Williamsburg Lodge No. 6 A.F. & A.M.
Williamsburg, Virginia
FREEMASONRY
IN WILLIAMSBURG:
An Overview History of Williamsburg Lodge No. 6, A.F.& A.M. of Virginia
Along with Norfolk,
Hampton, Yorktown, Fredericksburg, Port Royal and Petersburg, Williamsburg shares
the distinction of being one of the earliest locations in Virginia where
Freemasonry found a foothold in the eighteenth century. Although a
hotly debated topic for years, no one today really knows for sure which of the
earliest known lodges in Virginia was the very first one established in the
Commonwealth. Today, the Grand Lodge of Virginia recognizes Norfolk
Lodge as being the first one in Virginia, and the historic evidence to
substantiate that distinction is certainly very strong, if not firmly
conclusive in all respects.
Some evidence strongly suggests that a lodge of Masons was probably active in
Williamsburg from as early as sometime in the 1730s. However, what
is important is that if it did, in fact, exist as is suspected, this early lodge
in Williamsburg did not last, nor did any records from it survive to prove its
existence. One important bit of historical documentation that has
survived is a notice that was printed in the local Virginia Gazette newspaper
on April 21, 1751, which mentioned that there was a Masonic lodge, "... in
this city some time ago." The "how long ago" to which the writer
was referring is not known, but it certainly does provide a strong indication
that a early Masonic lodge did, in fact, exist in Williamsburg, and certainly
well before 1751. Another article, obviously written by a Mason in
the defense of Freemasonry, was published in that paper much earlier, in 1737,
and lends even more weight to the argument that a lodge was working in
Williamsburg as early as the 1730s. Through old, surviving lodge
records still held in the possession of Fredericksburg Lodge
No. 4, we know that a
lodge must have again been working in Williamsburg by 1752. One of
its local members, Alexander Finnie, was a visitor to the Fredericksburg Lodge
on several occasions in 1752 and 1753.
Because there were very few Masonic Halls built until around the mid-eighteenth
century, like their English brethren, early Masons in Williamsburg met in
taverns. The first Masonic records of the Williamsburg Lodge that
have survived to this day indicate that the revived lodge in Williamsburg was
certainly active and meeting in the Crown Tavern in 1762. The Crown
Tavern stood on the south side of Duke of Gloucester Street, across from the
Printing Office and Post Office, where today stands the reconstructed building
named after a later owner, James Anderson. Meetings were convivial
affairs, and were often combined with eating and drinking, which gave rise to
formal "Table Lodges," a rather formal feast which incorporated
Masonic ritual, eating a lavish dinner, toasts offered between meal courses,
some business being conducted, songs being sung, and general brotherly fun and
fellowship. The tradition of conducting "Table Lodges"
fell out of favor for well over a century, but is being revived again by many
lodges today.
The Williamsburg Masonic Lodge continued to meet at the Crown Tavern for
several years before re-locating to the Market Square Tavern in
1773. By that time, this tavern was under the ownership of Gabriel
Maupin, a lodge member, who was also a Saddle and Harness Maker and keeper of
the Public Magazine located next door to his establishment, in Market
Square. Maupin apparently rented a large room to the lodge for its
meeting place for about two years, until the lodge was able to finish building
a two story, wooden framed lodge hall on a nearby lot. This lot
(#13), owned by William Lightfoot, was located near the corner of Francis and
Queen Streets.
The new "Mason's Hall"(as it was called by both locals and lodge
members throughout its long history) was not a very elegant or fancy building,
being built in a rough, simple, fashion, in a "T" shaped
configuration. The building was erected on land that was not owned
but was leased from Lightfoot, which may account for why it was not finished in
a more refined manner, due to the costs involved. It could be that
the reasoning for this was that the members asked themselves, "why spend a
lot of money to build an elaborate building erected on land that is not fully
owned by the lodge?"
However, the lodge obviously did spend considerable funds to make a number of
major improvements to the building. This work including putting in
semicircular ceiling in the lodge room upstairs; installing louvered shutters
to allow air circulation through them; and installing a cupola on the roof to
exhaust hot air out of the attic space in the summer, thereby keeping the lodge
room below a little more tolerable. These additions and improvements
were made within only a two or three years after completing the
building. Yet, there still was probably a limit to how much they
could afford to do in that respect. The Revolutionary War was in
full swing by that time (1777), and wartime monetary inflation and devaluation
of the local colonial currency would soon make such large expenditures of money
inappropriate, if not altogether impractical.
Gabriel Maupin apparently acted as Lightfoot's agent, as the lodge was still
making rent payments to Maupin at fairly regular intervals until at least 1777
(which is long after they had moved into the building and had started making
modifications to it). Surviving records indicate that the lodge used
the entire upstairs space for their meeting, storage and anterooms, while
sub-leasing the downstairs floor rooms to a variety of
tenants. These included Dr. William Rickman, Director-General of the
Continental Hospital, who rented the rooms from September 1,1776 and, in 1779,
to a lodge member, Walter Battwell, but it is not known today how long he used
these rooms, nor for what purpose.
The lodge room on the second floor was fairly large (28 ft. long x 15 ft. 5
inches wide) and had a fireplace with two closets flanking it at the eastern
end of the structure. Given this known placement of the fireplace in
the eastern or "ceremonial" end of the building, we do not really
know today just how the lodge room furniture was arranged.
The ground floor was divided into two main rooms: a large (17 ft. 6 inches x 15
ft. 5 inches) parlour on the western end of the building, and a smaller (13 ft.
x 15 ft. 5 inches) chamber with a fireplace at the eastern end. Two
very small (roughly 11 x 9 ft.) chambers, one located upstairs and one down
(and each with a fireplace in them), were located at the rear of the building.
It was in this humble building that the Grand Lodge of Virginia was founded in
1778 (Note: one of only about five or six surviving photograph known to
exist of this original building is shown here, taken around 1900). The
old lodge hall stood until about 1910, and was situated slightly to the
northeast of where the current brick Masonic Temple now stands (more about this
building and its fate will be mentioned later).
Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, Virginia's Royal Governor during the
1760s, was also a Mason and, no doubt, must have attended one or more meetings
of the local lodge. Although no lodge records survive today to prove
or disprove this assertion, it is known that sometime in the late 1760s Lord
Botetourt did present the lodge with a lavishly carved, ceremonial Masonic
Master's Chair. This beautiful and historic chair has, thankfully,
remained in the lodge's possession to this day, and has been used by every
Master of the lodge since the eighteenth century.
The membership of Williamsburg Lodge during the eighteenth century reads like a
"who's who" of colonial Virginian patriots and common folks, as well
as notable families. Many of the men in the former category were
simple tradesmen, tavern keepers and merchants, while several of the latter
served their state and nation in more public roles as educators, judges,
physicians, delegates, governors, congressmen and senators.
Several of their names are still familiar to many people even
today. Some of them were among the most prominent men of their
day. Others were ordinary, "solid citizens." Their number
included: Provincial Grand Master (1774) Peyton Randolph, attorney, civil
leader and Speaker of the House of Burgesses; Rev. James Madison, president of
the College of William and Mary; John Blair, Jr., attorney and politician; Dr.
James McClurg, physician; Peter Pelham, gaoler, musician, and clerk of the
governor's office; Benjamin Bucktrout, cabinetmaker; Alexander Finnie,
tavernkeeper; Colonel William Finnie, Deputy Quartermaster General; Dr. Peter
Hay, physician; Edmund Randolph, attorney, politician, Governor of Virginia,
and Attorney General of the U.S. under Washington; Anthony Hay, cabinetmaker;
Gabriel Maupin, tavernkeeper; James Hubard, attorney; William Waddill,
silversmith and engraver; Henry Tazewell, attorney, judge, Va. delegate, U.S.
Senator, George Reid, merchant; St. George Tucker, law professor and judge;
Jesse Cole, merchant; Edward Charlton, wigmaker; Littleton W. Tazewell,
attorney, Va. Delegate, U.S. Senator, and Governor of Virginia; Nathaniel
Walthoe, merchant; Dr. John Minson Galt, apothecary and visiting physician to
the Public Insane Hospital; and James Monroe, an attorney, Governor of
Virginia, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of War, and a U.S.
President. In keeping with an age-old Masonic tradition, regardless
of their occupation, family background, education or notoriety, all of these
men named above and scores of others, met in the lodge together "on the
Level."
From surviving 1773 and 1778 copies of the Lodge's By-Laws, we know quite a lot
about the routine practices of the lodge's usual operation during the last part
of the eighteenth century. Monthly stated meetings of the lodge were
held on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 6:00 PM. Other special or
"called" meetings were held when and as they were needed, most
typically to initiate or advance candidates.
The two feast days of St. John the Baptist (June 24th) and St. John the
Evangelist (December 27th) were annual occasions of great importance and
celebration to eighteenth century Freemasons. The lodge typically
celebrated these occasions on the Sunday that fell nearest to the actual
Saints' day. On those days, lodge members marched in a solumn
procession to attend church services together. The lodge would hold
a brief ceremonial meeting in the afternoon, with virtually no business being
conducted. That evening, a lavish dinner or feast was usually always
held in a rented room at a local tavern for lodge members and their wives, and
then a public ball was often added afterwards for the enjoyment of the entire
community. In Williamsburg Lodge, the newly elected officers of the
lodge were also annually installed on St. John the Baptist's Day.
Both the origins and some of the ritual work of Craft Masonry are several
hundred years old, but no one today really knows how old Masonry
is. Throughout much of the eighteenth century, Freemasonry was still
slowly evolving into the form it is known today, and so not all Masons during
that period advanced through all three "Craft" degrees of
"Entered Apprentice," "Fellowcraft," and "Master
Mason." Masonic historians now generally agree that the Master Mason
Degree was a much later addition to the Masonic ritual than the other two
degrees, and was not developed in England until about 1725. Thus,
until the mid-eighteenth century, Masonic lodges in the North American colonies
only conferred the two older degrees, which probably have their origins
sometime in the Middle Ages. Due to the loss of some of the lodge's
old records, no one today knows when Williamsburg Lodge first conferred the
Master Mason degree.
Most lodges back then, including Williamsburg, conducted all of their business
while open and working on the first degree. The only time the lodge
opened in the other two degrees was to advance candidates to that
degree. Therefore, many brethren never advanced past the first
degree, or did so only after many months or years had passed. Since
they could enjoy full membership privileges as Entered Apprentices, there was
little incentive for them to advance further. However, Freemasonry
must be experienced in progressive stages in order to receive the great moral
lessons it teaches. Thus, The Grand Lodge of Virginia finally
changed this practice in the early part of the nineteenth century, by requiring
all lodges in the Commonwealth to conduct their business only while working in
the Master Mason Degree. This has been the prevailing practice since
that time and, so today, only those who have been raised to the sublime degree
of Master Mason enjoy the full privileges of membership in Virginia lodges.
In 1778, brothers in Williamsburg Lodge paid their membership dues to the lodge
on a quarterly basis, and were expected to regularly attend both stated and
"called" meetings. Members were fined if they were absent
from any meeting of the lodge without permission. Failure to pay
such fines in a timely manner resulted in suspension of all membership
privileges. Candidates were also expected to pay for the
refreshments at special meetings specifically called to advance them to the
next degree.
Also according to the Williamsburg Lodge By-Laws of 1778, those brothers who
lived in town had to wait a minimum period of six months before they could be
advanced to the next degree. Exceptions to this practice were often
made, however, in situations where a brother was soon intending to leave
Williamsburg to settle elsewhere. In meetings, no member could speak
more than twice on any subject in debate without permission from the Worshipful
Master. After their first visit to the lodge, any visiting brethren
who did not maintain an active membership in another lodge had to pay a fee to
help defray the costs of food and drink, just as any member of Williamsburg
Lodge did.
A committee of senior members appointed by Williamsburg Lodge in 1773 applied
to the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns) to obtain a "new" charter,
which it subsequently received and was read in the lodge with appropriate
ceremonial fanfare on March 1, 1774. This charter (#457), dated in
London on November 6, 1773, and signed by the Deputy Grand Master and Grand
Secretary, is the oldest surviving English Masonic charter in Virginia.
There is no other information that has survived to indicate what ever became of
the "old" charter inferred by the old lodge minutes; the grand lodge
body from which it was originally obtained; nor why the lodge felt it needed to
be replaced. This document has apparently long been lost. The
original charter was probably granted by the Grand Lodge of England sometime
before it split in 1758 over a dispute over the ritual into two separate
factions, the "Moderns" and the
"Antients". Regarding the probable reason for the second
charter application, however, the United Grand Lodge of England's surviving
records today cannot shed any further light on this subject ( note: it is
interesting to note that the Masonic ritual work as handed down and still used
in Virginia lodges today contains many elements of both the old
"Modern" and "Antient" English rituals).
With the beginning of the Revolutionary War, however, interest in being tied to
English Freemasonry waned quickly in the wake of the increasing patriotic
fervor for political and economic independence. Even so, the members
of Williamsburg Lodge found themselves divided in their
loyalties. Yet, the surviving lodge records are silent as to what
effect (if any) this difference of opinion might have had upon the brethren and
their Masonic relationships. However, it is most probable (if
long-standing Masonic tradition and practice was followed) that each man left
his personal opinions and views at the door when he came to the lodge hall,
where there is still never any discussion of either organized religion or politics
in a Masonic lodge. Still, all was apparently not well.
In honor of the approaching St. John the Evangelist's Day, on December 3, 1776,
the lodge, as usual, had voted to "...dine and Sup and have a Ball for the
entertainment of the Ladies at house of Mrs. Campbells as usual here to
fore." The times were serious enough, however, to cause the lodge just two
weeks later (on December 17th) to cancel the ball that they had been
planning. Since a war had begun only months before, no doubt they
felt, upon further reflection, that such celebrations were too frivolous for
the tenor of the times.
However, at that same December 3, 1776 meeting, the lodge empowered the
Worshipful Master to write to all the regular lodges in Virginia to request
that they send representatives to a convention to be held the following spring
in Williamsburg. The stated purpose and intent of this convention,
which was held on May 6, 1777, was to discuss the need to elect a Grand Master
for Virginia. The reasons cited for this proposal was that with the
Virginia lodges all holding charters from the various Grand Lodges of England,
Ireland, and Scotland, there was no central authority to which the lodges could
appeal to settle disputes. Nor was there any standardization in the
ritual work they were each using, so the Craft could never meet in a general
Annual Communication to share in the bonds of common
fellowship. Thus, there was general agreement within most (but not
all) of the lodges that they needed to consider electing a Grand Master in
Virginia.
After holding several meetings later in 1777 to further discuss this
proposition, the group met once again in Williamsburg on June 23,
1778. Before that meeting, the position of Grand Master had first
been offered to George Washington, and then to Right Worshipful Warner Lewis,
Past Master of Botetourt Lodge in Gloucester, both of whom
declined. Therefore, on June 23, 1778, representatives of all the
Virginia Masonic lodges duly elected John Blair, Jr., Past Master of Williamsburg
Lodge
No. 6, as the first Grand Master of Masons in Virginia. Blair was
formally installed as Grand Master in the Williamsburg Lodge Hall at a meeting
of the assembled lodges held on October 13, 1778. Over fifty
brethren were present for the occasion. The Grand Lodge of Virginia
was also thusly created that day, which was the first Grand Lodge constituted
in North America.
Despite these significant Masonic events, the years of the American Revolution
were very hard on Williamsburg. The town was occupied at various
times by British, American, and French troops, who typically camped around the
city and who also quartered some troops in private houses, as
well. The British were especially harsh on the town's citizens,
enforcing martial law for a time. Over a hundred members of the
lodge had left the city to serve in the American military forces, and a very
small number of them gave their lives during the struggle for
independence. Despite the absence of so many members, Williamsburg
Lodge and the Grand Lodge of Virginia managed to continue to meet sporadically
both in the lodge hall and at the Raleigh Tavern, throughout those turbulent
years. Even with those few remaining members to look after things,
some of the lodge's oldest written records and its regalia were apparently
stolen or were somehow lost during this period.
However, rather than the absence of the men and lodge members, it was the
removal of the capital of the new state of Virginia to Richmond which dealt the
town and the lodge its cruelest blow. Williamsburg thus began a
slow, but inexorable, decline. On October 28, 1786, the Grand Lodge
of Virginia issued numbers to all of its subordinate
lodges. Williamsburg was awarded the number "6," and is still
so designated, despite the fact that the lodge was forced to suspend operations
at least three times after that date, for varying lengths of
time. Many people also moved to Richmond when the state capital
moved in 1780. As a result, business and commerce in Williamsburg
quickly declined. Those few Masons who were left in Williamsburg
apparently found it very difficult to sustain the lodge for an extended period
with so few members left, and with reduced chances of getting any new members
to join.
With this difficult state of affairs to contend with, the lodge in Williamsburg
went dark sometime in the early 1790s. It was briefly revived for a
few years, then went inactive once again from about 1802 to
1811. After being revived thereafter one more time, Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6 was forced to cease operating sometime in 1827-8. It would remain
dark for twelve long years. This latter interruption was probably
brought about, in part, both by a quarrel within the lodge, as well as the
so-called "William Morgan Affair" of 1826.
The assumed kidnapping and murder of William Morgan (supposedly by his fellow
Masonic brothers but never proven) for his threatening to reveal Masonic
secrets by printing an expose book, caused widespread public outcry and rising
anti-Masonic feelings among the general population for about eight
years. This single event almost destroyed the Craft in the
U.S. The Morgan Affair also led to the creation of the nation's
first political third party, the "Anti-Masonic Party." The party only
lasted long enough to support one candidate to run in the 1832 presidential
election, but the man (who was actually a friend of Masonry!) was later
defeated for the office by Andrew Jackson, who also happened to be a Mason.
It wasn't until 1848 that Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6 could, once again, be
revived. The lodge started to work again under a dispensation
granted by The Grand Lodge of Virginia, dated April 21, 1848. It
received a new Charter from The Grand Lodge of Virginia, which is dated
December 13, 1848, keeping its old number 6, and under which it has continued
to work uninterrupted now for over one hundred and fifty years, a remarkable
achievement. The lodge continued to pay rent to the landowner where
the lodge hall stood on Francis Street from 1849, assessing each brother for a
proportionate share of the total rent due each year. They paid this
rent annually, but were not financially able to finally purchase the land on
which the hall stood until the late 1890s.
The lodge continued to meet (albeit very sporadically after 1862), during the
War Between the States from 1861 to 1865. From May 1862, however,
the town was occupied during the remainder of the war by Federal troops, some
of who also broke into the lodge hall and carried off some of the lodge's
regalia and at least two bound minute books for the years 1775 and
1773-1779. These two volumes, in particular, eventually found their
way somehow into the Library of Congress by the early twentieth century, and it
took two separate acts of the U.S. Congress (one in 1916 and another in 1939)
for Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6 to be able to finally retrieve them.
By late 1891, we can only assume that the lodge had either physically outgrown
its small, old meeting hall, OR that the by-then one hundred and seventeen year
old building was in poor repair and was deemed unsuitable for the lodge's
meeting needs. Regardless of the actual reason(s), in November of
that year Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6 began meeting at Mahone's Store, which was
located on the southeast corner of Duke of Gloucester and Botetourt Streets
(where Tarpley's Store is located today). In January 1895, the lodge
again moved its meeting place to Spencer's Store, which was located in what is
today Market Square on the southwest corner of Duke of Gloucester and a
now-removed section of South England Street, which was formerly there before
the Williamsburg Restoration. After the lodge met at this location
for about four years, they moved, once again, in January 1899 to the Peninsula
Bank Building which formerly stood just a few doors to the west of Spencer's
Store.
It was during this period around the turn of the twentieth century and in the
years immediately thereafter that Williamsburg Lodge desired to purchase the
old Mason's Hall with a view to restoring it. By this period, it had
been subjected for over a decade to a variety of uses and many tenants,
including a stint serving as a schoolhouse, but it was in very poor shape and
much in need of repair. After finally buying the land, for five
years or so, the lodge tried diligently to create interest and to raise funds
to restore the building, including hiring an architect, S.R.
Remington. In 1907, Remington took detailed measurements of the old
building, and from them drew a series of floor plans and elevations, which also
thankfully survive today. His drawings tell us all that we now know
about the ancient lodge hall's floor plans and it's architectural design.
Sadly, however, by 1910 the old building had deteriorated too much to be
restored or repaired and it had to be torn down sometime that
year. The bricks from its foundation were saved, however, and were
incorporated into the fireplace in the downstairs social hall of the current
Temple building, which was later built on the site of the old one, in
1931. These vestiges of the original building still remain there to
this day, and a bronze plaque has been placed there to describe their
historical significance. The current Temple was built with the
cooperation of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, through the influence of
the Rev. Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, a co-founder of the Restoration, who was also an
affiliate member and Chaplain of Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6 from
1904-1908. The current Temple building has well served the lodge now
for almost seventy years.
Notably, Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6 has a long tradition of providing men who have
served the Grand Lodge of Virginia in positions of leadership, including at
least nine men with ties to the lodge who eventually served as Grand Master of
Masons in Virginia in the years between 1778 and 1990 (note: some of these
brethren were initiated and/or raised in Williamsburg Lodge, but later moved
elsewhere and were technically members of other lodges at the time of their
election as Grand Master). These men include John Blair, Jr.
(who served from 1778-1784); Edmund Randolph (1786-1788); Thomas Matthews
(1790-93); Benjamin Day (1797-1799); Robert G. Scott (1828-1830); George C.
Dromgoole (1830-32); William Booth Taliaferro (1874); James Noah Hillman
(1938); George Eldridge Kidd (1966). Several others also served as
elected and appointed officers of the Grand Lodge of Virginia over the years,
and at least one, Nathaniel Beverly Tucker, served as Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of Missouri (1821-24). All of these men, at one time or
another, passed through the portals of the lodge in Williamsburg throughout
its' long and venerable history. Thus, the history of Freemasonry in
Williamsburg and the Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6 today shines so much brighter
because of the Masonic Light and luster that was eventually spread to other
parts of Virginia by many of these good men and brothers.
Today, Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6, A. F. & A. M. continues to work and to
flourish through the dedicated efforts and love of its officers and
members. There are still many, dedicated, "good men and
true" who have passed through the West Gate here, who try to live their
lives by the tenets and precepts of Freemasonry that they have learned from and
found within this ancient and venerable fraternity. However,
Freemasonry is far too often misunderstood by outsiders. Because of
the traditional veil of secrecy and mystery which has long surrounded Masonry,
some people suspect that they must be up to no good, and want to believe that
there must be nefarious principles, dark rites, and hidden agendas at work
within our meeting places. Nothing could be more untrue or wrong!
Freemasonry stands up for the freedom of the individual, and for the freedom of
Man to make up his own mind about the nature of our world and his own place
within it. In a non-sectarian way, Masonry supports the churches, as well as
the local, state, and federal governments, and urges its members to be
peace-loving and law-abiding citizens at all times. There are no
real secrets in Masonry except for a few signs, handshakes and words that serve
as modes of mutual recognition. Aside from these, it is no secret
about where Masons meet; when they meet; what they stand for, and what moral
lessons that Masonry tries to teach to its members. Contrary to what
some misguided individuals may believe, or publicly state, or print:
Freemasonry honestly has NO hidden agendas, conducts NO satanic or
anti-Christian ceremonies or rites, and has concocted NO secret plots to
overthrow any established government of any state or country in order to
establish some imagined "New World Order," run exclusively by
Masons. Such ideas would be truly laughable if there still weren't
those few people (with their own agendas) who insist that Masonry is a sinister
force in the world. Both in fact and in truth, Freemasonry today
serves our society only as a force for good.
What Masonry truly means has long been (and can still be!) found within the
walls of this local Williamsburg Lodge of friends and brothers, who each share
in the pride of its long history, written by those brethren who have gone
before us. We would be pleased and proud to share more about it with
interested men of good moral character, and a personal belief in a Supreme
Being. Thus, we would invite inquiries from those individuals who
would like to know more about Freemasonry in general and/or about our lodge, in
particular. To become a Freemason, a man has to first ask someone
who is a Mason to tell him more about it.......we are then quite willing to answer
most questions!
In closing, we are pleased to say that the great principles of Freemasonry:
Friendship, Morality and Brotherly Love, continue to shine brightly like a
beacon from Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6, and this Temple. Thus might it
ever remain so as this venerable lodge begins yet another new century, and a
new millenium, as well. So mote it be!
Brother M. Kent Brinkley, M.M.,MPS.
-
Williamsburg Lodge
No. 6, AF&AM
- Peyton Randolph Research Lodge
No. 1774, AF&AM
- Civil War Research Lodge
No. 1865, AF&AM
- Mason's Hall Lodge
No. 1785, AF&AM
Williamsburg, Virginia
March 1, 1999