I am currently the District Deputy Grand Master for District Number 5, Grand Lodge of North Dakota.
My Masonic journey started in Watertown SD when I was initiated into Adhemar Chapter of DeMolay on September 25, 1975. I received my DeMolay Degree on May 15, 1975. During the next three years I progressed thru Adhemar’s appointed and elected offices until I was Adhemar’s Master Councilor. In August of 1979, I was elected to the position of State Senior Councilor for the South Dakota DeMolay. The following year (1980) I was elected to the position of State Master Councilor of DeMolay in South Dakota. On April 8, 1981 I was awarded DeMolay’s highest honor for an active member of DeMolay, The Chevalier Degree. On April 2, 1982 I joined DeMolay’s Order of Knighthood and was elevated to the rank and dignity of a Chivalric Knight of the Holy Order of Fellow Soldiers of Jacques DeMolay in the Charles A Howard Priory. I am also a charter Life Member of the DeMolay Alumni Association. From 1986 to 1989, I served as the State DeMolay Alumni Association Director for the State of South Dakota.
In 1982 I petitioned and was accepted into Blue Lodge Masonry by Concord Lodge #13 A.F. & A.M., Watertown South Dakota. I was initiated on September 25, 1982; Passed on October 23, 1982; and Raised on December 23, 1982 by my father, Virgil Acker, who was the Master of Concord Lodge. As a member of Concord Lodge #13 A.F. & A.M., I have held the following offices: 1987 – 88 Junior Deacon; 1988 – 89 Senior Deacon; 1996 – 97 Lodge Secretary; 1997 – 98 Junior Warden; 1998 – 1999 Senior Warden; and 1999 – 2000 Master of Concord Lodge #13.
On May15, 1987 I joined the York Rite and became a member of the Watertown York Rite Bodies. Two weeks later, on May 29, 1987 I became a member of Yelduz Shrine Temple in Aberdeen SD and the Northeast SD Shrine Club of Watertown, SD. As a member of the Yelduz Shrine I rode scooters with the NE Shrine Club’s Scooter Patrol and horses with Yelduz’s Horse Patrol. In June 1998, I joined the EL Zagal Shrine temple located in Fargo, ND. After joining El Zagal, I became a member of the 57 Director’s Staff.
In April 1999 I became a charter member of Pasque Du Prairie, York Rite College in Eastern South Dakota. In August 1999 I was appointed to be Grand Tyler for the Grand Royal Arch bodies of South Dakota. In 2000 I was elevated to the office of Grand Captain of the Host for the Grand Royal Arch bodies of South Dakota.
In November 1999 I helped organize the Fort Sisseton Historic Masonic Conference. From this event, the Frontier Army Lodge of Masonic Research #1875, Grand Lodge of Dakota Territory was developed. I served as the first Worshipful Master of FALMR (Frontier Army Lodge of Masonic Research #1875) and I am currently the immeadiate Past Master of FALMR.
The Frontier Army Lodge of Masonic Research #1875 is one of the newest of the four Reenactment Lodges in the United States. It is also the most unique of the four Reenactment Lodges, not only because of the time frame that we portray or are interested in, but also because FALMR is officially chartered in what was the old Dakota Territory Grand Lodge. On June 16, 2000 the Grand Lodge of South Dakota issued the Frontier Army Lodge of Masonic Research #1875 its official Charter. On June 17, 2000 the Grand Lodge of North Dakota issued the Frontier Army Lodge of Masonic Research #1875 an official North Dakota Charter. These actions made the Frontier Army Lodge of Masonic Research #1875 the most unique Masonic Lodge in existence. No other lodge has been concurrently chartered in two Grand Lodge Jurisdictions. The principle time frame is that of the 1860’s through the 1890’s. Two other existing Masonic Re-enactment Lodges concentrate on the Civil War time period (the 1860’s), the newest Re-enactment Lodge, Perserverance Lodge of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin represents the time period from the Revolutionary War through the end of the American Fur Trade (1770’s thru 1840’s).
I am currently serving as the Senior Deacon for Daylight Lodge #135 A.F. & A.M., Fargo ND; I am also the Senior Warden for the Red River Valley, Council #193 of the Allied Masonic Degrees. In addition to the above Masonic groups, I am also a member of Sunrise Lodge #130 A.F. & A.M., Fargo ND; The Armistead-Bingham Lodge of Masonic Research #1862, Grand Lodge of Wisconsin; and The Civil War Lodge of Masonic Research #1865 A.F. & A.M. Grand Lodge of Virginia.
For more information on my Masonic background or membership in the Frontier Army Lodge of Masonic Research #1875, please feel free to contact me by e-mail (james_acker@yahoo.com) or by calling me at (701) 461-9114.