CHARTER, BY-LAWS, OFFICERS AND LIST OF MEMBERS OF LAFAYETTE COUNCIL, (SELECT, ROYAL, AND SUPER-EXCELLENT MASTERS,) WASHINGTON, D.C.; Organized October 3, 1870. Instituted Under Its Charter, December 20, 1870.

Washington City: M'Gill & Witherow, Printers and Stereotypers, 1871. 16mo; 41 pp. Original orange cardboard wraps, soiled. A very good copy. Item #54323

"Soon after the organization of the Grand Chapter [of Freemasons], in 1867, Companion Benjamin B. French, the Inspector General of the Southern Jurisdiction for the A.A. Scottish Rite for the District of Columbia, issued three dispensations to form three new councils of Royal and Select Masters in the District of Columbia. Those who had received the degrees of Royal and Select Masters in regularly organized councils refused to join in this movement....When the time was deemed judicious Companion William R. Singleton and eight other regularly made council Masons petitioned the Grand Council of Massachusetts for a dispensation to open and hold a council of Royal and Select Masters in the District of Columbia. This was granted August 1, 1870, and on October 3, 1870, the officers of the Grand Council of Massachusetts came to Washington and organized LaFayette Council, with Companion William R. Singleton as Most Illustrious Grand Master. Inasmuch as the great body of Royal and Select Masters in the District had received the degrees of Royal and Select Masters in their several chapters prior to the Royal Arch, it was decided by LaFayette Council that all such Royal Arch Masons, as well as those who had never received the council degrees, should have the degrees for a nominal sum (five dollars). Accordingly, in two nights' assemblies, the Grand Officers of Massachusetts conferred the Royal, Select, and Super-Excellent degrees upon 158 R. A. Masons. A charter was granted to LaFayette Council by the Grand Council of Massachusetts December 14, 1870, and it was instituted under its charter December 20, 1870, and started with flying colors, and enjoyed a fair degree of prosperity for several years, when from internal dissensions the members lost their interest and ceased to attend the assemblies, and the council passed out of existence." (Harper, History of the Grand Lodge and of Freemasonry in the District of Columbia, 1911).

Price: $125.00

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