occasion, was pronounced by Mrs. Hallam, with all the graces of gesture, and proprietry of elocution, and met with universal and loud applause." Grand Master Harison officiated for eighteen consecutive years, and during that time issued warrants for the institution of many Lodges, and under his administration Masonry made rapid advance. He established several new Lodges in the City of New York, others in Albany and Poughkeepsie, in that state, several in Connecticut, as well as one in what was then on the extreme western frontier, the City of Detroit, and from which has spring that noble army of nearly forty thousand who now worship at Masonic Altars in Michigan. We are now nearing the time when Masonry in America was no longer to be confined to a few of the colonies near the seaboard. It was to be a co-laborer with the white man in opening up, developing and civilizing the great west. Previous to the year 1764, a few Lodges in the immediate vicinity of Boston, New York and Philadelphia constituted the whole of organized Masonry in America. As civilization begins its unceasing march westward, we find Freemasonry keeping full pace with it, and wherever a center of population begins to develope, we find Masonry planting its banners and lending its helpful influence in elevating humanity, and cementing more closely the bond that binds man to his fellow-man. ZION LODGE, DETROIT. FIRST ORGANIZATION-THE CANADA WARRANT. THE STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS OF A CENTURY. The site where Detroit stands was first visited by the French in 1610. In 1701 Detroit was founded by M. DeLaCadillac, under the government of France, and remained under that government for fiftynine years. In 1760, the English troops having captured Canada, Major Rogers with his command took possession of Detroit, and the English flag took the place of that of France. Campbell's History of Michigan says, "A large part of this force consisted of several companies of the 60th, or Royal American Regiment, officered chiefly by American gentlemen from New York and other Eastern colonies." A treaty of peace between England and France was signed at Paris, February 10, 1763, and thereafter England retained possession of the military posts in Michigan. May 6th of that year, the celebrated Indian chief Pontiac, commanding the allied tribes, laid seige to Detroit and the garrison was closely beleaguered for six months. In the following year, 1764, General Bradstreet arrived there and strengthened the post, and concluded a treaty of peace with the Indians. Some of the officers of the 60th Regiment, heretofore mentioned, being masons, they, with others residing there became desirous of meeting together as such, and cultivating the social relations of the order. They petitioned Provincial Grand Master Harison, of New York, for a warrant to open at Detroit, a Lodge of Master Masons. The request was granted, and the following warrant was issued by him on the 27th day of April, A. D., 1764. TO ALL AND EVERY OUR WORSHIPFUL AND LOVING BRETHREN: Wee, GEORGE HARISON, Esq., Provincial Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons in the Province of New York in America, send Greeting: KNOW YE, that, reposing special Trust and Confidence in our Worshipful and well-beloved Brother Lieu JOHN CHRISTIE, of the both Regiment, Wee do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint him, the said John Christie, to be Master of a Lodge of Masons, Number one, to be held at Detroit under whatever name the said Master and his officers shall please to distinguish it; and Wee do also appoint Sampson Fleming, Senior Warden, and Josias Harper Junr Warden of the said Lodge by Virtue of the Power and Authority vested in me by a deputation bearing date in London the ninth day of June, A. D., One Thousand Seven Hundred and fifty-three, A. L. Five Thousand Seven Hundred and fifty-three, from the Right Worshipful John Proby, Baron of Carysford, in the county of Wicklow, in the Kingdom of Ireland, the then Grand Master of England, Appointing us Provincial Grand Master of New York. And Wee do hereby authorize the said JOHN CHRISTIE to make Masons as also to do and execute all things Lawful in Masonry, he taking especial care that the Members of his said Lodge do Observe and keep the Rules, Orders Regulations and Insructions contained in our constitutions and their own By-laws, together with all such other Rules, Orders, Regulations and Instructions as shall be given us, and paying out of the first money he shall receive for Initiation Fees to me at New York, Three pounds three shilling Sterling by me applied to the use of the Grand Charity here or Elsewhere. L. S. Given under Our Hand and Seal of Masonry at New York this Witness, PETER MIDDLETON. No. 448 of the Register of England and No. 1 of Detroit. Thus we see that a little more than thirty years after its organized introduction into America, Masonry was planted in Michigan. This was a very early period in the history of this commonwealth; when the entire peninsulas now constituting this beautiful state, were an unbroken wilderness. Civilization had planted its banders only in two or three scattered places in this territory. Detroit, that beautiful city with its 300,000 inhabitants, its bustling activity, its wealth and culture, was then simply a frontier military post and headquarters for Indian trading in the northwest. Michigan, at this time, for military purposes, was a part of Canada, and Detroit was a British military post, far beyond the frontier. All of what is now known as Western New York, Northern Ohio and Upper Canada, was then wilderness. Along the Detroit River, on both sides, there were, according to the best authorities, some three or four hundred French families, representing two thousand to twentyfive hundred inhabitants, but Detroit proper contained about five hundred inhabitants, living in seventy to eighty log houses, all closely huddled together and surrounded by a stockade about twenty-five feet high and twelve hundred in circumference. The Ottawa, Pottawatamie and Wyandotte Indians occupied the banks of the Detroit River above and below, and they were united, for offense and defense, under the dangerous leadership of the noted and powerful chieftain, Pontiac. The white people were mainly French, with a few Scotch and English from Canada. Nearly all subsisted by the fur trade.. It was in such soil and amid such environments that the seeds of masonry were first planted in Michigan. Doctor Foster Pratt, in his sketch of early Masonry, says: "Local historians mention the presence in Detroit of the "6oth" or Royal American Regiment, or detachments of it, from 1760 to 1767-four years before. and three years after the Lodge was formed-but do not state how much, if any, longer it remained stationed there. Judge Campbell's history says: "The officers of the 60th seemed to have been much better qualified to deal with the Indians than some of their associates." "The officers of the 60th were generally well thought of in the country. "Captain Donald Campbell of the 60th was the first commandant." *** ** It should be borne in mind that the "6oth"-men and officers-was American. Other troops and officers stationed here were English. Naturally enough the American troops, as compared with others, understood the people better, had sympathies and interests more in common with them, liked them better and for good reasons, were better liked by them in return. This friendly and fraternal feeling between the "60th" and the people of Detroit becomes a factor of some importance in our Masonic History. The circumstances attending the formation of Lodge No. I at Detroit, seem to indicate that its warrant was obtained through the influence and agency of the officers of the "6oth," who, being "New York Gentlemen," undoubtedly had masonic acquaintance and influence in that city. The same circumstances also raise the question whether it was a "military" or "local" lodge? "Military Lodges' were forbidden by English G. L. Regulations to admit or make masons of any but "military men of rank”-i. e., above the grade of privates. Residents of stations and others not in the army, were excluded. This was, many times, a wise and prudent rule, both in its military and masonic aspects; but its enforcement was not always necessary. This restriction was distinctly expressed in all military warrants given by their Provincial Deputies. Indeed, there is abundant evidence that some "Military Lodges" with English troops serving in the American colonies, prior to the Revolution, did not obey the rule. The sanction given by the Provincial Deputies to this departure from a rule, rigidly enforced elsewhere, indicates that they were permitted, in this matter, as in others, the exercise of a sound discretion. The Worshipful Master named in the Detroit Warrant, is "Lieut. John Christie, of the 60th Regiment;" but the warrant contains no other language that gives the lodge, or indicates that it had, a military character. Whether "Sampson Fleming, Senior Warden and Josias Harper, Junior Warden' were soldiers or citizens is not indicated, and we do not now know. None but military men of rank" being permitted, by English regulations, to be members or officers of a "Military Lodge," (if this was such a lodge), why should not the "ranks" of the Wardens be stated in the warrant as well as that of the Worshipful Master? The inference seems to be that they were residents in civil life, and not "military men. Of the work of Zion Lodge under this warrant of 1674, no record remains, neither is it known at this day that the lodge worked continuously up to the year 1794, at which time the present complete record of the lodge begins. History and tradition are alike silent upon this matter. It is highly probable that the lodge ceased work sometime previous to that date. In 1794, Michigan being held and claimed by England as a part of Upper Canada, what more natural than that the masons of Detroit, desiring the priviliges of a lodge, should apply to the Grand Lodge of Canada, then fully organized, for authority under which to work. A number of zealous masons therefore petitioned the Grand Lodge of Canada and on September 7th, A. D., 1794, the following warrant was issued by that Grand Lodge. |