History of Freemasonry in New Jersey Commemorating the Two Hundredth Anniversary Of the Organization of the Grand Lodge of THE MOST ANCIENT AND HONORABLE SOCIETY OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS for the State of New Jersey 1787-1987 Written And Prepared By The History Committee R.W. Edward Y. Smith, Jr., Grand Historian, Covenant No. 161 R.W. Earl G. Gieser, Past Junior Grand Deacon, Wilkins-Eureka No. 39 W. George J. Goss, Solomon's No. 46 R.W. Frank Z. Kovach, Past Grand Chaplain, Keystone No. 153 R.W. R. Stanford Lanterman, Past District Deputy Grand Master, Cincinnati No. 3 First Edition Index Contents Chapter Title Page I Antecedents 1682-1786 ···························· 1 II The Foundation Of The Grand Lodge 1786-1790 . .. ...... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .... .. ... 5 ITI The Formative Years 1791-1825 .............. 9 IV A Time Of Trouble 1826-1842 ................ 15 V A Renewal Of Purpose 1843-1866 ........... 19 VI The Years Of Stability 1867-1900 ........... 23 VII The Years Of Growth 1901-1930 . 29 VITI Depression And Resurgence 1931-1957 .... 35 IX The Present State Of Affairs 1958-1986 .. 39 Appendix Lodges Warranted In New Jersey Lodges Warranted Prior To 1786 . 46 Lodges Warranted 1787 To 1842 . 46 Lodges Warranted Following 1842 . 50 Appendix Famous New Jersey Freemasons . 67 Appendix Elective Officers Of The Grand Lodge Since Organization . 98 Lieut. Colonel David Brearley, Jr. circa 1776-1779 The Hon. David Brearley, Jr. circa 1786-1790 The First R. W Grand Master-1786-1790 Grand Lodge, F. & A. M. of New Jersey Whitehall Tavern, New Brunswick, N.J. circa 1786 l. #-~-~ .. ~- Whitehall Tavern, New Brunswick, N.J. 1936 The Founding Place Grand Lodge, F. & A. M. of New Jersey December 18, 1786-January 30, 1787 Dispensation, dated January 31, 1787, authorizing the formation of Hiram Lodge No. 4, F. & A. M., Morristown, N.J. the oldest, known document pertaining to the work of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey ~as.1ar MaN jo "YV ·v ~ ·:1 ·a2po7 puv.1D 9861 .!aJsvw puv.1D M ·w na>f:ms H zuvm!M History Of Freemasonry In New Jersey Chapter I Antecedents (1682-1786) The early history of Freemasonry in New Jersey is obscure because of the absence of any local references concerning the matter, and of the dependence on the records of lodges warranted in Scotland and in England. Masons may have assembled, but did so informally for there were no lodges organized in the Colony until 1761. New Jersey, however, claims the distinction of having as a citizen the first known Freemason in America, namely Brother John Skene who was a member of Aberdeen Lodge No. 1, of Aberdeen, Scotland. Brother Skene settled in Burlington County in October 1682 and in 1685 was appointed Deputy Governor of the Province of West Jersey, serving to 1687. He died in 1690. Other early Masonic settlers who followed John Skene included Andrew Robeson who settled in Greenwich Township, Gloucester County, and John Cockburne, a stonemason, who resided in Perth Amboy. There is no record, however, that these early Masons met as such, or did any Masonic work. The first native born American known to have been made a Free­ mason was Brother Jonathan Belcher, who was initiated in 1704 in an old "Guilde Lodge," while sojourning in London, England as an agent for the Province of New England. He later joined St. John's Lodge at Boston in 1736. Brother Belcher served as Governor of New Hampshire, and of Massachusetts, and later as Governor of the Province of New Jersey from 1747 until his death in 1757. He is remembered as the chief promoter and patron of The College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) and for granting a new and expanded charter to that school in 1748, under which Princeton University continues to operate. The appointment in 1730 of Colonel Daniel Coxe of Burlington to serve as the first Provincial Grand Master in America, of the Province of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, provides further evidence of the increasing number of Freemasons resident in the colonies, includ­ ing New Jersey. Born in London, England in 1673, he was a physician as was his father, Dr. Daniel Coxe, and he appears to have also been trained in the law. He was a member of Lodge No. 8, London, England. Appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, Brother Coxe was politically active, and was active in the economic development of colonial New Jersey. He later became a principal, with 1 his brother-in-law William Trent, in the development of the town of Trenton. Although lodges were known to be active in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York during the 1730's no lodge is known to be constituted by Right Worshipful Brother Coxe during his tenure as Provincial Grand Master. He died in 1739 and is buried in front of the chancel of old St. Mary's Church in Burlington. A memorial tablet was installed on the wall of that church by the Grand Lodge of New Jersey in 1906. In recognition of his outstanding services as a citizen, and of his pre-eminence as Provincial Grand Master, the Grand Lodge of New Jersey established the Daniel Coxe Medal in 1959. The medal is awarded to Masons of this and other Masonic jurisdictions for distinguished service to Freemasonry. The first lodge of record in New Jersey was St. John's Lodge No. 1, constituted at Newark by Right Worshipful George Harrison, Provin­ cial Grand Master of New York, on May 13, 1761. This lodge was alternately active and dormant and was represented at the establish­ ment of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey at New Brunswick in 1786. In 1762 the second lodge, Temple Lodge No. 1, was constituted at Elizabethtown (Elizabeth) by Right Worshipful Jeremy Gridley, Provin­ cial Grand Master of New England. In 1763 Temple Lodge sponsored a horse race, and trophy known as "The Free Mason's Plate," as a feature of the Elizabethtown Fair. Little else is known of the activities of Temple Lodge No. 1, which expired shortly before the Revolutionary War. A second St. John's Lodge was warranted at Prince Town (Prince­ ton) in 1765 by Right Worshipful Jeremy Gridley, Provincial Grand Master. The first Master of that lodge was Richard Stockton, a signer of The Declaration of Independence. That lodge expired prior to the Revolutionary War and no records are known to exist to inform us of what work it accomplished or how long it functioned. The increasing interest in Freemasonry in New Jersey is seen in the formation of one of the most noted of all lodges in New Jersey, Baskin Ridge Lodge No. 10, warranted in 1767 by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. The lodge met from time to time throughout the Revo­ lutionary War, and was the first to re-form at the conclusion of that war. It was this lodge, and its Master, Doctor William McKissack, M.D., that conceived of and called for the formation of a Grand Lodge of New Jersey in 1786. During the Revolutionary War, the Masonic spirit continued to flourish. Warrants were granted to at least ten American military lodges by various jurisdictions. A celebration of The Feast of St. John the Evangelist was held on December 27, 1779 at Morristown. Brother and General George Washington, as well as other distinguished brother Ma­ sons and military leaders, sat in attendance at that meeting. On December 20, 1779, Lodge No. 23, at Middletown Point, Mon­ mouth County, was warranted by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Penn­ sylvania. No records are known to exist to prove that the lodge ever met 2 or worked, but the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania reported in 1787 that it had "joined the Grand Lodge of New Jersey." The constitution of (old) Burlington Lodge No. 32 by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on March 26, 1781 marked the first time that that Grand Lodge had been opened outside of Philadelphia, and was the first occasion on which a lodge in New Jersey was formally constituted by officers of an organized Grand Lodge. Records reveal that the lodge paid the sum of $2,160.00 in Continental currency to the Provincial Grand Lodge for the granting of the warrant. (Unrestricted printing of Continental currency by Congress had brought about a budget deficit, and an accompanying inflation rate in excess of 3,000 percent. Conversion reflects a warrant cost of, about $72.00.) The lodge expired 1784-1786, but was represented by former members at the estab­ lishment of the Grand Lodge of New Jersey in 1786. Despite the coin­ cidence in name and number there is no historic connection between that lodge and the present Burlington Lodge No. 32, which was constituted in 1855. A military lodge, No. 36, attached to the New Jersey Line, Continen­ tal Army, was warranted by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania on Decem­ ber 11, 1782. Its warrant was surrendered in 1784. In the twenty-year period 1761-1781, six lodges had been formed in New Jersey, one each in the present counties of Essex, Union, Mercer, Somerset, Monmouth, and Burlington. During that period there arose some feeling that the Colony of New Jersey should have a Grand Master or a Grand Lodge of its own. In 1762, Brother Jonathan Hampton, a New York Mason residing in Elizabethtown, approached the brethren of St. John's Lodge No. 1 of Newark and requested their support and endorsement for his proposed deputation as Grand Master of New Jer­ sey. Brother Hampton's request was rejected by them, and by the Grand Lodge of New England.