Early Annals of
Capitular Masonry
by Thomas Gliddon
The Voice
of Masonry - 1880
The facts concerning the introduction of the Capitular system into this
country are a good deal obscure. That the Royal Arch degree has been conferred
in the cities on the seaboard for more than a century past there can now be
little doubt. Appealing to the fullest information I have been able to discover,
I write this historical retrospect.
St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter, No. 1, in Boston, can proudly boast a most
illustrious history. This Royal Arch Lodge - then so-called - James Brown,
Master, met in that city August 28th, 1769. This is also the date of its
Charter, but of what authoritative source derived is not stated, though of
course the document itself explains. Thomas Waterman, Grand High Priest of
Massachusetts, some time since kindly put me in possession of many particulars
concerning this interesting old chapter. For a long period degrees were
conferred therein extraneous to the Capitular system as we now have it, as will
be observed by an extract from the second recorded meeting of "a Royal Arch
Lodge," held August 28th, 1769: "The petition of Brother William Dams coming
before the lodge, begging to have and receive the parts belonging to a Royal
Arch Mason, which being read was received and he unanimously voted in, and was
accordingly made by receiving the four steps, that of an Excellent,
Super-Excellent, Royal Arch and Knight Templar."
May 14th, 1770, Joseph Warren, who was Grand Master of Masons for the
continent of America in the ante-revolutionary period, by a commission dated
March 7th, 1772, from the Earl of Dumfries, as Grand Master of Scotland, was
made a Royal Arch Mason in St. Andrew's Lodge. This was in the Mason's Hall in
the Green Dragon Tavern, on Union Street, although subsequently the chapter met
at Mason's Hall, north side of the Market House (Faneuil Hall Market.)
The degree of Mark Master was not connected with the other chapter degrees
until November 28th, 1793. For the first time, November 15th, 1797, the
designation St. Andrew's Royal Arch Chapter appears on the record. No mention of
the degree of Knight Templar is to be found after the meeting of December 3d,
1794, With these historic antecedents, St. Andrew's has steadily pursued its
course, holding a stated convocation once a month, and has now a membership of
about 500. Of course, in the long list of distinguished officers in the Grand
Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts, very many have been selected from the Past
High Priests of St. Andrew's Chapter, all of whom have been ardent devotees of
the Royal Craft.
It will be observed that this renowned chapter was instituted before the
Capitular system, as we now have it, was promulgated, and probably in its
archives are to be found the edicts announcing the changes which modified the
work. To the student of Royal Arch Masonry the annals of this chapter must be a
rich mine of instructive and interesting information.
In this connection, I revert to the meagre published records of the General
Grand Chapter of the United States, and on the first page I discover that on the
24th of October, 1797, several prominent companions met in Boston, and proceeded
to organize that august body. St. Andrew's chapter was represented by its
leading officers, of whom Benjamin Hurd, Jr., was then High Priest, he having
been elected in 1791, and held the office for seven years, and he also having
held the office of General Grand King for a long period. When delegates from St.
Andrew's Chapter and King Cyrus Chapter, at Newburyport, met at the Green Dragon
Tavern Tuesday, March 13th, 1798, and organized the Grand Royal Chapter of
Massachusetts, Companion Hurd was elected the first Grand High Priest, and was
re-elected for three successive years. These statements show that the General
Grand Chapter had a prior origin to the Grand Chapter of Massachusetts, but of
only a few months. The old commonwealth has always been loyal to the General
Grand Body that her devoted Masons assisted in organizing, and a roll of the
officers will reveal that several times her Grand Chapter has furnished
efficient and faithful servants, among whom was John McClellan, of Boston, who
was General Grand Treasurer from 1865 till his death, September 29th, 1878, and
had been a member of St. Andrew's Chapter from November, 1844.
It is doubtless justly claimed that records exist which prove beyond question
that Chapter No. 3, (now Jerusalem Chapter No. 3), of Philadelphia, is the
oldest Royal Arch Chapter in the United States, and that the Grand Royal Arch
Chapter of Pennsylvania, was the first Grand Chapter organized in this country.
The minutes of Royal Arch Lodge, No. 3, as originally designated, are complete
from December 3d, 1767, to the present date, and naturally enough are regarded
as a sacred treasure. This, it will be observed, is a date anterior to the
organization of St. Andrew's Chapter Boston, but how much earlier Royal Arch
Masonry was introduced into Philadelphia will probably never be known, because
the destruction of the Masonic hall by fire, in the year 1819, caused great loss
to the Masons of Pennsylvania, in the burning of nearly all their old records.
From this Jerusalem Chapter has grown the fourteen chapters now in
Philadelphia and immediate vicinity, and the 102 chapters in the State, with an
aggregate membership of about 11,000. All the chapters in Philadelphia are
numerically large bodies, and the mother chapter reports a roll of 400
companions. In addition there are three Mark Master Mason's lodges in that city,
which have a membership of 2,000.
All through the vicissitudes of nearly a century and a quarter, Jerusalem
Chapter has been conferring the Royal Arch degree, and it does not appear that
any event, however momentous, has interrupted the regular assemblies of this
time-honored organization. In the Ahiman Rezon (edition 1825), we read: "This
chapter, working under the warrant of No. 3, was reorganized by and had
communion with a military chapter, working under warrant No. 351, granted by the
Grand Lodge of England; and its proceedings were subsequently approved by that
honorable body, as appears from a communication from its Deputy Grand Master
Dermott." How soon thereafter it became independent of English supervision does
not appear.
The annals of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania show that on November 23d,
1795, the Grand Chapter was opened under the immediate sanction the Grand Lodge.
The Grand Chapter met under the same auspices until January 5th, 1824, at which
time it became independent, and it is worthy of note that it has never allied
itself to the General Grand Chapter of the United States, which even then was a
powerful body embracing sixteen Grand Chapters.
Of the early chapters working anterior to the organization of the Grand
Chapter of Connecticut there were six, all represented in the convention at
Hartford, May 17th, 1798, the real date of the formation of that Grand Body with
elected officers. These six were as follows: Hiram Chapter, No. 1, located at
Newtown; Franklin Chapter, No. 2, located at New Haven; Washington Chapter, No.
3, located at Middletown; Franklin Chapter, No. 4, located at Norwich; Solomon
Chapter, No. 5, located at Derby; Vanden Broeck Chapter, No. 5, located at
Colchester.
Authority for these chapters came from New York. Representatives of these
bodies met in Hartford, July 5th, 1796, "to take into consideration matters
relative to said chapters which may be deemed of expedience or utility," hence
that date is usually given as the date of the organization of the Grand Chapter
of Connecticut. A like convention was held October 20th, 1796, at New Haven, but
no further organization effected. Stephen T. Hosmer was the first Grand High
Priest.
Joseph K. Wheeler, Grand Secretary of Connecticut, is quite positive that in
Hiram Chapter as early as 1791, the degrees of Mark Master, Master in the Chair,
and Most Excellent Master, were conferred. The ByLaws of that old chapter show
"the regular times of meeting" to have been bi-monthly. In the year 1840, Hiram
Chapter became delinquent, and has since been dropped from the roll of the Grand
Chapter.
The name of Franklin designates two chapters. It was a, common thing in the
early days, for Masons in that jurisdiction to duplicate names of lodges also.
As a matter of interest to all Royal Arch Masons I give the following dates
of formation of several of the oldest subordinates and Grand Chapters: Jerusalem
Chapter, No. 3, Philadelphia, anterior to 1758; St. Andrew's Chapter, Boston,
August 28th, 1769; Providence Chapter, No. 1, Providence, September 3d, 1793;
Hiram Chapter, No. 1, Newtown, Conn., April 6th, 1791; King Cyrus Chapter,
Newburyport, Mass., July 9th, 1790; Grand Chapter of Pennsylvania, November 23d,
1795; Grand Chapter of Connecticut, May 17th, 1798; Grand Chapter of Rhode
Island, March 13th, 1797; Grand Chapter of Massachusetts, Oct. 24th, 1797; Grand
Chapter of New York, March 24th, 1798; General Grand Chapter of the United
States, January 24th, 1798.
To those familiar with the history of Capitular Masonry in the State of New
York, the omission of Ancient Chapter No. 1, in New York city, will appear
singular. The reason will be made obvious. The date of the origin of the old
lodge first working the Royal Arch degree in the metropolitan city cannot now be
ascertained, but it was most certainly the organization that subsequently became
known as Ancient Chapter, which was enrolled under the Grand Royal Arch Chapter,
August 28th, 1806. The history prior to 1798 is so mixed with tradition that
scarcely anything more can now be determined; save that as early as 1763 the
warrant for the original organization to confer the degrees up to Royal Arch
came from England.
Providence Chapter No. 1, Providence, Rhode Island, has always held exclusive
jurisdiction in that city, and with its seven hundred members is to-day the
largest Chapter in the United States, numerically more important than several
Grand Jurisdictions which boast their dozen Grand Officers and a representation
in the General Grand Chapter equal with the great States of New York, Illinois
or Massachusetts.
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