‘Kaywoodie lives on, thanks to New York Mason’

    

Magpie file photo

S.M. Frank and Co., the business that makes the legendary Kaywoodie brand of pipes, will live on, thanks to the Brother Mason who purchased the company. W. Bro. Nathan Davis, who has been selling the brand’s briars as Greywoodie, LLC in recent years, made the deal with longtime owner Bill Feuerbach, who continued his family tradition into its fourth generation until seeking retirement. From an announcement today:

It has been announced just about everywhere, and more interviews are coming, however, I wanted to take a personal approach here. I bought Kaywoodie after five years of selling Kaywoodie pipes, having given up a thirteen-year career to do so.

Greywoodie photo

I never imagined it would happen like this, for all the good and bad. Using a 100-year-old Kaywoodie pen to buy the 173-year-old company really just put that last piece together for me. I found a way to make this a true career, and not just a hobby.

Without Bill Feuerbach supporting me and teaching me quite literally everything, this could not have happened. I am honored that he trusts me to carry his fourth generation family business forward. I hope I can do something that would make the Kaufmann Brothers, Mr. Bondy, Mr. Frank, and four Feuerbach men proud.

Known for quality briar skillfully made into good smokers and retailed at reasonable prices, the brand dates to the early twentieth century. People aren’t aware, but there was a time when Kaywoodie enjoyed a stronger reputation than Dunhill when it came to quality pipes. Read more here at Pipedia.

Magpie file photo

In my own pipe racks, not only has Kaywoodie the largest population, but my all time favorite briar is a straight billiard I bought at the New York Pipe Show at the Ramada in 1999.

Nathan is Worshipful Master—at least until next month—of Cobleskill Lodge 394, located near Albany. He was one of several Masons I’d meet every December at the Northeast Regional Pipe Smoking Contest and Hudson Valley Pipe Club Holiday Party, which had been hosted at S.M. Frank’s factory when I began attending twelve or so years ago. The pandemic kiboshed that in 2020, but when asked on social media if he might revive that tradition, Nathan said he’d love to bring it back. (He actually did get the contest going this year, but naturally it’s not the same atmosphere without the party.)

Congratulations, Nathan! I, uh, kind of acquired all the pipes I need for this lifetime, but I may buy one more to celebrate your milestone.

    

‘Dennis Daugherty, R.I.P.’

    

Just days before Grand Lodge’s Annual Communication comes the sad news of the death of RW Bro. Dennis Daugherty yesterday. There will be better informed and more personal eulogies than I can offer, but I can say without any hesitation, mental reservation, etc. that Dennis was for many of us the embodiment of how Masons ever should meet, act, and part. Always an understated role model, for sure, but inspiring nonetheless.

Dennis affiliated with Publicity Lodge 1000 in 1991, and served in the East in both the 1997-98 and 2010-11 terms. Although he resided in Utica in recent years, Dennis still attended Publicity’s Communications until the pandemic, riding Amtrak five hours each way. He also was a Corresponding Member of The ALR for many years.

From the Office of the Grand Secretary:

SAD TIDINGS

RW Bro. Dennis A. Daugherty

Has Laid Down

His Working Tools 

New York - 2 hours ago 

Dear Brethren and Friends,

It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the passing of Right Worshipful Dennis Allan Daugherty, the Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Kansas near the Grand Lodge of New York. R.W. Dennis Daugherty was a 63-year member of the Craft with plural memberships in Bestor G. Brown Lodge 433 in Wichita, Kansas; St. John’s Lodge 1 in New York City; Publicity Lodge 1000 in NYC; Kane Lodge 454 in NYC; and The American Lodge of Research.

R.W. Brother Dennis was Initiated on December 6, 1960; Passed on January 31, 1961; and Raised on February 28, 1961 in Bestor G. Brown Lodge 433.

He faithfully served our Grand Lodge on several committees, including the Credentials of Members & Returns of Lodges Committee, the Publications Committee, and the Masonic Hall Tours Committee.

R.W. Brother Dennis was a Senior DeMolay, having actually met and served with Dad Frank Sherman Land the founder of the Order of DeMolay in Kansas City, Kansas.

R.W. Bro. Dennis was 85 years young and he presently resided at the Masonic Care Community in Utica.

We will provide information pertaining to funeral arrangements as soon as they are known. 

Ted Jacobsen photo

MW Bill Sardone, Dennis, and Grand Master Kessler at Grand Lodge last May.

Our Grand Master, MW Richard J. Kessler; Grand Secretary and Senior DeMolay, RW Richard T. Schulz; and the Past Grand Master of DeMolay, MW William M. Sardone, PGM, share in their expressions of sympathy and sadness on behalf of all of our Brethren and DeMolay for this great loss.

May our Almighty Father welcome our dearly departed Brother into His celestial home above. Amen.

     

‘MM° on Song Mountain’

    

The brethren way out in Onondaga County are planning a Third Degree on a mountain top. That’s up by Lake Ontario. From the publicity:

The Onondaga District will host a collective Third Degree at the top of Song Mountain in Tully on June 8 (rain date June 15).

The performance of this degree is something we have been planning for, and working on, for more than a year, and we are extremely excited to be able to present this to the brethren of our state. Many of us cannot remember the last time our entire district has gotten together and worked to raise a class of Master Masons, let alone 22 brothers in a picturesque environment on the top of a mountain, overlooking Otisco Lake. The amount of effort, time, and dedication the district team, as well as all of the degree participants, are putting into this all but guarantees that this will be one for the ages.

We’re excited to have you be a part of it and look forward to seeing many of you on the mountain! There is a capacity of 250 brothers. Cost of attendance is $30 per person, the same for spectators, degree participants, and candidates alike, to cover operating costs and lunch on the top of the mountain.

The degree will be an all day affair. The gavel will drop at 9 a.m. sharp. Please arrange to be there well in advance in order to be seated in time for the opening. Seating will be on bleachers. Dress in long pants (jeans are fine) and a button-down or polo shirt. Wear shoes appropriate for walking and be prepared for being in an outdoor environment.

R and R Imports

There will be a buffet dinner at the conclusion of the degree at the base of the mountain. This incurs a separate cost of $40 per person, and is open to all Masons and their families regardless of participation in the degree at the top of the mountain. A separate reservation will be required.

The reservation process begins here. When your reservation is accepted, you will receive an email confirming your spot. When we reach 250 reservations, the reservation portal will close.

     

‘Researchers to look at Pope Leo XIII’

    

Kolbe Foundation

Pope Leo XIII

Western New York Lodge of Research will meet next Saturday for its Installation of Officers, Festive Board, plus a paper on the papal past. From the publicity:

Western NY Lodge of Research

Annual Election,

Installation of Officers,

Festive Board

& Presentation

Saturday, May 11, 10 a.m.

Bro. Ken Stuczynski will present “The Libel of Pope Leo XIII.” Menu: vegetable soup and turkey sandwiches, and dessert. $20 at the door. RSVP no later than May 8. Attire: jacket (tie optional).

These guys have their whole year planned. Click here. They meet in the Scottish Rite Valley of Buffalo, located at 2379 Union Road in Cheektowaga.

If I understand, there is a chance this meeting will be available via Zoom. Also, if you’re a regular, hopefully you know how to RSVP. (I don’t want to publish the phone number.) I would go just for the soup, but it’s 300 miles away.

   

‘NYU is next prospect for campus lodge’

    

WSN

New York University may become the next institution of higher learning to inspire the chartering of a Masonic lodge, according to Grand Lodge’s Fraternity of Campus Committee.

I hope they reconsider.

This committee, inspired by the UGLE’s Universities Scheme effort to connect the Craft to colleges and universities, has thus far led to the founding of lodges affiliated with both Columbia University and City University of New York. They are in the news this month for permitting some of the lowest forms of Leftist scumbaggery on their campuses. (For clarity, the lodges meet in Masonic Hall, not on campus.)

NYU does also, but police have been able to intervene because NYU doesn’t have a private campus; it’s properties open onto public streets and parks, which allows the city to interrupt the Islamo-Nazi outbursts somewhat, depending on the political will of the feckless mayor, who’s been partying in Miami while this has been happening.

An NYU lodge was an idea I had ages ago (there are mentions of this in past posts), long before there was a Fraternity on Campus Committee, but I reconsidered more recently because of the character of the university today. Personally I no longer admit to having any connection to the place. I did contact NYU twice more than a decade ago, via its Affinity Clubs office, about investigating the feasibility of discerning any interest in a Masonic lodge among the university community… and didn’t get any reply.

It’s been a nuthouse for generations, of course, but today NYU allows racially segregated housing—that’s black students willfully separating themselves from everyone else—and the entire suite of anti-Americanism from the political Left, including this recent Islamo-Nazi paroxysm. 

This degradation was underway during my time there as an undergraduate. One of the last stories I filed as an editor of The Washington Square News more than thirty years ago was on a University Senate meeting where the little commissars imposed Free Speech restrictions. I totally misread the writing on the wall, thinking it was merely a dumb fad that would be forgotten. Free Speech codes—at a university!? It seemed impossible. One of the creeps responsible, as I recall, had the first name Boaz.

Getty Images

(Click here to watch one brilliant supergenius admit she doesn’t know why she is protesting.)

My unsolicited advice to the committee is fuhgeddaboudit. I guess there aren’t any normal, healthy schools among the big money institutions, but there must be others amid the more affordable schools elsewhere in New York. Believe me, NYU doesn’t want us. Even if its students have heard the word Freemasonry, they count us as part of the white supremacist patriarchy blah-blah. The fraternity doesn’t need them.

     

‘Masonic Hall wins award, plans for upgrades’

    

Hoffman Architects + Engineers

Our beloved Masonic Hall is making news.

The headquarters of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York, located on Twenty-Third Street in Manhattan, is a winner of the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award for 2024. The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s 34th annual awards night on April 10 was a sell-out with 600 attendees at the Plaza. Masonic Hall was among fifteen properties honored with the Conservancy’s top honor for preservation.

The improvements to the building included replacement of the roof and repair of the building façade, all completed last year. Just speaking as a nobody, it was great to see, at last, the removal of the scaffolding that had enveloped our home for so many years.

Also newsworthy is the Masonic Hall and Home Trustees’ recent decision to convert 71 West 23rd Street from Class B office space to Class A. This will be a big undertaking, as the differences between B and A are substantial. Class A spaces are prized and command premium prices per square foot.

For those who do not understand, Masonic Hall actually is two buildings. Our lodges meet in the building fronted on Twenty-Fourth Street. The Twenty-Third Street property is where many commercial tenants lease their office spaces. With extensive capital improvements, rents will increase sharply, and I have to assume a fancier character of rental client will replace our current neighbors. The point of it all is to create capital to develop Masonic Care Communities around the state. (There had been a few other plans under review, including turning our godsend parking lot into either office space or 460 apartments, but these were shelved.)

I think it’s amazing how a building nearing its 115th birthday can be improved and kept relevant in the Manhattan cityscape.

     

‘Geometry and Joyce at Pennsylvania lodge’

    

Be sure to attend The Pennsylvania Lodge of Research’s meeting in June at Williamsport.

From the summons:

You are hereby summoned to a stated meeting of the Pennsylvania Lodge of Research to be held on Saturday, June 15, 2024, at Williamsport Masonic Lodge, 360 Market St., Williamsport, PA 17701, beginning at 10:00 o’clock ante meridian, Eastern Time. A luncheon will be held following the meeting, at approximately 12:00 p.m. (Reserve here.)

Presentations:

Bro. Theodore Schick, PM, Fellow of the Lodge of Research: “How Geometry Demonstrates the More Important Truths of Morality.”

Bro. J.L. Pearl: “Craftygild Pageantries: a Masonic Introduction to James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.”

There was talk at New Jersey’s research lodge about carpooling to this meeting. Usually our Saturdays coincide, making visitation impossible, but not this time.

     

‘Congratulations Bro. Chris!’

    

Congratulations to Chris Ruli on being named the 2024 Anson Jones Lecturer at Texas Lodge of Research! TLR says:

The Anson Jones Lecture is one of the most prestigious lectures in the Masonic world. Second only to England’s Prestonian Lecture (which commenced in 1820), the Anson Jones Lecture brings with it a membership in the Texas Lodge of Research. But it brings much more. Being asked to deliver the Lecture tells the recipient that he has been recognized as a Masonic scholar. It tells him that someone has noticed what he has written, and noticed it favorably. It is a sign of coming of age as a writer in Freemasonry; it is extremely flattering. Small wonder that the typical reaction of a lecturer upon being invited to deliver the Lecture is, “Who, me?”

Click here to see the, frankly, stunning list of previous lecturers.

Bro. Chris has agreed to visit The American Lodge of Research in 2025 as part of the Grand Lodge of New York’s longterm celebration of the Lafayette bicentenary. More on that to come later this year.

     

‘Founding Martyr author to speak’

    

Christian Di Spigna, author of Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution’s Lost Hero, will speak at Wyoming Lodge in Melrose, Massachusetts tomorrow night, as you can see above. From the book’s publicity:

A rich and illuminating biography of America’s forgotten Founding Father, the patriot physician and major general who fomented rebellion and died heroically at the battle of Bunker Hill on the brink of revolution.

Little has been known of one of the most important figures in early American history, Dr. Joseph Warren, an architect of the colonial rebellion, and a man who might have led the country as Washington or Jefferson did had he not been martyred at Bunker Hill in 1775. Warren was involved in almost every major insurrectionary act in the Boston area for a decade, from the Stamp Act protests to the Boston Massacre to the Boston Tea Party, and his incendiary writings included the famous Suffolk Resolves, which helped unite the colonies against Britain and inspired the Declaration of Independence. Yet after his death, his life and legend faded, leaving his contemporaries to rise to fame in his place and obscuring his essential role in bringing America to independence.

Christian Di Spigna’s definitive new biography of Warren is a loving work of historical excavation, the product of two decades of research and scores of newly unearthed primary-source documents that have given us this forgotten Founding Father anew. Following Warren, from his farming childhood and years at Harvard through his professional success and political radicalization to his role in sparking the rebellion, Di Spigna’s thoughtful, judicious retelling not only restores Warren to his rightful place in the pantheon of Revolutionary greats, it deepens our understanding of the nation’s dramatic beginnings.

The author is based in both New York City and in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is no stranger to Masonic audiences, in case a lodge somewhere might want to host him. Follow him on X.

     

‘Lafayette arrive’

    

Lafayette is coming.

More accurately, the celebration of the bicentennial of Marquis de La Fayette’s farewell tour of the United States is coming to fruition, as tangible plans are on paper to guide us through multiple events around the State of New York.

He was a Freemason, as you know—that’s why we’re going to party—but if you don’t know, be on the lookout for Chris Ruli’s book Brother Lafayette this summer.

In the meantime, bookmark this Craftsmen Online page for current information on the upcoming events from Manhattan to Schenectady.

     

‘Washington inauguration celebration’

    

And speaking of Freemasons who have been American presidents (see post below), it soon will be time again for Grand Lodge’s re-enactment of George Washington’s first inauguration as chief executive of the United States. And, man, what would you give to have him back again?! From the publicity:

Tuesday, April 30

11:45 a.m.

Federal Hall

Wall Street, Manhattan

A re-enactment of the inauguration of George Washington as the first president of the United States of America, performed by Freemasons of the State of New York. The event is held on the anniversary of the inauguration on April 30, 1789. We proclaim our heritage by honoring our Founding Fathers and the Heroes of 1776, many of whom were Free and Accepted Masons.

The sponsor of this event is the George Washington Inaugural Reenactment Committee of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York, under the chairmanship of RW Martin Kanter, RW J. Scott Nagel and RW Teodulo Henriquez. MW Richard Kessler, Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York and other elected and appointed Grand Lodge officers will attend. The Color Guard will be provided by the Masonic War Veterans, Sons of the Revolution of New York, and the Knickerbocker Greys.

We’d love to have as many Brothers as possible from your lodge join and support us on this great occasion. The ceremony lasts approximately 45 minutes. We invite all brothers, friends, and families to join us in a hospitality room for refreshments after the event. There is no charge for the event, but we do appreciate donations for refreshments onsite. RSVP here.

     

‘Roosevelt Pilgrimage at Oyster Bay’

    

Bro. Roosevelt never was a Past Master.
He was asked to pose for this photo.

I’ve never been able to get to one of these—and I probably won’t this time either, but at least it’s on my calendar—but the 77th Annual Theodore Roosevelt Pilgrimage is scheduled for next Saturday. That’s April 27 at Matinecock Lodge 806 in Oyster Bay, Long Island. (Wednesday the 24th will be the anniversary of his MM Degree in 1901.)

Everyone will gather at 9 a.m. for refreshments and a look at the museum, followed by the ceremony at ten. After the program, the group will undertake the pilgrimage to Bro. Roosevelt’s final resting place, about a mile and a half away, at Youngs Memorial Cemetery for the wreath-laying ceremony.

Check the images below for the details. Maybe I’ll see you there.

     

‘These Masons are going to prison’

     

It’ll be thirty next year.

I just read the minutes of Saturday’s Civil War Lodge of Research meeting, and it is confirmed that our July meeting will take place in Delaware, and will include a visit to the historic site prison at Fort Delaware.

This will be Saturday, July 13. The lodge will meet at Jackson Lodge 19 in Delaware City. Probably at 10 a.m., with refreshments before and lunch after. Then the group will travel the half-mile to Fort Delaware State Park for a look at the infamous former prison where captured Confederate soldiers were incarcerated.

Then dinner at a local restaurant is likely, but these details will be forthcoming in June, and I’ll share them all here.

I couldn’t get to North Carolina Saturday, but I will attend this meeting, and hopefully will bring brethren from New Jersey’s research lodge along.

     

‘Mozart and More on Sunday’

    

Bro. Erik, Organist of my lodge and others, invites us to a free concert Sunday. From the publicity:

Bro. Erik Carlson will perform a free concert, “Mozart and MORE,” at the Church of Saint Thomas More in New York City Sunday, April 21 at four o’clock.

Included on the program will be Mozart’s Missa Brevis in G Major for choir and strings alongside works by Haydn, and others. A reception will follow.

Bro. Carlson is the Director of Music and the Organist at St. Thomas More. The church is located at 65 East 89th Street, between Madison and Park avenues.

     

‘Hodapp in the Bronx Tuesday’

    

Chris Hodapp will be in New York for a speaking engagement Tuesday.

D. Hosler photo

Pelham Lodge 712, in the Bronx, will host America’s favorite Masonic author, raconteur, Dummy, etc.

Lodge tiles at 7:30. The lecture on Freemasonry will be very different from that you’ll receive from your wife upon your return home.

     

‘Back in the Philalethes Society again’

    

The Masters Craft

Philalethes Society membership jewel.
New York’s colors: orange and blue!

I rejoined the Philalethes Society—again. I had been a member in the nineties and into the early years of this century, but quit because the leadership back then deserved Moe Howard nose-pulls and foot-stomps.

I rejoined several years ago, when Rashied was president (and when I was president of the Masonic Society), but that lapsed when I wasn’t paying attention. But I’m back again and just received the electronic version of Volume 76, Number 4 of The Philalethes, the final issue under President Ben Williams’ tenure. His President’s Message mentions the launch of a Philalethes chapter in Texas. If you know the history of Texas and the Philalethes Society, you appreciate how times have changed!

Anyway, when I rejoined two months ago, I volunteered to revive Knickerbocker Chapter, New York City’s Philalethes chapter, so if you are a member of the Society who resides in or near the city, you’ll hear from me eventually to ascertain your interest in getting together for pastrami, fellowship, and Masonic learning.

Knickerbocker Chapter has been dormant for a number of years, at least since Bill Thomas relocated to Florida, but applying the defibrillator shouldn’t be too difficult. I received a list of Philalethes members who reside in New York and environs, and I will contact everyone in the New York City area to enquire into their willingness to reform the chapter. According to The Rules, we’ll need four officers to complete a modicum of paperwork; a membership to do the eating, drinking, (smoking, hopefully), and supplying of the Masonic learning; and a place to meet.

Officers are asked to sport the Society’s membership jewel; members are encouraged to do likewise (and I ordered mine yesterday). Everyone shall be Master Masons. Chapter officers will be Philalethes members, and everyone else will be shown how to join.

It’s simple. Click here. And look for my email inviting you to get involved.

     

‘Jerusalem Amity’s 225th anniversary’

    

Happy 225th anniversary to Jerusalem Amity Chapter 8 of Royal Arch Masons in New York City!

It was on this date in 1799 when Jerusalem Chapter was set to labor downtown in a tavern at the corner of today’s Hanover and Beaver streets. Jerusalem Chapter was where Lafayette was made a Royal Arch Mason during his 1824 visit to the city. We’ll hear a lot more about that come September.

(Plans are being drawn upon the trestleboard for a statewide celebration of that bicentenary. The plotters enjoyed an amazing Zoom conference last night.)

Click on the video uploaded to YouTube several hours ago, and join EHP Anthony for a celebratory libation.

     

‘Freemasonry in Popular Culture: call for papers’

    

The 2024 conference was only days ago, but the call for papers for 2025 is out.

From the publicity:

Call for Papers

13th International Conference

on Freemasonry

April 2025

We are now accepting proposals for academic paper presentations for the 13th International Conference on Freemasonry, sponsored by the Grand Lodge of California, to be held in April 2025 on the UCLA campus.

The theme for the conference is “Freemasonry in Popular Culture: 1700 to Yesterday.”

Susan Mitchell Sommers

Topics are open but should be closely matched to the theme of the conference. Proposals dealing with print, music, theater, film, and architecture are especially welcome. Successful proposals will adhere to academic standards of research and composition and pursue original analyses. Please send CV and 500-word proposal to Susan Mitchell Sommers here. 

Proposals are due August 1, 2024.

Travel and accommodations will be covered for those speakers who are selected.

     

‘Researchers to visit North Carolina’

    

Civil War Lodge of Research 1865 will meet this month, taking it on the road to North Carolina. The lodge, now in its twenty-eighth year, is chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia AF&AM, but it has dispensation to travel outside the Commonwealth in its pursuit of historical facts concerning the U.S. Civil War, especially where Freemasonry’s history intersects.

Bingham 272

On Saturday, April 13, the lodge will meet at Bingham Lodge 272 in Mebane, North Carolina. Worshipful Master John Butler chose the location for its proximity to Bennett Place, a short drive east to Durham. It was there where the Confederate commander, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, and U.S. Gen. William T. Sherman met in a little farmhouse and negotiated surrender terms in April 1865, coming to an agreement on April 26. (The U.S. Civil War did not conclude with one single surrender of Lee to Grant. Commanders in four different theaters about the country negotiated surrenders eventually disbanding the Confederate States Army.)

It’s a little too far for me, so I’ll miss this one, but the lodge has a solid weekend plan including Friday night dinner in Burlington; the lodge meeting, followed by lunch on Saturday; the visit to Bennett Place afterward; and a Saturday night dinner yet to be worked out. This edition of The Magpie Mason is intended to encourage Masons in the area to attend the meeting and other stops. Bingham Lodge 272 meets at 309 East Center Street in Mebane. If I’m not mistaken, North Carolina Lodge of Research is no longer at labor, but there is the North Carolina Masonic Research Society, and hopefully they’ll get the word and come to our meeting.

Coincidentally, that weekend will be the anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter.

I’ll be with the lodge again on July 13 when we’ll meet in Delaware.

     

‘A little British humour’

    

A whimsical April Fools’ Day joke from the admin of the UGLE’s Metropolitan Grand Lodge of London’s social media:

Metropolitan Grand Lodge and Metropolitan Grand Chapter are pleased to announce the “One Journey” Apron for use by Master Masons who are also Exaltees. It can be worn in both Craft Lodges and Royal Arch Chapters and clearly portrays the indissoluble link between the two. The Apron will be available from 12 noon today, so it can be worn at Metropolitan Grand Chapter on 17th April 2024.

Ricky Gervais’ Dutch Barn spots it is not, but a good effort.

     

‘Hudson Valley Masonicon coming in June’

    

The guys up in the Hudson Valley are doing it again. The 2024 Hudson Valley Masonicon is scheduled for Saturday, June 8 at Hoffman Lodge 412 in Middletown.

Joe Martinez, of The Masonic Roundtable podcast, will be the keynote speaker. (I read somewhere on the web that he is named after Martinez de Pasqually.)

I’m sure the rest of the roster will be engaging and entertaining. I’ll report those names when they are made available.

     

‘Remember The Maine Lodge of Research’

    

I close the month of March with some good news from Maine. Concern was expressed on social media earlier this month about The Maine Lodge of Research’s well being, specifically that it had gone dark.

Not true.

Secretary Derek informed me tonight that the March 23 meeting was canceled (due to weather), and it is working through some leadership challenges, but the lodge plans on being back to normal for 2025. I’ll remember to check in and I’ll let you know then.

Bangor Daily News

Worry also was voiced about Louisiana Lodge of Research, but I don’t have any news on that. I’ll be in New Orleans in a couple of months, so maybe I’ll find out something.

     

‘Fête Lafayette’

    

Chuck Schwam, Executive Director of The American Friends of Lafayette.

YouTube was abuzz last night with talk of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. Bro. Lafayette, as you and I might know him.

First, on the American Revolution Institute’s channel, Mr. Chuck Schwam, Executive Director of The American Friends of Lafayette, discusses Lafayette’s farewell tour of America of 1824-25, and of the American Friends’ plans to celebrate the bicentenary nationwide with multiple events, including a banquet at the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia. The partying will begin in August here in New York City. Click here.

“The Masons and the Society of the Cincinnati were important because they came out in droves when Lafayette came around,” he says. “In fact, I don’t know if Lafayette would have come to America if he wasn’t a Mason, so the Masons are very much involved with our bicentennial events.”

Eye-popping history from Bro. Ruli.

Also, Bro. Chris Ruli, author of the upcoming Brother Lafayette, due out in August, appeared on the Masonic Roundtable podcast to reveal some of the research that comprises his book, some of which will surprise you, such as Lafayette not being welcome to participate in Paris’ official mourning of George Washington’s death—plain political snubbing of the hero.

Budget a couple of hours to enjoy both videos.

     

‘Grand Lodge of Finland celebration’

    

Worshipful Master Michael, right, presents Grand Secretary Richard Schulz with a handsome parting gift for being The ALR’s keynote speaker in our table lodge last night.

Last night was the long awaited table lodge hosted by The American Lodge of Research to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Grand Lodge of Finland.

You’d be excused for wondering why a lodge in New York City would commemorate a Finnish birthday, but there’s a good reason: It was the Grand Lodge of New York that reintroduced Freemasonry to the Land of a Thousand Lakes after that nation regained its independence from Russia.

The ALR commemorated that centennial anniversary specifically on March 26 because it was on that very date in 1924 when New York’s lodges in Finland petitioned our Grand Lodge for permission to organize their own sovereign grand lodge.

Right Worshipful Brother Richard T. Schulz, Grand Secretary, recounted much of that history in his keynote address amid the many toasts and fires during the evening. He explained how Freemasonry arrived in Finland during the eighteenth century, but was suppressed by Russian rule following that country’s seizure of Finland in 1809 after victory over Sweden in war. After the chaos of the fall of the Russian Empire in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution and Russia’s exit from World War I, Finland was free, and the new republic was safe for Freemasonry.

Masons residing in Finland, who held memberships in American grand lodges, were joined by other prominent Finnish citizens who were made Masons by a delegation of New York brethren led by Most Worshipful Arthur S. Tompkins, Grand Master. On August 14, 1922, Dispensation was granted to establish Suomi Lodge in Helsinki. Other lodges soon were organized and Right Worshipful Toivo H. Nekton of Greenwood Lodge 569 in Brooklyn, a native of Finland, was appointed District Deputy Grand Master for the new Masonic territory. (Parenthetically, I’ll add how Nekton published a paper in The ALR’s Transactions. See “Highlights in the History of American Freemasonry in Finland 1922-1929” in Volume 6, Number 1 from 1953.)

On March 26, 1924, these lodges requested leave “to form an autonomous sovereign Grand Lodge, which shall have power to issue dispensations and charters to, and constitute subordinate lodges, conferring the three degrees in Masonry within the Republic of Finland; and to exercise a grand and competent jurisdiction over such subordinate lodges and the brethren forming the same.” That request was granted by Grand Lodge, and a delegation from New York returned to Helsinki in September to constitute this newest Grand Lodge.

Grand Lodge has been publicizing the trip to Finland since last year. This display is found in Masonic Hall on the ground floor.

RW Schulz brought the brethren up to modern times, discussing his visit to Finland in 2019 for their ninety-fifth anniversary, and displaying commemorative souvenirs he received. Of course he apprised the lodge of the upcoming centennial anniversary celebration and of the travel arrangements being made for New York Masons to visit for an extensive program of events scheduled for September 2-11 of this year.

Junior Warden Yves Etienne procured coffee mugs for everyone to take home.

RW Steven A. Rubin, Deputy Grand Master, concluded the brevities of the evening with praise for the singular purpose of research lodges, and of the quality output of The ALR particularly, noting how the Masons who undertake the labor of researching and writing about our fraternity’s past help guide today’s Masons in their journeys.

The ALR will meet next in June, probably late in the month after St. John’s Weekend, for its Installation of Officers.