/ SiteMap / Officers / Famous Masons / Bijou / Trestleboard / Photo Album / FEP / Past Masters / Masonic Cemetery / District 8 / Appendant Bodies / Ring / Links / Contact / Petition

History of Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

First Recorded Meeting
September 01, 1752

First Recorded Conferral of the Royal Arch Degree in the New World
December 22, 1753

Chartered by Grand Lodge of Scotland,
July 21, 1758

Chartered by Grand Lodge of Virginia, January 30, 1787

250 Years of Freemasonry in Fredericksburg
Brief overview

By
Bro. Michael Meisberger

Before 1816, the Masons of Fredericksburg would most likely meet at the local taverns around what is now Old Towne Fredericksburg. Masonry is a very community service oriented Fraternity so it is not surprising that when the people of Fredericksburg needed funding for the building of a school, local Masons raised the money and had a building erected for both the children and Freemasonry. The second floor was used for Masonic meetings, and the rest of the building was used as a school.

During the Civil War, the Union Army used this building for a hospital. During this time much of the Lodge's oldest records and artifacts were destroyed and what few remain have told us the story of a great history. In 2002 the Lodge celebrated its 250th anniversary of the foundation of George Washington's Mother Lodge. Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 stands out as one of the brightest Lodges in the early history of Freemasonry in Virginia.[1] Since 1752 a continuous Masonic presence has grown at Lodge No. 4. Many prominent citizens have been members and the Lodge membership continues to serve the surrounding community with hundreds of thousands of dollars in community service and outreach every year. Further and not surprisingly, more than a few of Fredericksburg's prominent buildings have Masonic cornerstones.

In detail

The oldest surviving evidence of the presence of the Masonic fraternity in Fredericksburg dates to September 1, 1752. This evidence is a record book, that gives a list of members and bound together with a ledger is still in the possession of No. 4. The document holds the proceedings of the lodge and its financial records over several years.

The first page of the ledger reads: 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, dated 1st September, 5752. No reference is made to any former records or previous existence of the Lodge. Thirteen members were present at that September 1, 1752, meeting. The name of the Worshipful Master is ink-blotted in the original record and thus, illegible. Those present 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
James Duncanson.

Beginning in 1756 it met at the tavern operated by a member of the Lodge, Charles Julian, which stood on the northeast corner of Amelia and Caroline streets. In 1762 it moved its meetings the Market House, located on the southwest corner of William and Caroline streets. There the fraternal Brothers met for many decades.

By what overriding authority, with the exception of loyalty to the Craft, the Lodge at Fredericksburg was organized may never be known, but most likely the Lodge was formed by men who had been made Masons elsewhere. In the 1750s a formidable Scottish presence and many of those early Lodge members bore Scottish surnames.

Scottish Charter

On April 4, 1757, the Lodge obtained a Charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland for the sum of seven pounds. Past Master Daniel Campbell presented the petition in Edinburgh, Scotland. On July 21, 1758, the Grand Lodge of Scotland issued a formal Charter for "The Lodge at Fredericksburgh." The charter officers are:

Col. John Thornton, Worshipful Master
John Neilson, Senior Warden
Robert Halkerson, Junior Warden
James Straughan, Treasurer
Robert Armistead, Secretary.

The Scottish Charter acknowledged the members of the Lodge at Fredericksburg was a Regular Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons and 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, engrossed on the very best quality parchment, is still in existence and in the possession of the Lodge.

The Virginia Charter

In 1777-78 the Lodge at Fredericksburg joined with several other lodges to create the Grand Lodge of Virginia. (This was the first independent Grand Lodge of Freemasonry established in America.) Brother George Washington of the Lodge at Fredericksburg was asked to serve as its first Grand Master. At this time however he was working at defeating the British army so 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. 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…."

Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 has given more Grand Masters to the Grand Lodge of Virginia than any other lodge. 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)
Edward H. Cann (GM 1958-59)

The Virginia Charter of 1787 written on very thin parchment, pasted on coarse linen still survives. It is in the possession of the Grand Lodge of Virginia, in Richmond.

Brother George Washington

Freemasons are proud to claim The Father of His Country as one of their own. George Washington was initiated into Freemasonry in the Fredericksburg Lodge on November 4, 1752. He was passed to the second degree on March 3, 1753; and raised to the third degree on August 4, 1753. The Bible used in those ceremonies remains in the possession of the Lodge, together with several other Washington relics. Washington then left to fight in the French & Indian War, after which he relocated to Northern Virginia. He remained a member in loyal good standing of Fredericksburg No. 4 until his death.

Fredericksburg's Brethren

It would be hard to overestimate the importance of Lodge No. 4 to the history of Fredericksburg. The list of early members names Revolutionary War heroes such as:

Hugh Mercer
George Weedon
Gustavus Brown Wallace
William Woodford
Thomas Posey
Fielding Lewis of Kenmore Virginia
Governor Robert Brooke of Smithfield

Most of the early Mayors of Fredericksburg:

Charles Mortimer
William McWilliams
James Somerville
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
Mann Page, Jr. Etc. At el…

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 and Memorial Library). Amid Revolutionary War generals, diplomats and millionaires -- Mrs. Christiana Campbell, mistress of the famous Christiana Campbell Tavern in Williamsburg is also buried.

Around 1815 the Lodge met in its own building, located at 803 Princess Anne Street. It was 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 has played a vital and highly visible role in community affairs both in the past and in the present.

Union troops thoroughly ransacked the Lodge building during the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. While they carried off much of its property, they left the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington! Not surprisingly, stolen items together with explanations or apologies, trickled back from blue-coated veterans for years afterwards.

Fredericksburg's Wall of Fame

The Town of Fredericksburg's "Wall of Fame" was created in 2001. It was not surprising to local Freemasons that 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.
Dr. Frank C. Pratt
Edward M. Cann was added to the "Wall of Fame" in 2002.

Cornerstones

On January 21, 1829, the Lodge laid the cornerstone of the Rappahannock Canal Basin. On May 7, 1833, it welcomed President, and Freemason, 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.

And it is not widely realized that many prominent local structures possess Masonic cornerstones laid by the Masons of Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4. To name a few:

The Fredericksburg Baptist Church on Princess Anne Street
Confederate Cemetery Monument
Shiloh Old-Site Baptist Church
The Mary Washington Monument
T 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 Churchthe 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
Several buildings on the grounds of Mary Washington College.

Conclusion

While the Fredericksburg Lodge is steeped in history and tradition, its members strive in the present to continue to make history. Freemasonry and Lodge No. 4 have not survived through complacency. Freemasonry in Fredericksburg continues to grow and move forward through time. From the beginning in 1816 to the Wall of Fredericksburg in 2002. History is alive, well and moving forward at Fredericksburg, Lodge No. 4.

Resources:
[1] Ridley, Jasper Godwin. The Freemasons: A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society. New York: Arcade, 2001
Jeffrey, Garth Edmunds. 250 Years of Freemasonry in Fredericksburg

CLICK BELOW FOR MAP DIRECTIONS

FROM WASHINGTON, D.C. (North) FROM RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (South)