BENEVOLENT ORDERS
OF
MASON COUNTY
Page 230
BENEVOLENT ORDERS
OF
MASON COUNTY
Page 230
|
We assume, in the following pages, to give the organization, etc., of the various benovelent organizations in Mason county, from such data as we have been able to obtain on that subject, and follow with some quotations from various publications, which we deem relevant to this division of our work. From personal knowledge and our own experience in the work of the various orders, we cannot write. From our observation, our reading, and conversation, and a long association with members of these organizations, we can give our opinions from a disinterested standpoint. The following little circumstance illustrates our individual views: Many years ago, in an Eastern city, a stranger stopped for the night at the principal hotel, and after registering his name, retired for the night. During the night he was taken suddenly ill. He called a servant and enquired for any member of a Masonic organization. A member was sent for, and he brought other members. The stranger grew rapidly worse. In the beginning he gave his trunks, money, letters, and all his valuables, unreservedly into the keeping of his strange brethren. They watched his sick-bed day and night, and furnished him the best medical attendance the city afforded. In four days the stranger died. His funeral was largely attended by members of the order to which he belonged, and the citizens. A funeral sermon was preached on the occasion at the First Presbyterian church, by its pastor. The sermon closed, the minister spoke on the kindness and care bestowed on the stranger by the order to which he belonged, and closed his remarks by saying: "That if professing Christians did their duty, these organizations-these orders, would have no existence; that commendable as were the acts of kindness shown this stranger, it was only what should be done under like circumstances in any and every Christian community." That very small word "if," boy as we were, when we heard those remarks, looked to us as an important feature of that paragraph, and those words have remained in our memory nearly forty years.
From a work on the table on which we write we make the following extracts: It has for its foundation-stone the existence of a God, the immortality of the soul, and the love of humanity. It is composed of freemen, who, submissive to the laws, unite themselves into a society governed by general and particular statues. Freemasonry occupies not herself with the various religions spread throughout the world, nor the constitutions of different countries. Having her place in the sphere of ideas, she respects the religious faith and the political sympathies of all her members. And so at her meetings all discussions upon such subjects are formally forbidden. She ever maintains her ancient device-Liberty, Equality and Fraternity-but she reminds her members that while walking in the domain of ideas one of their first duties as Masons and as citizens is to respect and to observe the laws of the country in which they live." Below we give the organizations in this city and county:
Chartered 1850. George Wright, W. M.; George R. Wilson, S. W.; M. Baldwin, J. W. Number of charter members, 7.
PRESENT OFFICERS.
Organized 1869, September 1st. Charter members, 20. Original officers were-L. M. Hillyer, W. M.; E. Snyder, S. W.; G. A. Blanchard, J. W.; J. F. Coppel, Treas.; C. W. Emmet, Sec'y.; W. S. Dray, S. D.; Anson Low, J. D.; J. B. Jimerson, Tyler; W. H. Webb, J. W. Lyke, Stewards.
PRESENT OFFICERS.
Date of dispensation, August 3, 1865. Date of charter, October, 1865. Original officers-L. M. Hillyer, H. P.; G. R. Wilson, E. K.; A. Biggs, E. S.; C. W. Emmet, C. H.; J. F. Coppel, P. S.; E. Snyder, R. A. C.; G. A. Blanchard, Jas. Kelly, S. H. Ingersoll, Masters of Veils; A. Krebaum, Sentinel.
PRESENT OFFICERS. Total membership, 60.
Date of dispensation-December 29, 1867. Date of charter-October, 1868. Charter members:--C. W. Emmet, J. F. Coppel, J. W. Kelly, J. W. Lyke, E. B. Laughton, W. H. Webb, H. R. Cleaver, H. W. Lindly, J. L. Irwin.
PRESENT OFFICERS.
Sir L. M. Hillyer, E. C.; Sir O. H. Shearer, General; Sir C. W. Emmett, Capt. General; Sir E. Snyder, Prelate; Sir W. S. Dray, S. W.; Sir O. H. Harpham, I. W.; Sir E. A. Wallace, Warden; Sir I. N. Mitchell, Recorder; Sir N. Siebenaler, Treasurer; Sir C. C. Fager, S. Bearer; Sir W. H. Webb, Standard Bearer; Sirs W. H. Hamlin, Anson Low, J. L. Waller, Guards; Sir H. A. Fager, Capt. Guard. The Odd Fellows organizations in Havana, and the Masonic and Odd Fellows, in Bath, we have been unable to reach, though frequently applied for.
Havana Grove No. 40, V. A. O. D.-Hall corner of Main and Plum streets. Organized May 13, 1874.
ORIGINAL OFFICERS.
PRESENT OFFICERS.
Charter dated October, 1866. Charter members were:--H. A. Sweet, A. G. H. Conover, P. W. Gay, A. A. Griffin, P. W. Thomas, Z. Miller, R. S. Eakin, John Thomas, B. Ruthenburgh, Smith Mosier, H. Latham, W. W. Pierce.
ORIGINAL OFFICERS.
PRESENT OFFICERS.
Regular communications on the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of every month. S. M. Badger, W. M.; J. F. Culp, Secretary.
Regular meetings every Thursday evening, in their Hall, LaForge Block. G. W. Ellsberry, N. G.; P. Mundt, Secretary. |