52 Ancestors Week 34: Members of the Club

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 34

The theme for Week 34 is "Members of the Club." Fraternal organizations. Civic clubs. Card clubs. Glee clubs. Were any of your ancestors a member? Write about them this week.

It may not be Club Nintendo. But, you still get perks.

    

      Humans are social creatures and people who share a common interest join various clubs. Some people join chess clubs to up their game. Some people join Civic clubs to help their community. If you are a member of a certain ethnic group, you may find yourself becoming a member of a group catering to that organization's message. Last year, I talked about one such group in this blog about the Sons of Italy.

    In the blog, I discussed how the Sons of Italy in America was both a lineage society and a place where Italian immigrants could get help for a variety of issues such as banking and getting a home. That American dream had to start somewhere! The SOIA did a lot of good things for the Italian community back in the day. But, they weren't the only game in town of course. Not by a longshot! Ladies, gentlemen and others, I give you the Freemasons!

   Truth be told I didn't know much about the Masons until I was well into my genealogical adventure. When we'd go to my dad's office, we always passed the Masonic temple on Main Street in Salem. I asked my parents about it from time to time and they told me as much as they could about the Masons.

   The Freemasons are basically a fraternal organization that trace their origin to local guilds of stone masons.

    Was it really that simple? I was a kid with a very overactive imagination. I always thought there was something more going on in there. Nothing crazy or anything. Just something more than people gathering to discuss various topics. I know certain lodges don't allow people to discuss politics. That's a relief! If only it worked like that online. I also found it funny how a nail salon was under the temple. By the way, those shops changed hands every few years. It's like that strip mall is cursed or something. It's not a good place to set up shop.

Now, imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of my ancestors was a Freemason!

    It all started with my fourth great-grandfather, David Webster Stevens and his son, Austin. I had no idea they were connected to the Freemasons until I got a random email on Find a Grave about them. I had built their tree up on Wikitree  and no source I found at that point ever indicated that he was a Mason.

    Usually there would be a picture of a card or some clue that'd point someone to the Order. I didn't have any incentive to look because I literally had no clue. That and "Stevens" is a VERY common last name. So, finding anything on a man named "David Stevens" or "Austin Stevens" would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Everything I knew about David and his son changed in April of 2019.

    A man named Duane Crabtree messaged me and asked about putting the term "Elder" on David's profile on Find a Grave. I was naturally hesitant because I had no idea what that meant by that title.. I accepted and my curiosity piqued. I wasn't about to let this one go! I asked Duane what he meant about this "Elder" stuff and he ended up giving me a ton of information. An Elder in this case was not a rank in the Masonic Organization. It was a more of a religious title since he was ordained as a minister in the 1870s.

    Thankfully, he wasn't like "Don't you know about your family?!"  I honestly had no idea. I swear. Well, it turned out Duane is an archivist for the Adventural Library which is housed at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts. 

    He was kind enough to give me this obituary for David:

"He was born in West Parsonsfield, Me., Feb 10, 1829; was ordained to the ministry, July 4, 1876, and was a faithful preacher of the Gospel. He was twice married and by the first marriage had four children, three sons and a daughter. Since the death of his wife in 1911, he has made his home with his son George, by whom he was kindly cared for until he peacefully fell on sleep. Beside three sons and a daughter he leaves several grandchildren, two brothers and many friends to mourn his loss. Words of comfort by the writer from 2 Tim. 4:7, 8 and Rev. 14:13."--The World’s Crisis, 26 Jan 1916, p. 14"

    I thought that was impressive. But, it still didn't provide me with proof that he or his son were Freemasons as he hinted.  He never gave me a solid answer and I was about to go about my business when I suddenly saw a hint on Ancestry for Austin pop up unexpectedly. The hint was for a Mason card! That was good timing!

    I checked the card to make sure it was him and not some other Austin Stevens. That's a good policy to have before you accept any hint on Ancestry. I checked his date of birth and everything and sure enough he was my third great-grandfather!

  

    He was a member of the Merrimack Lodge in Haverhill, Massachusetts and had been a member since April 20th, 1904. The birth and death dates all synced with what I already knew of the man. So, I accepted the hint and went about my business.

    I still had a few questions running around my head. How did Austin's membership slip through the cracks in time? No one knew until I told everyone about it at a family gathering. My best guess is that the information was forgotten over time. It happens. Sometimes family members forget about who belonged to what club. It's not like they kept a diary of their activities. It's up to us to see if we can find out what they were up to when they weren't punching the clock.

    Austin had two children who survived to adulthood, Arthur and Gertrude. Arthur was a Mason himself according to his obituary. He was a member of the "Winnepurkit Tribe" in Lynn, Massachusetts. I have no idea when he joined as I have not been able to find his Masonry card. I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

    I think it's cool that I found an ancestor who was a Mason and a son who followed in his footsteps. Women couldn't join and so my second great-grandmother was left with one choice. She could have joined one of the associated groups for women. There's no indication if she ever joined any group. Time will tell if that was the case. It's still amazing to think that after all those years of driving by a Masonic temple and wondering what was going on in there, I'd have an ancestor who was a Mason. I wonder if that's karma.

See ya next time!

  Photo of the Masonic Lodge in Salem, NH is property of Google Earth.