‘Don’t miss the Tompkins dedication’

    

The brethren of Tompkins Lodge 471 again will venture into Manhattan next month for the traditional remembrance of their namesake at his final resting place. I recommend joining them because it’s an agreeable tribute to a consequential figure in both American and Masonic histories, and then everyone heads down to McSorley’s for refreshment. So, get to St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery on East 10th Street on Friday, June 19 at 6 p.m. to honor the memory of Daniel D. Tompkins.

He served as governor of New York from 1807 to 1817, when he resigned to become vice president of the United States to 1825. In Freemasonry, Tompkins was our Grand Secretary (an appointed position at the time) from 1801 to 1805, when Jacob Morton was Grand Master; and Tompkins himself served as Grand Master from 1820 to 1821. Along the way, he was the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite NMJ from 1813 to 1825, when he died on June 11, just days shy of his fifty-first birthday.

The titles are swell, but he should be remembered for his work as governor during the War of 1812 when he bankrupted himself (and died penniless) to provide for the defense of his state, and labored with his own hands in the construction of Fort Masonic at Brooklyn.

Click here for photos of a past Tompkins remembrance.

     

‘Tompkins remembrance next Friday’

   

Magpie file photo

Daniel D. Tompkins bust at the church.

The brethren of Tompkins Lodge 471 will visit Daniel D. Tompkins’ burial place next Friday for their annual memorial ceremony.

With the Tompkins Historical Society, which will hold a meeting at McSorley’s after the event, the lodge will gather at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery on East Tenth Street at 6 p.m. on Friday the second for the service.

Daniel D. Tompkins was made a Mason at Hiram Lodge 72 in Westchester County. He became Grand Secretary of our Grand Lodge, and he served as the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. He seemed to have eked out some existence outside the fraternity, having served as:

• Assemblyman, State of New York (1804)
• Associate Justice, State Supreme Court (1804-07)
• Governor of New York (1807-17)
• Vice President of the United States (1817-25)

Magpie file photo

Tompkins’ grave at St. Mark’s Church.

Tompkins bankrupted himself raising and equipping troops to fight England in the War of 1812. He died at his home in Staten Island on June 11, 1825. The Masons of the lodge named for him seem to do this about that date each year. I recommend checking it out. St. Mark’s is a historic church worth visiting in its own right. And, again, McSorley’s is just a few blocks down.

For some background on what the first such service was like, click here. And try this one for more Daniel D. Tompkins info.