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During the last decade of the Eighteenth century, there
lived in Brunswick two Masons. One, Capt. George Purvis,
Secretary of an Army Lodge #30, traveling with a Delaware
Regiment. This Regiment was decimated and most of them
captured at the battle of Camden. The other, Ex-Gov. George
Handley, appointed by Washington as Collector of Port for
Brunswick. He had been Worshipful Master of Columbia Lodge
at Augusta. |
Brunswick
remained a mere village until 1837-38 when there were collected a
few people. It was a short period of great expectation. There was
projected a transcontinental railroad reaching from the Pacific to
the Atlantic with Brunswick as the Eastern terminus. There was
built a canal from Brunswick to the Altamaha River. While most of
the labor was done by slaves, yet there was imported many Irish
families and among these, there were neither Masons nor Masonic
material.
Brunswick
again became a farm with but a few straggling inhabitants. Not
until 1852 were there any revivals, when several families moved
into Brunswick, which continued year by year until several hundred
people had gathered and among these were a few Masons. In the
early part of 1857, a petition was made by nine Masons for a
dispensation to organize a. Lodge. The following signed the
application for the dispensation:
Rev.
Luther H. Greenleaf, Patrick Henry McConn, Dr. Benjamin Monroe
Cargile, Augustus Friedlander
Alex Scranton, A. J. Osgood, Judge Arthur E. Cochrane, D. B.
Emery, D.R. Wise
The
first meeting was held Feb. 6, 1857 in a wooden building near the
corner of G and Newcastle Streets. Here the Lodge held their
meetings until August 18, 1861, when the Lodge suspended until May
26, 1866. The first applicant for membership was Samuel Bruce
Moore. The first member raised however, was Luther C. Boll on July
17, 1857. He was a young lawyer coming to Brunswick from Greene
County. The first affiliate was James T. Blain, who dimitted from
Penfield Lodge #171, where he had been Master. The Lodge was duly
chartered by the Grand Lodge at the 1857 session in October and
was duly constituted Jan. 15, 1858 by James T. Blain, Past Master.
The
first Masonic funeral was that of John Roper Wood; while a
resident of Brunswick, his membership was in St. Marys Lodge #126.
He was killed by Charles C. Moore at the Ocean Hotel on Saturday,
May 16, 1857. A negro was riding a mule into town with only a
halter for a bridle. Charles G. Moore, the town Marshall stopped
him and began abusing and beating the negro severely. Wood, who
was a lawyer, remonstrated with Moore, stating that it was not the
negro's fault, but that of his Master, who had sent him in riding
the bridleless mule. While the affair was temporarily stopped,
during the day friends of Moore kept egging him on to kill Wood
for interfering with an officer in the discharge of his duty. He
was filled with whiskey and became beastly drunk. That evening he
was actually carried to the hotel where he shot and killed Wood.
Moore fled to Florida and never again returned to Brunswick.
While
this was not the beginning, but a phase of those feuds and
divisions, which was a curse to Brunswick for more than a
generation, regarding which, more will be said later. However, for
the last few years, I have observed a great change coming over
Brunswick. The old divisions have almost disappear ed; the
stranger within the gates is heartily welcomed, and the spirit of
peace and harmony prevails in the old town. A period of growth and
prosperity surely awaits this great change.
Rev.
Luther H. Greenleaf was elected as the first Worshipful Master,
but resigned from this office on April 20, 1858. Just the cause of
this resignation is not stated but you may read between the lines
and probably determine the reason. There came to Brunswick in
1857, a Mason from the upper part of the State, a bright Mason and
a man of many good qualities. But he was like the little boy who
possessed the ball and bat and told the team if he couldnt pitch,
he would not play and they could not have his ball and bat. He was
Master of his Lodge from whence he came and could not join in the
organization of the new Lodge. Early in the following year, he
joined the new Lodge and until his expulsion some twenty years
later, was an important factor in Ocean Lodge.
Luther
Greenleaf was a man of gentle soul who loved peace and Masonry.
Rather than continue the contest, he resigned as Master. There was
an effort made to get a dispensation for the election of a Master
but the Grand Master declined to grant it. So P. H. McConn, the
Senior Warden, presided until the regular election when Carey W.
Styles was elected Master and he served during 1859. At the
regular election of that year, Luther H. Greenleaf was elected
Worshipful Master again and held the office until the election in
1866.
On May 6, 1858, the Lodge buried Rev. Thomas Gardner, who had died
on the previous day. The last burial before the recess for the War
Between the States was a soldier stationed at Camp Semmes in
Brunswick, James D. Brown, a member of Wiregrass Minutemen of the
Second Georgia Regiment.
The Lodge suspended operations from August 18, 1861 to May 26,
1866. The majority of the members were away serving in the army
and no quorum could be obtained. On June 5, 1865, they again met
and acting under a dispensation from the Grand Master, elected
officers with James T. Blain as Worshipful Master.
At
the next meeting on June 15, 1866, a page of the minutes is set
aside as a memorial for those members who had died between 1861
and 1865. Unfortunately the exact date of their death and where
buried, is not recorded. The list is as follows:
Arthur
E. Cochrane
Samuel
Wiggs
Laurence
Sam Brooks
Geo.
W. Pettigrew
Robt.
H. Powell
Luther
C. Roll
Henry
B. Wilson
Robt.
S. Piles
Woodfrey
Mabry
From
the revival of the Lodge in 1856 up to 1871, the Lodge met in
McConn's Hall. [this may be the old Codys Restaurant; in 2004
occupied by Paramount Press, SE corner] This was a large building
on Gloucester Street near Grant. About this time the Lodge joined
with the City in the erection of a City Hall in the center of
Hanover Square, where the present fountain now stands. This was a
two story building, the upper story belonging to Ocean Lodge. Here
the Lodge held their meeting until 1885, when they moved into
their own building. the present Lodge building on Newcastle St.
(actually occupied until 1956 when the current building was
built.)
In
1871, the Ladies held a fair to raise money for a Masonic
building. It was a great success, more than a. thousand dollars
being raised. This was loaned to Major Urbanus Dart and protected
by a mortgage on Old Town Lots #118 and #333. By 1885 the interest
and principal on this loan amounted to more than Twenty Five
Hundred Dollars. These two lots were deeded in fee simple to Ocean
Lodge and the sale of these was the chief source of the funds to
erect the present building.
During
the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1876, large sums of money was (sic)
sent to the Lodge for relief of the stricken members. After this
epidemic was wiped out, there was (sic) six or seven hund red
dollars left over, which was loaned to three Past Masters. No
doubt they needed the loan but it should have been given and not
loaned. Two of them had gone to Florida for their hea1th and soon
died, while the third was finally expelled. None of these loans
was ever repaid. The second epidemic of 1893 was also serious and
much money sent in for Masonic relief, after which there was also
a large sum left over. There was also some who wanted to borrow
it, but, the Lodge had learned from their experiences and the
loans were declined.
The
cornerstone of the present building was laid on March 11, 1885 and
the Hall dedicated Oct. 14. 1885. This building was 30x60 feet. In
1904 this building was extended 30 feet, the entrance changed from
the front on Newcastle Street to the rear of the building. In
1907-8 the Lodge room was beautifully furn ished and the walls
artistically decorated. It was the most beautiful Lodge Room in
the State. This work should be credited to Bro. Ernest Houseman.
Some 20 years later, because the walls were cracking, instead of
repairing, the whole was covered with paint thus destroying the
beauty of the Lodge Room.
On
April 2, 1873, the Most Worshipful Robert E. Withers, Grand Master
of Virginia, visited Ocean Lodge and was received with Grand
Honors and otherwise entertained. In 1875, an order required that
the last proceedings of the Grand Lodge be read in open Lodge. On
Feb. 11, 1874, the Lodge buried William Campbell of Blackshear
Lodge. He was a brother-in-law of the first Worshipfu1 Master,
Luther H. Greenleaf.
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