‘Through Fire and Fellowship’

    

The guest on The Masonic Roundtable podcast last week was W. Bro. Jimmy Densmore, Secretary of Dalton Lodge 105 in Georgia, who authored a history of the lodge to mark both its dodransbicentennial year and the centenary of the Masonic temple it calls home.

That book, titled Through Fire and Fellowship, is the product of the kind of Masonic research I wish was more common these days, namely the digging through archives Masonic and otherwise, and records public and private.

Dalton Lodge, chartered in 1849, lost much of its early records to fires, necessitating the deep investigation into its past to match documented facts to oral history. The lodge’s first building was dedicated in 1855, but was a casualty of Gen. William T. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” that included the devastation of Atlanta in 1864 during the Civil War. A second fire, during peacetime in 1911, again deprived the brethren of their building. For a number of years, the lodge moved around the neighborhood until the current Dalton Masonic Temple was dedicated in 1925.

Dalton Lodge 105

So, the lodge’s story twice suffered the loss of minutes and all the ephemera and other items Masons collect, leaving not only gaps in its narrative, but knowledge lost in the mists of time. Until now.

“History is one of the big draws that brought me to become a Mason,” Densmore tells his interviewers. “It was really a labor of love to want to do this, and dive into that, and be the sleuth and be the historian.”

His starting point was a framed document hanging on a wall inside the temple that renders a post-1911 history, and Densmore sought to prove its accuracy. From there, he shares a very inspiring account of seeking newspaper stories, digging into University of Georgia archives, and even the Library of Congress. Although this was mostly online searching, and not QC2076-style Masonic archaeology, it nevertheless required time and commitment, and is worth hearing about.

Through Fire and Fellowship is available for sale at $25 shipped or $20 picked up in person (the lodge will meet next Monday at 7:30). Click here.

Dalton 105 has a great plan on the trestleboard for its June 23 meeting, when three generations of the Laster family will open and close the lodge. W. Bro. Speedy Laster (second generation) will preside in the East; Bro. Josh Laster (third generation) will sit in the West; and W. Jack Laster (first generation) will serve as Junior Warden. Densmore will give a talk on generational Masonry.

The Masonic Roundtable Episode 512.

This episode of TMR runs fifty-six minutes, but feel free to skip to 6:00 to get into the conversation directly. Click here. My thanks to the show, for bringing this news to light, and congratulations to Bro. Densmore.