Craft Masonry in Genesee & Wyoming County, New York
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Craft Masonry in Genesee & Wyoming County, New York Compiled by R.’.W.’. Gary L. Heinmiller Director, Onondaga & Oswego Masonic Districts Historical Societies (OMDHS) www.omdhs.syracusemasons.com February 2010 Almost all of the land west of the Genesee River, including all of present day Wyoming County, was part of the Holland Land Purchase in 1793 and was sold through the Holland Land Company's office in Batavia, starting in 1801. Genesee County was created by a splitting of Ontario County in 1802. This was much larger than the present Genesee County, however. It was reduced in size in 1806 by creating Allegany County; again in 1808 by creating Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Niagara Counties. Niagara County at that time also included the present Erie County. In 1821, portions of Genesee County were combined with portions of Ontario County to create Livingston and Monroe Counties. Genesee County was further reduced in size in 1824 by creating Orleans County. Finally, in 1841, Wyoming County was created from Genesee County. Considering the history of Freemasonry in Genesee County one must keep in mind that through the years many of what originally appeared in Genesee County are now in one of other country which were later organized from it. Please refer to the notes below in red, which indicate such Lodges which were originally in Genesee County and would now be in another county. Lodge Numbers with an asterisk are presently active as of 2004, the most current Proceedings printed by the Grand Lodge of New York, as the compiling of this data. Lodges in blue are or were in Genesee County. A Lodge number followed by a ‘c’ was a ‘Country Lodge,’ under the Grand Lodge of the State of New York. For additional Lodge histories by the present compiler, which may have been in the original Genesee County, see also: Craft Masonry in Chautauqua County, New York Craft Masonry in Erie County, New York Craft Masonry in Niagara and Orleans County, New York and such other compilations as may appear at www.omdhs.syracusemasons.com No. Lodge Name Village Chartered Notes 39 Olive Branch LeRoy 20 May 1813 prev. No. 215; renumbered No. 39 in 1839; Moved from Batavia to Bethany (1821); to Attica (1845); to LeRoy (1847) 88 Batavia Bethany 01 Jun 1842 first meeting date; 9 Nov 1847 returned their charter. 205 West Star Sheldon 17 Mar 1812 reissued 1818; recommended China Lodge No. 423c, 5 Oct 1824; revived 1822; forfeit 1833; revived as No. 413, 5 Jun 1857 at Varysburg; charter destroyed by fire 1818; reissued, 13 Jun 1819 212 Harmony Riga 06 Mar 1813 ‘returned’ charter in 1826; succeeded by Churchville No. 667, dispensation of 9 Aug 1867; Riga is now in Monroe County, NY. 212 Fischer’s Batavia 04 Mar 1851 first meeting date; dissolved 5 Apr 1859; reorganized as Batavia No. 475 12 Jul 1859 215 Olive Branch Leroy 20 May 1813 renumbered No. 39 in 1839; Moved from Batavia to Bethany (1821); to Attica (1845); to LeRoy (1847) 229 Pike Pike/Hume 23 Jun 1851 extant 1851 (U.D. 15 May 1851); removed to Hume, Allegany Co. in 1858; renamed Oriana No. 229 (Fillmore, NY), 8 Jun 1871; warrant granted 1873 244 Olive Branch Warsaw 09 Jun 1815 surrendered 1820; restored 24 Dec 1823; forfeit Jun 1832; succeeded by Warsaw No. 549, 21 Jun 1864 246 Fredonia Murray 08 Sep 1815 257 Alluvion Ridgeway 12 Mar 1816 260 Leroy Leroy 11 Jun 1816 surrendered 19 Sep 1827. 263 Mount Vernon Java Village 17 Jun 1852 forfeit 10 Jun 1870; restored 8 Jun 1871 277 Allegany Pembroke 21 Apr 1817 282 Wells Gates 05 Jun 1817 extinct ca 1828 (of Rochester) No. Lodge Name Village Chartered Notes 285 Meridian Sun Middlebury 05 Jun 1817 295 Morning Star Nunda/Pike 01 Aug 1817 lost charter in 1834; Nunda became Pike 16 Mar 1818; see later Lodge there: Triluminar No. 543, disp. dated 25 Nov 1863; Note: Nunda was in Allegany County, now in Livingston County; The Town of Pike is in Wyoming County; The Town of Pike was founded in 1818 from a division of the Town of Nunda (now part of Livingston County). In 1823, part of Pike was taken to form the new Town of Eagle. More of Pike was taken to form part of the Town of Genesee Falls in 1846. Pike is also the name of a village in this town. 316 Mount Morris Mount Morris 23 Oct 1818 forfeit 8 Jun 1832; revived as No. 122, 7 Jun 1847; Mount Morris is now in Livingston County, NY. 317 Rising Star Attica 03 Mar 1819 extinct 320 Constellation Perry 06 Mar 1819 revived as Constellation No. 404; Perry is now in Wyoming County. 332 Genesee Union Gaines 22 Nov 1822 Gaines is now in Orleans County. 363 Transit Stafford 06 Jun 1823 365c Byron Byron 06 Jun 1823 376 c Charity Barre 04 Jun 1823 Succeeded by Renovation No. 77, Albion, NY, 11 Jun 1844; Barre is now in Orleans County. 379 Oakland Castile 06 Jun 1856 see also Western Luminary No. 473, 10 Jun 1826; warranted at Hunts Hollow, Livingston Co.; removed to Portage Village, 4 Jun 1858; removed to Castile, 10 Jun 1864 402c Caledonia Caledonia 04 Jun 1824 recommended by Leroy Lodge No. 260. This was for Caledonia Lodge No. 369, 3 Jun 1824: Gardner Osgood, WM; Robert McKay, SW; Hiram Brown, JW; country of Livingston. 404 Constellation Perry 06 Jun 1819 inactive 1835; surrendered 1862; restored 1872; fire May 1891; duplicate warrant issued; originally of Genesee County; now in Wyoming County. 413 West Star Varysburg 05 Jun 1857 Prev. No. 205, 17 Mar 1812, of Sheldon, Genesee Co.; fire 1818; reissued 13 Jun 1819; debts cancelled 1822; forfeit 1833; now in Wyoming County. 415 Mount Zion Bergen 01 Jun 1825 419 Arcade Arcade 06 Jun 1857 successor to China No. 432 of Town of China, East Java 422c Hiram Covington 01 Jun 1825 forfeit 8 Jun 1832 432 China China 01 Jun 1825 aka "Fayette" Lodge; forfeit 1833; met at East Java, Town of China; see also China Lodge No. 489; forfeit 1832. It appears that China No. 432 was granted a warrant 1 Jun 1825 but was seemingly never used; a new warrant being granted to the same petitioners as No. 489 the following June. Note: The Town of Arcade was established in 1807 as the "Town of China, Genesee County." The name changed to Arcade in 1866. Arcade was previously part of the Town of Sheldon. now in Wyoming County. 433c Batavia Batavia 01 Jun 1825 petitioned for revival, 22 Nov 1841 462 Attica Attica 29 Jun 1859 date instituted 473 Western Luminary Castile 10 Jun 1823 forfeit 10 Jun 1826; later of Wyoming Co.; see also Oakland Lodge No. 379 475 Batavia Batavia 12 Jul 1859 prev. Fishers No. 212 (first meeting 4 Mar 1851); dissolved 5 Apr 1859. 489 China China Jun 1826 forfeit 7 Jun 1833; it appears that China No. 432 was granted a warrant 1 Jun 1825 but was seemingly never used; a new warrant being granted to the same petitioners as No. 489 the following June. 543 Triluminar Pike 25 Jun 1863 dispensation date; Prev. Lodge at Pike: Morning Star No. 295, 1 Aug 1817 549 Warsaw Warsaw 21 Jun 1864 Prev. Olive Branch No. 244, 9 Jun 1815; surrendered 1820; restored 24 Dec 1823; forfeit Jun 1832 667 Churchville Churchvillle 09 Aug 1867 dispensation date; Preceded by Harmony No. 212, Riga, Genesee Co., 6 Mar 1813; 'returned' charter in 1826. Riga and Churchville are now in Monroe County, NY. 837 Hesperus Bergen 10 Apr 1902 worked U.D. as Bergen Lodge; name changed to Hesperus, 10 Apr 1902. 1161 Eagle Valley Bliss 05 May 1960 Genesee County - 1825 http://library.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/maps/mapimages/wny1825map.jpg http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1070912&imageID=1584409&r=02fGenesee%2520Co unty%2520%2528N%252EY%252E%2529%2520%252D%252D%2520Maps&word=&rOper=2&stype=Rel&rSource=&rDiv=The%2 0Lionel%20Pincus%20and%20Princess%20Firyal%20Ma...&rCol=&s=3¬word=&d=&c=&f=&k=0&total=133&num=0&imgs=20&p Num=&pos=8 Wyoming County, New York The Early History of the Land West of the Genesee River by Charles Ketchum The Early History of the Land West of the Genesee River http://tyrianlodgebyketchum.com/masonic_stories_-_3 Joseph Ellicott, born November 1, 1760, was the son of Joseph and Judith Ellicott. He taught school while still in his teens and with his brother Andrew surveyed the western and northern boundary of Pennsylvania in 1785. Upon his return to Philadelphia after the Treaty of Big Tree he persuaded two of his brothers, Benjamin and David to help, hired Ebenezer Cary as a surveyor, clerk and generally useful agent, and hired James Brisbane to purchase and bring the supplies which would be needed. They returned in May 1798 and Brisbane brought the first boatload by way of Lake Ontario and the Genesee River, then over land to a stone storehouse the surveying crew had built on their east transit line at Stafford. Later supplies came to Lewiston. In January 1801, the first office of the Holland Land Company was established. It was located in Asa Ransom’s tavern at Clarence Hollow in Erie County where Ellicott started to sell the land. To make travel easier he offered free patches of land along the Iroquois Trail to anyone who would build and operate a tavern about six miles apart, the usual travel distance for one day. Ellicott finding that the distance to Canandaigua, the distribution point for mail, was too far away, so he decided that the Indians’ camping ground at the big bend of the Tonawanda Creek, which was centrally located in the Land Companies’ Territory, would be a better location for an office and capital of the area.