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Chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanega) was a Mohawk, a Loyalist, and a Freemason. My Native American great-great-grandfather, Dean Rogers, was also a Loyalist and a Freemason.
When Chief Brant died in 1807, at his home in Ontario, Canada, he was buried beside the Episcopal church he built. In 1850, the Freemasons restored his tomb and also honored his burial place with an inscription.
Chief Brant’s last words before he died were: “Have pity on the poor Indians; if you can get any influence with the great, endeavor to do them all the good you can.”
Many Native Americans seem to have been drawn to Freemasonry. As my great-great-grandfather Dean Rogers and Chief Brant were both Freemasons (as well as Loyalists) this is an interesting topic for further study.
Bev Stayart wrote:
Many Native Americans seem to have been drawn to Freemasonry.
Does anyone know anything about this? My maternal grandmother’s father’s surnname was Beard and her mother’s maiden name was Hanks. Apparently many (most) of the Beard men AND the Hanks men were Masons.
storyteller
The Freemasons of Oklahoma have published a 55-page, illustrated digest detailing the comparisons between American Indian ideals and the tenets of Freemasonry. The digest contains some biographical sketches and a description of the Indian “Blood Brother” initiation, among other topics. It is titled A Shared Spirit: Freemasonry and the Native American Tradition.
The website is http://www.srmason-sj.org/council/journal/jun01/fletcher.html.
Thanks! After I saw this posting, I tried to “google” some answers and saw the booklet that you mentioned. I also saw a lot of conflicting information. One site says that many Native Americans were Masons, another says that the Masons were racists and didn’t allow NAs to join until 1972. You just have to weed through it all. (This is not saying that I doubt you! I think that it’s just an interesting turn of events.) I just found out last night that the men in my HAYNES line were also Masons. This means that my grandmother had four grandparents–and at least three of the lines were VERY involved in the Masons. (I haven’t heard anything about the 4th line yet.)
Thanks again.
The fact that our Native American ancestors from both our families, as well as Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, were all Freemasons refutes the claim that the Freemasons were racist and did not allow NAs to join until 1972.
Please see my last posting under Genealogy: Martha Stephens Rogers and Hester Rogers, wherein I have reproduced, word for word, Dean Rogers’ October 1877 obituary. My great-great-grandfather was made a Freemason in 1841 and, upon his death in 1877, was buried with Masonic honors.
Bev Stayart wrote: The fact that our Native American ancestors from both our families, as well as Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant, were all Freemasons refutes the claim that the Freemasons were racist and did not allow NAs to join until 1972.
But, that’s just it! I have no proof (but tons of suspicions!) that I HAD NA ancestors! All but one of my ancestors has been in North America since way before the Am. Revolution, they lived where there were known tribes of NAs and moved from there to other places where there were known NA tribes, AND many of them have married into families with surnames that were known to be common among the NAs. However, my grandmother never talked about her family, her parents died before my mother and her sisters were born, my grandmother and her brothers have been deceased for years now. There’s no one to ask. But they looked NA! A comment that was always vehemently denied. As far as I have found, my direct ancestors have NEVER been listed on the census as anything but white. But they were “strange”. When they moved, people from several generations seemed to move with them such as their in-laws (and their in-laws parents!). Then when they got to East Texas, they stopped.
I don’t have a Blackfoot ID, or Saponi ID, Cherokee ID, or Melungeon ID–I have no ID at all! I just want to find out who I am and why my grandmother couldn’t talk about her family.
Karen
P.S. And I will check out your posting about Martha Stephens Rogers and her husband. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m rabid! :rolleyes:
Storyteller;
If you think that you may have had ansestors belonging to the freemasons you could send their names to the Grand Lodge located in Washington D C and inquire as to whether or not they were members, I can also vouch to the fact that the freemasons are not racisits, as i myself am a member as were my father , uncles and g-uncles etc
Aubrey Cole
Thanks greywolf,
I’ll can try that. I know that a number of my ancestors were freemasons, but I was told by a cousin (who is also a Mason) that the records are kept by individual lodges and that I would have to know the number of the lodge to be able to get information. He said that if the lodge closes that the records are sent to the state office. Another (more distant cousin) is also a Mason. He said that if a lodge closes, that the records just “get lost”. He also told me that there’s really not anything in their records that would be interesting from a genealogical point of view–like the names of the spouses, children, etc. (I had heard that my gggrandfather was a Mason and so was his father-in-law and almost all the male members of the family.) This cousin told me that my gggggrandfather was a Mason also and his wife was a member of Eastern Star. I’ve never heard that my great-grandfather was a member, but I understand that HIS father-in-law was a Mason and most of the male family members have been Masons at least since the beginning of the 19th century. But, again, if there’s no information to be gained…
Thank you though for your response,
storyteller
Another great chief was the Shawnee Chief Tecumseh.
Techteach, as you have Shawnee ancestry, I am sure you are familiar with Tecumseh’s curse, which is sometimes called the “zero-year curse.” Any comments you or anyone else may have regarding this prophecy of Chief Tecumseh will be appreciated.
I have read Tecumseh’s biography by Eckert. He makes some statements about Tecumseh’s supposed ability to prophesy.
Techteach
Other Native Americans of note who were Freemasons were Will Rogers, Alexander McGillivray, a mixed-blood leader of the Muskogee, and possibly Tecumseh. Tecumseh was reportedly made a Mason on a visit to Philadelphia, although this has not been verified. It is reported that Chief Tecumseh spared the lives of prisoners taken in battle later discovered to be Freemasons.
“One Who Steps Over The Sky” was Chief and Medicine Man Pahekezhikquashkum of the Anishinabeg tribe. Born in Michigan before the American Revolution, he migrated to Walpole Island in Canada. The following quote is attributed to him:
“By the construction of the Treaty of Ghent they said, it would appear as if in shutting the border these two sharp knives would strike together and destroy each other’s edges; but no such thing: they only cut what comes between them. And this the English and Americans do when they go to war against one another. It is not each other they want to destroy, but us poor Indians that are between them. By this means they get our land, and, when that is obtained, the scissors are closed again and laid aside for further use.”
Holding steadfast to his traditional beliefs and continually refusing to convert to Christianity, he declared:
“The white man makes the fire-water, he drinks, and sells it to the Indians, he lies and cheats the poor Indian. I have seen him go to his praying-house in [Fort] Malden, and as soon as he comes out I have seen him go straight to the tavern, get drunk, quarrel, and fight. Now the white man’s religion is no better than mine. I will hold fast to the religion of my forefathers.”
Black Elk (December 1863 – August 1950) was an inspirational leader of the Oglala Lakota. In 1876, at the age of twelve, he fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn. In 1890, he was wounded in the massacre at Wounded Knee.
Articulate and insightful, his writings have earned him considerable fame. The following quote from Black Elk is the most evocative, I think, of anything he has written:
“I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream . . . the nation’s hoop is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.”
I saw an article recently,not sure where,where US Masons were decrying the
separation of Freemasons into black (“Prince Hall”) and white factions.
I wonder if NA Masons joined the white factions,the black ones,a little of both,or separate Native lodges.
:confused:
roca
Dear Roca,
I had never heard of the separation of Freemasons into black (“Prince Hall”) and white factions. The website http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/textfiles/critics.htm. states, in part:
“Some critics contend most [Freemason] lodges refuse to admit African Americans as members. Freemasonry today is not a whites only organization as the hundreds of thousands of Black, Native American, Hispanic and Oriental Freemasons can testify. Petitions for membership do not ask the race of the petitioner . . . There is a schism in Freemasonry dating back over 200 years to when “Prince Hall” Masons, who are African-Americans, declared themselves independent. . . [Today] the objection that Freemasonry is some sort of whites-only club is refuted by the myriad of men of color wearing the square and compasses.”
From this article, it appears that the Prince Hall Masons declared themselves independent over 200 years ago. This does not seem to be the case today. Please let me know the article or website you saw.
In returning to Iowa to search for my ancestors, I found the secretary of the Freemasons in Fort Madison, Iowa, to be extremely helpful. Not only did he locate and accompany me to several old cemeteries in search of my ancestor Dean Rogers, he did independent research in an effort to help me.
In short, I don’t think that Blacks or Native Americans join separate lodges today. In the mid-19th century, when my NA great-great-grandfather joined Claypoole Lodge #13 in Fort Madison, Iowa, there was no “separate” lodge for him to join. When I visited Fort Madison, Iowa recently, the secretary of the lodge gave me access to the old records. According to the 1877 hand-written records, a brother from the lodge sat with my ancestor Dean Rogers every night for over a month as he was dying. That is certainly not racism! And he was buried with full Masonic honors.
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