Alexandria Lodge No. 39 Alexandria, Virginia 1783-1788
ALEXANDRIA LODGE NO. 39 ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA 1783-1788 "THE first movement towards the organization of a Masonic Lodge in Alexandria, Virginia was in the year 1782, when Robert Adam, Michael Ryan, William Hunter, Sr., John Allison, Peter Dow, and Dr. Elisha Cullen Dick, presented a petition to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, praying for a dispensation or warrant to open a Lodge at Alexandria, under the sanction of that Grand Lodge, and recommending the appointment of Robert Adam, Esq., to the office of Worshipful Master, Col. Michael Ryan, to that of Senior Warden, and William Hunter, to that of Junior Warden. This petition was presented to the Grand Lodge at its Quarterly Communication, held on the 2d day. of September, 1782, and it appearing to the Grand Lodge that "Brother Adam, the proposed Master thereof, had been found to possess his knowledge of Masonry in a clandestine manner,” the said petition was ordered to lie over until the next regular Communication of the Grand Lodge. Adam lived in Annapolis, Maryland when he came to America from Scotland in 1753 at the age of 22. It is thought that he joined a Masonic Lodge of “Moderns” under the St. John’s Grand Lodge while living in Annapolis. Dr. Elisha C. Dick has received his degrees in Masonry in Lodge No. 2 in Philadelphia and apparently took steps to have Adam made a member of that Lodge to satisfy the Grand Lodge. The Grand Lodge convened in extra Communication on the 3rd day of February, 1783, when, "it appearing that since the last Communication of this Grand Lodge that the said Brother Adam has passed through the several steps of Ancient Masonry in Lodge No.
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