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

John Calvin Gordon & Helen King Gordon

My great grandparents, John Calvin Gordon & Helen King Gordon, were married on June 18, 1882 in Brooklyn, New York.  One of the witnesses to their marriage was Helen’s brother, Thomas F King. 

 

John & Helen had six children during their marriage between 1883 and 1902 including Charles, Walter, Lillian, Jean, Clifford and Helen, and a baby, Dorothy, who died at birth. 

John Calvin Gordon was born in 1861 in Brooklyn, the son of John C Gordon & Mary Elizabeth Snedeker Gordon.  In the 1880 Census, at 19 years of age, he was listed by occupation as a carpenter.  And before he was 30 years old, John was noted as a builder in the 1887 Brooklyn City Directory.

Below is a compilation of newspaper ads placed in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper between 1893-1900 for homes built by John Calvin Gordon.

The only photo that I have of John Calvin Gordon is a snapshot of him and Helen taken circa 1900 at a park or fair, however you really can’t see what he looks like at all.

 

Helen Teresa King Gordon was born circa 1860/1861 and we have conflicting documentation on her birth information.  Helen was the daughter of Thomas Patrick King who died during the Civil War and Margaret Smith King, an Irish immigrant who arrived in New York with her family at 15 years of age.  Early documentation shows her name as Ellen or Ella and later documents show her as Helen.  The 1880 Census even has her as Nellie, and she was working as a “saleslady” at that time.

Helen was the youngest of four children and was just a toddler when her father died in a Civil War battle [see the blog post, Lost Soldier Found in Arlington Cemetery, published on August 19, 2021].  Helen's mother struggled to provide for her young family doing ironing & washing and also cooking, not an easy life I am sure.

 

Helen Teresa King Gordon died in Washington D.C. in 1919 during a visit to the home of her daughter Lillian Gordon Lenehan.  According to the death certificate, she died of influenza and pneumonia at a time near the end of the Spanish flu epidemic. After Helen’s death, the youngest Gordon child, Helen Marie who was 17 years old, went to live with her older sister, Jean and her husband, Harry.

John Calvin Gordon later married a widow named Elizabeth Dorothy Berry McAuliffe. John died in 1945 at 84 years. 

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Key Individuals:

     John Calvin Gordon  (1860 – 1945)

     Helen Teresa King Gordon  (1861 – 1919)

- Jane Scribner McCrary

Honora Rouen Hart

One of my 2^nd great grandmothers, Honora Rouen, is someone on our family tree for which there is a lot of family lore and speculation, but I have not found any documentation to be able to verify anything prior to her marriage to Samuel Hart sometime around 1858.  She definitely is one of my brick walls.

Let’s start with her name.  Unfortunately I have found a multitude of different ways in documents that either link to her or could possibly link to her such as Honor, Honore’, Honora, Hannora, Hannah and of course, Mrs Hart.  And her maiden name is just as problematic as I have found many possible versions to include Rouén, Rouen, Rowan, Rowen, Rougen and Roughan.  Her name is noted on her son Frank’s death certificate as Hannah Roughan.  However, her daughter, Mary Ann’s death certificate records her as Honora Rouen.  For the purposes of simplification, I have chosen to refer to her as Honora Rouen. 

Census information over the years indicates that Honora was born between 1825 and 1830.  And we don’t know exactly when she died.  Not for lack of trying, I haven’t found her death certificate to help with her story.

We do know that Honora emigrated from Ireland to either the U.S. or Canada in the mid-1800’s probably as a young woman.  I have not been able to link an immigration record for her, though I have found a few possibilities in the years of 1848, 1851 & 1854.  One family story is that she arrived as a “lady in waiting for a well-to-do Irish family.”  That she arrived as a servant or nanny for a wealthy family has merit because Honora was known to be educated, well read, and fluent in French as well as English.

While we don’t have a photo or image for Samuel Hart, I do have a cased tintype image of Honora wearing a spoon bonnet and a large shawl.  This image is believed to date to the 1860’s. and had belonged to her daughter, Mary Ann.

There is no information available on any of Honora’s family members.  That probably supports the belief that she likely did not emigrate with her parents.  I have, however, speculated that she could have had a brother named Patrick simply because a Patrick Roughan lived nearby in the 1855 NY Census, next door in the 1865 NY Census, and a Patrick Roughen is listed as a boarder with the Hart family in the 1875 NY Census.

While we don’t know what part of Ireland Honora hailed from, it is said that her mother was Irish and her father was French.  This seems reasonable as we know that she was bilingual.  Also, her husband, Samuel Hart, was originally from Canada and he primarily spoke French; and Honora remained fluent in French all of her life.  Lacking specific marriage information for the couple, we don’t know if they met in Canada, or upper New York where they lived and raised their family.  It also seems probable that having French language in common might have been how they first met.

Honora and Samuel Hart had two children both born in Saratoga County, New York.  Francis (Frank) Hart was born in 1861 and Mary Ann Hart, my great grandmother, was born in 1862.

A news story in the Mechanicville Mercury newspaper on June 17, 1899 notes that in Stillwater, New York “Mrs. Hart, the aged wife of Samuel Hart, whose home across the river was recently destroyed by fire, owing to excitement, is seriously ill at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Frank Hart” [see the blog post dated July 18, 2020, “Lost Line from Canada”].

I haven’t been able to find a date or place of death for Honora Rouen Hart, however it appears to have been after mid-1899 when the news story noted above was published.  Family notes indicate that she died in August of 1900 in New York – possibly Troy where her son Frank and his family lived.  Unfortunately, multiple New York death certificate searches have not turned up a death record for her.  And I also haven’t been able to a find cemetery location or gravesite information for either her or Samuel.

A possible 1902 death certificate for a Samuel Hart indicates that he died in Troy but was buried in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer, NY.  Census data shows that Schaghticoke is where Honora & Samuel lived between 1865 and 1880.  If that is indeed our Samuel Hart, it indicates he was married  – i.e. Honora was still alive in 1902.  And we might speculate that Honora might also be buried in Schaghticoke with Samuel.  However, I have not found a burial site for either of them there.  I wish I lived in that area and could really bear down and apply some time to that possibility.

And one last tidbit about Honora:

“About Grandma [Mary Ann Hart] … I know her Mother was a Rouen and her father a Hart, who was a French Canadian.  Sounds like he was at least partly of Irish extraction with the name Hart.  A lot of the Irish came to Quebec.  Grandma’s Mother Rouen was also half Irish.  Her father left France – about the time Napoleon was recruiting, I figure, and went to Ireland.  Believe he married there.  Whether he and his wife emigrated to this country or whether it was first the daughter, I do not know.”

 – Source:  Maurice Eugene Nash [great grandson of Samuel Hart & Honora Rouen Hart] family letter; 1963.

Note:  Maurice Eugene Nash (above) indicates in his letter that he thinks that Honora Rouen’s mother was Irish and her father was French.  The only other source for the birthplace of Honora’s parents is the 1880 census that indicated that both of her parents were born in Ireland…

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Key Individuals:

Samuel J Hart  (abt 1830 – 1902?)

Honora Rouen  (abt 1830 – unknown)

       Francis/Frank Hart  (1861 – 1916)

       Mary Ann Hart Nash Watson  (1862 – 1926)     

Notes:

My mother remembered Mary Ann Hart, her grandmother, also as a great reader with a fondness for books and says that Mary Ann was raised in a home with a love of books.  One of Mary Ann’s books is titled Scott’s Poems, the Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott.  The book is inscribed in the front cover “Mary from Mame, Dec.25.98” though the cover page indicates that it was published in 1899 in New York.  Mame was Mary Nash, a sister of Mary Ann’s husband, Maurice Nash.  Another of Mary Ann’s books was The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

For more about Mary Ann Hart, the daughter of Honora & Samuel, and my great grandmother, see the blog post about my grandmother, My Granny – Nina Cecelia Nash Hughes, posted on 28 June 2021.  Nina's mother, Mary Ann Hart divorced her unfaithful first husband, Maurice Nash around 1900, and then married Joseph Edward Watson – an uncommon event at that time for a Catholic family!          

- Jane Scribner McCrary

Scribner photos that are a bit different

Since my last blog post was about family photos, I am going to continue with my usual format of telling a story about one or more of my ancestors, and share a few photos with you that I feel are fun or a bit different.  

In the past I have often bemoaned my lack of an identified photo of Virginia Augusta Hale Scribner, however I do have a generous collection of photos that belonged to Virginia and her husband, Captain David Alba Scribner.   All of the photos in today’s blog are from the collection of photos belonging to them, some coming from a family photo album that belonged to David.  As a ship’s captain in the second half of the 1800’s, David traveled widely and photography was becoming popular.   

 

This photo of a dog, clearly a family pet, was taken in Brunswick, Maine.  It was included in Captain Scribner’s photo album and doesn’t have any information written on it, front or back.  I can only assume that it was a much loved Scribner family pet.  The photo appears to have been taken in a professional photo studio and was probably done when several members of the family went to the studio for photos.  In today’s time, we would think that the dog was just out with the family and a photo of the dog might have been an afterthought.  Yet in earlier days, I doubt that the dog would have accompanied the family to a studio unless the dog photo was intended.  Conclusion, I believe that this dog was a very much loved member of Capt David A Scribner’s family!

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David A Scribner is the dapper looking gentleman leaning on the table.  This photo was taken in Hamburg probably in the early 1870’s.  Captain Scribner, on the right and wearing a top hat, appears to be a young man.  Hamburg was a significant European port, and I suspect that the two other gentlemen in the photo were friends and fellow ships’ captains visiting the city on a day in port.

__________

 

Above we see Capt David A Scribner with unidentified people at The Great Buddha of Kamakura located at the Buddhist temple of Kotoku-in, in the city of Kamakura, Japan.  I’ve gotta admit, that I had to search the internet to find the location for this photo.  The Great Buddha is a huge statue first completed in wood in the 13^th century, and later rebuilt in bronze during the 14^th century. 

I believe that this photo was possibly taken in the 1880’s.  And while Capt David is easy to spot in the center position, the others could either be friends, family or crew members.  Virginia “could” even be one of the women in the photo, though beginning in 1880, Virginia stayed in Brooklyn with the children in school so it is doubtful. 

Needless to say, no one would be allowed to climb on this beautiful national treasure in today’s time!

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Ella, Mary & Harry Scribner in front of a Scribner family Topsham, Maine home at 5 Frost Lane, circa 1890.   The original of this photo belongs to a Scribner relative, who sent me the copy because it is a group of my grandfather, Henry (Harry) Scribner and his two sisters, Ella and Mary.  The young Scribner family spent much time in Topsham, Maine when not at sea with Capt David and during summers when they later lived in Brooklyn, New York.  It’s possible that Capt David purchased the carriage on the same voyage to Japan when he also visited The Great Buddha of Kamakura.

The carriage being pulled by the miniature donkey is charming, and can now be found in the collection of the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine. 

https://maritimeme.pastperfectonline.com/bysearchterm?keyword=jinriksha

The carriage, a black lacquered wood jinrikisha rickshaw, was purchased by Captain Scribner in Japan, and brought back to Topsham for the family to enjoy.

__________

 

 

Ella Virginia Scribner.  I don’t have the original of this photo, just a copy from one of my aunts; however she wrote that she believed it to be Ella Virginia Scribner.  And I have always been confused about whether this was actually Ella Scribner because the clothing seemed older than would be right for Ella’s period of time – though she does look much like Ella in other photos that I have.  Thus in 2012, I asked Maureen Taylor, a photo dating expert, for help on dating this photo.

According to Maureen Taylor, this photo is very interesting because she believes that the subject, Ella, is in a costume – possibly for a play or school program.  She feels that the photo dates to around 1900, which would have been when Ella was about 15 years old.  However, Ms Taylor notes that Ella is dressed in clothing typical of the 1820's, and she believes that young Ella’s hair is powdered to look like that of an older woman.  

Ella Virginia Scribner (1885-1935) became a school teacher, and never married.  Ella lived with her parents and sister in their brownstone home in Brooklyn for all of her adult life. 

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Key individuals:

     Capt David Alba Scribner  (1840 – 1911)

     Virginia Augusta Hale Scribner  (1848 – 1940)

          Wallace Flint Scribner  (1877 – 1882)

          Henry (Harry) Dickinson Scribner  (1880 – 1943)

          Mary Islethera Scribner  (1882 – 1959)

          Ella Virginia Scribner  (1885 – 1935)

 

- Jane Scribner McCrary

David Alba Scribner thru Time

If you spend any time working on your family history, then you will understand when I say that finding a photo of an early ancestor is like striking gold.  Prior to mid-1800’s and the advent of photography, the most likely type of an image would be a painting, and that was typically only if your ancestor was wealthy or notably famous, and not likely for most of our ancestors.

By the mid to late 1800’s however we can sometimes find a photo of a family grouping or even a wedding photo.  Each one of those becomes a gem to any family historian.

I am lucky to have multiple photos of one of my ancestors dated from the second half of the 1800’s through the early 1900’s.  David Alba Scribner enjoyed a career as a ship’s captain and we ended up with several photos of him during his lifetime.  I expect that it was a fun thing to visit a photographer when in a foreign port, and am sure that the family left behind was delighted to get a new photo.

Below are some photos of David A Scribner through time.  It is unusual to see how an ancestor aged, and especially how fashion and his facial hair changed over the years.

 

 

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Key Individual:

       David Alba Scribner  (1840 – 1911) 

Notes:

If you wish to know more about David A Scribner, there have been more than half a dozen earlier posts on this blog about David and his family and career beginning in August 2020.  

And as I have noted in an earlier blog post [July 30, 2021, Why Can’t I Find a Photo of Virginia], I find it amazing that I have so many portrait or studio photos of Capt David Scribner throughout his life, but none of his wife Virginia other than one poor snapshot that I have been able to identify as her late in her life.  Surely she would have had a portrait taken as a young wife for David to have with him on his many long voyages without her ...

- Jane Scribner McCrary