Ritual , Secrecy , and Civil Society
Most of these bodies had short existences .
• At the same time the New Orleans body was being created , France ceded the City to Spain through the 1763 Treaty of Paris , and Spain enforced the 1738 anti-Masonic papal bull , In Eminenti . 5
• The Ineffable Lodge of Perfection of Albany was chartered by Henry Andrew Francken in 1768 . Its register is in the archives of the Supreme council , 33 °, N . M . J ., and records 123 meetings from 1768 to 1774 , with no meetings held in 1772 . 6
• The Minute Book of the Lodge of Perfection in Philadelphia , established by Solomon Bush , has been preserved by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and was reprinted in 1915 . It records the meetings from the first in 1781 to the abrupt last one in 1789 . While the members did write to Frederick the Great , the proceedings are otherwise unexceptional . 7
• King Solomon ’ s Lodge of Perfection at Holmes Hole ( now Tisbury ), on the island of Martha ’ s Vineyard , was created by Moses Michael Hays , Deputy Inspector General , in 1791 , when he was serving as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts ( Antients ). In 1797 the body surrendered its charter to the Grand Lodge and received a new charter with the same name but solely as a Craft Lodge . 8
• Henry Wilmans , “ Grand Inspector , General ,” established a Lodge of Perfection in Baltimore , but the only remaining document is the “ Constitution and Laws of the
“ A ‘ Sovereign Chapter of Rose Croix [ de Heroden ]’ was also constituted in Charleston prior to 1802 .... But neither the Supreme Council ’ s Manifesto nor Mackey ’ s manuscript History , nor any other work which we have been able to find , discloses the former ’ s date or source of authority .” Charles S . Lobinger , The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry ( Louisville , Ky .: Standard Printing , 1932 ), p . 150 . The existence of this chapter is confirmed by the Annual Register of the Brethren who Compose the Sublime Grand Lodge of Perfection of South-Carolina ( Charleston : T . B . Bowen , 1802 ), reproduced in Ray Baker Harris , History of the Supreme Council , 33 °, … Southern Jurisdiction , U . S . A .: 1801 – 1861 ( Washington : Supreme Council , 33 °, S . J ., 1964 ), pp . 306 – 16 .
5 Kent Walgren , “ An Historical Sketch of Pre-1851 Louisiana Scottish Rite Masonry ,” Heredom , vol . 4 ( 1995 ), pp . 190 , 191 ; Bernheim , “ Early Freemasonry in Bordeaux ,” pp . 90 , 100 ; Alain Bernheim , “ Notes on Early Freemasonry in Bordeaux ( 1732 – 1769 ),” Ars Quatuor Coronatorum , vol . 101 ( 1988 ), pp . 139 – 87 .
6 Alain Bernheim , “ Questions About Albany ,” Heredom , vol . 4 ( 1995 ), pp . 139 – 87 .
7 Julius F . Sachse , Ancient documents relating to the A . and A . Scottish Rite in the Archives of the R . W . Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania ( Philadelphia : Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , 1915 ).
8 Proceedings Grand Lodge of Massachusetts , 1792 – 1815 , p . 112 ; Baynard , History of the Supreme Council , vol . 1 , p . 98 . Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the Years 1815 to 1825 Inclusive ( Boston : Caustin-Claflin , n . d .), pp . 428 , 624 ; Banks , The History of Martha ' s Vineyard , “ Annals of Tisbury ,” vol . 2 , pp . 70 – 82 , quoted at
http :// history . vineyard . net / banks2e . htm . The 1797 charter was granted to “ King Solomon ’ s Lodge of Perfection ” though references after 1816 are to “ King Solomon Lodge ’ s in Perfection .” The earlier name follows the terminology of high degree bodies while the latter does not .
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