of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 423-427
IOWA LODGE OF MASONS NO. 2. The first lodge of Masons organized in Muscatine county and the second in the state* (* Burlington Lodge, No. 1, was organized November 30, 1840, under dispensation of the Missouri Grand Lodge, and was the first in the state.) was Iowa Lodge No. 2, the date of its formation being February 15, 1841, under the authority of a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Missouri, dated St. Louis, February 4, 1841. There was no grand lodge in Iowa at that time and the number given to this new order in Iowa Territory was 42, the Missouri grand lodge probably having followed the last number of some lodge to which it had granted dispensation. Those applying and paying for the dispensation were: Ansel Humphreys, Moses Couch, Josiah Parvin, B. S. Olds, P. G. Jeans, J. Williams, P. W. Howland, John Lilly, Jr., J. C. Matthews, Alexander Lewis and T. S. Parvin. The first officers installed were: Ansel Humphreys, W. M.; John Lilly, Jr., S. W.; B. S. Olds, J. W.; Josiah Parvin, Treas.; Joseph Williams, Sec.; Theodore S. Parvin, S. D.; Benjamin P. Howland, J. D.; Joseph C. Matthews, P. G. Jeans, stewards.
To the by-laws, adopted February 22, 1841, were attached the following names: Ansel Humphreys, John Lilly, Jr., B. S. Olds, Josiah Parvin, J. Williams, T. S. Parvin, Benjamin P. Howland, Philip G. Jeans, S. B Shortridge, Matthew Matthews, Isaac Magoon, Silas Lathrop, J. C. Matthews, Robert Lucas (governor of the territory), William Fry, Jeremiah Fish, Hiram Wilson, A. F. Hoffmire, Moses Couch, A. G. Beeson, W. B. Snyder, F. O. Beckett, Irad C. Day, Zachariah H. Goldsmith, John S. Lakin, Andrew J. Fimple, T. T. Clark, George W. Hunt, Absalom Fisher, James G. Swafford.
The first meeting place of the lodge was in the second story of a frame building that stood on lot No. 2 in block 11, belonging to Charles Nealy.
FIRST MASONIC BUILDING IN IOWA. Arrangements having been completed with the authorities of the Episcopal church, wherein the lodge agreed to pay for the erection of a second story to a proposed church building, a committee of Iowa Lodge No. 2 was appointed to circulate a subscription paper for the raising of a building fund, the members of which were: T. S. Parvin, B. W. Howland and P. G. Jeans. Money for the purpose was secured and the first church building ever erected in Muscatine county, and the first Episcopal church in the state, was completed in the fall of 1841 and this, Trinity church--the second story of it--was the first Masonic building in the state of Iowa.
TRINITY CHURCH AND MASONIC HALL. The building was erected by Trinity church, but the second floor was paid for by Iowa Lodge No. 2, and used for lodge purposes. Bishop Kemper was not in favor of this arrangement, as the following extract from his diary discloses: "July 27, 1841. Bloomington. Good congregation; much interest exhibited in cause of church. The plan of the church is enlarged, but the Masons are to put a half-story upon it, which I do not like. They are to have it only five years, and then it is to be turned into a parsonage, and a church built on the front part of the lot."
While on this phase of the subject, it might be well to here insert that the church records reveal the attitude of the worthy bishop: "June 25, 1842. Bishop Kemper officiated. The Masons occupying the second story of the church so offended the bishop that he utterly declined to dedicate the church."
Trinity's first church and the hall of Iowa Lodge, No. 2, was a plain, frame building in perfect harmony with its neighbors of the day. No paint gave tone or color to its hardwood siding and the windows were diminutive and unstained. But the outside doors were considered very pretentious and ornamental, each having ten hand-made raised and molded panels. It seems the building was not fully two-story, but one and three-fourths in height. The lodge room was reached by a stairway on the outside, extending over the doorway to the sanctuary on the lower floor. When the building was vacated by the lodge and church, it became the property of J. P. Walton, who rented it to the town for school purposes, and Mr. Walton remembers that during one school vacation, "a soldier, home on a furlough, stopping at the hotel on the corner, was taken down with smallpox. He was carried into the old lodge room, using the platform in the east for a bed, without my knowlege or consent. After he recovered I was compelled to remove the building."
Meetings of the lodge were held in this building until March 7, 1854, some time longer than Bishop Kemper had allotted in his exposition of the lease. In 1850 a movement was started to secure other quarters and a short time later a Masonic Hall Company was organized, for the purpose of building a new home for the various Masonic bodies. About $3,000 was subscribed for stock in the enterprise and a building was constructed on Second street. The investment, however, proved a failure. In 1883, rooms were especially arranged for the Masons in a building that stood on the southwest corner of Second street and Iowa avenue, now the site of the Muscatine State Bank. Here all the Masonic bodies met and performed their various labors until 1901.
The charter of this lodge was received on the 13th of December, 1841, and the number, 42, was assigned it. In December, 1843, the question of changing the name was debated, and it was decided to retain the old one of Iowa lodge, but the number given it by the grand lodge of Missouri was changed to No. 2, that it might conform to the order in which the lodges of Iowa had been organized, giving to the local lodge its proper place on the list.
HAWKEYE LODGE, NO. 30. After ten years of existence the Masonic lodge prospered and grew in strength of numbers, so much so in fact, as to make it apparent to certain of its members, notably Ansel Humphreys and his son, James A. Humphreys, that the formation of a new lodge was not only advisable but desirable. Hence, on the 5th day of September, 1851, ten Masons met to organize a lodge, under a dispensation granted by the grand master of the grand lodge of Iowa, W. D. McCord. This group of men were selected as the officials of the new lodge and they were: Edward Klein, W. M.; John S. Lakin, S. W.; George D. Magoon, J. W.; with James A. Humphreys, T. S. Battell, H. D. LaCossitt, L. B. Adams, John J. Lower, John Hinds and J. W. Smith. Klein was called to the chair and La Cossitt was made secretary. A committee was appointed to draft a set of by-laws and one was also selected to wait upon the mother lodge and secure the use of the hall.
The organization was perfected on the 10th of September following, at which time L. B. Adams was elected treasurer, H. D. LaCossitt, secretary and James A. Humphreys, S. D. At the grand lodge, held in Fairfield, May 25, 1852, Humphrey's lodge was closed under its dispensation and June 29, 1852, the lodge met, acting under a charter from the grand lodge, dated Fairfield, June 2, 1852, signed by W. D. McCord, grand master, and Ansel Humphreys, grand secretary. The following officers were elected and installed: Edward Klein, W. M.; H. D. LaCossitt, S. W.; L. D. Palmer, J. W.; James A. Humphreys, Treas.; R. Ackerman, Sec.; J. D. Stephenson, S. D.; John Benham, J. D.; L. B. Adams, tyler. All of the officers were present, as also were J. P. Walton, J. W. Smith and H. D. Jellison, G. D. Magoon, J. S. Lakin, J. J. Lower, J. Hinds, T. S. Battell, W. R. McCulloch, P. L. Washburn, S. M. Doolittle, Benjamin Beach. S. G. Stein and John Benham were charter members, but were absent from the first meeting and installation of officers. The death of Hon. Henry Clay, statesman, orator and great protectionist, was announced at this meeting and on July 5th of that year, memorial services in honor of the famous Kentuckian, were held at the Methodist church, the Masonic bodies attending. On this occasion Henry Clay Dean delivered the oration, and a poem, ascribed to E. Klein, was read.
FIRST MASONIC CELEBRATION. In 1852, on the 4th day of November, the Masons held their first celebration in Muscatine. The various bodies met in the lodge rooms in the morning and marched to the court house, where they listened to addresses and discussed an appetizing dinner. Even at that time the affair was considered old-fashioned for, in the words of J. P. Walton, "it brought out all the old regalia of the past century. Some of the aprons worn by the master Masons probably cost $40 or $50. Most every one wore a satin apron, trimmed in blue. I recollect getting one for the occasion that cost some five dollars. On these aprons nearly all the emblems of the order were emblazoned. The Royal Arch Masons and the Knights Templar were there in their regalias. This was the last time that most of these regalias appeared. In the evening we had a grand ball in the court house, and here was where the young lodge was ahead of the old one."
GRAND LODGE MEETS IN MUSCATINE. June 7, 1853, the grand lodge met in Muscatine, in I. O. O. F. hall, corner of Chestnut and Second streets. It cost the local lodges twenty-four dollars to entertain these grand officers.
By the middle of the year 1853 dissensions and discords in Humphrey lodge reached such proportions that a decision was reached to surrender its charter. This was accomplished in July, and the lodge was dissolved. Matters were finally adjusted and September 15, 1853, the charter was returned to the lodge, work was commenced where it had been left in abeyance about two months, and everything went on again as though nothing of a serious nature had happened.
In May, 1854, a resolution was offered by E. Klein to change the name of the lodge and at a subsequent meeting of the same month the name, Hawkeye, was chosen. The first officers of Hawkeye Lodge, No. 30, were as follows: L. D. Palmer, W. M.; Thomas Mercer, S. W.; Samuel Tarr, J. W.; S. B. Crane, Treas.; H. D. Jellison, Sec.; John Hunter, S. D.; M. McGrath, J. D.; J. P. Walter, tyler.
The nucleus of a Masonic library was secured in July, 1855, fifty dollars being appropriated for the purchase of The Universal Masonic Library.
In December, 1884, an effort was made to unite the two lodges, Iowa No. 2, and Hawkeye No. 30, and the proposition was strongly urged by Grand Secretary T. S. Parvin. The resolution was lost by a vote of twenty-four to fourteen.
The semi-centennial of Masonry in Muscatine was held February 16, 1891, both lodges taking part. Grand Secretary T. S. Parvin, one of the founders of Iowa Lodge, No. 2, delivered an address and many others followed him. A banquet was served in Armory hall.
An auxiliary Masonic body known as the Order of Eastern Star was first organized in the fall of 1855 and again in 1864, but lay dormant until May 27, 1867, when a meeting was called and
THE CONSTANCY FAMILY. was temporarily organized. Two weeks later the organization was made permanent, with P. A. Braumfield, O. P. Waters, W. B. Langridge, W. Leffingwell, J. S. Pinkham, J. P. Walton and G. A. Garrettson, charter members. The associate members were: Sarah Stallcup, Mary E. Walton, Carrie A. Barrows, Frances R. Leffingwell, Harriet A. Braumfield, Mary Pinkham and Elizabeth A. Garrettson. The selection of officers were: P. A. Braumfield, patron; Elizabeth A. Garrettson, patroness; William Leffingwell, conductor; Harriet A. Braumfield, conductress; Frances L. Leffingwell, treasurer; Carrie A. Barrows, recorder; O. P. Waters, watchman.
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