Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews
the usual inquiries , and , these duly satisfied , to pay over tho same as requested . On the 1 st June , Bro . de Witt Clinton , and the majority of the other Grand Officers , were uuauimonsly re-elected . Four petitions for Warrants for the erection of as many new Lodges , namely , Charity Lodge , Spencer Town , Co . Columbia ; Eagle Lodgo , to be held alternately at Spencer Town , Co . Tioga , and Town of
Ulysses , Co . Seneca ; Angelica Lodge , Augelica , Co . Alleghany ; and Clinton Lodge , Clinton , Co . Dutchess , having been read and granted , a proposal for a Masonic procession on St . John the Baptist ' s Day , was made , but withdrawn , when a counter-motion seotned likely to bo passed over it . On 7 th September , after threo more petitions for new Warrants , namely , for Z ' ton Lodge , Bloomfield , Co . Ontario ; Ilochford
Lodgo , Rochford , Co . Otsego ; and Charity Lodgo , Village of Cookhouse , Tompkin ' s , Co . Delaware , had been read and granted , and certain other business submitted , tho Committee appointed to examine the Reports of Grand Visitors , G . N . Edmonds and G . V . Woods , delivered their report , and also an opinion to the effect that tho Grand Visitors in question were entitled to the thanks of Grand Lodge for the
industry and ability with which they had discharged their several duties . A motion , giving effect to this report , was then unanimously accepted , and the Lodge closed . The chief mattor recorded in the minutes of the 7 th December , is the appointment of seven brethren for the purpose of devising and reporting to Grand Lodge a plan for the education of children of poor Masons . Warrants for the erection of
Sangor Lodge , Sangerfield , Co . Oneida , and Temple Lodge , Gnilderlaud , Co . Albany having been granted , a communication from the Grand Lodge of South Carolina , announcing that the Grand Lodge of ' Ancient York Masons" and of Free and Accepted Masons had been reunited in one body under tho name of " The Grand Lodge of South Carolina , " was read , and ordered to be filed . A communication from
the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations , enclosing account of their proceedings at their annual meeting on 24 th June , and also a copy of their contributions was read . Then a letter was read from Grand Visitor Phyletus Swift , to the effect that he had experienced great difficulty in collecting past dues , and requesting that
power be granted him to compound with the Lodges in hi 3 district . The prayer of the Grand Visitor was granted in respect of all dues outstanding up to the previous St . John the Baptist's Day ; bnt Bro . Swift was notified that the payment of all subsequent dues would be rigorously enforced . The one other minute deserving to be noticed records that a communication had been received from an
association styling itself Sovereign Grand Council in the sublime Masonic degree of P . R . S ., announcing to thi 3 Grand Lodge in very respectful terms its establishment in this city on the 28 th day of October last , under patent regularly served from lawful authority , and disclaiming any power or authority inconsistent with the local supremaoy of the Grand Lodge over Master Masons . This document
was ordered to be filed . On the 1 st March 1809 , we gather from the report of the committee appointed to examine the Grand Treasurer ' s accounts , that the receipts from 20 th March 1806 to 20 th February 1809 , amounted to dollars 8 727 79 , while the disbursements reached dollars 8 ' 33030 , leaving a balance in the hands of the Grand Treasurer of dollars 397 30 , and , in addition , wero duo from tho Jersey Bank
three quarter dividends , amounting together to 210 dollars , so thafc the whole balance to the credit of the Lodge was dollars 607 ' 39 . We learn , also , that the funds of Grand Lodge consist of dollars 4-134-14 per cent , deferred stock nominal of 40 full , and 60 half shares of tho Jersey Bank stock , ou which dollars 3 , 500 had been paid at par , aud that the present stock is worth from 110 to 112 per cent . On the 60
half shares there require dollars 1 , 500 more to be paid on the 1 st May next ; and the committee recommend the appropriation of the present balance towards that payment . They likewise express their belief that a time will come when the interest of Graud Lodgo funds will suffice for every proper and charitable purpose . At the same time they draw attention to the laxity with which the Charitable
Fund had hitherto been administered . We emote their statement : — " There are certain persons that have been for many years as regularly relieved as any of . our Government pensioners , aud look and ask for it as a matter of right , when , in truth , were their characters a little sifted , they would be found , in many instances , not entitled to our beneficence ; and in several cases it will be found that certain
individuals have received 20 , 30 , 40 , and from that to 50 or 100 dollars in the space of a very short time . " For this purpose they recommend that the city should be marked out in districts , that Visitors should be appointed to each , and that no sum be granted by the Committee of Charity till two or more of their Visitors had inquired and reported . This report is accepted , and also a resolution for the
appointment of a committee of five to give effect to the proposal for dividing the city . On the same ocoasion was delivered the report of the committee appointed to devise a plan for the education of children Of poor Masons . In this report a plan is proposed , by which it is believed that fifty children may be educated at comparatively small cost , and for raising the necessary funds to meet such expenditure .
This plan , however , wa 3 ordered to stand over for further consideration till the nexfcmeetingof Grand Lodge , when it was unariimoasly agieeii to refer it to the Worshipful Masters of the different City Lodges , with full power to alter or amend it , or to propose any other iu lieu of it ; and when they were ready to report , then a special meeting of Grand Lodge should be summoned . At this session a nice point was
raised , and referred to a special committee—namely , whether a Past Master belonging to another jurisdiction , being only member of a Lodge in the jurisdiction of New York , is entitled to a seat and vote in tho latter Grand Lodgo , It was also resolved that a committee bo appointed to arrange with the Grand Secretary the numbers of tho different Lodges in the New York
jurisdiction . On the 7 th June Bro . De Witt Clinton , and other ol the Grand Officers wero nnanimously re-elected , but the election of a Graud Chaplain was unanimously dispensed with . Tho Committee for dividing New York City into districts , for the better administration of the Charitable Fund , recommended a division , corresponding with the different City Wards , except that Wards 7 and 10 were to form one district , They also suggested the appointment of
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certain brethren a 3 visitors for tho several districts ; but the further consideration of thi 3 report was postpoued till the next meeting . Tho Committee to whom the point a 3 to a P . M . of a Lodge belonging to auother jurisdiction sittiug and voting , decided that no P . M . is entitled to a seat and vote iu the Now York Grand Lodge , unless he has passed the chair of somo Lodge uuder its jurisdiction . " This
report was unanimously accepted . There was also read at this meeting a protest from St . John ' s Lodgo , No . 31 , Ancient York Masons , of Charleston , South Carolina , against the uuiou of tho Graud Lodgo A . Y . M . aud Grand Lodge , as has been already announced . On the 6 th September , tho discussion of the report , recommending tho division of tho City into districts , was postponed sine die , after
which the Masters of the City Lodges reported unfavourably of the plan proposed for tho education of a certaiu number of children of poor Masons , explaining at some length and iu minute detail their reasons , and then submitting an alternative plan of their own , as well as suggesting the appointment of a Grand Lodgo School
Committee for tho conduct of this particular business . This report is accepted and ordered to be printed aud distributed , while tho appoiutment of the Committee is vested in the presiding officers of Grand Lodge . After this business had been disposed of , various communications from other Masonic bodies are taken into
consideration . The first emanated from the Grand Lodge of Marylaud , inviting the New York Grand Lodge to take tickets in a certain lottery about to be arranged , with a view to building a Masonic Hall in Baltimore . The amount to bo raised in this manner is set down as 12 . 500 dollars , and a motion is agreed to , authorising the Grand Master , if he deem it expedient , to purchase not less than five , or
more than twenty tickets in such lottory . We next find a letter from Georgia , protesting against the union of the two South Carolina Grand Lodges , and also a communication from the Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons , announcing its resuscitation by those Lodges of A . Y . M . who had refused to join in the union with the Moderns . Lastly comes a letter from the Grand Lodge of Ohio ,
announcing its organisation on the 4 th of January 1803 , and request , ing recognition and an interchange of courtesies and correspondence . To this , we need hardly add , that a favourable answer was directed to be made . On the 29 th of November a letter was read from the Grand Master , to the effect that on the special recommendation of several brethren in Washington , he had paid a debt of one hundred
dollars incurred by a Miss Jones , the blind daughter of a deceased brother , in coming to Now York to have her eyes examined and operated upon by a medical man , that he had done so because he thought it " due to the honour of the Fraternity and the cause of humanity , " and praying Grand Lodge to make such order as they might deem expedient . Thereupon it was resolved that the Grand
Treasurer be directed to refund the hundred dollars so expended to the Grand Master . We also observe that tho Grand Secretary is directed to furnish the Committee of Charity with a list of all porsons relieved during the past two years , and tho sums that were given to each . The transactions recorded for the meetiug of the 4 th of December relate chiefly to Warrants , complaints , and rolief , but anions' them wo have noticed that in a communication dated the 7 th
March 1809 , the School Committee of Graud Lodgo report that the fifty children proposed to bo educated by Grand Lodge have been placed in charge of the Trustees of the New York Freo School , and that they are already making great progress in their odncation , and recommending that a sum of ten dollars in clothing be furnished to each child . The report was read and approved . It was then
resolved that a dispensation in a funeral procession shonld not be granted , except on a written and signed application of the three first officers of the Lodge of which tho deceased brother was a member , or a majority of them . It was also arranged that a Committee of brethren should be appointed to visit the different Lodges in the City of New York , with a view to securing uniformity of work among
them . We remark that communications were received and read from the Grand Lodges of England and Ireland respectively . On the 7 th of June 1810 , Bro . de Witt Clinton was re-elected Grand Master , and so too were Bros . Van Ransseleer , Robert Cocks , Joseph Jacobs , and James Varian , as Junior Grand Warden , Grand Treasurer , Grand Pursuivant , and Grand Tyler , Bro . Golden being elected
Senior Grand Warden . In the course of the meeting a case is reported for advice by Albion Lodge No . 31 , respecting a candidate proposed for initiation who had received a wound in his knee , aud in consequence walked stiffly , the Lodge being anxious to know if such a blemish was a bar to his admission into the Fraternity . A
reference of this kind must appear to brethren of the present day as very ridiculous , and still more ridiculous is it to find Grand Lodge gravely appointing a Committee of five learned brethren to determine " the degree of blemish or defect which should be considered a disqualification for admission . " Had the caudidato been about to enter a
pedestrian club , there would have been some reason in questioning h . s titness , for people with a stiff knee-j int are not good walkers , w ' uilo a damaged limb is no block to the study of morality . At the meeting on the 5 th Of September , ihe C ¦ in e rrn r't on h- „ i . i-urer ' s Account , which commenced with a bianco in tu .. irl on tho 20 th of February 1809 , amounting to ; j 97 . 39 uodurs , sums received s . nct-
bringing the total of tho capital to 4071 . 40 dollars , while tho expenditure having reached only 2587 . 42 dollars , there remained a balance in hand at date of report of 1487 . 98 dollars . A difference between tho Graud Secretary's and Grand Treasurer ' s account was ordered to be adjusted , and it was further directed that of the above balance a sum not exceeding one thousand doiiard should be invested in some productivo stock on behalf of Grand Lodgo .
Mention of au unusual petition follows , namely , from Holland Lodge No . 8 , stating that the W . M . had been robbed of , among other things , the Warrant of the Lodge , and request , rig Hut a new Warrant , securing to them their proper rank , sh- jli ! W ..-. sii ^' i . The prayer was granted , the Lodge to retain its si . iiu : ; _ . i _ eti Sep . lumber 1787 , and the customary fees being n i , i ... i ! . "" n of the minutes of tho meeting ou 28 th November of u . u Un . ^ u otev . ui'ds ' Lodge complete this portion of tho history ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Reviews
the usual inquiries , and , these duly satisfied , to pay over tho same as requested . On the 1 st June , Bro . de Witt Clinton , and the majority of the other Grand Officers , were uuauimonsly re-elected . Four petitions for Warrants for the erection of as many new Lodges , namely , Charity Lodge , Spencer Town , Co . Columbia ; Eagle Lodgo , to be held alternately at Spencer Town , Co . Tioga , and Town of
Ulysses , Co . Seneca ; Angelica Lodge , Augelica , Co . Alleghany ; and Clinton Lodge , Clinton , Co . Dutchess , having been read and granted , a proposal for a Masonic procession on St . John the Baptist ' s Day , was made , but withdrawn , when a counter-motion seotned likely to bo passed over it . On 7 th September , after threo more petitions for new Warrants , namely , for Z ' ton Lodge , Bloomfield , Co . Ontario ; Ilochford
Lodgo , Rochford , Co . Otsego ; and Charity Lodgo , Village of Cookhouse , Tompkin ' s , Co . Delaware , had been read and granted , and certain other business submitted , tho Committee appointed to examine the Reports of Grand Visitors , G . N . Edmonds and G . V . Woods , delivered their report , and also an opinion to the effect that tho Grand Visitors in question were entitled to the thanks of Grand Lodge for the
industry and ability with which they had discharged their several duties . A motion , giving effect to this report , was then unanimously accepted , and the Lodge closed . The chief mattor recorded in the minutes of the 7 th December , is the appointment of seven brethren for the purpose of devising and reporting to Grand Lodge a plan for the education of children of poor Masons . Warrants for the erection of
Sangor Lodge , Sangerfield , Co . Oneida , and Temple Lodge , Gnilderlaud , Co . Albany having been granted , a communication from the Grand Lodge of South Carolina , announcing that the Grand Lodge of ' Ancient York Masons" and of Free and Accepted Masons had been reunited in one body under tho name of " The Grand Lodge of South Carolina , " was read , and ordered to be filed . A communication from
the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations , enclosing account of their proceedings at their annual meeting on 24 th June , and also a copy of their contributions was read . Then a letter was read from Grand Visitor Phyletus Swift , to the effect that he had experienced great difficulty in collecting past dues , and requesting that
power be granted him to compound with the Lodges in hi 3 district . The prayer of the Grand Visitor was granted in respect of all dues outstanding up to the previous St . John the Baptist's Day ; bnt Bro . Swift was notified that the payment of all subsequent dues would be rigorously enforced . The one other minute deserving to be noticed records that a communication had been received from an
association styling itself Sovereign Grand Council in the sublime Masonic degree of P . R . S ., announcing to thi 3 Grand Lodge in very respectful terms its establishment in this city on the 28 th day of October last , under patent regularly served from lawful authority , and disclaiming any power or authority inconsistent with the local supremaoy of the Grand Lodge over Master Masons . This document
was ordered to be filed . On the 1 st March 1809 , we gather from the report of the committee appointed to examine the Grand Treasurer ' s accounts , that the receipts from 20 th March 1806 to 20 th February 1809 , amounted to dollars 8 727 79 , while the disbursements reached dollars 8 ' 33030 , leaving a balance in the hands of the Grand Treasurer of dollars 397 30 , and , in addition , wero duo from tho Jersey Bank
three quarter dividends , amounting together to 210 dollars , so thafc the whole balance to the credit of the Lodge was dollars 607 ' 39 . We learn , also , that the funds of Grand Lodge consist of dollars 4-134-14 per cent , deferred stock nominal of 40 full , and 60 half shares of tho Jersey Bank stock , ou which dollars 3 , 500 had been paid at par , aud that the present stock is worth from 110 to 112 per cent . On the 60
half shares there require dollars 1 , 500 more to be paid on the 1 st May next ; and the committee recommend the appropriation of the present balance towards that payment . They likewise express their belief that a time will come when the interest of Graud Lodgo funds will suffice for every proper and charitable purpose . At the same time they draw attention to the laxity with which the Charitable
Fund had hitherto been administered . We emote their statement : — " There are certain persons that have been for many years as regularly relieved as any of . our Government pensioners , aud look and ask for it as a matter of right , when , in truth , were their characters a little sifted , they would be found , in many instances , not entitled to our beneficence ; and in several cases it will be found that certain
individuals have received 20 , 30 , 40 , and from that to 50 or 100 dollars in the space of a very short time . " For this purpose they recommend that the city should be marked out in districts , that Visitors should be appointed to each , and that no sum be granted by the Committee of Charity till two or more of their Visitors had inquired and reported . This report is accepted , and also a resolution for the
appointment of a committee of five to give effect to the proposal for dividing the city . On the same ocoasion was delivered the report of the committee appointed to devise a plan for the education of children Of poor Masons . In this report a plan is proposed , by which it is believed that fifty children may be educated at comparatively small cost , and for raising the necessary funds to meet such expenditure .
This plan , however , wa 3 ordered to stand over for further consideration till the nexfcmeetingof Grand Lodge , when it was unariimoasly agieeii to refer it to the Worshipful Masters of the different City Lodges , with full power to alter or amend it , or to propose any other iu lieu of it ; and when they were ready to report , then a special meeting of Grand Lodge should be summoned . At this session a nice point was
raised , and referred to a special committee—namely , whether a Past Master belonging to another jurisdiction , being only member of a Lodge in the jurisdiction of New York , is entitled to a seat and vote in tho latter Grand Lodgo , It was also resolved that a committee bo appointed to arrange with the Grand Secretary the numbers of tho different Lodges in the New York
jurisdiction . On the 7 th June Bro . De Witt Clinton , and other ol the Grand Officers wero nnanimously re-elected , but the election of a Graud Chaplain was unanimously dispensed with . Tho Committee for dividing New York City into districts , for the better administration of the Charitable Fund , recommended a division , corresponding with the different City Wards , except that Wards 7 and 10 were to form one district , They also suggested the appointment of
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certain brethren a 3 visitors for tho several districts ; but the further consideration of thi 3 report was postpoued till the next meeting . Tho Committee to whom the point a 3 to a P . M . of a Lodge belonging to auother jurisdiction sittiug and voting , decided that no P . M . is entitled to a seat and vote iu the Now York Grand Lodge , unless he has passed the chair of somo Lodge uuder its jurisdiction . " This
report was unanimously accepted . There was also read at this meeting a protest from St . John ' s Lodgo , No . 31 , Ancient York Masons , of Charleston , South Carolina , against the uuiou of tho Graud Lodgo A . Y . M . aud Grand Lodge , as has been already announced . On the 6 th September , tho discussion of the report , recommending tho division of tho City into districts , was postponed sine die , after
which the Masters of the City Lodges reported unfavourably of the plan proposed for tho education of a certaiu number of children of poor Masons , explaining at some length and iu minute detail their reasons , and then submitting an alternative plan of their own , as well as suggesting the appointment of a Grand Lodgo School
Committee for tho conduct of this particular business . This report is accepted and ordered to be printed aud distributed , while tho appoiutment of the Committee is vested in the presiding officers of Grand Lodge . After this business had been disposed of , various communications from other Masonic bodies are taken into
consideration . The first emanated from the Grand Lodge of Marylaud , inviting the New York Grand Lodge to take tickets in a certain lottery about to be arranged , with a view to building a Masonic Hall in Baltimore . The amount to bo raised in this manner is set down as 12 . 500 dollars , and a motion is agreed to , authorising the Grand Master , if he deem it expedient , to purchase not less than five , or
more than twenty tickets in such lottory . We next find a letter from Georgia , protesting against the union of the two South Carolina Grand Lodges , and also a communication from the Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons , announcing its resuscitation by those Lodges of A . Y . M . who had refused to join in the union with the Moderns . Lastly comes a letter from the Grand Lodge of Ohio ,
announcing its organisation on the 4 th of January 1803 , and request , ing recognition and an interchange of courtesies and correspondence . To this , we need hardly add , that a favourable answer was directed to be made . On the 29 th of November a letter was read from the Grand Master , to the effect that on the special recommendation of several brethren in Washington , he had paid a debt of one hundred
dollars incurred by a Miss Jones , the blind daughter of a deceased brother , in coming to Now York to have her eyes examined and operated upon by a medical man , that he had done so because he thought it " due to the honour of the Fraternity and the cause of humanity , " and praying Grand Lodge to make such order as they might deem expedient . Thereupon it was resolved that the Grand
Treasurer be directed to refund the hundred dollars so expended to the Grand Master . We also observe that tho Grand Secretary is directed to furnish the Committee of Charity with a list of all porsons relieved during the past two years , and tho sums that were given to each . The transactions recorded for the meetiug of the 4 th of December relate chiefly to Warrants , complaints , and rolief , but anions' them wo have noticed that in a communication dated the 7 th
March 1809 , the School Committee of Graud Lodgo report that the fifty children proposed to bo educated by Grand Lodge have been placed in charge of the Trustees of the New York Freo School , and that they are already making great progress in their odncation , and recommending that a sum of ten dollars in clothing be furnished to each child . The report was read and approved . It was then
resolved that a dispensation in a funeral procession shonld not be granted , except on a written and signed application of the three first officers of the Lodge of which tho deceased brother was a member , or a majority of them . It was also arranged that a Committee of brethren should be appointed to visit the different Lodges in the City of New York , with a view to securing uniformity of work among
them . We remark that communications were received and read from the Grand Lodges of England and Ireland respectively . On the 7 th of June 1810 , Bro . de Witt Clinton was re-elected Grand Master , and so too were Bros . Van Ransseleer , Robert Cocks , Joseph Jacobs , and James Varian , as Junior Grand Warden , Grand Treasurer , Grand Pursuivant , and Grand Tyler , Bro . Golden being elected
Senior Grand Warden . In the course of the meeting a case is reported for advice by Albion Lodge No . 31 , respecting a candidate proposed for initiation who had received a wound in his knee , aud in consequence walked stiffly , the Lodge being anxious to know if such a blemish was a bar to his admission into the Fraternity . A
reference of this kind must appear to brethren of the present day as very ridiculous , and still more ridiculous is it to find Grand Lodge gravely appointing a Committee of five learned brethren to determine " the degree of blemish or defect which should be considered a disqualification for admission . " Had the caudidato been about to enter a
pedestrian club , there would have been some reason in questioning h . s titness , for people with a stiff knee-j int are not good walkers , w ' uilo a damaged limb is no block to the study of morality . At the meeting on the 5 th Of September , ihe C ¦ in e rrn r't on h- „ i . i-urer ' s Account , which commenced with a bianco in tu .. irl on tho 20 th of February 1809 , amounting to ; j 97 . 39 uodurs , sums received s . nct-
bringing the total of tho capital to 4071 . 40 dollars , while tho expenditure having reached only 2587 . 42 dollars , there remained a balance in hand at date of report of 1487 . 98 dollars . A difference between tho Graud Secretary's and Grand Treasurer ' s account was ordered to be adjusted , and it was further directed that of the above balance a sum not exceeding one thousand doiiard should be invested in some productivo stock on behalf of Grand Lodgo .
Mention of au unusual petition follows , namely , from Holland Lodge No . 8 , stating that the W . M . had been robbed of , among other things , the Warrant of the Lodge , and request , rig Hut a new Warrant , securing to them their proper rank , sh- jli ! W ..-. sii ^' i . The prayer was granted , the Lodge to retain its si . iiu : ; _ . i _ eti Sep . lumber 1787 , and the customary fees being n i , i ... i ! . "" n of the minutes of tho meeting ou 28 th November of u . u Un . ^ u otev . ui'ds ' Lodge complete this portion of tho history ,