The Lodge at Fredericksburg, 1752

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The oldest surviving evidence of the presence of the fraternity in Fredericksburg dates to September 1, 1752. This evidence consists of a "record book, a list of members and ledger," bound together, still in the possession of Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, in which the proceedings of the lodge and its financial operations were kept for several years. On the first page of the ledger is this entry: "Ledger for Fredericksburg Lodge, commencing September, A.D. 1752, A.M. 5752, ending in December, A.D. 1764, A.M. 5764." The first entry in the record of proceedings is a "list of members' names, 1st September, 5752." No reference is made to any former record book, or any previous existence of the Lodge.

Thirteen brothers were present at that September 1, 1752, meeting. The name of the presiding Worshipful Master is blotted in the record, and illegible. The others were: Andrew Beatty, Senior Warden; Gavin Rogers, Junior Warden; Daniel Campbell, Secretary and Treasurer; John Neilson, Robert Duncanson, William McWilliams; John Sutherland; John Richards; Robert Halkerson, Ralph M. Farlane, Willock MacKay; Walter Stewart; and James Duncanson.

The location of that first meeting is not known. In its formative years the Lodge really had no home of its own. Beginning in 1756 it met at the tavern operated by a brother of the Lodge, Charles Julian, which stood on the northeast corner of Amelia and Caroline streets. Contrary to local legend, there is no evidence that it ever met at what is today known as the Rising Sun Tavern. In 1762 it moved its meetings to what was then the most imposing public building in town, the Market House, located on the southwest corner of William and Caroline streets. There it remained for many decades. (Neither Julian's Tavern nor the Market House survives.)

It is not certain by what authority the Lodge at Fredericksburg was organized and the question may never be settled. Various theories have been offered over the years, and each has had its eloquent advocates. But efforts to link it to some ambulatory British military lodge, or the so-called Antients Grand Lodge in London, have never borne fruit.

The current best thinking is that the Lodge was simply self-congregating, formed by men who had been made Masons earlier and elsewhere -- Scotland, most likely. There was in Fredericksburg in the 1750s a notable Scottish mercantile presence; many of those early Lodge members bore Scottish surnames; and it was to Scotland -- not England -- that the Lodge later turned for a proper charter.

The Scottish Charter of 1758

On April 4, 1757, the Lodge appropriated seven pounds to obtain a Charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland; and Past Master Daniel Campbell presented the petition in Edinburgh. Finally, on July 21, 1758, the Grand Lodge of Scotland issued a formal Charter for "The Lodge at Fredericksburgh." The charter officers were: Col. John Thornton, Worshipful Master; John Neilson, Senior Warden; Robert Halkerson, Junior Warden; James Straughan, Treasurer; and Robert Armistead, Secretary.

The Scottish Charter acknowledged that the members of the Lodge at Fredericksburg wanted to be constituted as a "Regular Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons" and it was "constituted, erected and appointed with the … Brethren aforesaid and their Successors … a Just, true and regular Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons."

The Scottish Charter itself is still in existence and in the possession of the Lodge. It is engrossed on the very best quality parchment. Twenty-four inches wide by twenty-five inches long, it is richly ornamented with various Masonic figures and emblems.

Fredericksburg Lodge has the distinction of being one of two lodges in the United States that issued legitimate charters to create other lodges. They are Falmouth Lodge in Falmouth, active from 1768 until sometime between 1790 and 1817, and Botetourt Lodge No. 7 in Gloucester, Virginia warranted in 1770. Botetourt Lodge applied and received a charter from the Grand Lodge of England in 1773 and is active today.

The Virginia Charter of 1787

In 1777-78 the Lodge at Fredericksburg joined with several other lodges to create the Grand Lodge of Virginia, the first independent Grand Lodge of Freemasonry established in America. Fredericksburg Lodge and Gloucester Lodge are among the seven Founding Lodges. Brother George Washington of the Lodge at Fredericksburg was asked to serve as its first Grand Master but, preoccupied as he was with defeating the British army, he declined the honor.

Eventually, in 1786, the Grand Lodge assigned numeric designators to its various subordinate lodges, and the Lodge at Fredericksburg was designated Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4. See: "A Thumbnail Sketch of the Grand Lodge of Virginia."

New charters were thereafter issued to the already existing lodges.

Fredericksburg's Virginia Charter bears the date of January 30, 1787:

"Whereas, it hath been duly presented that in the Town of Fredericksburg, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, there reside a number of Brethren of the Society of Free Masons who have heretofore met and Associated agreeable to the Laws and Constitutions of Masonry by the name and Designation of the Fredericksburg Lodge…, Know ye that We, Edmund Randolph, Esq., Governor of the Commonwealth aforesaid and Grand Master of the Ancient and honorable Society of Free Masons within the same, by and with the consent of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, do hereby constitute and appoint the Worshipful Brethren Benjamin Day, Robert Patton, and Robert Brooke, together with all such other Brethren as may be associated with them, to be a just, true and lawful Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons by the name, title and Designation of the Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4…. And the Brethren aforesaid by accepting hereof acknowledge and recognize the Grand Master and Grand Lodge of Virginia as their superior…."

Incidentally, Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 has given more Grand Masters to the Grand Lodge of Virginia than any other lodge -- eight, to date. These eight include: Judge James Mercer (GM 1784-86), Gov. Robert Brooke (GM 1795-97), Major Benjamin Day (GM 1797-1800), Hon. Oscar M. Crutchfield (GM 1841) Judge Beverley R. Wellford, Jr. (1877-79), Captain S. J. Quinn (GM 1907-08), Philip K. Bauman (GM 1914-15) and Edward H. Cann (GM 1958-59).

Like the Scottish Charter of 1758, the Virginia Charter of 1787 still survives. Written on very thin parchment, pasted on coarse linen, it is twenty-one and one-half inches wide by twenty-six inches long. It is remarkably well preserved, considering the materials of which it is made. It is in the possession of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, in Richmond.

It would be hard to overestimate the importance of Lodge No. 4 to the history of Fredericksburg.

The list of early members reads like a "Who's Who": Revolutionary War heroes Hugh Mercer, George Weedon, Gustavus Brown Wallace, William Woodford and Thomas Posey; Fielding Lewis of "Kenmore"; Virginia Governor Robert Brooke of "Smithfield"; most of the early Mayors of Fredericksburg, including Charles Mortimer, William McWilliams, James Somerville and Benjamin Day; Bazil Gordon; the Rev. Mr. James Marye of St. George's Church; James Mercer of "Marlborough"; Mann Page, Sr., of "Rosewell" and "Mannsfield", and Mann Page, Jr. The list could go on and on….

The Lodge established what may be America's oldest Masonic Cemetery in 1784, and maintains it to this day (with the help of the adjacent James Monroe Museum). In this hallowed ground lies -- amid Revolutionary War generals, diplomats and millionaires -- Mrs. Christiana Campbell, mistress of the famous Christiana Campbell Tavern in Williamsburg.

Since about 1815 the Lodge has met in its own building, located at 803 Princess Anne Street. See: http://www.historypoint.org/places/postcard_info.asp?picid=76. In this building the Lodge hosted a grand reception for the Marquis de Lafayette in 1824, and made the Marquis an honorary member.

The Lodge long played a vital and highly visible role in community affairs. On January 21, 1829, with much pomp and circumstance, it laid the cornerstone of the (now vanished) Rappahannock Canal Basin. On May 7, 1833, it welcomed President -- and Masonic Brother -- Andrew Jackson to assist it in laying the cornerstone of the original Mary Washington Monument. And in 1848 it was represented at the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.

Union troops thoroughly ransacked the Lodge building during the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. They carried off much of its property as loot -- but not, fortunately, the Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington. Various stolen items, together with explanations or apologies, trickled back from blue-coated veterans for years afterwards.

The Lodge has kept a much lower profile in modern times, perhaps too low. For example: when the Fredericksburg "Wall of Fame" was created in 2001, there was much press coverage, including published profiles of the eight honorees. But nowhere in all that coverage was it noted that fully four of the eight honorees had been active members of Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4. (They were: Captain S. J. Quinn; Judge Alvin Thomas Embry, Sr.; City Manager Levin James Houston, Jr.; and Dr. Frank C. Pratt. Edward M. Cann was added to the "Wall of Fame" in 2002.)

And it is not widely realized that many prominent local structures possess Masonic cornerstones: the Fredericksburg Baptist Church on Princess Anne Street, the Confederate Cemetery Monument, Shiloh Old-Site Baptist Church, the Mary Washington Monument, the 5th Corps Monument in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, the old Lafayette Elementary School (now the headquarters building of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library), Fairview Baptist Church, the old Mary Washington Hospital buildings on Fauquier Street (now Mary Washington Square condominiums) and on Fall Hill Avenue (now the Chamber of Commerce Building), Grace Memorial Church, and several buildings on the grounds of Mary Washington College.

But its low profile is misleading. Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 still flourishes here, after 250 years. Not only that, there are a number of other lodges functioning in the Central Rappahannock region. By tradition none of these lodges actively solicits for new members, but any of them would welcome contacts from interested parties.

Fredericksburg Lodge No 4, A.F. & A.M.
803 Princess Anne Street
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Telephone: 540-373-5885
Meets 2nd Fridays, 7:30 P.M.
Official Web site: masoniclodge4.com

Edward M. Cann Daylight Lodge No. 1752, A.F. & A.M.
803 Princess Anne Street
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Meets 4th Wednesdays (exc. Dec., 3rd Wed.), 11:00 A.M.
Official Web site: None Presently

Frank P. Moncure Lodge No. 279, A.F. & A.M.
201 Courthouse Road
Stafford, VA
Meets 4th Thursdays (exc. Nov. & Dec., 2nd Thurs.), 7:30 P.M.
Official Web site: http://members.prestige.net/moncure/

Kilwinning-Crosse Lodge No. 2-237, A.F. & A.M.
102 Chase Street
Bowling Green, VA
Meets 2nd Mondays (exc. Nov., 1st Mon.), 7:30 P.M.
Official Web Site: None Presently

Hudson-Morris Lodge No. 80, A.F. & A.M.
10431 Hudson Road
King George, VA
Meets 2nd Tuesdays, 7:30 P.M.
Official Web site: None Presently

Finally, the Grand Lodge of Virginia has its own official web site:
http://www.grandlodgeofvirginia.org/ as does the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA: http://www.gwmemorial.org/