1751. In March, Torrubia gave the list of ninety-seven lodges to the Grand Inquisitors.
On July 2, King Ferdinand VI suppressed the Order in Spain.
The Ancient Grand Lodge was formed on July 17. This was formerly called a schism from the 1717 Grand Lodge. It was established by Sadler that it was founded by Irish Masons in protest against the attitude of the 1717 Grand Lodge.
Pope Benedict XIV issued the Bull Providas against the Craft on May 18. Prior to his becoming Pope, it was claimed by Paul Duchaine in 1911, That he was made a Mason in His native Bologna.
1752. Laurence Dermott became Secretary of the Ancient Grand Lodge of England.
George Washington received his first degree on November 4 in "The Lodge at Fredericksburgh," Virginia.
1753. George Washington, a 21 year-old Virginia planter, became a Master Mason, August 4, in The Lodge at Fredericksburg," Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was initiated November 4, 1752, and passed March 3, 1753. Masons in the 18th century espoused liberal democratic principles that included religious tolerance, loyalty to local government, and the importance of charity and political compromise. Washington On Masonry by George Washington. "Flattering as it may be to the human mind, and truly honorable as it is to receive from our fellow citizens testimonies of approbation for exertions to promote the public welfare, it is not less pleasing to know that the milder virtues of the heart are highly respected by a Society whose liberal principles must be founded in the immutable laws of truth and justice. To enlarge the sphere of social happiness is worthy of the benevolent design of a Masonic institution; and it is most fervently to be wished that the conduct of every member of the Fraternity, as well as those publications that discover the principles which actuate them, may tend to convince mankind that the great object of Masonry is to promote the happiness of the human race." (George Washington) (Source: Freemasonry - A Celebration of the Craft (JG Press))
Second charter issued on May 14 for a lodge in Rhode Island. The one issued in 1749 had been unused.
George Harrison appointed Provincial Grand Master of New York on January 9. He served for eighteen years and warranted some seventeen or eighteen lodges.
1754. First known use of the term "the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason," in a certificate drawn by the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
James Otis made a Mason in St. John's Lodge of Massachusetts. Famous for the words "Taxation without representation is tyranny."
Thomas Dunckerley became a Mason on January 10 in Lodge #31, Plymouth, England.
Amos Doolittle born in Cheshire, Connecticut. He made many engravings for the True Masonic Chart of Jeremy Cross. These engravings were made into slides that are still being used.
Publication of The Free mason Examin'd by Alexander Slade. Six editions were published in five years. It was an expose and claimed that the Craft's ritual was based on the Tower of Babel.
1755. On June 6, born at Coventry, Connecticut was the American patriot, Brother Nathan Hale. During the battles for New York in the American Revolution he volunteered to seek military intelligence behind enemy lines and was captured on the night of September 21, 1776. Before British General William Howe, Brother Hale admitted to being an American officer and was ordered hanged the following morning. His dying words reportedly were: "I only regret I have but one life to lose for my country." He was hanged September 22, 1776, at what is now the intersection of Market Street and East Broadway, New York City. The Martyred Brother Nathan Hale was thought to be a member of St. John's Regimental Lodge of New York City. No real proof exists. (Chases; Livingston Masonic Library)
Jeremy Gridley become Provincial Grand Master over the remaining parts of North America. John Marshall born.
1756. Henry (Light Horse harry) Lee born. Famous Revolutionary War soldier was the father of Robert E. Lee. He was a Mason.
Mozart, noted musician and composer of much Masonic music, especially "The Magic Flute," was born January 25.
Laurence Dermott published Ahiman Rezon, the Constitution of the Ancients.
1757. Lafayette born in France.
1758. "Strict Union" between the Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Ancients.
1759. A Lodge at Exeter made a reference to the Royal Arch Degree in a manner to indicate that a lodge was conferring that degree.
Scottish poet and Brother Robert Burns born, January 25.
1761. A number of lodges in Pennsylvania, on July 15, organized a Grand Lodge and soon thereafter received a charter from the Ancient Grand Lodge. It was called the York Grand Lodge.
John Warren made a mason in the Loge of St. Andrew, Boston.
The Provincial Grand Master of New York issued a warrant to St. John's Lodge of Newark, New Jersey, and it was constituted on May 13. It was the first lodge on New Jersey.
The Grand Consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, of Paris, granted a Patent to Stephen Morin, on August 27, to carry the Rite of Perfection to America.
1763. Masonic Congress held at Jena.
1765. Benedict Arnold was made a Mason on Connecticut.
1766. Jeremy Gridley, Provincial Grand master, warranted a lodge at Crown Point, North Carolina. It was called First Lodge.
1767. First lodge established in China by the Grand Lodge of England.
On December 30, Henry Price sent a deputation to Thomas Cooper of North Carolina in which he declared himself as "Grand Master of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of all such places in North America where no other Grand Master is appointed."
Andrew Jackson born, First Grand Master to be President of the United States.
1769. John Wilkes made a Mason in England by Jerusalem Lodge (Now No. 197). He was in prison at the time.
Earliest known record of the conferring of the Masonic Order of Knights Templar, on August 28, in St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, Boston, Massachusetts.
Charter on incorporation proposed by the Modern Grand Lodge.
Welling Callcott published Candid Disquisition of the Principles and Practices of Free and Accepted Masons. This was the first book to explain the symbols of the Craft.
The Grand Lodge of Scotland appointed Joseph Warren as Provincial Grand Master. He set up St. Andrew's Grand Lodge with three member lodges; one had an Irish chapter.
First Lodge, Portland No.1, established in Maine on May 8.
1770. June 11, English explorer and circmnavigator Captain and Brother James Cook ran aground Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The site where his ship "Endeavour" was repaired was later named Cooktown. Brother Cook and his crew had sighted the eastern coast of Australia less than two months earlier. Although no roof of his membership is available, he is constantly referred to as a member of the Craft. (The learning Kindom; Livinston Masonic Library)
John Paul Jones, famous naval commander, made a Mason in St. Bernard's Lodge, Scotland.
1771. Thomas Smith Webb born, October 13, Boston, Massachusetts. He became an outstanding ritualist.
The Grand Master of England, on January 14, appointed Col. Joseph Montfort of Halifax, North Carolina, "Provincial Grand master of and for America." (Surprising because Henry Price was still active.)
1772. First lodge formed in South Africa.
William Preston published "Illustration of Free Masonry" which went through seventeen editions by 1861.
1773. The minutes of St Andrew's Lodge of Boston, for December, disclose that there were few members present and it was necessary to adjourn. There is also evidence that men dressed as Indians left the building where the lodge was meeting the night of the "Tea Party," but it was a Masonic party as sometimes claimed.
"Strict Union" between the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Moderns.
Grand Lodge formed in France called the Grand Lodge National.
1774. June 21, was born in Fox Meadows (now Scarsdale), New York, Bro. Daniel D. Tompkins, Sixth Vice President of the United States, 1817-25. He was elected United States Congressman, but resigned before taking seat in order to become Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New York in 1804. He served on the bench until 1807, when he resigned to become Governor of New York from 1807-17, a term of ten years. Before resigning the Governorship and entering the office of Vice President, he sent a message to the legislature on January 28, 1817, recommending that a day be fixed for the abolition of slavery within the bounds of the state. The assembly acted, setting the date as July 4, 1827.
Unity Lodge organized on Savannah, Georgia.
1775. General Joseph Warren killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, on June 17.
Edward Gibbon, author of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, made a Mason in Friendship Lodge No. 6, London, England.
"Spirit of Masonry" by William Hutchinson was published. The first book on Masonic Philosophy expressing the view that the Craft os a Christian association.
Ferdinand IV, King of the Two Sicilies, issued an edict against Freemasonry.
1776. James Monroe introduced in Luxembourg.
Masonic Hall dedicated on Great Queen Street, London, England.
Adam Weishaupt organized Illuminati in Bavaria May 1.
June 7, 1776, Brother Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence. His resolution read ( in part ): These United colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." This was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776. Brother Lee was a member of Hiram Lodge No. 59, Westmoreland County , Verginia (Chronicle of America; Livingston Masonic library)
June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress formed a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence from Britain. Named to the committee were Virginian Thomas Jefferson, John Adams of Massachusetts; Brother Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Brother Robert Livingston of New York, and Brother Roger Sherman of Massachusetts. Jefferson is credited with the writing. (Newsday; This Day in History; Chronicle of America)
1777. June 13, the French soldier Brother Marquis de Lafayette (whose given name was Gilbert du Mothier) landed in the United States to aid the former colonies against Great Britain. His military career spanned five decades, during which he was a French Musketeer, a commander of American troops, and an anti-Bourbon revolutionary leader. He was commissioned a Major General in the continental Army on July 31. He became an intimate of General and Brother George Washington. He claimed to have been initiated in the Loge Contrat Social of Paris before he even came to America. He received the chapter degrees in Jerusalem Chapter No. 8 (RAM) September 12, 1824. His son, Brother George Washington Lafayette received them in the same chapter four days earlier. He was knighted in Morton Commandery No. 4, K. T. and received the Scottish rite degrees in the Cerneau Supreme Council of New York and was made a 33rd degree and Honorary Grand Commander of that body. More than 75 Masonic Bodies in the United States have been named after him, including 39 Lodges, 18 Chapters, 4 Councils, 4 Commanderies, and 87 Scottish Rite bodies. He died May 20, 1834. (The Learning Kingdom; Livinston Masonic Library)
The friends of Joseph Warren organized the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. From that day to 1792, there were two Grand Lodges in the State of Massachusetts.
1778. Voltaire made a Mason in the Lodge of the Nine Muses, Paris, April 7. Benjamin Franklin was present.
Stephen Girard made a Mason in Union Lodge No. 8, Charleston, South Carolina. He loaned large sums of money to Colonies during war and later established the large Stephan Girard Charity Fund which is still being administered.
Grand Lodge of Virginia formed, October 13.
Prince Hall and 14 black men in Boston take part in a ceremony conducted by a John Batt, on March 6.
1779. The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania met outside its borders and organized a lodge in Burlington, New Jersey.
Washington proposed (first time) as General Grand Master, by American-Union Lodge, December 15. Same proposal (second time) by Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, December 20.
On Saint Johns Day, December 27th, in Arnolds
Tavern, Morristown, New Jersey, the American Union
Lodge No. 1 of Marietta, Ohio met with representatives of all
the Lodges then encamped at Jockey Hollow. The Masons had big
problems, not only were they fighting for their actual lives,
but also their Masonic life. As rebels they had cut the tie with
the Grand Lodge of England. They were now irregular!
At this meeting was General Washington and most of his staff who were Masons. General Mordecai Gist was in the East and presented a petition calling for the formation of a General Grand Lodge for all the United States. It was agreed and was copied and dispatched to all the other known lodges in the Colonies.
However due to transit time, before it could be fully circulated thru the colonies several of them decided to form their own Grand Lodge within their respective states, and the General Grand Lodge died.
Of note, Pennsylvania not only formed it's own Grand Lodge but elected Brother George Washington as Grand Master, but the matter died. Brother Washington thoughts are unknown.
1780. Goethe became a Mason in Lodge Amalia.
Washington proposed as General Grand Master (third time) by Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, January 13.
1781. Charter issued by Massachusetts Grand Lodge, November 10, for first lodge in territory which later became Vermont, Paul Revere signed charter as Senior Grand Warden.
Grand Lodge of New York formed.
Robert Burns became a Mason at St. David's Lodge Tarbolton, Scotland.
Lord Cornwallis, the General who surrendered to Washington, was a Mason.
1782. George Oliver born, November 5, Pepplewick, England. He was most prolific Masonic writer of his day.
Hogarth's Night offered for sale.
Robert Burns installed as Poet Laureate of Freemasonry on Lodge Canontgate-Kilwinning, Scotland.
1783. Brother Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams were the three American signatories who signed the Treaty (known as the Treaty of Paris) between the United States and Britain, ending the Revolutionary War, September 3.
Simon bolivar born in Caracas, Venezuela. Called "The Liberator." He was a Mason.
1784. Second Grand Lodge of New York formed, February 4.
July 24, born at Caracas, Venezuela, was Brother Simon Bolivar, known as "The Liberator" and as "The George Washington of South America." Brother Bolivar in the course of 20 years of warfare liberated from Spanish tyranny the area which is now Venezuela, Colmbia, Equador, Peru and Bolivia, named after him. Brother Bolivar became a Mason at Cadiz, Spain in 1807. The same year he received the Scottish Rite degrees in Paris and was knighted in a Commandery of the Knights Templar in France. He was active as a Freemason during diplomatic mission to London in 1810. In Venezuela he founded and served as Master of Protectora de las Veritudes Lodge No. 1 in 1824. He founded the Lodge Order and Liberty No. 2 in 1828. His Scottish Rite collar and apron are on exhibit at the Grand Lodge of New York. He died at Santa Maria, Colombia, on December 17, in 1830. (Source: Chase's; 10,000 Famous Freemasons)
Charter issued to African Lodge No. 459 by the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns), September 29.
Masonic apron made by Madame Lafayette presented to George Washington.
Illuminate suppressed.
1785. Jean Antoine Houdon made statue of Washington. He was member of Lodge of the Nine Muses, Paris.
1786. June 13, 1786, near Petersburgh, Verginia, was born Brother Winfield Scott, the man and Mason who was to become Commander in Chief of American forces in the Mexican War. He was made a Mason at Dinwiddie Union Lodge No. 23, Dinwiddie Court House, Verginia (now extinct). He died may 29, 1865 at West Point and is buried there. (Chase's; Livingston Masonic Library)
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania formed September, 25.
Grand Lodge of New Jersey formed, December 18.
1787. Grand Lodge of North Carolina formed, April 17.
June 27, British historian Edward Gibbon completed the sixth and last volume of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." Written between 1776 and 1787, this multi-volume work is considered a masterpiece from both historical and literary perspectives. Brother Gibbon was a member of Friendship Lodge No. 6, London, England. He died January 16, 1794. (The Learning Kingdom; Livingston Masonic Library; Masonic Leadership Center)
Brother John Fitch of East Windsor, Connecticut, demonstrated his steamboat invention, August 22, on the Delaware River to delegates of the Continental Congress. Having failed to get money from the Congress to develop his invention he invested $800 of his own money to build the 60-ton prototype steamboat. He made other boats and in 1791 received a patent for his inventions from the United States government. But little recognition. Brother Fitch committed suicide by poison in a tavern at Bardstown, Kentucky on July 18, 1798, while Robert Fulton, to whom he had loaned drawings of his invention, took credit for the steamboat. While a watchmaker at Bucks County, Pennsylvinia Brother Fitch had joined Bristol Lodge No. 25 at Bristol, Pennsylvinia (Source: Newsday: This Date in History; 10,000 Famous Freemasons)
Grand Lodge of Georgia formed December, 16.
African Lodge No. 459, under the leadership of Prince Hall, met under a charter issued in 1784.
1788. New York dropped the word "Provincial" from its Grand Lodge name.
Royal Masonic Institution for Girls started in England.
George Washington elected Worshipful Master of Alexandria Loge (now Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22.
1789. Grand Lodge of Connecticut formed July 8.
William Cushing appointed the first justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was a member of St. Andrew's Lodge Boston.
Count Cagliostro, charlatan, arrested in Rome and convected of being a Freemason. He died in prison years later.
Oath of office administered to Washington by Robert R. Livingston, Grand Master, using the Holy Bible of St. John's Lodge No. 1, New York.
Grand Lodge of New Hampshire formed July 8.
Stephen Fuller Austin, born at Austinville, Virginia. He helped his father form Texas into a State and was a member of Louisiana Lodge No. 109, Missouri.
American Union Lodge re-organized.
1791. William Paterson made a Mason in Trenton Lodge No. 5, New Jersey He became a Supreme Court Judge in 1793.
Cornerstone of the District of Columbia (the first of forty stones) laid April 15 by Alexandria Lodge No. 22 Alexandria, Virginia.
1794. Paul Revere elected Grand Master of Massachusetts.
William J. William painted the famous Masonic picture of George Washington.
Grand Lodge of Vermont formed October 4.
1795. James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States, born in North Carolina.
1796. Brother Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland and one of the foremost poets of the world, died, July 21. Brother Burns was an enthusiastic Mason from the day he was initiated into St. David's Lodge No. 174 at Tarbolton. (Source: AMERICAN MASON; Freemasonry: A Celebration of the Craft.)
Oliver Ellsworth became the third Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was a carter member of St. John's Lodge, Princeton, New Jersey.
1797. George Washington wrote a letter to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in which he said: "My attachment to the Society of which we re members will dispose me always, to contribute my best endeavors to contribute the honor and interest of the Craft."
John Robinson, a professor of the University of Edinburgh, published "Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe carried on in Secret Meetings of the Freemasons, Illuminati and Readings Societies," Collected from Good Authorities.
Thomas Smith Webb published Freemason's Monitor which had a wide circulation and went through many editions.
1798. Royal Masonic Institution for Boys started in England.
Royal Arch masons established the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the Northern States of America, at Hartford, Connecticut.
Jedidiah Morse started an anti-Masonic storm with his sermons.
1799. Daniel O'Connell Irish patriot, made a Mason in Lodge No. 189, Dublin, Ireland.
George Washington buried with Masonic honors.
Act of parliament called the Unlawful Societies Act passed. Freemasonry excluded from its provisions.
1800. Outstanding oration about George Washington as a Mason was delivered on February 11, before the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, by Timothy Bigelow.
Grand Lodge of Kentucky formed October 16.
Andrew Jackson became honorary member of Harmony Lodge No. 1, Tennessee.
1801. June 1, born at Whittingham Vermont, was born Mormon leader Brigham Young, who led thousands of religious followers from Nauvoo, Illionis across 1,000 miles of wilderness to settle more than 300 towns in the west, earning him the name, "the American Moses." When he died at Salt Lake City, Utah August 29, 1877, he was survived by 17 wives and 47 children Utah observes as a state holiday the anniversary of his entry into Salt Lake Valley, July 24, 1847. Young succeeded Joseph Smith as head of the Mormon Church in 1847. Some confusion exists as to Young's Masonic affiliation, but it is known that all the leaders, as well as many of the rank and file Mormons, were members of the Nauvoo Lodges. Young is also mentioned elsewhere frequently in Mormon and Utah history as a Mason.
Sir Walter Scott, famous novelist, made a mason in Lodge St. David, No. 36, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was established at Charleston, South Carolina.
Emperor Francis II prohibited Masonry on Austria.
1802. September 17, a "triangle" was formed on board the French ship 'Le Naturaliste' in Sydney Harbour, Australia, with M. St Cricq, Surgeon Jerome Bellefin and British Artillery Officer George Bellasis present. Capt Anthony Fenn Kemp underwent a Masonic ceremony and the event was documented by a certificate. This was the first documented Masonic meeting in Australia.
Irish Masonic Female Orphan School founded.
1803. Merriwether Lewis with Brother William Clark set out in the summer of 1803 on a 4,000-mile exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, known to history as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Brother Lewis was raised at Door to Vitrue Lodge No. 44, Albemarle County, Verginia on January 29, 1799. He died mysteriously October 8, 1809 of gunshot wounds. (Chase's; 10,000 Famous Freemasons) (Source: American Mason magazine)
1804. ln 1803, Admiral and Brother George Prebble's Squadron was fighting against the Barbary pirates who were then infesting the Mediterranean Sea. On February 16, 1804, Commodore and Brother Stephen Decatur took the USS Intrepid into Tripoli Harbor under the guns of the fort and fleet, to bum the USS Philadelphia that had been captured after having run aground and the crew inhumanly tortured.
1806. Grand Lodge of Delaware formed on June 6 with Gunning Bedford as Grand Master. He had been a good friend of Washington.
Masonry introduced in Finland.
The Grand Lodge Pennsylvania issued a charter to Western Star Lodge, the first in Illinois, on June 2.
Final stages of organization of General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch masons for the United States of America on January 9 at Middleton, Connecticut.
1807. Earliest authentic evidence of conferring of Royal Master's degree in Columbia Council No. 1 of New York.
David Rice Atchison born at Frogtown, Kentucky. He was a member of Platte Lodge No. 56, Missouri. He was ex-officio president of the United States fir one day because President Taylor refused to take the oath of office on a Sunday, but took it the next day, March 5, 1849.
Albert Gallatin Mackey born in Charleston, South Carolina.
Giuseppe Garibaldi born in Nice, France. He became an active Mason.
Joseph Cerneau, a Frenchman, came from Cuba to the Untied States. He sought to establish bodies to confer the degrees of the Scottish Rite. His spurious activity caused much trouble and he left for France around 1827.
First Masonic Hall purchased in Scotland.
Lodge of Promulgation formed in England and lasted until 1811. It was intended to report on the differences on the ritual between the Moderns and the Ancients.
Albert Pike born in Boston, Massachusetts.
1810. Masonry introduced in Portugal and persecuted shortly thereafter.
1811. Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia formed January 8.
1812. Grand Lodge of Louisiana formed, January 12.
First lodge chartered in Alabama.
1813. June 1, the 38-gun British frigate "Shammon" met the 38-gun American frigate "Chesapeake" head on off the coast of Boston, Massauchsetts and exchanged extremely destructive broadsides. "Chesapeake's" Captain and Brother James Lawrence was mortally wounded, and as he was being carried below to die, he pleaded with this men: "Don't give up the ship." Though the Americans were defeated the casualties were heavy on both sides. While it is known that Brother Lawrence was a Mason, his Lodge membership remains a mystery. However, the Grand lodge of New York did resolve that New York City lodges should assemble to join in the funeral procession for Brother Lawrence. The "Field Book of the War of 1812" reports he was buried with military and Masonic honors. A New York Lodge chartered May 18, 1814, was named after him. Brother Lawrence was born October 1, 1781.
Grand Lodge of Tennessee formed December 27.
The Moderns and the Ancients became reconciled and formed the United Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons, December 27.
Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite established.
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