Two Centuries of Service Ontario's Bicentennial Lodges Jenkyns 2015
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Two Centuries of Service Ontario’s Bicentennial Lodges by Michael Jenkyns, FCF, PGSW(Hon), Grand Historian (2009-2015) Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario Two Centuries of Service Ontario’s Bicentennial Lodges by Michael Jenkyns, FCF, PGSW(Hon), Grand Historian (2009-2015) Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario © Michael Jenkyns 2015 No part of this book or CD-ROM may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except for the purpose of review, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Published by: Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises Printed by: ASAP Print and Copy Systems. 215 Terence Matthews Cres., Unit 1, Ottawa, Ontario K2M 1X5 First Printing: Early 2015 ISBN (13) 978-0-9811693-3-0 CD Edition $ 20.00 By the same author The Sovereign Great Priory of Canada of the United Orders of Malta and of the Temple 1855-2002: The Supreme Grand Masters; Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Fall 2003; ISBN 0- 9732736-0-7. Central District (1858-1895) and Ottawa District 13 (1896-2003) Royal Arch Masons of Ontario: Then and Now; Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Spring 2003; ISBN 0-9732736-1-5. Discontinuous Flight: A Canadian Pilot in the Royal Air Force 1939-1945, published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Fall 2003; ISBN 0-9732736-2-3. The Cryptic Rite in Ontario, The Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Ontario from 1871 to 2004; Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Spring 2005; ISBN 0-9732736-4-X. Irish Masonic Lodges in the Province of Canada (1819-1858) and Masonic Independence; published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises, Fall 2006; ISBN (10) 0-9732736-5-8, ISBN (13) 978-0- 9732736-5-6. Royal Arch Masons in Eastern Ontario: Central District (1858-1895), Ottawa District 13 (1896- 2003) and District 13 (2003-present); Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Fall 2008; ISBN 978-0-9811693-0-9. Ottawa District Then and Now: Freemasonry in Eastern Ontario 1855-2010; Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Fall 2008; ISBN (13) 978-0-9811693-1-6. CD-ROM edition only. Whence Come We? Volume II: A History of Freemasonry in Ontario 1998-2010; by Wallace McLeod, Past Grand Historian and Michael Jenkyns, Grand Historian, published by the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario, © 2010. Printed by: RR Graphics, Mississauga, First Printing June 2011. ISBN 978-0-9694541-3-7. Canadian Freemasonry during the First World War (1914-1918); by Michael Jenkyns, Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Spring 2014; ISBN 978-0-9811693-2-3. CD-ROM edition only. Preface In January 2014 I was contacted by W.Bro. Gordon Bouchard of St. George’s Lodge, No. 15 GRC, St. Catharines who was looking for a list and some information on 200-year old lodges. His interest stemmed from the upcoming bicentennial celebrations of his lodge and the lack of accessible information on our oldest lodges. His enquiry generated a dialogue back and forth and led to the idea of this publication which I hope will be of use and value to masons and non-masons in Ontario and across the country. We are also, in July 2015, to receive a report on Canada Lodge UD, which had been formed by, and for, our brethren serving in Afghanistan. Formed in a time and place of extreme challenge, sometimes under fire, and far from the quietude of the solace we can achieve in our masonic lodges, I realized that this twenty-first century experience must have parallelled the circumstances of our early brethren in Ontario. The fact that on November 6, 1851, ten members of Moira 11 GRC of Belleville (one of our Bicentennial Lodges), retired from the Lodge to form Trent 38 GRC which in 2010 sponsored Canada Lodge UD, Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan brought this forcefully to mind. Our first lodges in present-day Ontario date from the time of the French and Indian Wars (aka King George’s War) which ended with the capture of the citadel at Quebec (September 1759) and the surrender of Montreal (spring 1760). The question has been asked before “Was there ever Freemasonry in New France before the English?” The answer must be “No. It has never been conclusively proven.” Operative stone masons were employed from a very early date in New France constructing the stone forts of the type seen at Louisbourg and at Quebec City. A very famous mason’s mark (now physically lost to us but well recorded in the archives of several museums, including Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum) was chiselled on a piece of “trap-rock” measuring 2½ by 2 feet found on the shores of the Bay of Fundy. The mark consisted of a Square and Compasses and the date 1606. Then there is the cross of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta, with the date 1647 inscribed within a Templar shield on a stone shaped like a Keystone, found in 1784 among the debris of the Prioral House of the Order at Quebec. With regard to people we have the reference to the Scotsman, Lord Alexander, Viscount Canada in Acadia in the 17th century. Robert Freke Gould, in his History of Freemasonry (1886), writes that “French Freemasonry is supposed to date from about the year 1725, and as no minutes whatsoever—relating to any earlier period than 1773—are to be found, it is obvious that . the history of its first half century must be open to much doubt (III, p 136).” Later in the same volume, under Chapter XXX, dealing with Masonic Lodges in military forces of a number of independent states, he says of France: “Entombed in the archives of the Grand Orient are the records . of about two hundred Regimental Lodges . .” (III, p 407). With one exception, though, the Lodges date from 1759 to 1787. The earliest military Lodge listed by Gould supposedly dates from 1688 as Loge Parfait Egalité held in le régiment Walsh, an Irish unit. When King Charles II was expelled from England at the end of the Civil War he was accompanied by many Irish soldiers who were known as “Ensignmen” (followers of the Royal Ensign) and one of the military units took the name le régiment Walsh. Gould notes that this Lodge was “legitimized” by the Grand Lodge of France in 1772 and again by the Grand Orient in 1777. But there is no known documentary source. Through my own personal research into Ontario lodges and the various grand lodges which held authority over the area, our earliest masonic lodges date from about 1758. (There were earlier Lodges in the Thirteen Colonies, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, but the focus of this report is on Ontario with particular reference to Quebec before Confederation.) In many cases it is questionable whether these early grand lodges really had any authority given competing methods of establishing and forming lodges which then obtained their own legitimacy through being recognized by other lodges. I should note that while much documentation and records have survived two hundred and more years, many items have been accidentally or deliberately destroyed. While we can regret the loss of documents, buildings and other artefacts from this period, we should more rightly be amazed with the large number which have survived and which give us a better understanding of events of the past. As an aid to readers I have prepared appendices with the individual histories of our Bicentennial Lodges summarized. In a work such as this I have relied on the assistance of a number of people, including Tony Brandon (Niagara No. 2), Scott Bates (The Ancient St. John’s No. 3), Kris Nickerson (The Barton No. 6), Chris Warden (Union No. 7), Ernie Doughty and Allan Hamilton (Union No. 9), Joseph Lewis (Norfolk No. 10), Stan Reid (Moira No. 11), Dan Monteith (St. George’s No. 15), Chris Pelletier (St. John’s No. 17), Alan Capon and David Hickman (Prince Edward No. 18), Jack Peter (King Hiram No. 37) and W.Bro. Rick Fulford (WM of Canada Lodge UD) and R.W.Bro. William Lewis (PDDGM Frontenac District). I thank them publicly for their assistance. But the final writing is mine, as are the opinions expressed herein. Michael Jenkyns February 27, 2015 Abbreviations and Acronyms used In compiling this material generally standard abbreviations and acronyms have been used which have been adopted over the years. In some case, however, new ones have been “invented” to permit selected abbreviation of material. In referring to lodge warrants I have generally dropped the use of “No” except in specific cases, usually quotations from other sources. ER(A) or A English Registry of the Antients Grand Lodge in London ER(M) or M English Registry of the Moderns Grand Lodge in London EC English Constitution (refers to Warrants issued by the United Grand Lodge of England which had been created in 1813 with the union of the Antients’ and Moderns’ Grand Lodges) GR Grand Registry of a Grand Lodge (e.g. GRMich = Grand Registry of the Grand Lodge of the State of Michigan) IC Irish Constitution (refers to Warrants issued by that Grand Lodge) JGW (or GJW) Junior Grand Warden (or Grand Junior Warden) Local (or local) Refers to a (local) Warrant issued by a provincial Grand Lodge PGLCW Provincial Grand Lodge of Canada West PGLLC(A) Antients Provincial Grand Lodge of Lower Canada PGLMass(M) Moderns Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts PGLMWH Provincial Grand Lodge of Montreal and William Henry PGLNE(M) Provincial Grand Lodge of New England (Moderns) PGLNS(A) Antients Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia PGLNY(A) Antients Provincial Grand Lodge of New York PGLNY(M) Moderns Provincial Grand Lodge of New York