.  I suspect that membership in this fraternal lodge provided Capt Dickinson with connections for comradery and possibly also food and accommodations while at port in London during his voyages.

By 1816, it appears that Capt Dickinson transferred his Masonic membership from London to Baltimore.  Capt Dickinson lived and sailed from the port of Baltimore, thus I sent an email to the Grand Lodge of Maryland inquiring about whether he had been a member in Baltimore.  The response that I got from the curator of the Library & Museum of the Grand Lodge of Maryland noted:

“...we do have a David B  Dickinson listed as a member of Washington Lodge, No. 3 under the Grand Lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Maryland joining in 1816 and demitting on July 20, 1828. The membership of Washington Lodge during this period included a number of individuals involved in building and sailing ships as they were located in the Fells Point area of Baltimore City near the dockyards.”

“We had a fire in 1890 that devastated our earlier records. Also since he [David Bill Dickinson] would have been admitted by demit since he was a member of another lodge prior to 1816 there would not be any of the typical information such as who recommended him/vouch for his character etc. He likely showed that he had a membership certificate from the lodge in London and the lodge here would have voted to accept him.”

Another ancestor and one of my 2^nd great grandfathers who was a Freemason was Capt Philip Moore Hale.  Captain Hale was also a seaman and the son-in-law of Capt David Bill Dickinson.  Captain Hale initiated into the Sefton Lodge located in Waterloo, near Liverpool, Lancashire, England on October 1, 1856, and his occupation was listed as a “mariner” currently living in Baltimore, Maryland.  In the fall of 1856, Capt Philip Moore Hale was the Captain and also a part owner of a new ship, the John Clark, that sailed between Baltimore and Liverpool.  Records indicate that Captain Hale and the ship John Clark were in Liverpool in October 1856 prior to sailing a return voyage to Baltimore.  The ship John Clark actually survived a hurricane on that trip home [see the blog post dated May 29, 2021, “The Tale of Captain Hale”]. 

I inquired with the Grand Lodge of Maryland to see if Philip Moore Hale might have transferred his membership from England to Maryland at a later point like his father-in-law did, but they found nothing.  And that makes sense to me as after 1856 were times of unrest and eventually the outbreak of the Civil War.  I know that Henry Moore Hale encountered many financial and personal difficulties during that time.

 

The third ancestor I found that was a Freemason was John C Gordon, my 2^nd great grandfather who was born about 1830 in New Jersey [see the blog post dated January 16, 2022, “Lived in Brooklyn, but from New Jersey”].  John C Gordon was a machinist, and he died in 1886.  I discovered his connection to Freemasonry when I found his obituary.

In my research on John C Gordon, I connected with the curator of the Chancellor Robert R Livingston Library which is also the New York Masonic Library for the Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York.  I received a response with the following information:

“Regarding your [2^nd] great-grandfather, he was indeed a member of Joppa No. 201.  At the age of 29, while working as a machinist, he was initiated into this lodge on December 1, 1858, and was eventually passed on December 15, 1858 … And, Joppa No. 201 was the first lodge that he was a part of and, judging from the obituary and the record of his death that we have here, he never left this particular lodge.  This suggests that he was a lifetime member of this lodge.  I am assuming that, as he was a member of this lodge for such an extensive period, I would assume that he had been raised to Master Mason at some point.”

 

These ancestors are all on the Scribner side of my family, though in different lines, and it is certainly possible that we may have other ancestors that were also Freemasons.  However, presently I have only found documentation for these three.

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Key Individuals:      

     David Bill Dickinson  (1787 – 1846)

     Henry Moore Hale  (1807 – 1870)

     John C Gordon (abt 1830 – 1886)

Notes:

Sometimes Masonic affiliation is indicated on the gravestones of deceased Freemason members, yet I haven’t found a gravesite location for either David Bill Dickinson or Henry Moore Hale, and John C Gordon’s gravesite doesn’t have a gravestone.

David Bill Dickinson died on April 27, 1846, and family notes indicate that he was buried in Baltimore and then later moved by his wife when she returned to Mystic, Connecticut so that he could be buried with her.  However, I have not yet found the gravesites for either David Bill Dickinson or his wife, Mary Rogers Dickinson.  My notes indicate that they would likely be in either the Elm Grove Cemetery or the Cedar Grove Cemetery, both in Mystic.

Henry Moore Hale died on May 1, 1870 according to one family record.  As I have never been able to verify that date or find the location, I have never located a gravestone for him.

John C Gordon died on August 21, 1886 and is buried in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn in Lot #770 NW ¼, Section 6.  My cousin has visited that cemetery and located the specific lot where he is buried, however it seems that there is not an actual gravestone for anyone buried in that plot.  Documentation from Cypress Hills Cemetery, however, confirms that the Gordon plot does contain the graves of five members of the family, including John C Gordon who died in 1886.

- Jane Scribner McCrary