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.

Death and Marriage Notices in Newspapers concerning McMinn County, Tennessee

The following notices concern marriages that not included in Marriage Records Of McMinn County, Tennessee 1820-1870, By Reba Bayless Boyer, 1964, that is marriages which are not in the record books, or that give additional facts about the marriages that are included in that volume. ATHENS POST, published at Athens Tennessee: II-103, 13 Sep 1850 Edward Lee to Esther A. Fitzgerald, all of McMinn Co., m. 15 Aug 1850 M. Ezekiel Spriggs of Bradley Co. to Mrs Marye Ann Houston m 12 Sep 1850. IV-179, 27 Feb 1852 George Wilson of Monroe Co. to Mary Glaze of McMinn Co., m. … Read more

Lee, George “Jimmy” – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon George “Jimmy” Lee, 89, a longtime Baker City resident, died June 10, 2002, at Meadowbrook Place, of natural causes. There will be a celebration of life service at 3 p.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church, 1995 Fourth St. Pastor Susan Barnes will officiate. Nursery service will be provided at the church. Jimmy was born Jan. 27, 1913, at the family home at North Powder. He met and married Eileen Cochrane in 1938. They lived their 63 years of married life in the Baker area and raised three daughters. Jimmy served in the shipyard at Bremerton, Wash., … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Dr. William B. Clapper

Dr. William B. Clapper was born in Bristol, New York, December 13, 1864. His mother was of English descent and his father German. He attended the public schools and Starkey Seminary, and after a year in Syracuse University, entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was graduated, April 19, 1894. He began to practice his profession, July 5, 1894, at Farmington, New York, and continued there until 1901. Since then he has been located at Victor, Ontario county, New York. He has made a specialty of the diseases of women and children. Dr. Clapper … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Abram Wyckoff

(III) Abram Ralph, son of Cornelius Wyckoff, was born at Ovid, Seneca county, October 13, 1862. He attended the public schools of his native town and the academy and the high schools at Lodi and Ovid. He began to teach school and for several years followed that profession in the vicinity of his home. He began to study law in 1881, and was admitted to the bar in 1884. Since 1888 he has been practicing his profession. He was elected justice of the peace and served a number of years as magistrate and member of the town board of Geneva. … Read more

Biography of Jonas T. Stevens

Stevens, Jonas T., of Hyde Park, son of Amasa and Martha (Smith) Stevens, was born in Eden, June 3, 1842. His father, Amasa, was a long-time resident of Eden, was prominently connected with public affairs, and for a considerable period was associate judge of the county court. Jonas T. Stevens obtained his education in the common school, and for a time gave his services to neighboring farmers, being also employed in mills in the vicinity of his birthplace. Acquiring a small but well-earned capital, he invested it in a saw mill, when his business plans were suddenly interrupted by the … Read more

Biography of Henry Moses McFarland

McFarland, Henry Moses, of Hyde Park, son of Moses and Livonia (Leach) McFarland, was born in Waterville, August 5, 1852. Mr. McFarland’s great-grandfather served in the war of the Revolution, coming out of the service with the rank of major. His father also served his country in the civil war as captain of Co. A, 8th Regt. Vt. Vols., and was a brave and resolute officer, having at various times received honorable mention for meritorious conduct on the field of battle. He received his preliminary educational training in the schools of Waterville and the People’s Academy, working his way through … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Lewis S. Halsey

Lewis, L. Halsey, of Hyde Park, son of David and Julia (Smith) Lewis, was born in the town of Blooming Grove, N. Y., Dec. 2, 1853. He received his education in the schools of New York City and Michigan, and when his education was completed, learned the printer’s trade at Middletown, N. Y. August 18, 1878, he settled in Hyde Park and purchased the Lamoille News. Three years after he united that paper with the Vermont Citizen. Since that time he has conducted the combination of the two papers under the title of the “News and Citizen” with offices at … Read more

Biography of Martin Shattuck

Martin Shattuck, son of Randall and Mary Ann (Thomas) Shattuck, Randall being the youngest son of Moody, was born in this town in Feb. 5, 1842. Mr. Shattuck received his intellectual training at the common schools of Belvidere, but his practical education was derived from hard labor upon his father’s farm where he remained till he was twenty-two years of age, when he entered his cousin’s store at Waterville as clerk. After two years at Waterville he married and went home to reside. Mr. Shattuck married, Jan. 31, 1866, Meribah Esther Hyde, daughter of William and Betsey (Fuller) Wilbur of … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Thomas W. Barker

Thomas W., son of John (2) Barker, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, April 4, 1850, and was educated there in the public schools. At the age of sixteen, after the civil war, he came with his parents to Phelps, graduated from the high school in that town and completed his education in a commercial college in Canada and at Wesleyan College at Bloomington, Illinois. He returned to Phelps and followed farming for two years. In 1887 he was one of a company that organized the Van Vrankin Company, which conducted a banking business at Clifton Springs, New York. After the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of William B. Wall, M.D.

Dr. William B. Wall Santa Ana, the first Treasurer of Orange County, was born near Danville, Virginia, in1890. His literary education he received at the common schools in Mississippi, and his medical education at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1853. He further attended lectures in New Orleans in 1854, and began the practice of his profession in Mississippi, where he built up a fine patronage; but on the breaking out of the war he entered the Confederate army, in the Twenty-third Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, and was Surgeon for the regiment. He was elected First Lieutenant, and … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Justus Williams

Justus, son of Ebenezer Williams. was born about 1737 in Deerfield and came to Amherst with his father. in infancy, or was born in what is now (1910) Amherst. He was a soldier in the French and Indian war in Colonel Williams’ regiment, from January 24 to November 30, 1757. He was also a soldier in the revolution on the alarm at New Providence, and served in Lieutenant Noah Dickinson’s company. In 1783 he was one of the petitioners for the incorporation of the second parish of Amherst. Both he and his son of the same name were voters in … Read more

Davis, Joseph “Pat” – Obituary

Baker City, Oregon Joseph “Pat” Davis, 77, of Baker City died April 23, 2001, at St. Elizabeth Health Services after a two-year battle with cancer. His graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Mount Hope Cemetery. The Rev. Susan Barnes of the First Presbyterian Church will officiate. Ritualistic rites will be accorded by the Baker Elks Lodge, No. 338. Visitations will be until 7 o’clock tonight at Coles-Strommer Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. Mr. Davis was born on March 17, 1924, at Portland to Joseph and Mary Davis. He grew up mainly in Baker City and graduated from … Read more

Reynolds, Fred E. – Obituary

Fred E. Reynolds, 82, of Baker City died Sept. 14, 2006 at St. Elizabeth Health Services. Visitations will be from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. today at Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St. His funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Coles Funeral Home. Bob Richmond of the Blue Mountain Masonic Lodge will officiate. Friends are invited to a reception at the family home after the funeral. Private interment will be later at Mount Hope Cemetery. Fred was born on Oct. 21, 1923, at home, near Judsonia, Ark., to Louisa and William Reynolds. He was the youngest of eight … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Hon. Albert H. Herendeen

Hon. Albert H. Herendeen, son of Lemuel Herendeen, was born in Farmington, June 19, 1868. He attended the public schools and Hobart College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1887. After leaving college he became clerk in the office of his father’s firm, and in 1892 started the retail trade in nursery stock, doing business under the firm name of A. H. Herendeen & Company and continued until his father died. He succeeded his father in the firm of Sears, Henry & Company, and since then has been an active … Read more

Clark, Alphus – Obituary

Retired U.S. Army Col. Alphus Clark, 87, a Baker City native, died March 29, 2008, at Shawnee, Kan. Col. Clark, a 33-year Army veteran, will be buried with full military honors at 9 a.m. on May 29 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Col. Clark was born Aug. 4, 1920, at Baker City to Walter A. Clark and Grace E. Clark. He graduated from Baker High School in 1938. He started his military career in Baker City when he enlisted in Company F, 186th Infantry, Oregon National Guard, on Aug. 15, 1935. He entered active duty with this same unit … Read more

Biography of Benjamin F. Fortner, M.D

The subject of this sketch was born August 15, 1847, third son of M. F. Fortner, who resides eight miles north of Dallas, and is one of the few living who first settled in that country from Kentucky. Benjamin’s mother was Miss Hall, of Simpson County, Kentucky, daughter of a prominent farmer in that State. Mr. Fortner attended private and public schools in Texas until his seventeenth year. In 1864 he volunteered in the Confederate service, and served until the close of the war, after which he returned home, and again went to school until 1866. That year his parents … Read more

Biography of Marvin H. Sanger

Of Canterbury, the second son of Ebenezer and Eunice (Hutchins) Sanger, was born in the town of Brooklyn, Conn., April 12th, 1827. In the year 1828 his parents removed to Canterbury, which has since been his residence. His paternal grandfather was James Sanger, of Windsor, Hartford county, Connecticut, and his grandmother, Olive (Chaffee) Sanger. Mr. James Sanger died in Windsor,. Some years after Mrs. Sanger returned to Canterbury, where she resided until her death at an advanced age. The children of this marriage were three sons, James, Ebenezer and Ira, and one daughter, Sally. Immediately after the death of his … Read more

Biography of James Pike

John Pike, the common ancestor of the branch of the Pike family residing in Connecticut, settled in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1664. He was the progenitor of Jonas Pike, of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, who married a descendant of Peregrine White, the first white child born in New England. Their four sons were: David, Ephraim, Jonas and Jesse. There was also one daughter, Amy. David married Elizabeth Pitman, of Newport, Rhode Island. Their children were two sons, William and James Pitman; and two daughters, Lucy, wife of David Bayless, and Nancy, who married Abijah Prouty. William Pike left Sturbridge in 1810 and settled … Read more

Biography of Simon Zelotes Walker

WALKER, SIMON ZELOTES, was born in Shoreham, Addison county, Vt., November 3. 1796, and was the eldest son of Russell and Anna (Chellis) Walker. Anna Chellis was a daughter of one of the Revolutionary soldiers, who served honorably as a quartermaster from the Battle of Bunker Hill until the end of the struggle. The ancestor of the subject of this sketch has been noticed properly in the preceding sketch of Russell Walker. Simon Zelotes Walker received his education in the common schools of Bridport and Schroon, which was amplified by extended reading and study in later years. While still a … Read more