Abraham Jonas (born September 12, 1801, in Exeter, England; died June 8, 1864) was the first permanent Jewish resident in Quincy, Illinois. [1] He was a member of the Illinois and Kentucky state legislatures, a leading lawyer, Freemason, and a valued friend of Abraham Lincoln. [2] [3]
Jonas was born in Exeter, England to Annie Ezekiel and Benjamin Jonas. Abraham's brother, Joseph Jonas, moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, becoming the first Jew to settle west of the Allegheny Mountains. [4] Abraham and his brother Edward joined Joseph in Cincinnati in 1819. [1] Abraham and his two brothers were original members of Congregation B'nai Israel (Sons of Israel), the first Jewish congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains. Abraham also joined the Freemasons in Cincinnati. He and Joseph married Lucy and Rachel Seixas; daughters of the first Rabbi born in America – Gershom Mendes Seixas. [4] Lucy suddenly died in 1825, and Abraham moved to Williamstown, Kentucky. There he married Louisa Block from a pioneering Jewish American family and operated a general store. He was elected to the state legislature for four years. While in Kentucky, Abraham helped to organize Grant Lodge, U.D., for which he served as its charter Master in 1826. [5] In August 1833, he was elected to serve as the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Kentucky for the typical one-year term. [6] During that time he and Louisa had five children. [1]
In 1836 he moved to Columbus in Adams County, Illinois, to operate a general store. Within two years he moved to Quincy, Illinois opening a carriage business and studying law in Orville Browning's office. He helped to organize the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Illinois in 1840. He served as Master of Columbus Lodge No. 6 in Columbus, Illinois in 1840 [7] and in 1842; he was also elected to serve as Grand Master in October 1840, in which office he remained until October 1842 [8] [9] (when he was succeeded in office by Meredith Helm). During the second year of his term as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, he established Masonic Lodges under dispensation in Nauvoo, Illinois and in Montrose, Iowa Territory (Nauvoo Lodge, U.D. and Rising Sun Lodge, U.D., respectfully; these were the first of the various "Mormon Lodges" during that time). [10]
In 1842 he was elected as a Whig to the state legislature. [4] Lucy and Abraham had three more children around this time. [1] He decided to establish a law partnership with Henry Asbury, turning over the family business to his brothers Edward and Samuel who had joined him in Quincy in 1840 or 1841. [1]
Although Abraham Lincoln was no longer in the Illinois General Assembly, it is likely that Jonas met Lincoln during Jonas's service in the legislature in Springfield. [4] Jonas ran for the Illinois Senate in 1844 but was defeated by the Democratic candidate. But his loyalty to the Whig party earned him the position as postmaster of Quincy in 1849 serving until 1853. [2] [11] Lincoln and Jonas remained dear friends during this time. When the Whig party died, Jonas and Lincoln both joined the new Republican Party. On November 1, 1854 Lincoln was accused of attending a Know-Nothing Party meeting, but was vouched by Jonas who he was actually with. [3] [11] [12] Jonas arranged the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debate in Quincy, and aided Lincoln to his candidacy. It was his law partner Henry Asbury who suggested Lincoln's candidacy in front of a group of local Republicans. Asbury's suggestion was greeted by silence until Jonas agreed that it would be a good idea. [4] [11]
Abraham Jonas was noted as one of the greatest orators himself in the area. [12] [13] He was elected Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Illinois in 1843. [11] Lincoln appointed Jonas postmaster of Quincy in 1861 until his death in 1864. Jonas had seven children, six sons and a daughter. Four of his sons, including future U.S. Senator Benjamin F. Jonas, fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, being residents of Louisiana; two others fought for the Union. Lincoln personally ordered the release of his son Charles Jonas from a prisoner of war camp to be at his father's bedside before he died. [2] [4]
The Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest third party in the United States. Formally a single-issue party, it strongly opposed Freemasonry in the United States. It was active from the late 1820s, especially in the Northeast, and later attempted to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. It declined quickly after 1832 as most members joined the new Whig Party; it disappeared after 1838.
Thomas Corwin, also known as Tom Corwin, The Wagon Boy, and Black Tom was a politician from the state of Ohio. He represented Ohio in both houses of Congress and served as the 15th governor of Ohio and the 20th Secretary of the Treasury. After affiliating with the Whig Party, he joined the Republican Party in the 1850s. Corwin is best known for his sponsorship of the proposed Corwin Amendment, which was presented in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid the oncoming American Civil War.
The relationship between Mormonism and Freemasonry began early in the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith's older brother, Hyrum, and possibly his father were Freemasons while the family lived near Palmyra, New York. In the late 1820s, the western New York region was swept with anti-Masonic fervor.
Orville Hickman Browning was an attorney in Illinois and a politician who was active in the Whig and Republican Parties. He is notable for his service as a U.S. Senator and the United States Secretary of the Interior.
Joseph Duncan was an Illinois politician. He served as the sixth Governor of Illinois from 1834 to 1838, the only Whig to ever govern the state. Before becoming governor he served four terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat.
The Grand Lodge of Texas, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons is the largest of several governing bodies of Freemasonry in the State of Texas, being solely of the Ancients' tradition and descending from the Ancient Grand Lodge of England, founded on 17 June 1751 at the Turk's Head Tavern, Greek Street, Soho, London. According to historian James D. Carter, the "Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, A.F. & A.M." was founded on 16 April 1838. However, its first Grand Master and other grand officers were installed by Sam Houston on 11 May 1838. The Grand Lodge of Texas is one of the largest in the world, reporting 69,099 members in 2019. The current Grand Lodge of Texas facilities were made possible by the fundraising efforts of Waco Masonic Lodge No. 92.
A Masonic Temple is the conceptual ritualistic space formed when a Masonic Lodge meets, and the physical rooms and structures in which it meets. It is also used in allegorical terms to describe a philosophical goal.
Henry Pelham Holmes Bromwell was an American lawyer, politician from Illinois, and prominent Freemason. He was a lawyer and judge who served as a U.S. representative from Illinois from 1865–1869 and continued to practice law when he moved to Colorado in 1870 where he was appointed to compile the state's statutes. Bromwell was initiated into freemasonry in 1854, and he became the Grand Master of Illinois in 1864. When he moved to Colorado he became that state's first Honorary Grand Master. He developed the Free, and Accepted Architects, a new rite for Freemasonry which sought to teach its initiates the lost work of the craft embodied in Bromwell's Geometrical system. After his death, the Grand Lodge of Colorado published his work on the esoteric nature of Sacred geometry in the book Restorations of Masonic Geometry and Symbolry.
This is a chronology of the formation of "regular" or "mainstream" Masonic Grand Lodges in North America, descending from the Premier Grand Lodge of England or its rival, the Antient Grand Lodge of England. A Grand Lodge is the governing body that supervises "Craft" Freemasonry in a particular jurisdiction or geographical area.
A Research lodge is a particular type of Masonic lodge which is devoted to Masonic research. It is a lodge, and as such has a charter from some Grand Lodge. However, it does not confer degrees, and restricts membership to Master Masons of some jurisdiction in amity with the jurisdiction that the research lodge is in. Related to research lodges are Masonic research societies, which serve the same purpose but function fundamentally differently. There are research lodges in most countries where Freemasonry exists.
The Grand Lodge of Kentucky is one of two state organizations that supervise Masonic lodges in the state of Kentucky. It was established in 1800.
The Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Indiana is one of two statewide organizations that oversee Masonic lodges in the state of Indiana. It was established on January 13, 1818. The Grand Lodge of Indiana's offices and archives are located in the Indianapolis Masonic Temple.
Archibald Williams was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. Williams was a friend and political ally of President Abraham Lincoln.
Hezekiah Lord Hosmer was a lawyer, judge, journalist, and author.
George Oliver, D.D. (1782–1867) was an English cleric, schoolmaster, topographer, and writer on freemasonry.
The history of the Jews in Illinois dates back to 1793, when John Hays, the region's first postmaster, settled in Cahokia from his native New York. The most prominent Jew in Illinois' early days was Abraham Jonas (politician), who moved to Quincy from Cincinnati in 1838. In 1842 he was elected to the Illinois Legislature, where he met Abraham Lincoln, and became his lifelong friend. Another early Jewish settler was Cap. Samuel Noah, the first Jewish graduate of West Point, who taught school at Mount Pulaski, Illinois in the late 1840s.
Albert J. Weber was a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1919 to 1925, and was chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1923 to 1925.
George Washington Bartch was a lawyer and land speculator who served as a justice of the Utah Territorial Supreme Court from 1893 to 1894 and of the Utah Supreme Court from 1896 to 1906. He served as chief justice from 1899 to 1901 and from 1905 to 1906.
William M. McCarty was a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1903 to 1918.
Freemasonry in the United States is the history of Freemasonry as it was introduced from Britain and continues as a major secret society to the present day. It is a fraternal order that brings men together to gain friendship and opportunity for advancement and community progress. It has been nonpolitical except for a period around 1820 when it came under heavy attack in the Northeast. That attack reduced membership, but it recovered and grew after 1850. Growth ended in the late 20th century and membership has declined.
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