Gleanings From Philadelphia Lodge Ledger Of 1731.

GLEANINGS FROM PHILADELPHIA LODGE LEDGER OF 1731 .

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . T"N February 1884 Bro . MacCalla discovered a Ledger of

JL the earliest Lodge in Philadelphia , wifch dates ranging between 1731 and 1738 . Extracts from it appeared in several issues of the Keystone . Ten pages thereof were p hototyped , and the whole of the said Ledger was

published , under the supervision of Bro . C . E . Meyer , of Philadelphia , together with a preface and winding up remarks about Philadelphia being the mother of chartered American Masonry , & c .

On looking over this printed copy I find there is neither the name of Daniel Coxe nor of Henry Bell , nor do I find among the pounds , shillings aud pence any indication of £ 2 2 s having been paid for a charter . But that is not all .

Our Philadelphians since 1874 have argued very plausibly that , whereas Daniel Coxe ' s Deputation as Provincial Grand Master of New York , New Jersey , and Pennsylvania expired on the 24 th Juno 1732 , and whereas , after

the expiration of Coxe ' s Grand Mastership his Provincial American Grand Lodge was allowed to elect his successor ( all this unquestionably true ) , " hence , " said they , " the Philadelphia Grand Master elected on 24 th of June 1732

was undoubtedly the legal successor of Daniel Coxe . " The newly-discovered Ledger , however , revealed the fact that the Philadelphians had a Grand Master a year before the term of expiration of Coxe's appointment . Hence Bro .

Drummond , of Maine , very justly concludes that the Philadelphia Masons of 1731 could have had no knowledge of Daniel Coxe ' s Deputation , that is , the Philadelphia

Grand Master could not have derived his power from Coxe , nor could he have derived his title direct from the Grand Lodge of England . *

The said Lodge Ledger furnishes some other historic facts . True , some of these are unimportant , but when delving as it were into pre-historic epochs even unimportant facts are not without some value ; for instance ,

the record shows that in January 1731 eleven members organised the Lodge . Now , on 7 th December 1730 Franklin stated in his paper that there were then " several Lodges in the Province . " It is very probable that some of the eleven were not Masonised until after Franklin made that

statement ; but assuming that the whole eleven were Masons in 1730 , and even adding to them the mythical Henry Bell , there were no more than twelve Masons in the Province

when Franklin made his assertion ( for there is certainly no evidence of there having been any more ) , and such being the case Franklin ' s " several Lodges" was a mere newspaper exaggeration .

Again , William Button was Master , and Thos . Hart was Warden , before 24 th June 1731 . Bro . Meyer calls Hart " one of the Wardens , " but who knows whether the Lodge had another Warden before June 1731 ?

Furthermore , the earliest regulations seem to have been : first , that each member should pay sixpence per month ; and second , that the entrance or initiation fee should be £ 3 . Franklin , and two others were initiated in January 1731 .

Button left Philadelphia for Newfoundland in May , consequently , on 24 th June 1731 the Lodge consisted of thirteen members . It is very doubtful whether any Lodge meeting

was held between January and June , for every one of the members , including tbe Master ( Button ) , owed four months ' dues before the Lodge met in June .

At the meeting in June 1731 but nine members were present . This seems to have induced the Lodge to pass a law of fining every member one shilling each time he absented himself from the Lodge . This , however , does

not seem to have mended matters ; for in July no more than nine members were present at the meeting . In August , including a new initiate , only eight persons were present , and in September the attendance was reduced fco six only .

Gleanings From Philadelphia Lodge Ledger Of 1731.

Tho said Ledger reveals another curious fact , viz ., that in June 1731 Wm . Pringle was " Deputy-Master , " and as such an office aud officer was not authorized by the English

Constitution , the inference is that the Philadelphia Masons of 1731 had no connection with the Grand Lodge of England .

On first opening Bro . Meyer ' s printed copy of the said Ledger , I was surprised to find it beginning , not in 1731 , but in 1736 , a kind of " putting the cart before the horse . " The first entry is as follows :

" MESSRS . SHIPPEN AND PKATT , Wardens for the year 1736 . " After giving three items of cash received , the sum total being £ 44 14 s 7 | d , the next entry begins with ,

" MESSRS PRATT AND SYNG , Wardens for the year 1737 . After a few more cash items , bhe amount is summed up , viz ., £ 35 1 17 ( probably lis 7 d ) . The next entry begins , "MESSRS . THOS . CADWALLADER and THO . BOODE , Wardens for the year 1737 , "

& c , & c . Four of the printed pages are devoted to the transactions of 1736 and 1737 . In these pages I find that £ 5 9 s 5 d was paid for charity and funeral expenses of a widow or wife of a Mason , and under date of June 1737

thirty members' names are given . On comparing these names with the original names of June 1731 I find six of the old ones missing . The main part of the next page has been phototyped , and I have already referred to ifc . Ifc begins on

the Uebtor side wicn , "A . D . 1731 . June 24 th . To Wm . Allen , Esq ., Grand Master . " On this page the accounts are wound up monthly . . The Creditor side of the Ledger acknowledges the payment of 2 s for " Wm . Button , Late Master . " Under date August

2 nd , is recorded " To this book , when blanck , 16 s . " This system of Ledger keeping , that is , to state tbe names of the members who attended the Lodge Meetings , with the money received and paid summed up monthly ,

was continued from 24 th June 1731 to 4 th October following ; after which a new system was adopted , viz ., a page or pages was devoted to each member ' s account separately , and each of these was headed with a Number ,

thus the first page , headed " Ledger of St . John ' s Lodge , " goes on as follows : g ( 1 )

" WM . BUTTON , late Master , to Stock , Dr . Anno Dom . 1731 , June 24 th . To 4 Lodge days at 6 d per Diem , dne before yon sailed to Newfoundland , £ 0 2 s Od . " The next page is marked thus ( 2 ) , and also begins with

June 24 th 1731 , and is wholly devoted to William Allen Esq ., Grand Master . The first entry is 2 s 6 d , for five meetings , viz ., from February to June inclusive . Allen ' s

account continues till 3 rd June 1734 . I was , however , surprised to perceive that Grand Master Allen was absent from the Lodge from 5 th July 1731 to 4 th June 1733 inclusive . During that time , instead of paying 6 s a-year ,

he paid 18 s per annum . From June 1733 to June 1734 , he paid only 6 d per month , thus proving that he attended

regularly every meeting after June 1733 . The twelve names succeeding that of Allen , that is up to No . ( 14 ) , begin wifch 24 th June 1731 , thus proving that on the last named date the Lodge consisted of thirteen

members , and their respective accounts terminate in different years . After the first thirteen old member . * , the new members' accounts begin with later dates , of these I

counted twenty-nine names , or up to No . ( 33 ) , that is beginning with Wm . Button as No . ( 1 ) . Here again the accounts of the old members are resumed , each account beginning where the former left off .

But here is another fact which has escaped notice thus far , viz ., from January 1731 to May 1734 the initiation fee was £ 3 j but in June 1734 , £ 5 was paid for initiation .

This rise in the Philadelphia Masonic Stock Market was probably due to the influence of Benjamin Franklin , who was elected Master or G . M . that year ; and before 2 nd October following , seven or eight other gentlemen were

Masonized , at £ 5 each . This forced inflation , like other inflations in Stock Markets , produced a reaction . It seems to have produced a feeling of indignation among the would

be Masons , somewhat akin to that of fche London " O . P . riots . " They had a regnlar " Knights of Labour Strike , " or more properly speaking , the Lodge sustained for a long

time a rigorous process of Irish Boycotting . At last the Lodge managers had to yield , the old price was restored , and on 6 th June 1737 several were initiated at £ 3 each , and others were received afc the same price in subsequent