THE BUILDER JULY 1926

AN OLD GEORGIA CHARTER
BY BRO. WILLIAM BORDLEY CLARKE, GEORGIA

THIS valuable discovery by Bro. Clarke should be read in
conjunction with the review of his book that appeared in the
January number of The Builder, page 29, or better yet with the work
itself. It is another example of the possibilities of research in
the archives of our older lodges and Grand Lodges. The document was
known and to some extent its value was appreciated by its
custodians, but its significance did not appear till it was seen by
someone with special knowledge.

FOR many years, Masonic historians have vainly tried to obtain
definite information concerning the birth of the Craft in Georgia
and of the date of organization of the Grand Lodge of Georgia.
During the past three years it has been the unusual privilege of
the author to discover the facts answering both of these questions.
Definite data concerning the Craft in the state of Georgia is
valuable historically, this state having the second oldest lodge
constituted under an English charter.

The accompanying photograph is a copy of the document which
establishes definitely the exact date upon which the first
Provincial Grand Master of Georgia, Roger Hugh Lacey, was granted
his warrant by Viscount Weymouth, Grand Master of England in the
year 1735. The interesting document also for the first time
establishes the date upon which the second Provincial Grand Master
of Georgia, Grey Elliott, was granted his warrant by Lord Aberdour,
Grand Master of England in the year 1760. These two dates have been
sought for nearly a hundred years and, strange to say, they were
easily accessible, but were overlooked because contained in an
incomplete and formerly unidentified document.

The tangle of facts concerning the beginning of the Grand Lodge of
Georgia, commenced in 1816 through an error in the printing of
Webb's Monitor, issued from Salem, Massachusetts. Webb stated that
"The Grand Lodge of Georgia is holden by virtue, and in pursuance
of the right of succession legally derived from the most noble and
the Most Worshipful Thomas Thynne, Lord Viscount Weymouth, Grand
Master of England, A. D. 1730, by his warrant directed to the Right
Worshipful Roger Lacey", etc.

Webb was in error and in his next edition corrected the "1730" and
inserted "1735", the correct year. It appears that many authors of
that day saw the first edition of Webb's Monitor but did not see
the second edition. The error in the first edition became scattered
abroad and accepted as fact. Clavel, in his Histoire Pittoresque de
la Franc MaConnerie, published twenty-eight years after the first
edition of Webb's Monitor; and Ragon, in his Orthodoxie MaConique,
published thirty-nine years after Webb's first edition, repeated
the error in Webb's first edition.

DISTRESSED MASONS AS EMIGRANTS

On Dec. 13, 1733, a resolution was adopted by the Grand Lodge of
England, the purpose of which was to raise a charity fund to send
distressed brethren to the new colony of Georgia. The first party
of colonists had already arrived in Georgia on Feb. 12, 1733, and
the resolution could therefore have no reference to these. The
first lodge in Georgia, Solomon's Lodge, was not organized by
General James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of the colony, until
Feb. 10, 1734. If the resolution had referred to the first party of
colonists, an embarrassing situation would have arisen.

On March 18, 1734, the Grand Lodge of England adopted a second
resolution calling upon the English lodges to turn in their
contributions to the charity fund for sending distressed brethren
to Georgia. This resolution proves conclusively that no brethren
had been sent up to the time of adopting this second resolution.
Had brethren been sent to Georgia, they would by this time be in
serious distress because of lack of support. It was evidently the
intention of the Grand Lodge to send brethren in the second group
of colonists which landed in Georgia on Feb. 5, 1736.

The mistake made by Webb, coupled with misinterpretation of the
meanings of the two resolutions adopted by the Grand Lodge of
England, has led many brethren in Georgia to assume that the first
Provincial Grand Master of Georgia, Roger Hugh Lacey, was given a
verbal warrant in 1730 by the Grand Master of England, and that a
formal warrant was issued in the year 1735. Those who have made
these assumptions have apparently overlooked two important
documents. One of these documents is the present charter of
Solomon's Lodge, No. 1, of Savannah, Georgia, the first charter
issued by the Grand Lodge of Georgia at the time it was
reconstituted from an English Provincial Grand Lodge into the
present American independent body, during the year 1786. The other
document is the Act of the Legislature of Georgia incorporating the
Grand Lodge of Georgia, which Act was signed by the Governor of
Georgia on Feb. 6, 1796. It appears that both of these documents
were written by the same hands, the members of the Grand Lodge of
Georgia at that time occupying high positions in the government of
the state.

INHERENT RIGHT LODGES IN GEORGIA

The charter of Solomon's Lodge states that Lacey was given his
warrant in the year 1735 by viscount Weymouth, Grand Master of
England. The Act incorporating the Grand Lodge states "that there
has existed, and still exists in this state, divers Lodges or
Societies of Freemasons on an ancient establishment, since the year
1735." Both of these documents refer to the time of the
establishment of constituted Freemasonry in Georgia. These two
documents, written by brethren in Georgia thoroughly familiar with
the facts and who knew from personal experience the exact date upon
which Lacey was granted his warrant, should be sufficient evidence
that Lacey had no form of warrant whatsoever before the year 1735. 

In spite of the facts just mentioned and evidently prompted by a
desire to antedate the date of birth of any other Grand Lodge in
America, the Grand Lodge of Georgia shortly before the Civil War
changed it Constitution and inserted a clause that it had been
"Existing since 1733". This amendment was made on the basis of
traditions which the Grand Lodge apparently thought were absolute
facts. In justice to these brethren we must mention that they
apparently thought that it was necessary for a Grand Master or a
Provincial Grand Master to constitute a lodge at the time of its
organization. They were apparently unaware that Solomon's Lodge,
the first lodge in Georgia, organized on Feb. 10, 1734, nearly two
years before Lacey's warrant was issued, was organized according to
the "Old Customs" and without constituted authority. It seems that
they thought it necessary for the first Provincial Grand Master of
Georgia to organize and constitute this lodge.

The second error contained in this unusual "existing since 1733" is
the fact that the year 1733 is wrong. Solomon's Lodge, according to
the old calendar used or to 1752, was organized on Feb. 10, 1733.
When calendar was changed to the one now in use, February, 1733,
became February, 1734. In the old calendar January, February and
March were the last three months of the year instead of the first
three months of the year, as at present.

The preamble to the present Constitution of the Grand Lodge of
Georgia, which has caused so much controversy, is as follows:

We, the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, according to the
Old Institution, of the state of Georgia, existing since 1733, and
by virtue of, and in pursuance of the right and succession legally
derived from the Most Noble and Right Worshipful Thomas Thynne,
Lord Viscount Weymouth, Grand Master of England for the year of
Masonry five thousand seven hundred and thirty-five, by his warrant
directed to the Right Worshipful Roger Lacey, etc.

Historians have never been able to understand how a Grand Lodge
could exist in 1733 by virtue of the power of a warrant which was
issued two years later. It appears that Lacey did not come to
Georgia until the early art of the year 1736. The historical
records of the colony do not refer to him until that year. Lacey
did not grant the charter under which he constituted Solomon's
Lodge in 1736. This charter was obtained from Viscount Weymouth in
1735 by General James Edward Oglethorpe in person. The charter and
the warrant of Lacey appear to have been issued at the same time
and it seems that the warrant for Lacey was issued in order for him
to constitute Solomon's Lodge which had been operating for two
years. It is now clearly seen that the insertion of "existing since
1733" in the preamble to the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of
Georgia was an error and completely disproved by the facts.

FORMATION OF THE GRAND LODGE

For many years there has existed in the archives of the Grand Lodge
of Georgia a charter made out for an unidentified lodge in the city
of Augusta, Georgia, of which a reproduction is given on the
opposite page. The records of the Grand Lodge were destroyed by
fire in 1796 and this charter must have been in the hands of
unknown parties and after the fire returned to the Grand Lodge. It
has been preserved as a curiosity of the Colonial period and it has
never been suspected that in this incomplete document was the date
so long sought. The charter was issued on July 11, 1786, and
directed to one George Handley. The signatures of the officers of
the Grand Lodge, with the exception of that of the Grand Master,
are affixed. The absence of the signature of the Grand Master is
the reason why the charter was never issued.

For several years the author undertook the preparation of the
material for the book Early and Historic Freemasonry of Georgia,
1733 - 4 to 1800. He carefully examined all of the minute books of
Solomon's Lodge, No. 1. of Savannah, Georgia, which is the only
lodge in Georgia having a continuous existence from 1734 until the
present day.

The destruction in 1796 of the records of the Grand Lodge of
Georgia leaves the records of Solomon's Lodge as the only source of
information concerning the early history of the Craft in Georgia.
Thorough familiarity with the names of the early members of
Solomon's Lodge enabled the author to immediately identify the
charter as soon as he saw it for the first time in the office of
the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Georgia in Macon,
Georgia, on June 23, 1925. He recalled at once that the minutes of
Solomon's Lodge for the year 1785 mention George Handley as a
member of Solomon's Lodge at that time. He was also Grand Treasurer
of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Georgia. In the year 1786 he moved
his residence to the city of Augusta, Georgia, then the capital of
the state. He also removed his membership from Solomon's Lodge at
the same time. About one year later, as shown by the minutes of
Solomon's Lodge, Handley returned to Savannah on business and
visited Solomon's Lodge at one of its meetings. The Secretary of
Solomon's Lodge carefully records the fact that Bro. Handley was
now Master of Columbian Lodge in Augusta, Georgia.

This old charter was evidently not used for the organization of
Columbian Lodge because of the lack of the signature of the Grand
Master, Major General Samuel Elbert. It appears that the Grand
Master, evidently aware that steps were then being taken to
reconstitute the Provincial Grand Lodge of Georgia into an
independent American Grand Lodge, thought it best to wait until
this took place and then to constitute the lodge under a charter
granted by the new body. The Grand Lodge was reconstituted on Dec.
16, 1786.

This document is priceless to the Grand Lodge of Georgia because it
contains two vital dates heretofore unknown. One of these is the
date upon which the warrant was issued to the first Provincial
Grand Master of Georgia, Roger Hugh Lacey. This date is Dec. 2,
1735. It was assumed by the author in his Early and Historic
Freemasonry of Georgia, 1733-4 to 1800, that Lacey was given his
warrant at the same time that the charter of Solomon's Lodge was
granted, and that both of these documents were issued just before
the departure of Oglethorpe from England for Georgia. Oglethorpe
left England on Dec. 10, 1735. The second vital date contained in
the charter is the one upon which Grey Elliott, second Provincial
Grand Master of Georgia, was given his warrant. This date is Oct.
10, 1760.

The document bears the only known impression of the seal used by
the Provincial Grand Lodge of Georgia from 1760 until 1787. The
seal is circular, bearing in the center the columns, arch and "G"
of the Royal Arch Degree surrounded by the motto of that Degree
"Holiness to the Lord."

The charter is valuable to the members of Solomon's Lodge since it
identifies Samuel Elbert, William Stephens, James Jackson and
Mordecai Sheftall as Past Masters of Solomon's Lodge in 1786. This
fact was unknown, the British having destroyed the records of the
lodge prior to the Revolution.

