MASONIC NOTICE
Centennial lodge No. 541 I. & A. M. will meet in regular communication on Thursday Dec. 25 1884 it being the night of our annual election of officers and other import business all members are fraternally invited.
By order of W.M., W. B. Schwartz
“Masonic Notice,” Brazil Miner (Brazil, Indiana), 11 December 1884, p. 5, col. 2; digital image, Newspaper Archive (http://newspaperarchive.com : accessed 10 January 2014).
[Editorial note: They had their meeting on Christmas Day! Evidence of a time when Christmas was not the big celebration that it is today, perhaps…Also the abbreviation W. M. mostly likely stands for Worshipful Master, one of the Masonic Lodge officer titles. According to Wikipedia, this was the highest honor one could achieve in the lodge and was a position usually voted upon annually. The term generally means one “worthy of respect.”]
…which reminds me…we have a box of Gladys’ jewelry…which you can take with when you visit this June.
Quaint way to say it: “will meet in regular communication”…..and yes, the meeting on Christmas day does sound odd.
The Masons are one of the subjects on my list for research (eventually), So fascinating and apparently I had them on both sides of the family.
Roscoe was also a mason, and it is one area I have not done much research in either. I have a Mason directory that was his from the 1950s or 1960s. He belonged to the Masons during his Teacher College years, so he did join them fairly early.
You’re luck to have that! That is really exciting info, too!
I had an Eastern Star ring, but first the inside fell out and now I don’t know where the ring is, which is now worthless anyway.
I don’t have any jewelry from my grandparents. I do have a photograph of my grandfather wearing his masonic apron in some kind of a ceremony. 🙂 I wonder where that is….
Oooh, that would be so great!!!!