Freemasonry

Freemasonry came to the United States from England in 1733, making it one of the earliest fraternal organizations in the country. For more than two centuries, it was an influential institution because of the membership of prominent individuals. Lodge records are generally limited to membership information: date of joining the lodge, rank attained, offices held, and so on. There may be biographical material on some lodge leaders. Members in the Blue Lodge or basic unit are divided into three degrees, with the highest being Master Mason. Membership information is available from existing units. Each state’s Grand Masonic Lodge maintains only membership status records but should be contacted first for the name of the probable membership lodge. Contact that lodge for more complete information. The Freemasons website is a good place to begin a search for membership organization.

If you come across acronyms such as AF&AM and FAAM, or symbols such as a pair of compasses with a right angled square symbol in your research, you probably have a Freemason in the family.

The End of The Pirates

New Orleans emerged from the smoke of battle rather the tardy news of peace, which had been sealed at Ghent more than a fortnight before the battle. With peace came open ports. The highways of commercial greatness crossed each other in the custom-house, not behind it as in Spanish or embargo days, and the Baratarians were no longer esteemed a public necessity. Scattered, used, and pardoned, they passed into eclipse-not total, but fatally dark where they most desired to shine. The ill-founded tradition that the Lafittes were never seen after the battle of New Orleans had thus a figurative reality. … Read more

1851 Quebec Canada Directory, Cabinetmakers to Coopers

Cabinetmakers And Upholsterers CRAIG, THOMAS, 78 St. Paul st., L. T. keeps always on hand a good stock of every article in his line of business of superior quality, and at moderate prices. DRum, WILLIAM, St. Paul st., near the market a superior stock of furniture constantly on hand and for sale upon very moderate terms. GUERARD, Louis, St. Paul St., L. T., sign of the golden chair has constantly on hand a large and elegant stock of every article in his line of business HADDAN, ALEXANDER, 43 St. John st., U. T. all descriptions of cabinetware and furniture constantly … Read more

1851 Toronto Canada Directory, Cabinetmakers to Cutlers

In the following Directory the names which appear in CAPITALS are those of subscribers to the work. Cabinetmakers And Upholsterers FRENCH, RICHARD, chair manufactory, wholesale and retail 54 King st., west. JACQUES & HAY, cabinetmakers and upholsterers, Windsor and cane seat chair, and patent bedstead manufacturers wholesale and retail, 42 King st., west, corner of Bay st., manufactory, Bay shore. PARKER, THOMAS D., cabinetmaker, 63 Queen st., west every description of furniture constantly on hand, or made to order in the best manner, on reasonable terms. ROBERTS, GEORGE, cabinetmaker and upholsterer, 115 Yonge st., opposite Elgie’s hotel a choice stock … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Samuel Blodget

Samuel Blodget pitched on a lot of one hundred acres on the old North and South road from Cornwall to Middlebury, which was destroyed some time before 1860. M. B. Williamson, R. A. Foot, A. M. Williamson, Mrs. M. M. Peet, and Mrs. Alberton S. Bingham are his grandchildren. He was taken prisoner at the same time as Eldad Andrus, and was bound to a tree and threatened with death. Upon making himself known to a British officer as a Freemason, this fate was averted, and it was reserved for him to be taken to Ticonderoga, “where he suffered all … Read more

Biography of Henry Carlisle

Henry Carlisle, Mayor of the City of St. Catharines, and a resident of the Niagara district since 1837, dates his birth at Whitby, Yorkshire, England, May 9, 1820. His father, George Carlisle, a pianoforte manufacturer, and his mother, whose maiden name was Ann Walker, were natives of the same county. His mother is still living, being in her 80th year; her residence, Montreal. His father died in 1856 at Stamford. Our subject was educated at a private school; worked a short time at the tailor trade in the old country; in 1837 came to Upper Canada; spent a short time … Read more

Biography of David Kirkwood

David Kirkwood, Clerk of the County Council, and a native of this county, was born in Caledon, May 26, 1829. His parents, William and Margaret (McDonald) Kirkwood, were from Scotland, the Kirkwood’s being a Renfrewshire family. The father of David was a pioneer in this part of the Province, a farmer after coming to Canada, dying in the Township of Caledon in 1849. His mother died in 1860. Schools in the boyhood of our subject, were very poor in his locality, neither grammar nor geography being taught, and he had to attend to such branches outside of the school room. … Read more

Biography of Hamnett Hill, M.R.C.S

One of the oldest medical practitioners in Ottawa is Hamnett Hill, son of John Wilkes Hill, many years a successful physician in the City of London, England, where the subject of this sketch was born, December 15, 1811. The maiden name of his mother was Mary Elizabeth Pinhey. He received his literary education at Albion House, Camberwell, a suburb of London, in the private school of Nicholas Wanostrocht, L.L.D., celebrated for his epitome of Blackstone’s Commentaries; and his medical education at the London Hospital, Whitechapel, receiving his diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1834. Dr. Hill practiced three … Read more

Biography of James Somerville

One of the early settlers at Lucknow, and a leading business man, is James Somerville, who was born in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland, January 31, 1826. His parents are Robert and Christian (Bennett) Somerville, his father being a builder, and yet living, his home being in Dundas, Ontario. James received a good high school education; at sixteen, came, with the family, to Dundas; there worked one year in a cabinet shop; ran an oatmeal mill two years; learned the trade of a millwright; worked at it, with head-quarters at Dundas, until 1851; then removed to the township of Wawanosh, five miles … Read more

Biography of John Nichol, M.D.

John Nichol, a practicing physician and surgeon in Listowel for the last eighteen years, dates his birth in Glasgow, Scotland, November 16, 1822. His father was Hugh Nichol, manufacturer, and at one period a British soldier, a member of the 71st regiment, receiving a wound at the Battle of Waterloo. His mother’s maiden name was Mary Caldwell, who died when he was about eight years of age. He was educated at a parish school; came to Canada with the family in 1843, and his father took up 200 acres of land in the township of Peel, county of Wellington; but … Read more

Biography of Peter R. Shaver, M.D.

Peter Rolph Shaver, one of the leading physicians in the county of Perth, and a county coroner, was born near Hamilton, Ontario, July 27, 1829. His grandfather, a United Empire Loyalist, from Pennsylvania, was in the war of the colonies, and his father, John Shaver, a native of the county of Wentworth, was in the war of 1812-14, and the rebellion of 1837-38. The mother of Peter was Catharine Hess. He received most of his literary education at Victoria College, Cobourg, where he spent three years in study in the department of arts; and subsequently gave four years to medical … Read more

Biography of Henry W. Day, M.D.

Henry Wright Day, son of Calvin W. Day, a farmer, and Elizabeth Wright, his wife, was born in the township and near the city of Kingston, Ontario, September 6,1831. His ancestors were United Empire Loyalists, his great-grandfather, Barnabas Day, once living on the present site of the city of New York. Near the close of the American revolution, this ancestor came to Upper Canada, selected Government lands four miles west of the present site of Kingston, on the Lake shore; then returned to New York State and brought his family in a canoe from Sackett’s Harbor. Barnabas Day, junior, grandfather … Read more

Biography of Robert Armour

Robert Armour, Registrar of the West Riding of Durham, is a native of Donne, Perth. shire, Scotland, dating his birth March 10, 1818, his parents being Samuel and Margaret (Douglas) Armour. The Armours were Huguenots, driven from France in the times of Catholic persecution. His mother’s branch of the Douglas family descended in a direct line from “Black Douglas,” who figures conspicuously in Scottish history. In 1820, the father of our. subject, with his family, emigrated to Canada in company with the father of Sir John Alexander Macdonald, and one or two other families from the same part of Scotland, … Read more

Biography of William Gunn

The, to which the subject of this sketch belongs, is of Scandinavian origin, and traces its ancestry back as far as Heiti, father of Suadi, and the brother of Gore-Nor, from whom Norway had its name, in A.D. 690. The progenitor of the clan was Gunn, the second son of Olav, of Gairsey, a descendant of the Earls of Orkney, and the Norse Kings, afterwards Olav the Black, King of Man, and the Isles, and brother of Swein, the last and greatest of the Norse Vikings. Gunn was born about A.D. 1090. The country of the Gunns, after they attained … Read more

Biography of Dexter D’Everardo

Dexter D’Everardo, Registrar of Deeds and Registrar of the Surrogate Court, was born in Paris, France, December 28, 1814, his parents being Charles Augustus Cecil and Elizabeth Theresa (Dexter) D’Everardo. The D’Everardos are an old French family of the province of Evremont. The Dexters are also French. In 1817 the family immigrated to Nova Scotia, settling in the township of Aylesford, where the father was engaged in farming. Our subject received a thorough classical and mathematical education; studied law between three and four years in the Province of Nova Scotia; in 1834 moved to the Niagara District, and was, for … Read more

Biography of George Burnham, M.D.

George Burnham, more than forty years a medical practitioner at Peterborough, is a son of John Burnham, who came from New Hampshire, and settled on a farm between Port Hope and Cobourg, where the son was born September 4, 1814. Reference to his father is elsewhere made in this volume in a sketch of “The Burnham Family.” George was educated at the Port Hope grammar school; studied medicine in the same term with Dr. McSpaddin, attended lectures at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York; there received the degree of M.D., and subsequently the same degree from the College of … Read more

Biography of Ezra A. Bates

Ezra Albert Bates, lawyer, and postmaster at Arnprior, is, like his parents, Joshua J and Tamson (Bigelow) Bates, a native of Canada, he being born at Farmersville, county of Leeds, April 14, 1839. His branch of the Bates family is of Scotch lineage, and its progenitor in this Province came from the United States nearly a century ago. When Ezra was eight years old the family moved to Brockville, where he was educated in the grammar school. Subsequently the family lived near Smith’s Falls, where Joshua Bates had a flouring mill and a custom carding mill, the son having for … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William M. Keith

The subject of this brief biographic sketch is a native of Dundee, Scotland, a son of Alexander and Helen (Roberts) Keith, and dates his birth September 17, 1841. He received a parish school education, including the classics; came to Canada West in 1859; taught public schools a short time in the counties of Bruce and Grenville; learned the printer’s trade at Prescott; started the Smith’s Falls Review, a Reform paper, afterwards called the News, in 1863, and conducted it until March, 1878, when he sold out. The year after starting the paper, he opened a book and fancy goods store, … Read more

Biography of Absalom S. Allan

Absalom Shade Allan, one of the leading merchants and citizens of Clifford, and reeve of this village, is a native of Waterloo county, Ontario, and was born near Preston, November 26, 1843. His father, Alexander Allan, was an advocate in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland; married Ann Davidson, sister of the late John Davidson, of Galt; came to Canada in the spring of the year our subject was born; was for several years superintendent of schools for Wellington district, and died in 1855. Our subject attended the common school at Preston for several years, and afterwards gave four years to … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William P. Brown

William Penn Brown, lawyer, and mayor of Kincardine for three years, is a son of James and Lydia Carpenter (Kipp) Brown, and was born in the county of Elgin, Ontario, March 22, 1837. His father’s sketch appears in preceding pages. The maternal grandfather of William was a United Empire Loyalist, and had a brother who was a Colonel in the British army, the family coming to this country from New York. Our subject was educated in the grammar schools of St. Thomas and London; studied law with James Daniell, then of London, now judge of the united counties of Prescott … Read more

Biography of John J. Hoyt, M.D.

John J. Hoyt, the oldest medical practitioner in Ingersoll, and a man of marked skill, dates his birth at Sidney, Delaware county, New York, April 3, 1824. His parents, Daniel and Mary (Simpson) Hoyt, were both from Connecticut. The branch of the Hoyt family from which our subject sprung was from Wales. John Jay supplemented a district school education with several terms at the Delaware Academy, Delhi, N. Y.; taught school two winters, studying medicine at the same time; finished his professional studies with Dr. A. Fitch, of Delhi; attended lectures at Pittsfield, Mass., and Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and … Read more