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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1998-01 > 0884928346


From: Lorraine R Friberg< >
Subject: Re: Scotch-Irish-D Digest V98 #26
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 21:25:46 -0800


"All of the organizations that you mentioned are part of the overall
Masonic lodge family. The Masonic order dates back into Medieval times
in Europe - originally formed as "builders" of society. There ritual
and order is a secret and known only to the members.

Freemasonry refers to the principles, institutions, and practices of the
fraternal order of the Free and Accepted Masons. The largest worldwide
society, freemasonry is an organization of men based on the fatherhood of
God and the brotherhood of man, using builders' tools as symbols to teach
basic moral truths generally accepted by persons of good will.

The basic unit of free masonry is the lodge, which exist under a charter
issued by a grand lodge. The lodge confers three degrees: Entered
Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. Additional degrees are
conferred by two groups of advanced masonry: the York Rite (which awarded
12 degrees) and the Scottish Rite (which awarded 30 higher degrees). In
the U. S. and Canada a group of Masons have formed the Order of the
Shriners, who support hospitals for crippled and burned children. (There
is an Order of the Ladies of the Nile which is a conterpart for the wives
of the Shriners)

There are also the Order of the Eastern Star for Master Masons and their
wives and the Order of De Molay for boys; and the Order of Job's
Daughters and the Order of Rainbow for girls."
(The above is from my parent's Masonic manual. Our family on
both my husband's and my side have been members of these organizations
back into the last century. I am an Eastern Star, a former Job's
Daughter and Rainbow Girls. My husband is a Mason even though we are not
active at this time.)

Although the organization had its roots in medieval times the present
organization began in 171 in London. Lodges were first formed in the U.
S. in Philadelphia in 1730 and in Boston in 1733.
I have found records in newspapers and city directories that have led me
to some of my lines in the early and middle 1800s in America. Hope this
helps

I think that you will find that some of you ancestors were Masons as the
church and the lodge were the seat of social activity for many of our
ancestors.

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