REPORT OF THE GRAND HISTORIAN

To the Most Worshipful the Grand Master, officers and members of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Canada in the Province of Ontario:

I would like to express my gratitude to the Grand Master for again honoring me with the office and title of Grand Historian. This report is submitted in accordance with the book of Constitution which requires the Grand Historian “to record matters that are connected with the history of Freemasonry in Ontario.”

Our Craft has often benefitted from family involvement, particularly siblings who were members of the Craft. We know, for example, that the Duke of Kent (the father of Queen Victoria) and his brother the Duke of Sussex, were active Masons. The Duke of Kent worked with his brother on the unification of the divided Grand Lodge of England, including encouraging him to accept the office of Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England and to bring together the many English lodges around the world into a coherent grouping.

But I wish, today, to focus for a few moments on two brothers in “the Canadas” who assisted each other in their Masonic activities in what would later become the provinces of Ontario and . Their activities occurred at a similar time and lent a coherent leadership to Lodges which had suffered over the years and whose regularity and legitimacy was not guaranteed with the new Grand Lodge in London.

I am, of course, referring to Simon and William McGillivray: Scotsmen, businessmen, fur traders, family men and Freemasons. Neither was physically involved in Canada for a long period of time but both left an important imprint on the fabric of Freemasonry here. Outside influences would challenge Freemasonry in British North America, but a close relationship between early “masonic governments” in the later provinces of Quebec and Ontario was struck and strengthened by these brothers and would contribute to the support of lodges in the two future provinces in the formation of our Grand Lodge on October 10, 1855, in Hamilton.

By 1822 the new Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England was faced with demands from unregistered Masons to confirm their nominee as Provincial Grand Master and two disparate groups in seeking to confirm their nominees for their Province. As a result several decisions were taken: a Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada was appointed in the persona of Simon MacGillivray, a London-based businessman involved in the fur business in Canada and a Moderns’ Mason who was well known to the last Moderns’ Grand Master, the Duke of Sussex (the first Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England). Lower Canada was to continue two separate masonic districts: Quebec and Three Rivers (the “seat” of the Moderns Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec from 1759) and and William Henry (established in 1767 by the then Deputy Provincial Grand Master, Edward Antill). Claude Denechau would preside over the former and William McGillivray (Simon’s older brother), over the latter.

McGillivray Family Background

William, the first of three brothers born to Donald McGillivray and Anne McTavish of Inverness-shire, Scotland, was born ca 1764. This was a poor Scots family whose sons would benefit from the assistance of Anne’s brother, Simon McTavish. “Uncle Simon” was successful in the in the Canadas and brought William to Montreal as an employee of the North West Company (or Nor’westers as they became better known). William was a skilled businessman and extended the number of western trading posts in competition against other fur trading enterprises — American as well as British (their major competitor being the Hudson’s Bay Company). William became chief director of the North West Company on the death of Simon McTavish in 1804. For several years NWC and HBC would contend in the courts over control of the fur trade with neither gaining a decisive victory. During this period William also served as a member of the Legislative Council of Lower Canada. During the he commanded a company of Voyageurs and assisted General at the capture of Detroit. After 1816, William agreed to merge NWC and HBC, achieving this in 1821. He became a director of the newly organized company. William died on October 16, 1825 in London, during a visit to England. Duncan, a second brother, was born ca 1770 and joined Simon McTavish about 1793. He traded out of posts on the North Saskatchewan river for most of his career and may have travelled across the Rockies to the coastal areas. He returned to Montreal in 1802 and travelled every summer to Fort Francis until his death, in Montreal, on April 9, 1808. It does not appear that Duncan joined a masonic lodge.

Simon, the youngest of the three, was born in Stratherrick, Inverness-shire, ca 1783. A fall in early life left him with a slight limp and when he joined the Nor’W esters, he did not take to the rivers and forests like his brothers, but worked in the London offices. This was the financial wing of the company and supplied Canadian operations with trade goods, obtained credit for operations, looked after shipments and sold furs on the London market. Following Simon McTavish’s death in 1804, Simon McGillivray also became a partner of the firm. Seeing the benefits of amalgamation of the competitors, he worked closely with William to achieve this. In March 1821, with details completed in London, Simon travelled to Montreal to join William and in June the brothers, travelled to Fort William (Thunder Bay) to complete matters with their Canadian partners and employees. Difficulties in winding up all the various interlocked corporate entities were dealt with by Simon from York (Toronto) and London.

By 1825 the McTavish group of companies was dufunct, the family fortune gone and the family members left destitute1. It is not clear how William’s health was (he remained in Montreal until his trip to England in 1825 where he died) but Simon (now in London) had his business skills and abilities and in 1829 he was chosen by the United Mexican Mining Company to reorganize the firm’s silver mines. By 1835 he was one of the owners of the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser. In 1837 he married the eldest daughter of John Easthope and they had one daughter, Mary. Simon’s happiness was shortlived with his death on June 9, 1840 in London.

Masonic Careers

R. W. Bro. William McGillivray, Provincial Grand Master, District of Montreal and William Henry

On a trip to London in 1822, William was initiated in the Lodge of Antiquity, No. 2 ER. He is noted as Junior Deacon of the Lodge in 1823 and his name appears on the lodge roll in 1825. According to A. J. B. Milborne (writing in the 1950s), there is no record of his affiliation with a Lodge in Upper or Lower Canada2. His appointment on April 2, 1823, as Provincial Grand Master of the District of Montreal and William Henry was made by the Duke of Sussex. We do not know how he came to the notice of the Grand Master, but he was a Montreal businessman, had strong contacts on both sides of the Atlantic, and his brother Simon, had been appointed as Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada on May 10, 1822. It is possible that Simon recommended William to the Grand Master directly, as both would soon be back in Canada and they had been working closely in the North West Company for many years. (At that time there was no requirement for a Provincial Grand Master to be a Past Master of a local lodge although, strangely, the Constitution required a Deputy Provincial Grand Master to be a Past Master.) William and Simon, in their offices as Provincial Grand Masters, are recorded as being in attendance at the quarterly communication of the United Grand Lodge in London on June 4, 1823.

William’s first actions on his return to Montreal were similar to those taken in York by Simon: each lodge was to petition the new Provincial Grand Master for a Warrant, and lodges were to send their representatives to the planned Communication of October 6, 1823. At this meeting William was installed by R. W. Bro. Claude Denechau, Provincial Grand Master, District of Quebec and Three Rivers. While work on reviewing the status of the petitioning lodges went on through 1824, the records indicate that William was indisposed for most of the year, but he was present at the Communication of December 23, 1824 where he appointed and installed Bro. Rev. John Bethune (Rector of Montreal) as Deputy Provincial Grand Master. By the end of 1824 nine lodges had been registered with London and at the Communication of March 14, 1825, they were presented with their English Warrants. At this meeting it was resolved to request the Provincial Grand Lodges of Quebec and Three Rivers and Upper Canada to participate in a petition to the Grand Master whereby, on the death, resignation, suspension or removal of a Provincial Grand Master, the Deputy Provincial Grand Master would be authorized to fill the office pro tempore with power to do all legal business until a new appointment was

2 made by the Grand Master. This petition was agreed to and was sent to London with the approbation of all three Provincial Grand Lodges. This is one of the few times we can demonstrate a collaborative effort between these three masonic bodies.3

In Montreal a Masonic Hall Hotel had been constructed by John Molson and contained one entire floor for the use of the Craft. At a Grand Lodge of Emergency on May 13, 1825, Simon attended the Masonic dedication ceremonies performed by William. On June 13, 1825, another Grand Lodge of Emergency was called to lay the foundation stone of the new Presbyterian Church on St. James Street, Montreal: in the absence of the Provincial Grand Master, the ceremony was performed by Simon. He reported his actions to his brother on June 14 at the regular Communication of the Provincial Grand Lodge.

William died on October 16, 1825, in London. The day-to-day work of the District Grand Lodge was carried on by its regular officers until May 1826 when R. W. Bro. John Molson was installed as Provincial Grand Master. He resigned in December 1832 and was succeeded by Turton Penn, Deputy PGM acting under an interim authority. Subsequent events are unclear as the Provincial Grand Lodge records are silent until the spring of 1846 when the Hon. Peter McGill was installed as Provincial Grand Master. He resigned in ill health in 1849 and was succeeded by the Hon. William Badgley. On October 10, 1855 the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada was formed in Hamilton and all the lodges of the District of Montreal and W illiam Henry joined it with the exception of St. Paul’s at Dorchester and St. Lawrence at Montreal and some brethren of several lodges who split away. The Grand Lodge of Quebec was established in October 1869 but was not in full control of the Province until 1875. In spite of these challenges the English District continue with Badgley being replaced on his death in 1888 by W. H. Hutton until 1893. From 1893-1955, English lodges were without local supervision and since then a Grand Inspector has supervised English lodges in Halifax and Montreal.

R. W. Bro. Simon McGillivray, Provincial Grand Master, Provincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada

Simon McGillivray began his Masonic life in London, being initiated into Shakespeare Lodge, 131 ER(M)4,on April 23, 1807 and serving as W M on three separate occasions. He was also a member of other lodges in London (including Grand Master’s Lodge, No. 1 (Antients)). In 1813 he was the last Junior Grand Warden of the Moderns’ Grand Lodge. He was a member of St. James Royal Arch Chapter, No. 60 ER(M) (now No. 2 ER) and a member of both the Knights Templar and the Red Cross of Palestine. After his time in Canada, he renewed his Masonic involvement in England and served as Deputy Master of the Lodge of Antiquity No. 2, London in 1820 and 1821 and as Worshipful Master of Somerset House and Inverness Lodge No. 4, London. At Grand Lodge he served on various committees, including bring President of the Grand Lodge Board of General Purposes for a time, and acting in various stations at quarterly communications, including that of Acting Grand Master on one occasion. Given his skills and abilities as well as his contacts with Canada, the Duke of Sussex appointed him as Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada on May 10, 1822, instructing him to immediately investigate the situation of the Craft in the province. Upper Canada freemasonry presented a challenge due to the total lack of communication during the entire period of the Antient’s Provincial Grand Lodge of 1792-1822 (R. W. Bro. William Jarvis) and its fracture into the Niagara, Kingston and York subdivisions5. Simon was also appointed as Provincial Grand Superintendent of Upper Canada in April 1822 and was received as such at the Quarterly Communication of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England on May 8, 1822. (Simon’s activities in improving Royal Arch activities are not touched upon in this paper.)

Upon his arrival in Canada, Simon was faced with a number of challenges. The main one was that the lack of communication and contact between W illiam Jarvis and the Antients Grand Lodge meant that London did not accept as valid the warrants of lodges or the certificates of standing of their members. As noted in Whence Come We? (p 45), the new Provincial Grand Master “brought order out of chaos, and restored brotherly love across the province.” In September he issued a call to all lodges instructing them to prepare new petitions signed by seven members and to submit them to him, accompanied by a list of the lodge members, a copy of the lodge By-Laws and the fees required for registration at Grand Lodge. The Provincial Grand Lodge met at York on September 23, 1822 with representatives from sixteen lodges. Amongst his appointments Simon named Col. James Fitzgibbon as Deputy PGM, Ziba Marcus Phillips, Dr. Robert Kerr and George Adams as

3 Past Deputy PGMs, and John Dean of Bath and Bernard Turquand of York as Provincial Grand Secretaries. These were critical appointments as the people represented both the schismatic Grand Lodge at Niagara as well as the Jarvis Provincial Grand Lodge and the two Kingston Conventions and moved towards a reconciliation of the Province. This was the only assembly that Simon was able to attend during his eighteen year tenure as Provincial Grand Master — he returned to England shortly afterwards. The Provincial Grand Lodge met annually up to and including 1829 but there is nothing to indicate its existence after that year and it would lie dormant until February 1842 when efforts to breathe life into it were undertaken by Ziba Marcus Phillips.

In spite of his absence, Simon took a deep and abiding interest in his Provincial Grand Lodge and undertook in 1837 to have the situation assessed. On May 29, 1837, he appointed a well-known Montreal businessman, Bro. John Auldjo, as Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada, commissioning him to investigate and report on the status of the Craft therein and to make such appointments of officers as necessary. Until 1981 it was unclear whether such an assessment had been made and whether any report had been prepared. In that year my predecessor, R. W. Bro. Wallace McLeod, reported that he had found the Auldjo report in the archives of Grand Lodge in London and he reproduced it in full as part of his annual report. Bro. Auldjo visited Toronto and met with a number of influential masons, and reported: (1) the Provincial Grand Lodge had not met for at least 8 years; (2) only three lodges were known to be working (St. George’s, Toronto; an unnamed Lodge at Kingston and an unknown lodge somewhere elsewhere in the province6); (3) the jewels of the Provincial Grand Lodge were held in safekeeping by St. George’s Lodge and (4) any plan to create two masonic districts within the Province would not work. Bro. Auldjo had also sent a circular around to the lodges which were named on the Provincial Grand Lodge register but had received no response by the time he left the Province.

By the time of Simon’s death on June 9, 1840, in London, movements were already afoot in the about to be renamed Canada West which would see Sir Alan Napier Macnab form a new Provincial Grand Lodge. By 1855 many of the lodges of the English Provincial Grand Lodge had joined with their colleagues of Irish Constitution lodges to form our Grand Lodge in Hamilton. Macnab would form a parallel Ancient Grand Lodge of Canada in the fall of 1857 and it would amalgamate with ours on July 14, 1858, in Toronto.

Aftermath

Life in these times was difficult. Efforts to maintain a stable government were challenged from time to time (War of 1812, Rebellions of 1837 and 38) but the population continued to grow, areas opened up and new towns and villages were being planned and built. And Freemasonry was growing. The McGillivray brothers brought an element of stability and growth to their two respective Provincial Grand Lodges, re-establishing the important linkage with Grand Lodge in London and securing recognition. While there would still be challenges to Masonic evolution here, it was a step in the process which would see the formation of our Grand Lodge.

In conclusion I would like to thank our very own R. W . Bro. W allace McLeod, PGJW , in his well known role as Past Grand Historian. I have drawn from his 1983 inaugural address to Quatuor Coronati Lodge No. 2076, London when he was installed as Worshipful Master. It is probably the single-most major work on the life and times of Simon McGillivray as a Nor’wester and Freemason. Our fraternity has been well served by R. W. Bro. McLeod’s diligence and skill.

Sources:

(1) Whence Come We? Freemasonry in Ontario 1764-1980. Special Committee on the History, Wallace Mcleod, Chairman, Published by the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario, 1980.

(2) History of Freemasonry in Ontario, by John Ross Robertson, 2 volumes.

(3) The Provincial Grand Lodge of Montreal and William Henry, A. J. B. Milborne, as published in the

4 Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, Vol. 70 (1957).

(4) The District Grand Lodge of Montreal and St. Peter’s Lodge, No. 4, P.G.L. of Quebec, Montreal, A. J. B. Milborne, as published in the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, Vol. 62 (1949).

(5) Simon McGillivray (ca 1785-1840), Wallace McLeod, as published in the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, Vol. 96 (1983).

(6) The North West Company in Rebellion: Simon McGillivray’s Fort William Notebook, 1815, Edited and Introduced by Jean Morrison, The Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society Inc., 1988, reprinted 1997, ISBN 0-920119-08-5.

(7) The Canadian Encyclopedia, Year 2000 Edition, McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, ISBN0-7710-2099-6.

Notes:

1. R. W. Bro. Wallace McLeod’s excellent paper Simon McGillivray (ca 1785-1840), Quatuor Coronati Transactions, Vol. 96 (1983), provides clear and concise details.

2. The situation, however, is not clear. Pemberton Smith, in his Early Canadian Freemasonry (p 92) says W illiam “was a member of long standing in St. Paul’s Lodge, Montreal” as well as Turton Penn who would soon become Provincial Grand Secretary. The situation allows for the possibility that William was a later visitor to St. Paul’s rather than a member.

3. It was not until 1884 that an amendment to the English Constitutions permitted this action to occur automatically. It was a strength of the system that (in the Canadas at least) a sealed letter would be issued to the Provincial Grand Secretary at the time of appointment of a new Provincial Grand Master, to be opened only when the occasion demanded, and containing a letter of interim authority signed by the Grand Master, authorizing the Deputy to act as PGM.

4. A Moderns Lodge, meeting at the Freemason’s Tavern, Great Queen Street, formed in 1757 and warranted as No. 221 on February 14, 1757. It is still working as No. 99 ER.

5. The three subdivisions were (1) schismatic Grand Lodge at Niagara, formed about 1802 with the removal of the Provincial Grand Lodge from Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) to York when the provincial capital was removed to place it further away from the saber-rattling Americans; (2) Kingston had become a major gathering place for Masonic meetings and had been chosen for two Conventions following the death of William Jarvis in 1817, which attempted to choose a replacement who could be nominated to the new Grand Master; and (3) York was the supposed centre after Jarvis had removed the Provincial Grand Lodge there, but he was not a strong administrator and few assemblies of Masons were called under his authority, fees and dues were not transmitted to London and legitimate Grand Lodge warrants were not obtained.

6. R. W. Bro. Wallace McLeod in his 1981 report to this Grand Lodge notes that Bro. Auldjo was in error. The Toronto lodge was not, in fact, St. George’s which had dissolved itself in 1829, but rather St. Andrew’s. Some of the members with whom Bro. Auldjo had discussions had been members of St. George’s in their early masonic careers. The second lodge, at Kingston, was likely St. John’s. The third unnamed and unlocated lodge is believed to be Unity at W hitby.

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