In Section #2 above,
the reader was introduced to General Winn.
An interesting aside concerning General Winn is that he lived in
Vicksburg, Mississippi from 1834 until 1849 and was appointed a Colonel in the
Regular Mississippi Militia. Who
appoints colonels in State Militias ?
We know Winn was a Mason in Vicks-burg, Mississippi when John Anthony
Quitman was Grand Master of Masons in Mississippi, 1820-1837 and Governor of
Mississippi 1835 until 1839 or longer. so it
is a good assumption that Quitman appointed Winn a Colonel.
Winn was a prominent City Councilman
in Sacramento and the Mayor.
In
1850 Governor Burnett commissioned
Winn a Brigadier in California
State Militia, and was reappointed by Governor Bigler in 1854.
In August 1850 there was a squatters revolt and armed squatters killed
the elected sheriff of Sacramento. Governor
Burnett ordered General Winn to take over the City under Martial Law, to put
down the squatters riot, which was done rapidly and efficiently restoring peace
and harmony . General Winn moved to
San Francisco in 1860 and in 1875
founded The Native Sons of Golden West.
He
moved to Sonoma late 1875, died August 26, 1883 at age 73 years.
Going back to
Washington Lodge in the early 1850's a quote from 100 years of Freemasonry in
California is as follows: "One of the earliest noticeable characteristics
of Washington Lodge was the general level headedness and solid business methods
of its guiding spirits. As early as
the second meeting under dispensation they concerned themselves not only with
obtaining just a meeting place, but with obtaining a meeting place of their own.
They appointed Joel Bell, J.A. Bullard, and Curtis as a Committee to
confer with various Masonic and Odd Fellows Lodges of the city on purchasing a
suitable lot on which to build a
Masons and Odd Fellows Hall. They
carried the same practicality into their charitable works.
The charity box was on the alter at every meeting. "
Washington Lodge had
39 Master Masons in May 1853; 94 in 1854 -- most of the1854 gains were by
initiation. In the period of 1854
to 1857 three new Lodges were formed: Sacramento 40, Union 58, and Concord.
The falling off of gold production and the Civil War made things even
worse, bringing numerous withdrawals and suspensions for non payment of dues.
By 1865 we only had 52 members on the roll.
By 1900 we climbed back to 85 members.
Note that this number grew to 705 members in 1949.
The
Other Mother of Lodges
Frequently in a burst
of enthusiasm, many a Secretary will refer to his own Lodge as a Mother of
Lodges. No Secretary had any more
right to do so than that of Washington Lodge.
A survey of Washington's minutes will show it recommended dispensation
for no less than nine Lodges in and around Sacramento from 1852 to 1864, and one
in Virginia City, NV. (The
recommendation for the Virginia City
Lodge
was probably the cause of the old time rumor that an early Sacramento Lodge
assumed the prerogative of Grand Lodge
and
issued a dispensation to a lodge in Nevada.
It was dated January 1,1863.)
In 1930 Charles Igram
making a digest of our Lodges minutes for Grand Lodge History Committee,
observed: This Lodge was the Mother Lodge of perhaps a score (20), of Lodges in
all directions from Sacramento. In
1872 we refused to recommend several unaffiliated brothers of Sacramento who
wished to open a lodge to be known as Industrial Lodge.
Our minutes have
little to say about the Civil War aside from an allusion or two to the public
enemy. There were some strong
feelings one way and
another, and it is known one of the most distinguished of Masons was denied a
high state appointment, as late as 1883 , for alleged pro-Southern sentiment
during the war. The only time the
Lodge itself officially went on record was May 4, 1865, when it passed a long
rhetoric filled resolution condemning the assassination of Lincoln.
It was perhaps the strongest resolution of its kind passed by any Lodge
in the State.
Another thing noticeably
absent from the records of Washington Lodge in the early years is the naive
humor found in the minutes of other less erudite Lodges of mining and
agricultural districts. The word "erudite" means "deeply learned,
polished or taught." Its use is probably affirmed by a large number of the
brethren at the time being in law and other Learned professions."
Washington Lodge as noted
was one of the 20% of all Lodges in California to loose their hall from fire.
Our report on the loss was a model of brevity.
The Secretary in a terse marginal note in the record book of Nov. 2,1854
-- “Fire destroyed Lodge Room.”
This Lodge had a nice
way of dealing with frugal Sacramentans who thought they could save money by
joining the craft in other jurisdictions and affiliating with a local Lodge on
their return home. There was no
writing of angry letters or recriminations over jurisdiction.
If a man happened to visit his old home in the East and, while there, was
made a Mason, he could later get into Washington Lodge very easily.
All he had to do was pay an affiliation fee equal to the difference
between the initiation fees of Washington Lodge and the Eastern Lodge, "and
otherwise comply with the Bylaws".
The
only catch was the difference could sometimes be pretty steep.
In the historians look
over the record of Washington Lodge, he is not so much impressed with events as
with the brethren themselves. On
the long roster, reaching back to 1852, he sees the names of a Grand Master, a
Junior Grand Warden, a Grand Orator, a Secretary of State of the State of
California, two of whom became United States Senators and two Ministers to
foreign countries. Another
interesting brother was Justin Gates whose traveling drugstore brought relief to
thousands of his fellow creatures.
The Grand Master
Nathaniel Green Curtis was a Masonic Institution.
Master of Washington Lodge the first three years of our existence, he had
distinguished himself in the craft in Tennessee before coming to California.
He was made a Master Mason in South Memphis Lodge No. 118 when he was 20
years and 9 days old, and was elected Master of the same Lodge one month and 19
days before he was 21 years old, perhaps the youngest Master of a Blue Lodge in
the history of US. Masonry. He
affiliated with Washington Lodge under dispensation, February 21, 1852, the day
we received our dispensation. In
1856 he was Deputy Grand Master, and elected Grand Master in 1857 for the first
of four consecutive terms.
In a previous segment,
we discussed Nathaniel Green Curtis, our first Master (3 years) of Washington
Lodge, perhaps the youngest Master of his lodge in the US.
He became Master of the South Memphis Lodge before his 21st birthday.
Brother Curtis became Deputy Grand Master in California in 1854 and Grand
Master in 1857 for four consecutive terms.
Until his death in
Sacramento July 12, 1897. his four terms as Grand Master had been equaled only
by Leonidas Pratt, of Mountain Shade Lodge #18 of Downieville and by John Mills
Browne of Naval Lodge #87 of Vallejo.
Curtis
was born in Waite County, North Carolina, February 8,1825, moved to Tennessee
early in life, came to California 1850 settling in Sacramento where he made his
home and practiced law until his death in 1897.
Curtis laid the cornerstone of the present State Capitol and the old
Masonic Temple in San Francisco. He
held many high State and City Offices and was a Major General, California
National Guard.
As a lawyer, Curtis
was extremely capable and resourceful, with a talent for developing human
interest. He was the first one ever
to use emotional insanity in a murder trial where he was council for the
defense. Using this argument, he
won acquittal for Mrs. Laura D. Fair.
Another interesting
Past Master of our Lodge was Henry Harre Hartley, born in England 1826, moved to
US, became a member Washington Lodge 1854, became Senior Warden 1855 and Master
1856. He was also High Priest of
Chapter 3, and Commander of Sacramento Commandery #2, becoming Grand High Priest
and Grand High Commander. At the
time of his death, March 12, 1868, he was Deputy Grand Master of Masons in
California. Like Curtis, Hartley's
name appeared high in the annals of Sacramento jurisprudence.
He ran for Justice of the Supreme Court, but was defeated by 6,000 votes.
An idea of the popularity among the craft may be gained from the fact a
year following his death, the Brethren of Lakeport opened a new Lodge and named
it after him, Hartely Lodge #199.
Noted People from
Washington Lodge John Nelles Young, Grand Orator in 1868, is our next notable.
He was a lawyer whose name appeared on the roll of Washington lodge in
1877, Master in 1882, 1883, and
1884. Past Master Young was also a State Legislator from Sacramento in 1880,
1881, and 1884. Benjamin Bernard Redding was one of our members, Secretary
of State under Governors Latham and Low , and Trustee of the State
Library. From1874 to 1882 he was a
very busy as Regent of University of California, Fish Commissioner, Trustee
State Miners Hospital. Redding died
in mid-career August 21, 1882.
Our first Governor
from Washington 20 was John Bigler; next governor was Milton S. Lathom, who in
1861 was appointed First Sovereign Grand Inspector in California for the
Scottish Rite. Latham's name
appears in Washington Lodge as a member in 1859.
Latham was Governor for five days when he resigned to accept the US
Senate seat of the late David C. Broderick who was killed in a duel with a
former California Supreme Court Justice, David S. Terry.
Latham was educated in
Alabama and had strong Southern leanings.
He
was not re-elected and came home to California a private citizen.
Latham joined Washington 20 in 1859, withdrew in1862, died in New York
City March 4, 1882. The next Governor from Washington 20 was Romualdo Pacheco,
born in Santa Barbara October 1831 and the third native Californian to join the
Masonic Fraternity. He was an
outstanding Statesman and was the personification of the great American sense of
justice and fair play. Born a
Mexican citizen he attained the highest honors a State could confer upon him.
He became a Congressman from California after his term as governor 1873
until 1883.
President Harrison appointed
him US Minister to Guatemala and other Central American Countries.
Governor and Ambassador Pacheco died in Oakland, January 1899.
This segment is on the
life of Hiram Warren Johnson, the fourth member of Washington Lodge to become
Governor of California. His life
span started three years before the Golden Spike Ceremony and ended in the era
of transcontinental flight across both oceans.
It spanned the greatest period of enlightenment and scientific
development in American history.
Johnson was born in
Sacramento, September 2, 1866. He
was exposed to law and politics from the day of his birth , for his father
earned his living at law and served as both a state Senator and Assemblyman ,
and it was not unexpected that Hiram moved in the same direction.
He attended Sacramento public schools and entered University of
California, dropped out in his junior year to study law under his father’s
guidance. While in the university
he edited the year book and played on the baseball team.
In 1886, he married Miss Minnie L. McNeal from his home town.
He studied under his father’s tutelage and was admitted to the bar in
1888, when he established his law practice.
It soon became apparent Hiram had his own ways and ideas of doing things.
He and his father took diametrically opposed stands on vital issues.
In1892, Hiram moved
his practice to San Francisco and came into prominence as CO-prosecutor in the
Ruef-Schmitz Graft trials just before the earthquake in 1906 (Ruef was a
political boss, and Schmitz was mayor of San Francisco).
He continued to move up politically until 1910 when his friends prevailed
on him to run for Governor on the Republican ticket.
Johnson was a progressive minded man, violently opposed to graft of any
kind and dead set against the Southern Pacific Railroad Company's domination of
California politics. He made an
automobile tour of the state speaking in every city, town and crossroads , and
won the election by 22,000 vote majority .
From his inauguration in January 1911 until his death in 1944 , he was
never out of high public office.
In 1912 Johnson bolted the
Republican for the progressive or
"Bull Moose" Party and was reelected Governor in 1914.
He was back in the Republican Party in 1916 when he was elected US.
Senator from California, an office he held for five consecutive terms.
As a Senator, Johnson by no means invariably conformed to his party's
platform or general policy. He
still did his own thinking, even to the point of supporting Franklin D.
Roosevelt for the Presidency in 1932.
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Washington
Lodge #20
