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Report of the Grand Historian 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 Quebec. 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 Upper Canada Masons to confirm their nominee as Provincial Grand Master and two disparate groups in Lower Canada 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 North West Company 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 Montreal 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 fur trade 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 War of 1812 he commanded a company of Voyageurs and assisted General Isaac Brock 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.
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