[What is Freemasonry] [Leadership Development] [Education] [Masonic Talks] [Masonic Magazines Online]
[Articles] [Masonic Books Online] [E-Books] [Library Of All Articles] [Masonic Blogs] [Links]
 [What is New] [Feedback]

 Masonic quotes by Brothers

CHRONOLOGY OF FREEMASONRY

From 1390 - 1989

Source: http://www.quincy26masons.org
 Last Modified: May 10, 2014

To most Masons the history of Freemasonry is of great importance. To other Masons it is merely academic. Our allegorical teachings take its origin back to the days of Solomon or even before that. Certainly since the founding of the Grand Lodge in England in 1717 Freemasonry has had great influence in the English-speaking world and beyond. In previous years it could well have been unwise to belong to a group that was outside the control of the monarch or government. Little wonder then that the proceedings of early Freemasonry were shrouded in secrecy. In British history the Templars, some guilds, and the precursors of Trade Unions had all been smashed by the power of government. Societies (other than religious societies) in Britain date only from 1660, the year of the Restoration, and the start of an ethos of Inquiry.

The Guilds of Operative Freemasons go back to the shadows of antiquity. Although they may have been our forbears, they differed from current Freemasonry in their raison d'etre. The burning questions about these early associations are:

When did non-working (Speculative) Masons begin to be accepted?
When did the balance of Operative/ Speculative members change?

It is tantalizing that such an illustrious scholar as Elias Ashmole intended to compile a history of Freemasonry in the 1600s, but never wrote it. His History of the Order of the Garter provides irreplaceable scholarship on its topic. It is unfortunate that he never succeeded in casting light on Freemasonry before 1650. There are tantalizing questions to be answered: Sir Christopher Wren and Inigo Jones were eminent London architects, and they both were apparently Grand Masters. They had a professional interest in building edifices, but were the Lodges of their day more Operative than Speculative?

It is interesting to see that Speculative Masons were being admitted to the craft at an early date. Such lodges must have performed a hybrid function. Why did the London Masons change the name of their guild? Could it have been that they needed to distance themselves from the speculative Lodges?

It might seem incredible that the Regius Manuscript of 1390 was 'lost' until the 1820s. It was wrongly attributed. However, it's sobering to note that the vast majority of the collection of documents in the (British) Public Record Office is not yet indexed… let alone copied or transcribed. For the historian, though, the internet continues to present more and more scanned documents, thus making the content of early manuscripts accessible to more scholars and laymen. As this trend occurs, it is probable that more early Masonic documents will come to light, to give us some of the answers to our questions.

Much of this material is extracted from we sources, Parallels with History by Alphonse Cerza, An Encyclopedia of Freemasonry by Albert Mackey, and The Royal Masonic Cyclopedia, Kenneth Mackenzie, supplemented with information from encyclopedias and other Masonic sources. Thus the resources are secondary and can be no more accurate than those sources. Many of the facts have been checked, but usually with other secondary sources. If you know of errors, please contact the webmaster.

1300s

1390

England:  
The Regius Poem, sometimes called the Halliwell Manuscript, was written or copied from an older, unknown manuscript. This is the oldest extant copy of any ancient manuscript of Masonry.  It claimed that Masonry came to Britain during the reign of King Athelstan (c895-940).

1400s

c1410

COOKE MS ("Old Charges") – claiming that Masonry was introduced to Britain by St Alban (3^rd-century).

1425

England: 
The Cooke Manuscript was written. This is the second oldest of the extant ancient manuscripts of Masonry.

1429

England: 
"Masons of the Lodge" mentioned at Canterbury Cathedral.

1463

England: 
The Worshipful Company of Masons of the City of London erected its first hall.

1479

England: 
The term "Master Mason" appeared after the name of William Orchard at Magdalen College.

1487

The word "Freemason" appeared for the first time in the Statutes of England.

1491

Scotland: 
Municipal law was passed at St. Giles, Edinburgh, establishing the condition of employment of Master Masons and co-workers.

1500s

1581

England: 
The Masons Company was incorporated at Newcastle-upon-Tyne 
and given certain powers and duties.

1582

Feb 24 1582 Pope Gregory XIII decreed calendar reform, and most of Christendom changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.

1583

Scotland: 
St. Mary's Lodge of Dundee is mentioned in an Indenture bearing this date.

1598

Scotland: 
William Schaw, who had become Master of the Works in 1584, promulgated two sets of rules. The first regulated the Masons of Scotland; the second gave the Lodge of Kilwinning supervisory powers over the lodges of West Scotland. It used the term "fellow of the craft."

First recorded conferment of Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft in the Minutes of the Aitchison’s Haven Lodge, near Edinburgh (Operative Masonry).

April 13 1598 The Edict of Nantes was promulgated to cede limited rights to non-Catholics in France.

1599

Scotland: 
First known written record of a Masonic Lodge, Aitchinson's Haven Lodge, Musselburgh, January 9.

Scotland: 
Oldest known existing lodge, Edinburgh Lodge #1, Edinburgh, July 3.

1600s

1600

Scotland:
First record of the admission of a non-operative Mason in a Lodge of Scotland.

John Boswell, Laird of Auchinlech, became a member of the Lodge of Edinburgh.

England: The word "Freemason" appeared in the York Roll.

1606

April 12 1606 The first Union Jack was introduced upon the 
union of Scotland and England.

1617

Notable Freemasons:
Birth of Elias Ashmole at Lichfield. 
A famous antiquarian, herald and founder of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. He is remembered by the Craft because entries in his diary regarding his initiation prove that there were speculative lodges long before 1717.
"1646. Oct: 16 4H 30'p.m, I was made a Freemason at Warrington..."
It is to be regretted that he never carried out his intention of Writing a History of Freemasonry. Such a document, written by such an authority at this early date would have provided us with a unique insight.

1619-1620

England:
Account Book of the London Mason's Company used the term "Accepted" as a description of some members.

1621

England:
Records of the Worshipful Company of Freemasons of London indicate that there were "accepted" and "operative" members.

1629

March 14, 1629 A Royal charter was granted to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1633

John Stow's Survey of London was published mentioning the "Company of Masons being otherwise termed Free Masons."

1634

Scotland:
The following members of the nobility were made Masons at the Lodge of Edinburgh: Lord Alexander, Sir Anthony Alexander, and Sir Alexander Strachan.

1637

1638

"For we be brethren of the Rosie Cross;
We have the Mason Word and second sight,
Things for to come we can foretell aright."
- Henry Adamson, The Muses Threnodie.

1641

Scotland:
Sir Robert Moray was initiated by a group of Masons in a Scots regiment at Newcastle-on-Tyne, May 20. This is the earliest recorded initiation.

1642

Scotland:
Minutes of Mother Kilwinning Lodge go back to this year.

1646

England:
Elias Ashmole wrote in his diary that he was made a "Free Mason," at Warrington in Lancashire October 16 at 4:30 pm.

1649

January 30 1649 King Charles I was beheaded in London by order of the English Parliament, as a result of a bitter struggle between King and Parliament for supremacy that resulted in the English Civil War.

1650

England: The Harleian Manuscript was written about this time.

1655

The Company of Freemasons of the City of London changed its name to "The Company of Masons."

1656

England:
John Aubrey began A Natural History of Wiltshire, in which he stated "that the Fraternity of Free Masons are known to one another by certain signes and Watch words," and other significant words.

1659

First known use of the word "club" as a group meeting.

Samuel Lee, Orbis Miraculum. – dealt at great length with King Solomon’s Temple and its equipment, giving the "cavern-discovery" of John I in its Foundations (originally derived from the 4^th-century Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius, which was repeated by Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos in the 14^th-century).

*Cf. II Kings 22.3-24 Josiah’s renovation of the Temple, the discovery of the Book of the Law, the reformation of Israel. (William Faithorne’s engraving of Oliver Cromwell as Josiah surrounded by Masonic-type symbolism.)

1666

The Great Fire in which much of the City of London was destroyed. Many fine medieval buildings: churches and guild halls went up in smoke. This presented a city planning opportunity. Freemason Sir Christopher Wren rose to the task, designing many churches, and his masterpiece, the new St Paul's Cathedral, where he is buried. Wren has no monument: merely an inscription - Si monumentum quaeris, circumspice (If you seek a monument, look around you).

1668

The hall of the Worshipful Company of Masons of London was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London (1666). It is believed that a speculative lodge met in the building.

1670

Scotland:
The records of the Lodge of Aberdeen began. They showed that some members were operative and others were speculative.

1677

Masonic Legend related to Rosslyn Chapel recounted by Thomas Kirk in ‘An Account of a Tour In Scotland’ (found as an Appendix to Ralph Thoresby’s Letters of Eminent Men, Volume 2, 1832):

"Two miles further, we saw Roslen Chapel, a very pretty design, but was never finished, the choir only and a little vault. The roof is all stone, with good imagery work: there is a better man at exact descriptions of the stories than he at Westminster Abbey: this story he told us, that the master builder went abroad to see good patterns, but before his return his apprentice had built one pillar which exceeded all that ever he could do, or had seen, therefore he slew him; and he showed us the head of the apprentice on the wall with a gash in the forehead, and his master’s head opposite to him. Bishop Sinclair founded it. This chapel stands on a plot of ground higher than the rest, and at the foot of a steep descent arises a rock almost surrounded with a brook. Upon this rock is built a castle, belonging to the Sinclairs; and there are rooms for three stories together, twenty steps high a-piece, all digged down down into the rock: it withstood Monk awhile, but soon surrendered."

Another later account of the same legend by Dr Forbes, the Bishop of Caithness, from An Account of the Chapel of Rosslyn (1774):

"The Master Mason having recieved from the Founder a model of a pillar of exquisite workmanship and design, hesitated to carry it out until he had gone to Rome or some other foreign part to see the original. He went abroad and and in his absence an apprentice, having dreamt that he had finished the pillar, at once set to work and carried out the design as it now stands, a perfect marvel of workmanship.

The Master Mason on his return, seeing the pillar completed, instead of being delighted at the success of his pupil, was so stung with envy that he asked who dared to do it in his absence. On being told that it was his apprentice, he was so inflamed with rage and passion that he struck him with a mallet, killed him on the spot and paid the penalty for his rash and cruel act."

* Rosslyn Chapel was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, third and last St Clair Prince of Orkney - who died in 1484 and who was buried in the unfinished Chapel.

1681

America:
Jonathan Belcher, the first native-born American to be made a Mason, was born in Boston.

1682

England:
Elias Ashmole wrote in his diary that he had attended a lodge meeting at Masons' Hall, London.

Scotland:
John Skene, first known Mason to become a permanent resident in United States, was a member of Aberdeen Lodge #1 (No. 27 on their roll). He became a member prior to 1670.

1685

Dr Robert Plot, The Natural History Of Staffordshire – recounting Masonic traditions that were similar to those found in the "Old Charges".

1686

England:
Dr. Robert Plot published his National History of Staffordshire in which he ridiculed the society of Freemasons. This is proof that a symbolical lodge was in existence at that time.

England:
John Aubrey, the antiquary, wrote his National History of Wiltshire and spoke of "Fraternity of Free-Masons" and also described them as "adopted masons" and "accepted masons."

1688

Ireland:
A lodge of accepted Masons met at Trinity College, Dublin.

The Society of Freemasons is mentioned in a satirical speech at the commencement exercises of the University of Dublin in July.

England:
Randle Holme II, a Chester antiquary and herald (Deputy Garter King of Arms), described an association with members of the "Society called Free-Masons." His son, Randle Holme III became a member of a Masonic Lodge in Chester in the 1670s

John Bunyan, Solomon’s Temple Spiritualised.

1689

11 April 1689, William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain. Williamsburg and Maryland were named for them, 
as was the College of William and Mary.

1690

Scotland:
Records of the Lodge of Melrose (between this year and 1695) used the term "fellowcraft."

1691

"(the Mason Word)…is like a Rabbinical Tradition, in the way of comment on Jachin and Boaz, the two pillars erected in Solomon’s Temple (cf. I Kings VII:21), with one addition of some secret Sign delivered from Hand to Hand, by which they know and become familiar with one another."

- Reverend Robert Kirk, The Secret Commonwealth.

1696

Scotland:
The Edinburgh Register House Manuscript suggests that Masons had words, a grip, signs and "five points." – earliest document describing the Ritual of Freemasonry (discovered in 1930).

England:
James Oglethorpe born in London.

1697

Scotland:
Mention on a letter of the "mason's word," used for purpose of recognition.

England:
Henry Price born in London.

January 14^th 1697  A Day of Contrition is declared in Massachusetts 
to atone for the notorious Salem Witch Trials.

1698

An interesting close to the Seventeenth Century: An Anti-Masonic leaflet was published warning people against Freemasons.

To all Godly People in the Citie of London
Having thought it needful to warn you of the Mischiefs and Evils practiced in the sight of God by those called Freed Masons, I say take care lest their Ceremonies and secret swearings take hold of you: and be wary that none cause you to err from Godliness. For this devlish Sect of Men are Meeters in Secret which swear against all without their following. They are the Anti-Christ which was to come leading Men from their Fear of God. For how should Men meet in Secret Places and with secret Signes taking Care that none observe them to do the Work of God: are not these the ways of Evildoers? Knowing how that God observest privilly them that sit in Darkness they shall be smitten, and the Secrets of their Hearts layed bare. Mingle not among this corrupt People lest you be found so at the World's Conflagration.

There are two things of interest about the document. First: it shows that Freemasons were active in 1698. Second: the the nature of Anti-Masonry is the same today as it ever was: fear and hatred based on ignorance and intolerance.

1700s

c1700

Sloane MS No.3329 – first quotation of the Mason Word ("MAHA-BYN").

1701

Notable Freemasons:
Jeremy Gridley, "Father of the Boston Bar," born. 
He became Provincial Grand Master.

The Grand Alliance signed. England, the Netherlands and Austria combined against Louis XIV of France.

1702

The Haughfoot Lodge Minute, dated 22^nd December, giving a fragment of the Freemasonic Ritual – clinching the reliability of the 1696 MS.

1703

St. Petersburg made capital of Russia.

1704

Notable Freemasons:
Jonathan Belcher, Governor of Massachusetts 1730-1741a native born American, became a Mason. 
We don't know in which lodge he was made a Mason, but presumably while he was in Europe 1699-1705.
His reply to an address of September 25  1741, when visited by a deputation from the First Lodge of Boston:
"Worthy Brothers, I take it very kindly this mark of your respect. it is now 37 years since I was admitted to The ancient and Honble Society of Free & Accepted Masons, to whom I have been a faithful brother, and well-wisher to the art of Masonry. I shall ever maintain a strict friendship for the whole Fraternity; and always be glad when it may fall within my power to do them any services."

The English under the Duke of Marlborough defeated the French at the Battle of Blenheim.
The Duke of Marlborough subsequently built a splendid palace with that name.

1707

England and Scotland united to become The United Kingdom of Great Britain. The flag was accordingly changed to become the Union Jack (but not yet the pattern that is currently flown).

1709

Sir Richard Steele, in "The Tatler," famous paper of the day, in discussing certain people said: "They have some secret Intimations of each other like the Free Masons."

1710

Notable freemasons:
General David Wooster, famous patriot, born in Connecticut. 
He became first Master of Hiram Lodge No.1, Connecticut.

1711

1713

Britain and France signed the treaty of Utrecht, which ended the war favorably for Britain.

1714

Queen Anne (the last of the Stuarts) died. She was succeeded by the Hanoverian dynasty.
King George I spoke German and French, but not English.

1715

King Louis XIV (the Sun King) died and was succeeded by Louis XV

1716

Meeting held at the Apple Tree Tavern in Charles Street, Covent Garden, London, to discuss a revival of the Quarterly Communications and the Annual Assembly.

1717
England:
The first Grand Lodge was formed on June 24 at the Goose and Gridiron (demolished in 1894) at St Paul’s Churchyard, in London, by four lodges of the city.  Antony Sayer its first Grand Master.

1719

England:
Reverend John T Desaguliers elected Grand Master of the Mother Grand Lodge of England.

Daniel Defoe wrote Gulliver's Travels (the first real novel in the English language).

1720

Notable Freemasons:
Charles de Secondat Montesquieu made a Mason on a visit to London

Collapse of the 'South Sea Bubble' bankrupted hundreds in Britain.
Sir Edmond Halley (Halley's Comet) became Astronomer Royal.

1721

John, Duke of Montague, became Grand Master. 
The attendant publicity brought the Craft much prestige.
After his term of office, most Grand Masters were Peers of the Realm

The Grand Lodge of England, on June 24, adopted the regulation requiring all regular lodges to secure a charter.

Sir Robert Walpole became the first 'Prime Minister'. 
The town of Walpole, MA was named for him.

Peter the Great made Tsar of Russia

1722

The Old Constitution belonging to the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons was published.

1723

Dr. James Anderson publishes first edition of The Constitution of the Free-Masons.

The Flying Post, on April 11-13, printed 'A Masons' Examination', the earliest known printed catechism of the Craft:
"An enter’d Mason I have been,
Boaz and Jachin I have seen;
A Fellow I was sworn most rare,
And know the Astler, Diamond, and Square;
I know the Master’s Part full well,
As honest Maughbin will you tell."

Death of the great architect Sir Christopher Wren, the operative and speculative Freemason who designed the current St Paul's cathedral in London, and many other edifices.

London exhibitions of King Solomon’s Temple.

1725

Grand Lodge of Ireland formed.

A lodge was known to exist in Paris. Interesting article on the Museum of the Grand Orient in Paris at 16 rue Cadet

"…Magbo and Boe signifies Marrow in the Bone, so is our secret to be Concealed" – The Whole Institution of Free-Masonry Opened.

1726

Earliest recorded conferment of a Master Mason, in a London Musical Society, the "Philo-Musicae et Architecturae Societas Apolloni" (flourished 1725-1727).

Earliest recorded regular conferment of a Master Mason – at Lodge Dumbarton Kilwinning, Scotland.

"There will likewise be a Lecture giving a particular Description of the Temple of Solomon; with the whole History of the Widow’s Son killed by the Blow of a Beetle, afterwards found three Foot East, three Foot West, and three Foot Perpendicular…" - Newspaper advertisement headed Antediluvian Masonry.

Graham MS – compilation of early Masonic legends (discovered in 1936).

1727

Death of sir Isaac Newton

Arms of the London Company of Masons, 1727

Q. What is the form of your Lodge?
A. An Oblong Square.
Q. Why so
A. The Manner of our Great Master Hirams Grave.
- The Wilkinson MS.

1729

Notable Freemasons:
Gotthold Lessing born at Kamenz, Niederlausitz, 22nd January.
Initiated at Hamburg. 
Lessing became famous for two books with Masonic meaning: 
Ernst and Falk and Nathan the Wise.
Lessing and Goethe were the two great German Masonic writers.

1730

Prichard's Masonry Dissected was published. – first exposure to describe a Ritual-System of three degrees; to a "lost-word" (Machbenah); to mention the Hiram Abiff legend; the existence of the Blazing Star, with the letter ‘G’ denoting "Grand Architect of the Universe". Today it is of value in studying the development of the ritual.

Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, John Pennell, published his version of the Book of Constitutions.

Martin Clare published his Defense of Masonry, an answer to Prichard's book.

The Pennsylvania Gazette published by Benjamin Franklin, on December 3 and 8, mentioned several lodges meeting in Philadelphia.

The Grand Lodge of England, on June 5, issued a deputation to Daniel Coxe to act as "Provincial Grand Master of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in America."

First Lodge constituted in India Lodge No 72 in Calcutta was established by Masons of the East India Company

London exhibitions of the models of King Solomon’s Temple.

Notable Freemasons:
Lord Baltimore made a Mason in England.

Baron von Steuben born.

1732

A Lodge in Paris was formed under the English constitution.

First traveling Military Lodge formed by Grand Lodge of Ireland.

Notable Freemasons:
George Washington born.

Georgia, the last of the original American colonies, is settled by the British.

1733

Freemasonry appeared in Italy and persecution followed in Florence, Italy.

On April 13, Henry Price received a Deputation as "Provincial Grand Master of New England and Dominions and Territories thereunder belonging." He returned to America the same year and for some years thereafter was active on behalf of the Craft.

On July 30, Henry Price organized the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.

In England, Jethro Tull makes great strides in scientific agriculture.

1734

Henry Price's authority was extended in August to cover all North America.

First Masonic Temple in America erected in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

First lodge in Georgia formed in Savannah by James Oglethorpe. The charter from England was received the following year.

Death of Rob Roy, the great Scots hero.

On November 28, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter as Grand Master for the Province of Pennsylvania.

The First Masonic Book to be published in America was printed by Bro Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia.
It was a reprint of Anderson's Constitutions (which was first published in London in 1723, with the assent of the Grand Lodge of England).

1735

A Lodge was formed in North Carolina.

Masonry established in Portugal under an English charter.

Grand Lodge of England issued a warrant to Solomon's Lodge at Charleston, South Carolina.

Notable Freemasons
Paul Revere born in Boston.

1736

The South Carolina Gazette of Charles Town reported a Masonic meeting on that city.

The Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts established a lodge at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Grand Lodge of Scotland was formed.

1737

Notable Freemasons:
John Hancock born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts. 
His name was the first signed on the Declaration of Independence. 
He was the first President of the Continental Congress.

Warrant issued by Lord Derwentwater for the formation of a Lodge in Sweden.

First Lodge met in Germany on September 6.

Death of Antonio Stradivari (the great violin-maker) in Cremona.

The New York Gazette of March 28 indicated that a Lodge existed in New York at the time.

1738

Dr. James Anderson published the Second edition of The Constitution of the Freemasons.

A new edition of Masonry Dissected, by Prichard, was published.

Pope Clement XII issued his Papal Bull  In Eminenti Apostolatus Specula, April 28. This was the first official edict of the Roman Catholic Church against the Craft. Later in 1751, Pope Clement goes on to ban Diderot's masterwork, the Encyclopedie (the first encyclopedia) insisting that Catholics burn it or face excommunication. 

Because of suppression, Diderot found it hard to publish the  Encyclopedie, which is the essence of The Enlightenment. however, volumes are published until its completion in 1772. Diderot was imprisoned because of it. The surge in growth at this time of Freemasonry, is one expression of the Enlightenment.

Denis Diderot was a Freemason

The province of Lorraine was ceded to France.

1739

Masons persecuted in Florence.

New York Gazette announced a lodge meeting in the city.

Committee met in London to discuss Freemasonry. It eventually developed into the Ancient Grand Lodge.

The Persian army sacked India, all but ending the sway of the Mughals (Moguls).

1740

Members of a Lodge in Madrid were imprisoned.

1741

Masonry introduced in Austria.

Notable Freemasons:
Joseph Brant, Mohawk Indian Chief, born in Ohio.

Death of Antonio Vivaldi (the Red Priest), outstanding composer and musician.

February 13 1741 The first magazine in the New World was published. Benjamin Franklin and another Philadelphia printer, Andrew Bradford,had the same idea at the same time, but Bradford published three days before Franklin.

1742

April 13 1742 The first public performance of Handel's "Messiah" took place, in Dublin.

1743

John Coustos questioned and tortured by the Inquisition in Portugal because he was a Mason.

"…The Royal Arch carried by two excellent Masons…"- Faulkner’s Journal dated 10-14 January.

Masonry introduced in Denmark. A duly constituted lodge, however, was not started until October 25, 1745, when a warrant was issued by the Grand Lodge of England.

Joseph Balsamo born. He later took the name Count Cagliostro and organized an Egyptian rite of Freemasonry for men and women. He became the most notorious "Masonic" charlatan. He was imprisoned on Rome for the "crime" of being a freemason and died in prison.

Birth of Sir Joseph Banks, scientist and Freemason

The first American town meeting was held at Faneuil Hall (The Cradle of Liberty) in Boston.

1744

Fifield Dassigny published 'A serious and Impartial Inquiry into the Cause of the Present Decay of Freemasonry in the Kingdom of Ireland'. It contains the oldest printed reference to Royal Arch Masonry of Jerusalem degree.

Death of Alexander Pope (English poet and satirist).

1745

Le Sceau Rompu – first mention of the Ineffable Name within a Golden Triangle ("JEOVA"), within the context of Hiram’s grave.

1746

John Coustos published 'The Sufferings of John Coustos for Freemasonry'. It was a firsthand report on the methods of the Inquisition.

Notable Freemasons:
John Paul Jones born.

The Scottish Jacobite Rebellion is crushed at the bloody Battle of Culloden.
The rebels hoped to place the son (the Old Pretender) of King James II on the throne.

1749

First lodge formed in Canada.

Thomas Oxnard, Provincial Grand Master, issued charter to St. John's Lodge. Newport, Rhode Island. This was the first lodge in that State.

Franklin appointed Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania.

Birth of Dr Edward Jenner,
Vaccinator, Freemason
In 1980, as a result of Jenner's discovery, the World Health Assembly officially declared the world and its peoples free from endemic smallpox

1750

Freemasonry introduced in Poland.

Thomas Oxnard, Provincial Grand Master, issued charter to the first lodge in Maryland.

On January 17, Joseph Torrubia secured permission of the Pope to become a mason. He was a Roman Catholic priest living in Spain and wanted to spy on the Masons. As a result of his joining the Craft he learned who belonged to the order and he caused their arrest and punishment by the Inquisition.

 Death of Johann Sebastian Bach.

1751

In March, Torrubia gave the list of ninety-seven lodges to the Grand Inquisitors.

On July 2, King Ferdinand VI suppressed the Order in Spain.

The Ancient "Antients" Grand Lodge of England was formed on July 17. This was formerly called a schism from the 1717 Grand Lodge. It was established by Sadler that it was founded by Irish Masons in protest against the attitude of the 1717 Grand Lodge. Robert Turner its first Grand Master in 1753.

The Royal Arch degree practised in its Craft Lodges.

Pope Benedict XIV issued the Bull 'Providas' against the Craft on May 18. Prior to his becoming Pope, it was claimed by Paul Duchaine in 1911 that he was made a Mason in his native Bologna.

The Chinese conquered Tibet.

1752

Laurence Dermott became Secretary of the Ancient Grand Lodge of England.

Earliest reference to a Royal Arch Mason in a Minute Book  - – Vernon Lodge No. 123, Coleraine, dated 16 April.

Notable Freemasons:
George Washington received his first degree on November 4 in "The Lodge at Fredericksburgh," Virginia.

1753

George Washington received his second degree on March 3, and his third degree on August 4.

Second charter issued on May 14 for a lodge in Rhode Island. The one issued in 1749 had been unused.

George Harrison appointed Provincial Grand Master of New York on January 9. He served for eighteen years and warranted some seventeen or eighteen lodges.

Earliest recorded conferment of the Royal Arch degree, in Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, Virginia, U.S.A.

1754

First known use of the term "the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason," in a certificate drawn by the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

Ancient and Accepted Rite allegedly first established in Clermont, France by Chevalier de Bonneville (existence dubious, no primary sources).

Notable Freemasons:
James Otis made a Mason in St. John's Lodge of Massachusetts. 
Famous for the words "Taxation without representation is tyranny."
He was one of the earliest and most prominent men of Massachusetts to speak out against colonial rule.

1755

Jeremy Gridley became Provincial Grand Master over the remaining parts of North America.

Notable Freemasons:
John Marshall born.

Samuel Johnson published his 'Dictionary'.

10,000 perished in the Great Lisbon earthquake on November 1.  The credulous believed it was brought about by divine justice; others saw it as an opportunity to rebuild and reorganize society on rational principles.

1756

Notable Freemasons:
General Henry (Light Horse Harry) Lee born. 
Served  in the Revolutionary War as one of Washington's generals. He was the father of Robert E. Lee

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 
noted musician and composer of Masonic music, especially "The Magic Flute", was born January 25.

The atrocity of 'The Black Hole of Calcutta' shocks the British public.

1757

Notable Freemasons:
Lafayette born in France.

Clive of India (Robert Clive) conquered Bengal for the British.

1757 British Admiral John Byng was executed by a firing squad on board HMS Monarch for supposed neglect of duty.

1758

"Strict Union" between the Grand Lodge of Ireland and the Ancients.

1759

England:
A Lodge at Exeter made a reference to the Royal Arch Degree in a manner to indicate that a lodge was conferring that degree.

Notable Freemasons
Robert Burns born.

Notable Freemasons
General James Wolfe dies at the Battle of Quebec City, but triumphs. Sir Guy Carleton (also a Freemason) is wounded

Astronomer Sir Edmond Halley predicted the return of Halley's Comet.

Death of George Frederick Handel.

January 15 1759 The world's first public museum opened in London as The British Museum. It originally allowed only thirty visitors per day, and is now the largest museum in Britain, with over four million visitors annually.

1760

Three Distinct Knocks – exposure revealing that the secrets of a Master Mason could only be divulged through the following three working simultaneously together: Solomon, King of Israel; Hiram, King of Tyre and Hiram Abiff. The three assassins named as ‘Jubela’, ‘Jubelo’ and ‘Jubelum’.

1761

A number of lodges in Pennsylvania, on July 15 organized a Grand Lodge and soon thereafter received a charter from the Ancient Grand Lodge. It was called the York Grand Lodge.

Notable Freemasons:
John Warren prominent Surgeon and co-founder of Massachusetts General Hospital, and brother of General Joseph Warren made a Mason in the Lodge of St. Andrew, Boston.

The Provincial Grand Master of New York issued a warrant to St. John's Lodge of Newark, New Jersey, and it was constituted on May 13. It was the first lodge in New Jersey.

The Grand Consistory of Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret, of Paris, granted a Patent to Stephen Morin, on August 27, to carry the Rite of Perfection to America.

1762 

Catherine II (The Great) became Tsarina.

1763

Germany: Masonic Congress held at Jena.

Josiah Wedgewood patented his new pottery process.

Austria was defeated in the Seven Years' War, and loses Silesia.

The Treaty of Paris is signed, confirming Britain's dominance in North America. France smarts for revenge, which will come when France allies with the young American state in 1778.

1764 

Death of William Hogarth, painter and savage political cartoonist.

1765

Notable Freemasons:
General Benedict Arnold was made a Mason in Connecticut. 
Arnold was a highly successful American Revolutionary War general who went over to the British Army, becoming America's most famous traitor.

1766

Jeremy Gridley, Provincial Grand Master, warranted a lodge at Crown Point, North Carolina. It was called First Lodge.

Charter of Compact dated 22 July – document signed by Lord Blayney. First distinct Royal Arch Grand Chapter, belonging to the ‘Moderns’ (1717).

1767

First lodge established in China by the Grand Lodge of England.

On December 30, Henry Price sent a deputation to Thomas Cooper of North Carolina in which he declared himself as "Grand Master of the Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of all such places in North America where no other Grand Master is appointed."

Notable Freemasons:
Andrew Jackson born, 
First Grand Master to be President of the United States.

1769

Notable Freemasons:
John Wilkes made a Mason by Jerusalem Lodge (Now #197). He was in prison at the time.

Earliest Minute (dated 1 September) of the making of ‘Mark Masons and Mark Masters’ at the Royal Arch Chapter of Friendship, Portsmouth. Grand Mark Lodge formed in 1856.

Earliest known record of the conferring of the Masonic Order of Knights Templar, on August 28, in St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, Boston, Massachusetts.

The Grand Lodge of Scotland appointed Joseph Warren as Provincial Grand Master. He set up St. Andrew's Grand Lodge with three member lodges; one had an Irish chapter.

First Lodge, Portland #1, established in Maine on May 8. Maine was part of Massachusetts until 1820.

1770

Notable Freemasons:
John Paul Jones, 
famous naval commander, made a Mason in St. Bernard's Lodge, Scotland.

Captain James Cook (a Freemason) claims New Zealand and Australia for Britain.

1771

Thomas Smith Webb born, October 13, Boston, Massachusetts. He became an outstanding ritualist.

The Grand Master of England, on January 14, appointed Colonel Joseph Montfort of Halifax, North Carolina, "Provincial Grand Master of and for America." (Surprising because Henry Price was still active.)

1772

First lodge formed in South Africa.

William Preston published "Illustration of Free Masonry" which went through seventeen editions by 1861.

Poland divided between Russia and Prussia.

1773

The minutes of St Andrew's Lodge of Boston, for December, disclose that there were few members present and it was necessary to adjourn. There is also evidence that men dressed as Indians left the building where the lodge was meeting on the night of the Boston Tea Party.

"Strict Union" between the Grand Lodge of Scotland and the Moderns.

Grand Lodge formed in France called the Grand Loge National.

January 17 1773 The first ship crossed the Antarctic Circle. Captain James Cook sailed there on a voyage of exploration.

1774

Unity Lodge organized in Savannah, Georgia.

Ill-starred Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette succeeded to the throne.

Ill-starred Warren Hastings became Governor-General of India.

1775

Notable Freemasons:
General Joseph Warren killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, on June 17.
Freemasons erected a monument in his honor on Bunker Hill, which was later replaced by the current obelisk.
At the time of his death, he was Grand Master of Masons in Massachusetts.

Edward Gibbon, author of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", made a Mason in Friendship Lodge #6, London, England.

James Monroe became an EA November 9 1775 in St John's Regimental Lodge. He later joined Williamsburg Lodge No. 6.
Governor of Virginia 1799-1802
The second Presudent of the USA who was a Mason.
On his death, he had been a Mason for 56 years.

"Spirit of Masonry" by William Hutchinson was published. The first book on Masonic Philosophy expressing the view that the Craft as a Christian association.

Ferdinand IV, King of the Two Sicilies, issued an edict against Freemasonry.

Edmund Burke urged reconciliation with America in a House of Commons speech.

April 19^th 1775 The first battle of the Revolutionary War at Lexington & Concord.

23 Mar 1775 Patrick Henry delivered a moving speech, "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death."

1776

Masonic Hall was dedicated on Great Queen Street, London, England.

Adam Weishaupt organized The Illuminati in Bavaria May 1.

1776 Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations.

Feb 17 1776 First volume of Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" was published

1777

The friends of Joseph Warren organized the Massachusetts Grand Lodge. From that day to 1792, there were two Grand Lodges in the State of Massachusetts.

January 12 1777 Settlement proceeded apace in the West, oblivious of the struggle in the East. Padre Thomas Peña, under the direction of Padre Junípero Serra, founded Mission Santa Clara de Asis (Santa Clara).

1778

Notable Freemasons:
Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire 
French philosopher and author made a Mason in the Lodge of the Nine Muses, Paris, April 7. 
Benjamin Franklin was present.  He died in the same year.

Grand Lodge of Virginia formed, October 13.

Prince Hall and 14 black men in Boston take part in a ceremony conducted by a John Batt, on March 6.

Death of Voltaire (a Freemason) and Rousseau, Enlightenment philosophers.

The first British convicts are transported to Australia.

January 18 1778 Explorer Captain James Cook visited the Hawaiian Islands, calling them the "Sandwich Islands" In honor of Lord Sandwich. The Hawaiian state flag reflects this heritage.

February 6 1778 The Treaty of Franco-American Alliance was signed. French participation was enormously helpful to the Revolution, and probably even decisive in the Americans' ultimate victory. As many as 12,000 French soldiers and 32,000 French sailors joined the fight against Britain.

February 14 1778 The American ship Ranger' carried the recently adopted Star and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in France

Feb 23 1778: Baron von Steuben joined the Continental Army at Valley Forge. Trained, disciplined, and reorganized by Steuben, it was a very different Continental Army that left Valley Forge in June to pursue the British across New Jersey.

On March 31, 1778, in his third voyage of exploration to the Pacific, Captain James Cook entered a large bay on the western coast of British Columbia. He anchored his vessels, HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery. A few aboriginal people approached his vessels in canoes and cried, "Itchem nutka, itchem nutka!" meaning, "Go around!" Not realizing that they were directing his ships to a sheltered cove, Cook assumed they were telling him the name of the area, so he named the waterway Nootka Sound.

December 29 1778 Savannah was captured by British troops.

1779

Unlawful Societies Act – repealed in 1967.

The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania met outside its borders and organized a lodge in Burlington, New Jersey.

Washington proposed (first time) as General Grand Master, by American-Union Lodge, December 15. Same proposal (second time) by Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, December 20.

February 14 1779 Explorer Captain James Cook was killed in Hawaii on his third voyage of discovery.

1780

Notable Freemasons:
Goethe became a Mason in Lodge Amalia.

Washington proposed as General Grand Master (third time) by Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, January 13.

October 2 1780. After the plans to West Point were found in his boot, British spy Major John Andre was hanged. In 1821 Andre's body was exhumed and reburied in Hero's Corner in Westminster Abbey.

1781

Charter issued by Massachusetts Grand Lodge, November 10, for the first lodge in territory which later became Vermont. Paul Revere signed the charter as Senior Grand Warden (he later became Grand Master.)

Grand Lodge of New York formed.

Notable Freemasons:
Robert Burns became a Mason at St. David's Lodge, Tarbolton, Scotland.

Lord Cornwallis, in command of the British army, surrenders to Washington at Yorktown.
His sword is accepted by General Benjamin Lincoln of Hingham, a prominent Freemason.

March 13 1781 Astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered a new planet, which he named "Georgium Sidus" (the Georgian Planet), in honor of King George III. Today it is known as Uranus.

1782

Robert Burns installed as Poet Laureate of Freemasonry in Canongate-Kilwinning Lodge, Scotland.

1783

Notable Freemasons:
Simon Bolivar born in Caracas, Venezuela. 
Called the 'The Liberator'
Bolivia was named after him.

1784

Second Grand Lodge of New York formed, February 4.

Charter issued to African Lodge No. 459 by the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns), September 29.

Masonic apron made by Madame Lafayette presented to George Washington.

Germany: Illuminati suppressed.

December 14th, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is initiated into Beneficence Lodge (Zur Wohlthatigkeit) in Vienna.

January 14 1784 Ratification of the Treaty of Paris made the USA a sovereign nation and officially ended the Revolutionary War.

January 7 1785 Jean-Pierre Blanchard crossed the English Channel in a hot air balloon in one of the first human flights.

1785

Notable Freemasons:
Jean Antoine Houdon sculpted a statue of Washington. 
He was member of Lodge of the Nine Muses, Paris.

April 1st, Leopold Mozart is initiated into his son's lodge: Beneficence Lodge (Zur Wohlthatigkeit) in Vienna.

1786

Grand Lodge of New Jersey formed December 18.

Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania formed September, 25.

1787

Grand Lodge of North Carolina formed April 17.

African Lodge #459, under the leadership of Prince Hall, met under a charter issued in 1784.

Grand Lodge of Georgia formed December 16.

1788

New York dropped the word "Provincial" from its Grand Lodge name.

Royal Masonic Institution for Girls started in England.

George Washington elected Worshipful Master of Alexandria Lodge (now Alexandria-Washington Lodge #22.

January 18 1788 The first European settlers landed in Australia. A fleet of eight ships from Portsmouth, England landed at Botany Bay. On board were 750 convicts sent by King George III and the British Government to colonize Australia.

1789

Grand Lodge of Connecticut formed July 8.

HRH The Prince of Wales elected Grand Master in England.
The status of Grand Masters has progressively escalated from Dr Desaguliers' time. The Earl of Montagu became GM, and later the Prince of Wales. The Prince of Wales was also 'Prince Regent (giving his name to the opulent Regency Period), becoming King George IV. The Prince of Wales was succeeded as Grand Master by his brother.

Notable Freemasons:
William Cushing appointed the first Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 
He was a member of St. Andrew's Lodge Boston.

Count Cagliostro, charlatan, arrested in Rome and convicted of being a Freemason. He died in prison years later.

Oath of office administered to Washington by Robert Livingston, Grand Master, using the Holy Bible of St. John's Lodge No. 1 New York. This bible was later used in the induction of new Presidents such as Eisenhower, George Bush and George W Bush.

Grand Lodge of New Hampshire formed July 8.

The Bastille was stormed, bringing on the French Revolution. As with the Russian revolution, The start of this conflict is celebrated by radical Europeans, reviled by others who believe that the flame will overtake all of Europe. The later excesses of the Revolution garner no praise from European philosophers.

1790

First US cotton mill established by Samuel Slater and ironmaster David Wilkinson in Pawtucket RI

April 10 1790 'Columbia' returned to Boston. It was the first US vessel to complete a circumnavigation of the globe

1791

Notable Freemasons:
William Paterson made a Mason in Trenton Lodge #5, New Jersey. 
He became a Supreme Court Judge in 1793.
Paterson, NJ is named for him.

Cornerstone of the District of Columbia (the first of forty stones) laid April 15 by Alexandria Lodge #22 Alexandria, Virginia.

Deaths of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (a Freemason) and John Wesley (founder of Methodism).
1792 Start of the first French Republic.

1792 

Apr 2 1792 Congress approved the Coinage Act, authorizing the first US Mint, in Philadelphia.

1793 

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette beheaded. Jean-Paul Marat beheaded after the Reign of Terror.

Hannah Wilkinson Slater became the first US woman to apply for a patent. 
Hannah was the wife of Samuel Slater (see 1790 entry).

1794

Paul Revere elected Grand Master of Massachusetts.

William J William painted the famous Masonic picture of George Washington.

Grand Lodge of Vermont formed October 4.

More victims fall to the guillotine: Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre.

March 14 1794 Eli Whitney received a patent for the Cotton Gin.

1795

Notable Freemasons:
James Knox Polk, eleventh President of the United States, born in North Carolina.

Notable Freemasons:
Commodore John Barry, 'Father of the US Navy' initiated in Lodge No. 2, Philadelphia, October 12.
(Interestingly, he was suspended NPD in 1800!)

The remaining part of Poland divided up by Prussia, Russia and Austria.

1796

Notable Freemasons:
Oliver Ellsworth became the third Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. 
He was a charter member of St. John's Lodge, Princeton, New Jersey.

Death of the noble Freemason and national poet, Robert Burns.

1797

George Washington wrote a letter to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in which he said: "My attachment to the Society of which we are members, will dispose me always to contribute my best endeavors to contribute to the honor & interest of the Craft."

Thomas Smith Webb published Freemason's Monitor which had a wide circulation and went through many editions.

1798

Royal Masonic Institution for Boys started in England.

 Royal Arch Masons established the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the Northern States of America, at Hartford, Connecticut.

Death of Freemason Giovanni Giacomo Casanova, the adventurer and fabled lover.

1799

Notable Freemasons:
Daniel O'Connell, Irish reformer, prominent Catholic and Parliamentarian, Lord Mayor of Dublin 1841, made a Mason in Lodge # 189, Dublin.

George Washington buried with Masonic honors.

Napoleon led a coup d'etat and is appointed Consul.

1800s

1800

Timothy Bigelow delivered an outstanding oration about George Washington as a Mason on February 11, before the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.

Grand Lodge of Kentucky formed October 16.

Andrew Jackson became honorary member of Harmony Lodge #1, Tennessee.

Parliamentary union of Britain and Ireland. The country became 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland'. The Union Jack was duly changed, assuming its present form.

Haiti becomes the first independent state in Latin America.

1801

Notable Freemasons:
Sir Walter Scott, famous novelist, 
was made a Mason in Lodge St. David, # 36, Edinburgh.

Notable Freemasons:
David Glasgow Farragut, Civil War Admiral famous for "Damn the torpedoes!" Born 1801 near Knoxville TN (which incidentally, was named for another Freemason, General Henry Knox)
His father, Major George Farragut was of Catalonian descent, and came to America in 1776.
It is not known which was DG Farragut's home lodge, but he was a frequent visitor to Naval Lodge No. 87 in Vallejo.
It might be that he became a Mason on Malts, while he was serving there in 1818.

Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was established at Charleston, South Carolina.

Emperor Francis II prohibited Masonry in Austria.

1802

Irish Masonic Female Orphan School founded.

Notable Freemasons
Isaiah Thomas became Grand Master of Massachusetts in 1802.
He served from 1802-05 and again for one year in 1809.
Printer, writer, revolutionary war patriot.
Author of 'A History of Printing in America'.
Founded the newspaper Massachusetts Spy in Boston in 1770.
This publication was too controversial in the pre-Revolutionary days, and Isaiah Thomas had to move his press to Worcester, west of Boston, to escape punishment.

1803

Death of Dr Edward Jenner,
Vaccinator, Freemason
In 1980, as a result of Jenner's discovery, the World Health Assembly officially declared the world and its peoples free from endemic smallpox

1804

21 Mar 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte enacted the French Civil Code (of law).

1806

Grand Lodge of Delaware formed on June 6 with Gunning Bedford as Grand Master. He had been a good friend of Washington.

Masonry introduced in Finland.

The Grand Lodge Pennsylvania issued a charter to Western Star Lodge, the first in Illinois, on June 2.

Final stages of organization of General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons for the United States of America on January 9 at Middleton, Connecticut.

1807

Earliest authentic evidence of conferring of Royal Master's degree in Columbia Council #1 of New York.

Albert Gallatin Mackey born in Charleston, South Carolina.

Notable Freemasons:
Giuseppe Garibaldi born in Nice, France. 
Liberator of Italy.
He became an active Mason.

Joseph Cerneau, a Frenchman, came from Cuba to the Untied States. He sought to establish bodies to confer the degrees of the Scottish Rite. His spurious activity caused much trouble and he left for France around 1827.

First Masonic Hall purchased in Scotland.

Lodge of Promulgation formed in England and lasted until 1811. It was intended to report on the differences on the ritual between the Moderns and the Ancients.

Albert Pike born in Boston, Massachusetts.

25 Mar 1807 Britain outlawed the Slave Trade throughout its colonies.

Feb 27 1807 Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine ( part of Massachusetts at the time.)

1810

Masonry introduced in Portugal and persecuted shortly thereafter.

1811

Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia formed January 8.

1812

Grand Lodge of Louisiana formed, January 12.

First lodge chartered in Alabama.

April 13 1812 "Marmion" was staged in NYC. It was a dramatization of the poem by Sir Walter Scott. Since the US was at war with Britain, the anti-English sentiments held great appeal for New York audiences.

1813

Grand Lodge of Tennessee formed December 27.

Act of Union between the two rival Grand Lodges on 27 December: the ‘Moderns’ (1717) and the ‘Antients’ (1751).  Formation of The United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons, H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex being the first Grand Master.

Articles of Union declared that the Royal Arch degree be the completion of the Master Mason degree. The Royal Arch elements contained within the two bodies were merged together in 1817.

Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite established.

December 29 1813 Crown Forces burned Buffalo, NY.

1814

The Grand Lodge of Ireland, England and Scotland signed the "International Compact" in which they agree on the basic points of Masonry.

Masonic Manual by Reverend Jonathan Ashe published.

1814 Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as Emperor of France and was banished to the island of Elba.

1815

New book of Constitutions issued by the United Grand Lodge of England.

The Grand Lodge of Maryland laid the cornerstone of the Washington Monument in Baltimore. The Governor of the State acted as Grand Master.

January 30 1815 The Library Of Congress, destroyed by Crown Forces in 1814, was restored by the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's personal library for $23,940. The new collection of 6,487 volumes included more than twice as many books as the former library, in a much wider range of fields.

January 8, 1815 The Battle of New Orleans ended in defeat for the Crown Forces, and ended 'Mr Madison's War'. Ironically the war was fought at the same time peace treaty talks were proceeding in Paris.

Feb 26 1815 Napoleon escaped exile from the island of Elba.

1816

Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland formed.

1817

Grand Lodge of South Carolina formed.

District Deputy Grand Master appointed in Pennsylvania.

1818

Robert Morris born near Boston, Massachusetts. He became a famous Masonic author.

Grand Lodge of Indiana formed January 12.

Grand Lodge of Mississippi formed July 27.

Salem Town published his System of Speculative Masonry.

The Grand Lodge South Carolina issued a warrant to Cuba, and became the Mother of Masonry in that island.

April 4 1818 Congress adopted a new US Flag with thirteen stripes and twenty stars.

1819

Jeremy L Cross published the True Masonic Chart.

Simon Greenleaf published a Brief Inquiry into the Origin and Principles of Free Masonry.

Grand Lodge of Maine formed June 1.

Ancient and Accepted Rite first established in England.

Notable Freemasons:
James K Polk, eleventh President of the United States, was made a Mason in Columbus Lodge #1, Tennessee.

Grand Lodge of Alabama formed June 11.

Grand Lodge of Missouri formed April 24.

Pope Pius VII issued his Bull 'Ecclesiam', September 13.

February 6 1819 Singapore was founded by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company.

Feb 22 1819 Florida was ceded to the US by Spain with the signing of the Adams-Onis Treaty. Signed by John Quincy Adams, the agreement included a payment to Spain of five million dollars.

1820

Death of Sir Joseph Banks, scientist and Freemason

1822

First Grand Lodge of Illinois formed December 11.

Notable Freemasons:
Andrew Jackson became Grand Master of Tennessee, October 7. 
He became the seventh President of the United States.

1823

England: "Grand Lodge of Wigan" formed by four erased lodges of Lancashire. It constituted six lodges during its existence. It ceased to exist in 1866 after many years of dormancy.

1824

Lafayette visited many lodges in his travels in the United States and was made an Honorary Member of the Grand Lodge of Maryland.

Ferdinand VII (Spain) decreed the death of all Masons without trial, August 1.

1824 English poet Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron) died of a fever in Missolonghi, Greece, while aiding Greek rebels fighting against the Turks.

1825

Pope Leo XII issued his Bull Qui Graviora. March 13, directed against the Craft.

Richard Carlile, Manual of Freemasonry – first exposure to give details of the Royal Arch degree and to quote the Ineffable Name ("JAO-BUL-ON").

1826

William Morgan of Batavia, New York, signed a contract on March 13 to write a book exposing the secrets of Freemasonry. He disappeared. The book was published. The combination of unfortunate circumstances brought about the formation of the Anti-Masonic political party.

On February 23, the Spanish government executed a person accused of being a Mason.

Reverend George Oliver published Signs and Symbols.

1827

So-called Nova Scotia Masonic Stone dated 1606 discovered. Now known not to be Masonic, it is in the wall of the Canadian Institute, Toronto, but lost to sight as it is covered with plaster.

Feb 28 1827 The beginning of a new age. The Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company was incorporated, the

first railroad in America chartered to carry passengers and freight.

March 29 1827 Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was buried in Vienna amidst a crowd of over 10,000 mourners.

1828

The Grand Lodge of Maryland laid the first stone of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.

Webster's "An American Dictionary of the English Language" was published. It included for Americanisms such as skunk, hickory, and chowder.

Formal organization of the Anti-Masonic political party in February at New York.

1829

Pope Pius VII issued his Bull Traditi, on May 21, directed against the Craft.

1830

Grand Lodge of Florida formed July 6.

1831

William Florence was born in Albany, New York. 
He conceived the idea for the Shrine while on a trip in Northern Africa.

1832

Pope Gregory XVI issued his Bull Mirari on August 15,directed against the Craft.

John James Joseph Gourgas named the first Sovereign Grand Commander upon the formation of the Northern Masonic jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite.

1834

Notable Freemasons:
Frederick Auguste Bartholdi born in France. 
He was the moving spirit and designer of the Statue of Liberty.

1835

The printer George Claret publishes the first Ritual to be accepted as a Lodge Manual and not to be dismissed as an exposure, the most important publication being The Ceremonies….(1838). The genesis of printed formularies.

Notable Freemasons:
"Mark Twain" (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) born in Missouri.

1836

First Book of Constitutions issued in Scotland.

Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana laid siege to the Alamo, a Spanish mission in San Antonio, Texas. Inside were more than 100 Texas Revolutionary defenders, many of whom were Freemasons.

Feb 25 1836 Samuel Colt received a patent for his 'Revolver'

1837

Grand Lodge Liberty started in England.

Grand Lodge of Texas formed December 20.

Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne.

1838

Grand Lodge of Arkansas formed November 21.

Benevolent Institution founded for aged and needy masons in England. It was Grand Lodge's third charitable project.

1839

James Halliwell discovered the Regius Manuscript in the British Museum. It is the earliest of the known Masonic Constitutions, transcribed about 1390. It was discovered in the collections of the British Museum by Halliwell, who published it, realizing it for what it was. It was previously cataloged as "A Poem of Moral Duties". Interestingly enough, Halliwell was not a Mason.

It is known as The Regius MS because it was part of the Royal Library commenced by King Henry VII and presented to the British Museum by King George II (hence the tooling on the cover).

1841

Notable freemasons:
Franz Liszt, famous composer and pianist, was made a Mason in Union Lodge, Frankfurt, Germany.

1842

First lodge formed in New Zealand.

Lodge constituted at Nauvoo, Illinois, March 15.

Notable Freemasons:
Joseph Smith, Mormon prophet, was made a Mason at sight in Nauvoo Lodge and their charter was suspended, August 11.

Orphan's Friends Lodge #17, Texas established a school which, apparently, was the first fathered by a Masonic lodge.

1843

Grand Lodge of Iowa formed January 8.

Grand Lodge of Wisconsin formed December 18.

1844

Grand Lodge of Michigan formed September 17.

1845

Cornelius Moore established the Masonic Review and published it for fifty years.

Albert Gallatin Mackey published A Lexicon of Freemasonry.

Ancient and Accepted Rite rescued due to Doctors Crucefix and Leeson – the only Masonic Ritual based within a New Testament context and its Supreme Council originally situated in 33 John St ("bound by its Constitutions to have no jurisdiction whatever over the Craft degrees").

Notable Freemasons:
George Mifflin Dallas became Vice President of the United States.
The city of Dallas was named for him. 

1846

Pope Pius IX issued has Bull Qui Fluribus, November 9, directed against the Craft.

1847

Publication of Letters on the Masonic Institution by John Quincy Adams. They were anti-Masonic.

Thomas De Quincey wrote an essay, Secret Societies, in which he made unfounded assumptions and concluded that Masonry was an evil association.

Notable Freemasons:
President Polk, helped lay the cornerstone of the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington DC on May 1.

1848

Cornerstone of the Washington Monument, Washington DC laid by Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, July 4, Grand Master Benjamin B French.

First charter for lodge West of the Rockies arrived in Oregon City.

1849

Pope Pius IX issued his Bull Quibus quantisque Malis, April 20, directed against the Craft.

Grand Lodge of Virginia laid the cornerstone of the George Washington monument in Richmond, Virginia.

Famous Freemasons:
Luther Burbank, pioneer horticulturist, born. 
He became a member of Santa Rosa Lodge #57, California.

1850

Lodge constituted in Arabia, August 5, by Grand Lodge of Scotland.

Degrees of the Eastern Star prepared by Robert Morris, of Kentucky, and first conferred on his wife.

Grand Lodge of California formed April 19.

1851

Second cornerstone beginning House and Senate wings of United States Capitol was laid by the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia with Grand Master Benjamin B French.

Notable Freemasons:
Lew Wallace, famous Civil War General and author of Ben Hur, was made a Mason in Fountain Lodge #60, Covington, Indiana, January 15.

Andrew Johnson 
became a Mason in Greenville Lodge # 119 (now #3), Tennessee. 
He became President of the United States on Lincoln's death.

Grand Lodge of Oregon formed September 15.

Gerard de Nerval, Journey To The Orient – describing the Hiram Abiff Legend, hearing it from a Persian raconteur in a Constantinople coffee-house.

1852

Queen Victoria became Patroness of the Masonic Boys School.

1853

Congress of American Lodges held at Lexington, Kentucky.

Grand Lodge of Minnesota formed February 24.

Robert Morris published Lights and Shadows of Freemasonry.

1854

Notable Freemasons:
Kit Carson was made a Mason in Montezuma Lodge No. 109 (Missouri Register), Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory.
Carson City, NV was named for him, as was the first Masonic Lodge in Nevada, Carson No. 1  Lodge

More literally, Carson City was named for the River Carson. The river was named by John C Fremont for his scout Kit Carson in the 1843-44 exploration.

1855

Robert Morris compiled and published the Universal Masonic Library; thirty volumes of many classics of the Craft.

1856

Albert Gallatin Mackey published Principles of Masonic Law which went through many editions. It is known as Masonic Jurisprudence.

Grand Lodge of Kansas formed March 17.

Notable Freemasons:
Admiral Robert Peary born. 
He explored the North Pole. He was a member of Kane Lodge, New York.

1857

Grand Lodge of Nebraska formed September 23.

Grand Lodge of Washington state formed December 8.

Sylvanus Cobb, Jr. wrote The Caliph of Bagdad; a novel with Masonic significance.

1859

Masonic Hall dedicated in Edinburgh.

First lodge chartered in British Columbia.

George W. Chase wrote Digest of Masonic Law which went through many editions.

1860

First publication of the ritual of the Eastern Star.

Notable Freemasons:
William Jennings Bryan, born in Salem, Illinois (March 19, 1860). 
Trained as a lawyer, he never abandoned his Midwestern values. His deeply held religious beliefs and consistent defense of the ordinary American earned him the sobriquet "The Great Commoner'. He was famous as perennial candidate for office of President of the United States. Though popular, Bryant lost to McKinley in 1896, again in 1900, and to Taft in 1908. He wielded considerable political influence, helping Wilson secure the party nomination in 1912. He served as Secretary of State under Wilson, and resigned when war broke out, because he was a Pacifist.

Robert Morris, of Kentucky, on June 24, wrote to leaders of the Craft proposing the establishment of the Conservators of the ritual to establish its uniformity. It became the source of much internal strife within the Craft and brought much abuse to one who had labored long and hard in the quarries.

1861

JG Findel wrote History of Freemasonry, the first English edition being published in 1865.

Notable Freemasons:
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) wit, writer, essayist was made a Mason in Polar Star Lodge #79, St Louis, Missouri.

James Abram Garfield was made a Mason in Magnolia Lodge #20, Columbus, Ohio. 
He became the twentieth President of the United States.

Grand Lodge of Colorado formed August 2.

1862

First Masonic meeting in Wyoming: July 4 on top of Independence Rock.

Notable Freemasons:
Charles Sherwood Stratton, known as Tom Thumb, was made a Mason in St. John's Lodge #3 Bridgeport, Connecticut.

1863

Following the first day of battle at Gettysburg, the Blue and the Gray met, July 1, at the local lodge and mingled peacefully.

1864

Garibaldi united all the Masonic groups in Italy, May 21-24.

Pope Pius IX issued his Bull Quanta Cura, December 8, directed against the Craft.

First lodge in Idaho chartered on August 9.

1865

Freemason's Hall opened in Dublin.

Pope Pius IX issued his Bull Multiplices Intern, September 25, directed against the Craft.

Grand Lodge of West Virginia formed April 12.

1866

Second Freemasons' Hall opened in London.

Lodge formed in Japan by the Grand Lodge of England.

The Grand Lodge of Kentucky erected the Masonic Widows' and Orphans' home in Louisville. It was the first home of its kind.

Grand Lodge of Montana formed July 24.

Robert Macoy, of New York, published a widely circulated ritual of the Eastern Star.

1867

Grand Lodge of Idaho formed December 17.

1869

Masonic Boys' School started in Ireland.

Albert Gallatin Mackey wrote Symbolism of Freemasonry.

Pope Pius IX his Bull Apostolicae Sedis, October 12, directed against the Craft.

1871

Notable Freemasons:
William F Cody (Buffalo Bill)  was made a Mason in Platte Valley Lodge #32, Nebraska.

William S Gilbert (Gilbert and Sullivan) was made a Mason in Lodge St. Michael #54, Scotland. 
Both Gilbert and Sullivan were prominent Masons.

Albert Pike wrote Morals and Dogma.

1872

First official meeting of Mecca Temple, September 26, in New York. This was the beginning of the Shrine. The guiding spirits were William J Florence and Dr Walter M Fleming.

Grand Lodge of Utah formed January 16.

1873

Pope Pius IX issued his Bull Et si Multa, November 21, directed against the Craft.

Grand Lodge of Indian Territory formed October 6.

1874

Grand Lodge of Wyoming formed December 15.

1875

Grand Lodge of Dakota Territory formed July 21.

Notable Freemasons
Captain Matthew Webb was the first to swim across the English Channel, from England to France.
He was a Master with the Cunard Line, before choosing to become a professional endurance swimmer in 1874.

On August 24th 1875 smeared in porpoise oil, he dived into the water at Dover. 
Twenty-one hours and 45 minutes later he waded ashore at Calais.
Webb continued to earn money from his swimming strengths. He won large sums of money from races off Manhattan and also beat US champion Paul Boyton in a "World Championship Race" off Nantasket Beach in Hull, south of Boston. He also won £1,000 for floating in a tank of water at Boston Horticultural Show for 128 hours. Webb died on July 24th 1883 when he drowned in a whirlpool at the foot of Niagara Falls.

1877

Notable Freemasons
Cecil J Rhodes made a Mason in University Lodge #357, Oxford, England. 
He established the Rhodes scholarships.
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was named after him.

The Grand Orient of France eliminated from its Constitution the reference to God, and admitted atheists. This placed French lodges in a difficult position and most Grand Lodges withdrew recognition.

Grand Lodge of New Mexico formed August 6.

1880

Religion of Freemasonry by Josiah Whymper published. It sought to show the Craft as a Christian association.

Gould's History of Freemasonry published. This was a milestone on Masonic historical research.

1881

Notable Freemasons:
John Philip Sousa musician and bandmaster composer of famous marches, was made a Mason in Hiram Lodge #10, Washington DC.

1882

First Alberta lodge chartered.

Grand Lodge of Arizona formed March 25.

1884

Robert Morris designated poet laureate of Freemasonry.

Pope Leo XIII issued his Bull Humanum Genus, April 20, directed against the Craft.

1885

Masonic Relief Association of the United States and Canada held first convention and elected officers.

1886

Notable Freemasons:
Rudyard Kipling, writer, poet, Masonic writer,made a Mason in Hope and Perseverance Lodge #782, Lahore, India.

Quatuor Coronati Lodge #2076, the first Masonic research lodge, was established in London.

1887

Notable Freemasons:
Sir Arthur Sullivan (Gilbert) and Sullivan) served as Grand Organist of the Grand Lodge of England.

1888

Publication of the first transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge #2076 of London. 
They have been published yearly to the present time.

Notable Freemasons:
John Joseph Pershing made a mason in Lincoln Lodge #19, Nebraska. 
He was Commander-in-Chief of the Army in France in World War I.

Irving Berlin, famous songwriter, born in Russia.
Member of Munn Lodge #190, New York.

1889

Grand Lodges of North Dakota and South Dakota formed June 12.

1890

Nathaniel Pitt Langford published Vigilante Days and Ways in which he explained how the Craft organized law and order in Montana. He was Grand Master in 1869.

Frank S Land born in Kansas City, Missouri. He organized the Order of DeMolay.

1892

Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory formed November 10.

1893

Masonic Congress held in Chicago, Illinois.

Clarence M. Boutelle wrote The Man of Mount Moriah, a famous Masonic novel.

Notable Freemasons:
 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle creator of Sherlock Holmes, became a Mason on Phoenix Lodge #257, Portsmouth.

1894

Anti-Masonic Bureau established by Pope Leo XIII.

1895

Jose Marti was killed by Spanish troops on May 19 1895.
A lawyer by training, Marti was a prominent Freemason and leader of the fight for Cuban independence.

1896

Notable Freemasons:
Robert Edwin Peary, discoverer of the North Pole, made a Mason in Kane Lodge #454, New York.

The Tract Association of Friends (Quakers) of Philadelphia, issued an anti-Masonic tract called Secret Societies.

1898

Notable Freemasons:
John Wanamaker pioneer department store magnate, made a Mason at Sight by the Grand Master of Pennsylvania, March 30.
Said "Half my advertising is wasted. I just don't know which half."

Bro Norman Vincent Peale was born on May 31.
A prominent religious thinker and promoter of Freemasonry, he was known (inter alia) for his book 'The Power of Positive Thinking', published 1952. Dr Peale served for a long time as Grand Chaplain of the NY Grand Lodge. He was raised in Milbourne Lodge 1062 in Brooklyn.

1899

Hamilton Lodge #120, New York founded the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm, called the Grotto.

1901

Notable Freemasons:
Theodore Roosevelt was made a Mason in Matinecock Lodge #806, New York.

1902
Notable Freemasons:
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, Statesman, historian, author.
Initiated in Studholme Lodge No. 1591 in London, raised March 25, 1902 in Rosemary Lodge No. 2851

1904

April 8 1904 The 'Entente Cordiale' was signed by France and England to end centuries of strife.

1906

Notable Freemasons:
Will Rogers was made a Mason in Claremont Lodge #53, Oklahoma.

1909

Notable Freemasons:
William Howard Taft was made a Mason at sight. He was President-elect at the time.

Harry S Truman was made a Mason in Belton Lodge #450, Missouri. 
He later became the thirty-third President of the United States.

Tyrus Raymond Cobb, famous baseball player, was made a Mason in Royston Lodge #426, Georgia.

Grand Lodge of Oklahoma formed February 10.

1910

Meeting held at Alexandria, Virginia, February 22, resulted in the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association being formed and the adoption of a resolution to erect a memorial to George Washington.

1911

Notable Freemasons:
Franklin D Roosevelt was made a Mason in Holland Lodge #8, New York.

Cornerstone of new home of Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, was laid in Washington DC.

1913

The Catholic Encyclopedia was published. It has an article on Freemasonry by the Abbe Gruber, a Jesuit who made anti-masonry his life's work.

1918

Conference held at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, November 26-28, which resulted in the formation of The Masonic Service Association of the United States.

1919

The Grand Master of Rhode Island gave a dispensation for Overseas Lodge, April 24, with petitions only of men in the armed services accepted while it operated in Europe.

1920

The Shrine adopted a resolution to establish hospitals for crippled children.

1922

Notable Freemasons:
Eddie Rickenbacker was made a Mason in Kilwinning Lodge #297, Detroit, Michigan.

1923

Grand Fascist Council issued first resolution against Freemasonry, February 13.

First Short Talk Bulletin issued by the Masonic Service Association, entitled "Paul Revere," written by Jacob Hugo Tatsch.

Cornerstone of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial laid November 1.

1925

Imperial Council of the Shrine was incorporated in Colorado to administer the affairs of the national organization.

First Grand Masters' Conference of the present series held November 17 in Chicago. Meetings have been held every year since. Proceedings have been printed since 1929.

Notable Freemasons
Harold Lloyd became a Freemason in Alexander Hamilton Lodge No. 535, Hollywood, CA
He joined the York Rite and Scottish rite, and Al Malaikah Shrine.
He became Imperial Potentate of the Shrine at a highly public ceremony at Soldier Field in Chicago, with a crowd of 90,000 onlookers, including the President (and fellow Shriner) Harry S Truman.

1926

The Salvation Army issued "Confidential" communication to its officers expressing opposition to secret societies.

The Fascists confiscated property of the Craft in Italy, January 9.

1928

First Conference of Grand Secretaries' held in Washington DC February 21.

1931

Masonic meetings prohibited in Portugal by order of the police.

1932

Dedication of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, Shooter's Hill, Alexandria, Virginia.

Third cornerstone of the United States Capitol laid, September 18, by Grand Master Reuben A Bogley of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia.

United States Government Washington Bi-Centennial Commission, Hon. Sol Bloom, Chairman, published Washington's Home and Fraternal Life, and sent a reproduction of the Burdette painting of Washington to every lodge in United States.

1935

Notable Freemasons:
Earl Warren became Grand Master of California. 
He became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

1936

Notable Freemasons:
General Douglas MacArthur was made a Mason at Sight, at Manila, Philippine Islands. 

1937

Notable freemasons:
King George VI of England was crowned on May 12, 1937

Bro Albert Windsor was was invested as Past Grand Master.  He was initiated into Naval Lodge 2612 in 1919. In 1922 he became Senior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge, and was elected in 1936 as Grand Master of Scotland. He died in 1952 and was succeeded as monarch by his daughter, Elizabeth (HM Queen Elizabeth II).

George C Marshall was made Mason at Sight, Washington DC.

Harry S Truman became Grand Master in Missouri.

1942

Notable Freemasons
James Harold Doolittle led bombing raid on Tokyo. 
He was member of Hollenbeck Lodge #319, Los Angeles, California.

1946

First issues of The Philalethes, official magazine of the Philalethes Society published.

1947

Committee of Grand Lodge of Massachusetts reported that Prince Hall Freemasonry was regular in origin. This caused some difficulty and in 1949 the report was rescinded.

1949

The Spanish Government included an item in its budget to spend almost $100,000 for maintenance of a special tribunal to suppress Masonry.

Lodge in Hungary dissolved.

1951

The January issue of Theology, an English magazine, published an article "Should a Christian be a Freemason?" by the Rev. Walton Hannah. It was the beginning of a storm within the Anglican Church and resulted in the publication of an expose by Hannah.

1952

On November 4, the Grand Lodge of Virginia celebrated the 200th Anniversary of George Washington's initiation.

In remodeling the White House, many stones were found which bore carvings of Masonic symbols. These were delivered to the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia for presentation, one to each Grand Lodge in the United States.

1953

Eisenhower took oath of office on Bible of St. John's Lodge, New York; the same Bible used when George Washington took his oath of office.

Grand Lodge of the State of Israel consecrated October 20 by Grand Lodge of Scotland.

1954

Freemasonry re-established in Finland.

Masons imprisoned in Spain.

1955

Masons of the armed forces of US formed Masonic Club with a hospital to aid children in Pusan, Korea.

1956

The February 23 issue of the Christian Science Monitor had a long, favorable article about the Craft.

The High Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church petitioned the Ministry of the Interior to withdraw government recognition of the Craft.

The Church of the Nazarene stated it was opposed to the Craft.

Two Cuban Masonic stamps issued, June 5.

The issue of October 8 of Life magazine was devoted to Freemasonry.

1957

Grand Lodge of Japan formed.

A court ruled in England that Freemasonry is not a religion.

Meeting of Lutheran Churches failed to achieve unity because of opposition by one group to membership in Lodges by its members.

July 6 Cornerstone of the Truman Memorial Library laid by Grand Lodge of Missouri. Earl Warren was main speaker. Truman and Hoover were present.

1959

Freemasons lay the cornerstone for the extension of US Capitol, in Washington. Vocal opposition from the Knights of Columbus.

Twenty-one Masons were Imprisoned in Spain under a March 1, 1940 law.

1960

Statue of Washington with Masonic regalia dedicated on New Orleans on February 8.

Grand Lodge of Belgium formed.

A news item reports that fourteen Masons are still imprisoned in Spain.

1961

New Grand Lodge formed in India, on November 24.

Grand Lodge of Cuba in exile approved in Florida.

1962

Masonic Unity meeting with all Masonic group leaders held is in Maine, December 7.

Liberty Lodge #70 formed in Biarritz, France, as a traveling lodge to serve Spanish Masons.

On December 7, Bishop Mendez Arceo, of Cuernavaca, Mexico, at the Vatican Council raised the question of the relations between the Church and the Craft.

1963

D. Knoop, G.P. Jones & D. Hamer, The Early Masonic Catechisms, Manchester University Press.

On April 9, 1963 President Kennedy signed a Congressional bill containing these words: 
"I, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America, under the authority contained in an Act of the 88th Congress, do hereby declare Sir Winston Churchill an honorary citizen of the United States of America." 
Never before had a person been granted honorary US citizenship. 
Concluding his personal message on signing the bill, President Kennedy said, "By adding his name to our rolls, we mean to honor him -- but his acceptance honors us far more. For no statement or proclamation can enrich his name - the name Sir Winston Churchill is already legend."

1964

Grand Master William H Quasha, of the Philippines, made two trips to Rome to explain the nature of Freemasonry to the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

On September 29, Bishop Mendez Arceo, Cuernavaca, Mexico, expressed view at Vatican II, that Christians should make peace with the Freemasons.

Discussion held in England on whether to modify the penalties in the degrees.

1965

Masonic Pavilion at the NY World's Fair maintained by Grand Lodge of New York.

The Grand Lodge of Virginia registered its emblem to prevent its use by others.

Notable Freemasons:
Sir Winston Spencer Churchill died in 1965, mourned worldwide.
Statesman, historian, author. Initiated in Studholme Lodge No. 1591 in London, raised March 25, 1902 in Rosemary Lodge No. 2851

During the final weeks of Vatican II, a Papal document was read, granting (inter alia) power to confessors to absolve penitents from censure incurred for belonging to the Masonic Order or other forbidden societies.

1966

Grand Lodge of Michigan dedicated a monument in Detroit of Washington with Masonic Regalia, May 21.

The Grand Master of Cuba in Exile relinquished the office and gave the seal of the Grand Lodge to the Grand Lodge of Florida for safekeeping.

Distribution of stones from the White House was completed. Each had Craftsmen marks and were sent to Grand Lodges all over the country.

1967

The United Grand Lodge of England celebrated it 250th anniversary. Leaders of the Craft from all over the world were present.

1968

Harry Carr met with Cardinal Heenan in London, and discussed the relationship of the Craft and the Roman Catholic Church on March 18. As a result, the anti-Masonic tracts sold in Roman Catholic Churches on London were removed from the stacks.

1970

The first issue of The Northern Light, official magazine of the Scottish Rite, was published in January.

1971

Harry Carr (Editor), Early French Exposures, Quatuor Coronati Lodge.

Harry Carr had several more conferences with Cardinal Heenan. This led to a friendly relationship developing between the Craft and the Roman Catholic Church. On April 26 there was a rumor that the Church was about to change its rules about barring Masonic membership to its members.

New Jersey held its first open Grand Lodge installation.

1972

Notable Freemasons:

The Grand Lodge of New York presented its Grand Lodge Medal to Bro Edwin E Aldrin,Jr (Buzz Aldrin), and its Distinguished Achievement Award to Bro Norman Vincent Peale.

Former King Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, died.

He was raised in the Household Brigade Lodge 2614, and became SW in 1920. He was created SGW of the United Grand Lodge at an impressive ceremony at the rot\yal albert Hall in London in 1921 at which 9000 masons were present. He became Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge in 1936.

Edward was Prince of Wales during his father's lifetime (King George V), succeeding to the throne in 1936. He abdicated to marry an American divorcee. He was succeeded to the throne by his brother George (King George VI), a prominent Freemason, and father of Queen Elizabeth II.

1973

The Grand Lodge of Massachusetts laid the cornerstone of new building of the Knights of Columbus in South Boston.

The Grand Lodge of Michigan laid the cornerstone of Bentley Library at the University of Michigan, November 17.

1975

Dedication of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum and Library, at Lexington, Massachusetts on April 20, the anniversary of the Battles of Concord and Lexington.

First Day of Issuance ceremony for the Haym Salomon Stamp took place at the Scottish Rite Cathedral on Chicago, March 25.

Berlin Lodge #46 returned its charter to Rhode Island and secured a charter from United Grand Lodge of Germany.

The statue of Washington at Prayer, located at Valley Forge, was dedicated by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on October 9.

Large statue of Washington with Masonic regalia was dedicated in Buffalo, New York.

1977

Several Prince Hall lodges in South Africa gave up their charters and joined the regular Craft there.

1979

A statue of Washington in Masonic regalia, was dedicated at the entrance to the grounds of the Scottish Rite Library and Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts, June 10

Pope John Paul II was visiting in Chicago while the Grand Lodge was in session. The Grand Master and the Grand Wardens by special invitation, attended a Mass conducted by the Pope in Grant Park.

Freemasonry barred in Iran.

Arab Nations assumed an anti-Masonic position under the erroneous belief that the Craft is controlled by the Jews.

1980

Rededication of the Obelisk in Central Park, NYC, in October 5. It had been given to the city by Egypt in 1880 and had been dedicated by the Fraternity.

1981

Grand Lodge of Alaska formed, February 7.

1989

Grand Lodge of Hawaii formed, May 20.

back to top

[What is Freemasonry] [Leadership Development] [Education] [Masonic Talks] [Masonic Magazines Online]
[Articles] [Masonic Books Online] [E-Books] [Library Of All Articles] [Masonic Blogs] [Links]
 [What is New] [Feedback]

This site is not an official site of any recognized Masonic body in the United States or elsewhere.
It is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinion
of Freemasonry, nor webmaster nor those of any other regular Masonic body other than those stated.

DEAD LINKS & Reproduction | Legal Disclaimer | Regarding Copyrights

Last modified: May 10, 2014