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Discussion point:

[humor]

CALIFORNIA MASONRY

Discussion points:

Timeline: 1717

Event:

Masonry in its modern Speculative form began

The first Grand Lodge

The Grand Lodge system

London, England

Discussion points:

Timeline: 1730

Event: First American Lodge

•13 years after first Grand Lodge

§Masonry moved, with society, from East to West.

§From England to New England,

§Across the fruited plains, majestic mountains and beautiful deserts,

§To the Golden Coast in the West

Discussion points:

Timeline: 1848

Event: California Masonry begins, as California begins, the two histories are inseperable

•Western Star #98

•Charter issued to western-bound sojourners

•Giving them the right to work as Masons in the New Frontier

•Under jurisdiction of GL issuing Charter

•Moved to Shasta City in 1851, eventually became #2 in GL of Ca.

Discussion points:

Timeline: 1848

Event: Other Grand Masters issue Dispensations

•Giving them the right to meet, organize and try to form, Lodges

•GM of Indiana issues dispensation for Sierra Nevada

•Lodge fails

•Later form Madison Lodge

Discussion points:

Timeline: 1849

Event: Grand Master of Louisiana gives grant (similar to dispensation)

•Pacific Lodge at Benicia

•Pacific Lodge fails

•Members later form Benicia Lodge #5

•First Lodge building in California

•Still there, in safe, jewels cut from cans of food

•Holy Bible from 1850

Discussion points:

Timeline: January 31, 1849

Event: Grand Lodge of Connecticut issues Charter to Connecticut Lodge No. 76

•When the Grand Lodge of California formed in 1850, it becomes Tehama Lodge #3

•Requires minimum of 3 Lodges to form a Grand Lodge

Discussion points:

Timeline: Still 1849

Event: Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill

•Word moves East

•Men move West

•Difficult journey

•Don’t want to go alone, too dangerous

•Traveling parties

•Form fraternal bonds

•Some already Masons, others became Masons along the way

•Created Traveling Lodges

Discussion points:

Timeline: 1850

Event: Attempt to form Grand Lodge

•Tried in March, but no go

•April 17, everything came together

•Invitations issued to send delegates to convention

•Lodges here

•GL officers here

•New Grand Lodge formed

•Sacramento

•3 Chartered Lodges presented credentials

•3 U.D. Lodges sent delegates

Discussion points:

Timeline: Still 1850

Event: GM of Illinois issues dispensations for 2 Lodges here

•Woerd hadn’t reached back East yet

•Laveley Lodge in Marysville

•Later became Marysville Lodge #9,

•Still later changed it’s name to Corinthian Lodge #9.

•Pacific Lodge, near Oroville

•Second Illinois Lodge in California

•Holds meetings at a place called Long’s Bar

•Couldn’t do that today

•Formed in 1850

•Faded away

•Members affiliated with California Lodges

Discussion points:

Timeline: Still 1850, day after GL of Ca. formed

Event: GM of Wisconsin issues Charter to Lafayette Lodge # 29, in Nevada City

•Technically a breach of courtesy, but

•Word hadn’t reached back East yet

•1851 fire destroyed Charter

•Immediately re Chartered as Nevada Lodge #13

Discussion points:

Topic: Oldest known Lodge in California

•California #1

•Chartered by GL of D.C. as California #13

Discussion points:

Timeline: 1848

Topic: Western Star Lodge #98

•Chartered by GL of Missouri, May 10

•Moved from Benton City to Shasta City in 1851

•Becomes #2

Discussion points:

Timeline: April 1850

Event: Grand Lodge of California has 3 Lodges

•Total membership – 103 Masons

•September, Republic of California becomes State of California, 5 Months after Grand Lodge is formed

•Jonathan D. Stevenson first Grand Master

•April 19, 1850, he opens first session, in ample form, assisted by a full corps of officers

Discussion points:

Topic: Berryman Jennings Lodge

•Fourth Lodge chartered under GL of Ca.

•Sometimes known as Jennings Lodge

•Named for distinguished Mason who became first GM of Oregon

•Chartered first in Louisana, transferred to California

•Went bankrupt providing assistance to the needy during Cholera epidemic

Discussion points:

Topic: Davy Crockett Lodge #7

•Chartered under GL of Louisana

•Ruben Clark Master in 1851

•Architect and Builder of the State Capitol building in Sacramento.

•Nname changed to San Francisco Lodge #7 in 1852

•As the Lodge moved from the jurisdiction of Louisiana to the Grand Lodge of California.

Discussion points:

Topic: Mining

•Mining has been, from the beginning, a major industry in California.

•Wherever a successful mine can be found, a town to support that mine will be nearby.

•Fascinating names were established for these towns and no less fascinating names for the Lodges Chartered therein

•Rough and Ready at a camp by the same name in Nevada County;

•Indian Diggings Lodge in El Dorado County;

•Saint Mark 's Lodge at Fiddletown;

•Oro Fino, at a town by that name in Siskiyou County;

•Violet Lodge at Spanish Flat;

•Rising Sun Lodge at Brandy City;

•Mount Carmel Lodge at Red Dog, Nevada County.

•Added color to the local landscape, and made Masonry a part of the community.

Discussion points:

Topic: Dispensations from other jurisdictions

•Eleven issued

•Some became Chartered Lodges

•Others faded away

•Some never even got off the ground

•Usually, dispensation issued for a Traveling Lodge, to group of Masons headed West

•They would hold meetings where and when they could

•Some held on long enough to take root somewhere

•GM of Indiana

•Sierra Nevada, in Grass Valley, 1848

•Failed, and members formed Madison Lodge under GL of Ca.

•Grants and Dispensations issued by Grand Masters of

•New Jersey,

•Virginia,

•Indiana,

•Massachusetts,

•Ohio, and

•Florida.

None of these lasted very long, most never advanced beyond the Traveling Lodge stage.

•

Discussion points:

Topic: Growth of GL of Ca.

•April 17, 1850

•3 Lodges

•103 members

•November, 1850

•Jennings Lodge No. 4 of Sacramento;

•Benicia Lodge No. 5;

•Sutter Lodge No. 6 of Sacramento;

•Davy Crockett No. 7 of San Francisco;

•Tuolumne Lodge No. 8 of Sonora;

•Marysville Lodge No. 9;

•San Jose Lodge No. 10; and

•Willamette Lodge No. 11 of Portland, Oregon,

•11 Lodges chartered.

•304 Masons

•7 Months

Discussion points:

Topic: Growth of GL of Ca.

•1860

•10 years later

•2 Lodges moved to Oregon

•13 surrendered Charters

•2 Charters arrested for cause

•128 Lodges

•5055 members

Discussion points:

Topic: Interesting characters

•Grand Lodge is composed of Lodges

•Lodges are composed of members

•

•One EXTREMELY interesting Mason from California history:

•Emperor Norton the First

At the pre-emptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United

States, I Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for

the last nine years and ten months past of San Francisco, California, declare

and proclaim myself the Emperor of These United States. - September 17, 1859

•Highlights from the Emperor's reign ...

•1819 Born in London, England on February 14 to John and Sarah Norton

•1849 Arrived in San Francisco from South Africa with US $40,000

•1854 Lost the considerable fortune he had built up in real-estate speculation by trying to corner the rice market in San Francisco

•1859 September 17 - Issued the first of his now famous proclamations by proclaiming himself the Emperor of the United States

Proclamations

•Commanding that the Golden Gate bridge be built

•"Whoever after due and proper warning shall be heard to utter the abdominal word 'Frisco,' which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall be deemed guilty of a High Misdemeanor."

•Penalty for noncompliance was $25.

•

Newspapers of the day printed his proclamations (and even made some up which were not from Norton!)

•Many of the “decrees” attributed to Norton I were fakes

•written in jest by newspaper editors at the time for amusement, or

•for political purposes.

•In order to pay his bills he issued paper notes,

•mostly in 50 cent denominations but

•some $5 and $10 notes exist.

•Today they are worth far more than the face value (if they can be found).

•

•He also lived off the kindness of his subjects, going withersoever he wished, holding court wherever his Imperial Highness happened to be.

•In someone’s back house

•Above a store

•In a Masonic Lodge building

Politics

•In 1869 he abolished both the Democratic and Republican parties,

•"Being desirous of allaying the dissension's of party strife now existing within our realm, I do hereby dissolve and abolish the Democratic and Republican parties, and also do hereby degree the disfranchisement and imprisonment, for not more than ten, nor less than five years, to all persons leading to any violation of this our imperial decree." --San Francisco Herald, August 4, 1869

•Another time he called upon the other leaders of the world to join him in forming a League of Nations where disputes between nations could be resolved peacefully.

•1880 Died January 8, on California St. On January 10,

•he was buried in the Masonic Cemetery.

•The funeral cortege was two miles long –

•Between 10,000 and 30,000 people were reported to have attended.

•1934 Grave moved to Colma Cemetery.

•During his daily patrol of the streets of San Francisco Norton made certain that all sidewalks were unobstructed. He reviewed the police to see that they were on duty. He checked on the progress of needed street repairs, inspected buildings under construction, and in general saw to it that all office city's ordinances were enforced.

•"During one of the typical anti-Chinese demonstrations so common at the time, the emperor gave the local populace a lesson in the practical application of civics - and prayer. Sensing the dangerously heated tone of one particular meeting, Norton is reported to have stood up before the group, bowed his head and begun reciting the Lord's Prayer. within a few minutes the agitators retreated in shame without putting any of their threats into cruel action."

Discussion points:

Topic: Time to give some back

Timeline 1989

•During the formation of the Grand Lodge of California, several other Grand Lodges made significant contributions to our success.

•In 1989, we reciprocated.

•Out of our midst, a new Grand Lodge was formed –

•in America’s 50th state.

In a landmark decision at our Annual Communications in 1995, we recognized The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of California and Hawaii, Inc.

Discussion points:

Topic: Growth of GL of Ca.

Timeline: 2000 Annual Communications

•In the earlier days of the settlement of California,

•Most of the growth was in the North end of the state

•More recently,

•The South end has seen the same pattern.

•In 1860, the only Lodges in the Southern half of the state were

•San Diego Lodge #35,

•Los Angeles # 42 and

•Lexington # 104.

•Today

•Nearly forty-five percent of California Lodges are south of Tehachapi.

•In the County of San Diego, at the southern end of the state, there are currently 29 Chartered Lodges.

Discussion points:

Topic: Growth of GL of Ca. - Statistics

Timeline: 2000 Annual Communications

•150 year tenure as a Sovereign Grand Lodge,

•845 Charters have been issued in California Masonry.

•457 of them are no more.

•Some have moved to other jurisdictions,

•Nearly 300 Lodges have become extinct and some have consolidated.

•Freemasonry in the Grand Lodge of California, notwithstanding, has still survived.

•At the 2000 Annual Communications,

•90,914 Masons

•In 388 Constituent Lodges,

•Can be found in every city and in or near most of the smaller towns in the state.

•

That’s the good news.

The age of the average California Mason is 80 years.

Discussion points:

Topic: Growth of GL of Ca. - Graphic

Timeline: 1900 - 1999

•From 1850 until 1900,

•just about no records were kept on how many Masons there were in the US, or in California.

•This chart, however, shows the statistics from 1900 through 1997.

•The figures are from Brother Paul Bessel’s wonderfully informative site, at bessel.org

•The site is just full of statistical information.

•Blue line and right axis represent California Masons,

•Red line and left axis represent Masons in the USA.

•These are, in some cases, estimates.

•

•Note the similarity in the curve.

•Note the dip in the 1940’s and

•Note the downward trend we see starting in the 1970’s.

•Note the climbs in the 20’s, and 50’s.

•What social issues were at play during the “high times”, and the “Low times”?

Open for general discussion.