THE RHODE ISLAND LEGEND OF 1658

In 1853 the Reverend F. Peterson wrote on page 101 of his History of Rhode Island and Newport of the past: "In the spring of 1658, Mordecai Campannall, Moses Packeckoe, Levi and others, in all fifteen families, arrived in Newport from Holland. They brought with them the three first degrees of Masonry, and worked them in the house of Campannall; and continue to do so, they and their successors, to the end of 1742."

This statement has been repeated from time to time, although in 1870 the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts looked into the matter and could find no evidence to support the statement.