‘Washington Masonic bio is out’

    

On the day George Washington was born, the date was February 11, but today is Washington’s birthday because of the change in 1752 from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. That’s a long story involving Astronomy, Arithmetic, Logic, and a pope, but what better occasion than this to buy Mark Tabbert’s new book?

A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry is available at last. It is published by University of Virginia Press (released today) and can be had from your favorite booksellers.

From the publicity:

Like several of America’s Founding Fathers, George Washington was a Freemason, yet Washington’s ties to the fraternity and the role it played in his life have never been widely researched or understood. In A Deserving Brother, Mark Tabbert presents a complete story of Washington’s known association with Freemasonry.

Much more than a conventional history, this book has curated an exhibition of artifacts and episodes to fully contextualize our first president’s Masonic life and experiences. Consulting the Library of Congress, Mount Vernon, the Boston Athenaeum, and numerous private Masonic lodges, libraries, and museums, Tabbert chronicles all known instances of Washington’s association with Freemasons, confirming some existing knowledge, adding new insights, and debunking unsubstantiated myths. The record of Washington’s masonic ties is presented through contextualizing descriptions and color illustrations, ranging from lodge minute books recording Washington’s attendance to his Masonic aprons, from the tools used at the U.S. Capitol cornerstone ceremony to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts’ gold urn, made by Paul Revere, containing a lock of Washington’s hair.

A Deserving Brother documents the significance of Freemasonry in Washington’s life and career in a way that separates fact from fiction, and will satisfy both historians and general readers, including today’s Freemasons.

Mark A. Tabbert is Director of Archives and Exhibits at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, and is author of American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities.