The Daily Times and Chronicle, Tuesday, April 5, 1983 Burlington Past and Present, by John E. Fogelberg (Article # 196) A little Masonic history Masons in this area this year will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, the third oldest Grand Lodge in the world, preceded only by the Grand Lodge of England, known as the Mother Lodge, and the Grand Lodge of Ireland. The English Lodge was constituted in 1717 and met for the first time in the Goose and Gridiron Alehouse in London. The Irish Lodge was constituted in 1725 and the Boston Lodge, or First Lodge, now St. John's Lodge, in 1733. Previous to those years there had been individual Masonic lodges here and there, but the English Grand Lodge was the first which succeeded in tying a whole group of them together under one jurisdiction and one declaration of principles. It was at the famous Bunch of Grapes Tavern in Boston that one Henry Price, under authority granted him by a commission from the Grand Lodge of England, formed the first Grand Lodge here in America. That was on July 30, 1733. Alice Morse Earle in her "Stage Coach and Tavern Days" mentions that first lodge: "Massachusetts Grand Lodge organized at the Green Dragon, and the first lodge of all. St. John's Lodge, met in 1731 at the Bunch of Grapes in King, now State, Street. One of the three bunches of grapes that formed the original tavern sign still hangs in front of the lodge room of St. John's Lodge Masonic Temple in Boston. This tavern had an early and lasting reputation as the best punch-house in Boston. In Revolutionary days it became the headquarters of High Whigs and a scarlet coat was an inflammatory signal in that taproom. Alphonse Cerza, a noted Masonic scholar, wrote about Henry Price: 'It is not known when or where Price became a Mason, but in 1730, while in London, England, he was listed as a member of Lodge No. 75, which met at the Rainbow Coffee House. On April 13, 1733 (sometimes stated as April 30), when he was again in London attending Grand Lodge, he received a deputation by order of Viscount Montague, signed by Thomas Batson, Deputy Grand Master and the Senior and Junior Grand Wardens, appointing him Provincial Grand Master of New England and Dominions and Ter- ritories therunto be longing; he paid the required fee of three guineas. The deputation authorized him to form lodges, to superintend them, and to perform other incidental duties." Henry Price served as Grand Master until 1737, again from 1740-43, 1754-55, and 1767-68. The Massachusetts Grand Lodge referred to by Mrs. Earle was a lodge, originally St. Andrews' Lodge and chartered by the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1756 and it met at the Green Dragon Tavern. Paul Revere became a member of that lodge and Joseph Warren, who was to lose his life at Bunker Hill, was named Grand Master of Masons in Boston by the Grand Master of Scot- land. This set up something of a rivalry between two Grand Lodges which was amicably settled in 1792 when the two joined to make the present Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts which began with 22 constituted lodges, 11 from St. John's Grand Lodge and 11 from the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. Some of the early individual lodges formed were: 1733, St. John's (Boston); 1760, Philanthropic (Marblehead); 1766, St. John's (Newburyport); 1770, Tyrian (Gloucester); 1770, Mass- achusetts (Boston); 1771, Union (Nantucket); 1779, Essex (Salem); and Corinthian (Concord), date unknown. Some famous early Masons beside Henry Price were Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, John Hancock, John Brooks, Joseph Warren, Isaiah Thomas, Moses Cleveland, Benjamin Crowinshield, Gen. Henry Knox and Gen. George Washington. A tombstone in the old Burying Ground shows that Burlington's, Gen. John Walker was a Mason but to what lodge he belonged is not known. Closer to home and much later in time, charters were granted in: 1865, Mt. Horeb (Woburn); 1871, Simon W. Robinson (Lexington); 1889, Thomas Talbot (Billerica); 1902, Friendship (Wilmington); and 1955, Simonds (Burlington). Washington Lodge (Roxbury) whose charter was granted in 1796 is now located in Lexington. Before Burlington had a lodge it was only natural that a number of Burlington men should join the Woburn lodge. Samuel B. Sewall entered in 1857, Ward B. Frothingham joined in 1858 and Nathan Simonds became its Worshipful Master in 1872-73. A much later arrival, Herbert Crawford, fire chief of Burlington, became Master in 1957-58. The original petitioners for Mt. Horeb Lodge in 1855 were David Tillson, J. Franklin Bates, William T. Grammer, George Butler, William Pratt, William D. Stratton, Samuel S. Miles, Jesse Converse Jr., Page Eaton, John Nelson and Albert H. Nelson. David Tilson became the first Master in 1855-56, fol- lowed by William Stratton, 1857-59, and Charles W. Stevens in 1860. Just 100 years after those petitioners asked to have a lodge formed in Woburn, so a group of Burlington men asked to have a lodge formed here. Thus on March 2, 1955, acting on the petition of 63 Masons, all of whom became Charter Members of the new lodge, the Most Worshipful Grand Master Whitfield W. Johnson, Grand Master 1954-56, granted precedence to Simonds Lodge and directed Dist. Deputy Grand Master Geoffrey Pippette to institute said lodge which was done March 8 in the Church of Christ, Burlington. The charter was granted Dec. 14, 1955 and the lodge was duly constituted Dec. 20, 1955 in ceremonies held in the audi- torium of the Memorial School on Winn Street. George L. Michaud became the first Master of Simonds Lodge; 1955-56, followed by Fred Simms, 1957-58, and William L. Nelson, 1959-60, all of whom are now deceased. The Grand Lodge of Scotland, which approved the formation of Warren's Massachusetts Lodge in 1756, "ranks fourth in Masonic precedence throughout the world," said Joseph Earl Perry in an address in 1936 (he was later to be Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts in 1938-39 and '40), "but, more than that, it contains the individual Lodge, Edinburgh No. 1, at Edinburgh, whose records date back to 1599, antedating those of any other lodge in the world." Perry mentions a number of interesting items relating to masonry in a little published book titled "The Masonic Way of Life." There are more or less authentic records of general assem- blages of operative masons, or traveling builders, as far back as York, England in 926 and in Strassburg in 1275 and 1375," he wrote. "As early as 1350 a statute fixed the wages of the Master Freemason at a rate higher than those of ordinary masons, and there is some evidence that the term 'Freemason' was used to distinguish workers in free-stone from those who did rough work with unhewn stones known as 'rough masons' or, in Scotland, as 'cowans.'" As the "era of cathedrals and abbeys and great stone fortifications was drawing to a close, the conditions which had given operative Masonry such an impetus was ending. Confronted with this fundamental change, the societies of operative Masons gradually admitted leading men of the community as speculative or 'accepted' Masons, and a new emphasis was placed on Masonry as a code of ethics or plan of living." So that by the time Henry Price started his lodge in Boston Masonic lodges already were operating elsewhere. In fact, some encyclopedias give credit for the first lodge in the new world to a Daniel Cox of New Jersey who received a deputa- tion in 1730 as Grand Master of New York, New Jersey and Penn- sylvania. However, Cox never followed through and nothing came of that authority at that time. Thus Henry Price, a tailor by trade, whose business block stood on the corner of what is now Bedford and Washington streets, who owned other property on what is now State Street, who owned a farm in Townsend, and had a summer place in Meno- tomy in Cambridge, now Arlington, who married twice and left two daughters to inherit his considerable fortune, who actually gave himself a death wound while chopping wood and died at the age of 83, is now known as "The Father of Freemasonry in America." To be applied with particular emphasis to today's world is this statement by the Most Reverend William L. Wright, a 33- degree Mason and retired Metropolitan of Ontario, Canada: "Freemasonry is a declaration that mankind is indivisible and that we must learn to live together if we are going to live at all." (First photo, 4.3 inches wide by 4.7 inches high: "HENRY PRICE the 'Father of Freemasonry in America.' This photo is from a copy of 'The Northern Light.' a magazine sent to Masons.") (Second photo, 6.6 inches wide by 5.5 inches high: "THE FIRST OFFICERS of Burlington's Simonds Lodge were (seated, from left) Bro. Clarence I. MacDorman, Bro. the Rev. Sidney D. King, Wor. Fred Simm, Wor. George L. Michaud (master), Bro. Frederick M. Henderson, Bro. William A. Barnes, Bro. Wilbur McIntire, (standing, from left) Bro. A. Gordon Turnbull, Bro. Herbert W. Crawford, Bro. Benjamin R. Bird, Bro. Gordon C. Thomson, Bro. William L. Nelson, Bro. Norman C. Blaisdell, Bro. Douglas Forbes, Bro. Harold Marvin, and Bro. Richard G. Berry.")