Born in New Hampton, New Hampshire, on February 19, 1792, Simon Wiggin Robinson was the son of Captain Noah Robinson, who served honorably in the American Revolution. Young Robinson served his country, also, in the War of 1812 when he was stationed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as an Adjutant.
New Hampton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,165 at the 2010 census. A winter sports resort area, New Hampton is home to George Duncan State Forest and to the New Hampton School, a private preparatory school established in 1821.
At the war's end, he left the Army and settled in Boston where he entered into commercial business until his retirement about 1847. He served in the state legislature for a year, although he never entered into active politics, and as a civil magistrate. It was following his retirement that he moved to Lexington on Elm Street (now Harrington Road), where he lived until his death on October 16, 1868. He was married, twice, and survived by his widow, two sons and two daughters.
Simon W. Robinson was raised to the Third Degree of Freemasonry on January 20, 1820, in Mount Lebanon Lodge, Boston. He served the Lodge as Master in 1824 and 1845 and was Lodge Treasurer from 1828 to 1843. He served the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts as Junior Grand Warden, 1837; Senior Grand Warden, 1838 through 1840, and Deputy Grand Master, 1841 through 1843. He was elected Grand Master of all Masons in Massachusetts in 1846 and served for three years.
A Grand Lodge is the overarching governing body of a fraternal or other similarly organized group in a given area, usually a city, state, or country.
In the York Rite of Freemasonry, he was exalted in St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter in 1821, serving as High Priest (1825-26) and Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts (1837-39). He was greeted in Boston Council, Royal and Select Masters, in 1828 and served as Principal Conductor of the Work in 1840. He was knighted in Boston Encampment (now Commandery) in 1835 and a charter member of DeMolay Commandery in 1848, serving as Grand Commander of the Grand Encampment (Commandery) of Massachusetts and Rhode Island (1854 -55).
The York Rite is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority. The York Rite specifically is a collection of separate Masonic Bodies and associated Degrees that would otherwise operate independently. The three primary bodies in the York Rite are the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, Council of Royal & Select Masters or Council of Cryptic Masons, and the Commandery of Knights Templar, each of which are governed independently but are all considered to be a part of the York Rite. There are also other organizations that are considered to be directly associated with the York Rite, or require York Rite membership to join such as the York Rite Sovereign College but in general the York Rite is considered to be made up of the aforementioned three. The Rite's name is derived from the city of York, where, according to a Masonic legend, the first meetings of Masons in England took place, although only the lectures of the York Rite Sovereign College make reference to that legend.
In Scottish Rite Freemasonry, he received the Fourth Degree to the Sixteenth Degrees in 1842 in Boston Grand Council of Princes of Jerusalem. Minutes of the Scottish Rite Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, note the issuance of a dispensation to confer the Thirtieth to Thirty-second Degrees on then Grand Master Simon W. Robinson. He was elevated to the Thirty-third Degree on August 25, 1851. In September 1851 he was appointed Grand Treasurer General by Grand Commander Edward Asa Raymond, a position he held until 1860.
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, commonly known as simply the Scottish Rite, is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. A Rite is a progressive series of degrees conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority. In the Scottish Rite the central authority is called a Supreme Council.
Edward Asa Raymond was a Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Massachusetts from 1849-1851 His later tenure as Grand Sovereign Commander of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite was marked by a schism in 1860 which resulted in two competing organizations which both claimed legitimacy. This schism was eventually resolved in 1867, after Raymond's death.
This was an interesting period in Scottish Rite Masonic history. There were several bodies at various times in the mid-nineteenth century purporting to be authorized Supreme Councils and conferring versions of the degrees. For the details of this era, we look to other histories. Of interest here, is the fact that the elected and acknowledged Sovereign Grand Commander of the Northern Jurisdiction Supreme Council, Edward A. Raymond, in August, 1860, as a result of a disagreement over his authority, left the Supreme Council, in session, and in December, 1860, formed a new Supreme Council.
Simon W. Robinson left the Northern Supreme Council with his friend and associate, Raymond, and assisted in establishing the new body which he served as Grand Treasurer General (1860-61) and Lieutenant Grand Commander (1861-63). The Raymond Council merged with the Hays-Cerneau Council, becoming known as the Hays-Raymond Council, which Robinson served as 1st Lieutenant Commander (1863-65) and Sovereign Grand Commander (1865-66) until the voluntary dissolution of that body. He attempted briefly to revive the Raymond Council in December 1866, until resigning command, as a lost cause, in May 1867. In the Union of 1867, his status as an active member of the Northern Supreme Council was reinstated.
He died at his Lexington residence on October 16, 1868. Interment was at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
A Freemason's Lodge, Simon W Robinson Lodge, AF&AM, was dedicated to him in 1870 in the town of Lexington, Massachusetts in the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. That Lodge continues to meet in Lexington, and as of the 2018-2019 Masonic year is the seventh largest Masonic Lodge in Massachusetts.
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,394 at the 2010 census, in nearly 11,100 households. Settled in 1641, it is celebrated as the site of the first shots of the American Revolutionary War, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775. It is part of the Greater Boston Area and is the sixth wealthiest small city in the United States.
The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, commonly referred to as the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and abbreviated GLMA, is the main governing body of Freemasonry within Massachusetts, and maintains Lodges in other jurisdictions overseas, namely Panama, Chile, the People's Republic of China, and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
Freemasonry or Masonry consists of fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of Freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow, and Master Mason. The candidate of these three degrees is progressively taught the meanings of the symbols of Freemasonry, and entrusted with grips, signs and words to signify to other members that he has been so initiated. The initiations are part allegorical morality play and part lecture. The three degrees are offered by Craft Freemasonry. Members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, and are usually administered by their own bodies.
A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered by a Grand Lodge, but is subject to its direction only in enforcing the published constitution of the jurisdiction. By exception the three surviving lodges that formed the world's first known grand lodge in London have the unique privilege to operate as time immemorial, i.e., without such warrant; only one other lodge operates without a warrant – the Grand Stewards' Lodge in London, although it is not also entitled to the "time immemorial" title. A Freemason is generally entitled to visit any Lodge in any jurisdiction in amity with his own. In some jurisdictions this privilege is restricted to Master Masons. He is first usually required to check, and certify, the regularity of the relationship of the Lodge – and be able to satisfy that Lodge of his regularity of membership. Freemasons gather together as a Lodge to work the three basic Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason.
Co-Freemasonry is a form of Freemasonry which admits both men and women. It began in France in the 1890s with the forming of Le Droit Humain, and is now an international movement represented by several Co-Freemasonic administrations throughout the world. Most male-only Masonic Lodges do not recognise Co-Freemasonry, holding it to be irregular, or clandestine.
The House of the Temple is a Masonic temple in Washington, D.C., United States that serves as the headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A.
The Knights Templar, full name The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta, is a fraternal order affiliated with Freemasonry. Unlike the initial degrees conferred in a regular Masonic Lodge, which only require a belief in a Supreme Being regardless of religious affiliation, the Knights Templar is one of several additional Masonic Orders in which membership is open only to Freemasons who profess a belief in Christianity. One of the obligations entrants to the order are required to declare is to protect and defend the Christian faith. The word "United" in its full title indicates that more than one historical tradition and more than one actual order are jointly controlled within this system. The individual orders 'united' within this system are principally the Knights of the Temple, the Knights of Malta, the Knights of St Paul, and only within the York Rite, the Knights of the Red Cross.
There are many organisations and Orders which form part of the widespread fraternity of Freemasonry, each having its own structure and terminology. Collectively these may be referred to as Masonic bodies, Masonic orders or appendant bodies of Freemasonry.
Hyman Isaac Long was an American physician in New York City by 1786. He was an immigrant from the British colony of Jamaica in the West Indies and is listed in the first [city directory of 1786. He is known for his leadership in developing Freemasonry organizations in New York, Virginia and South Carolina.
The Knight Kadosh is a Freemasonic degree or ceremony of initiation performed by certain branches of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. It is the Thirtieth Degree of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite for the United States of America, and the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada. The Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite, does not confer a degree entitled "Knight Kadosh." Instead its thirtieth degree is entitled "Grand Inspector."
Freemasonry and women have a complex relationship, which can be readily divided into many phases with no demonstrable relationship to each other until the 20th century. A few women were involved in Freemasonry before the 18th century; however the first printed constitutions of the Premier Grand Lodge of England appeared to bar them from the Craft forever.
Robert Macoy was born in Armagh, Ulster County, Ireland, but moved to the United States at the age of 4 months. He was a prominent Freemason, and was instrumental in the founding of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Order of the Amaranth. He also founded what may be the largest Masonic publishing, regalia, and supply house currently active, Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company.
The Allied Masonic Degrees (AMD) are a series of Masonic degrees conferred by Councils of the Allied Masonic Degrees. The Allied Masonic Degrees form an appendant order of Freemasonry that exists in some Masonic jurisdictions; its degrees are conferred only by invitation. Councils of the Allied Masonic Degrees exist in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, France and Australia and their members also educate one another by presenting research papers on Freemasonry.
Royal Arch Masonry is the first part of the York Rite system of the Masonic degrees. Royal Arch Masons meet as a Chapter, and the Royal Arch Chapter confers four degrees: Mark Master Mason, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal Arch Mason.
Thomas Smith Webb was the author of Freemason’s Monitor or Illustrations of Masonry, a book which had a significant impact on the development of Masonic Ritual in America, and especially that of the York Rite. Webb has been called the "Founding Father of the York or American Rite" for his efforts to promote those Masonic bodies.
The history of Freemasonry in Mexico can be traced to at least 1806 when the first Masonic lodge was formally established in the nation.
Moses Michael Hays was an American banker, merchant, and philanthropist. As Boston's most prominent 18th-century Jewish citizen, Moses Michael Hays set a high standard for civic leadership and charity.
The Rite of Baldwyn or Rite of Seven Degrees is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. It exists and is only practiced in the Masonic Province of Bristol, England. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic organizations or bodies, each of which operates under the control of its own central authority. The Rite of Baldwyn specifically is a collection of separate Masonic Bodies and associated Degrees that would otherwise operate independently. The three primary bodies in the York Rite are the degrees of Craft Freemasonry, the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch, and the Camp of Baldwyn.
The Supreme Council, Scottish Rite, Northern Jurisdiction, based in Lexington, Massachusetts, oversees the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in fifteen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont. Formed in 1813, the Northern Jurisdiction is divided into "Valleys". Each Valley has up to four subordinate bodies, and each body confers a set of degrees.
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