Georgia Light: Exploring the History and Impact of Prince Hall Freemasonry in the Peach State

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[00:00:04]Good evening and welcome to another episode of the Prince Hall Think Tank, a monthly conversation amongst Prince Hall Freemasons where we discuss topics relative to craftmasonry. My name is Brother Antonio Cathy and I'm a very proud pastm of St. Mark's Lodge number seven located in Columbus, Ohio, where presently worshipful brother Charles Anderson serves as our worshipful master. My lodge was granted a charter in the year of 1852 by the most virtual princ where presently the honorable Mario Dow serves as our most virtual grandmaster.

[00:00:35]As always, before I let the other brothers introduce themselves, I would like to state that the views and opinions that are expressed by us this evening do not reflect the views and opinions of the lodges and grand lodges in which we hold membership in. Also, if you have not already done so, please like and subscribe to our YouTube page so that you can stay up to date with the Prince Hall Think Tank. At this time, I'll let the other brothers introduce themselves. Starting out with brother Gillar.

[00:01:05]>> Good evening. My name is Brother Dave Gillar. I'm a proud pastmaster of the Muslim number 53 located in Columbus, Georgia, where Dwight Gonson serves as our worship master. I also have the pleasure of serving as the worshipful grand historian for the most wor Jun with the honorable prime T. James serves as our most worm master. And if you don't have your seat belts buckled, you going to want to buckle them for this show.

[00:01:26]>> Indeed. Indeed. Next up, brother Jack.

[00:01:30]>> Good evening to all uh brother Damian Jack, proud past Master of Paul Drayton Lodge number seven, North Carolina where worshipful brother Maurice Williams serves as our worshipful master. Our lodge is a constituent lodge under the opices of the most worful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina where the honorable James C. Russell serves as our 25th most worful grandmaster where I have the honor and pleasure of serving as the worshipful assistant grand lecture at large. Uh is the honor and pleasure and to to be here and uh I got my seat belt fastened, got my popcorn ready and ready to go.

[00:02:04]>> All right, next up, brother Blunt.

[00:02:08]Uh good evening all. Uh my name is Rodney Blunt. I am a proud pastmaster of Samaritan Lodge 117 in Columbus, Ohio where brother Dwayne Davis serves as the worshful master under the jurisdiction of most principal D. Pal first serves as our most worm master. It's a pleasure to be here tonight. I'm looking forward to everything. As you all can see, I literally have my seat belt on.

[00:02:32][laughter] So, I'm looking forward to what we had to bring tonight, personal, including personal ties to Georgia. So, uh take I know it's going to be a great night.

[00:02:41]>> All right. Thank you, brothers. So, tonight uh we turn our attention to the great state of Georgia, a jurisdiction that's rich and often um rich with Prince Hall Freemasonry. Um, from its earlier foundations to its growth, challenges, and lasting contributions, Georgia definitely holds a unique place in the story of our craft. Luckily, we have our very own brother Dave Gillarm, who, as he stated earlier, is the grand historian of this Grand Lodge and is on our team, and he'll be uh doing the presentation tonight and telling us about the great history of his Grand Lodge. So without further ado, brother Gillan, the show is yours.

[00:03:28]All right, appreciate that.

[00:03:31]Let me start my timer. Um, so this presentation is going to be quite lengthy, but as lengthy as it is, as me and brother Cathy were talking about before the show, it uh you can't really talk about everything in the Grand Lodge's history within the time frame that we're allotted. Um, and especially with the GR Lodge that has been in existence as this long. Um, there's a lot of stuff that's going to be to it. Uh, but I'm going to go ahead and get into it.

[00:04:06]Um, additionally, I'm going to stop it roughly around the end of John Wesley Dodge's tenure in 1961.

[00:04:14]Um, maybe we can cover the rest of stuff at a later time. But first thing I wanted to address, this is our leadership team for our Grand Lodge led by our u most grandmaster Promise T.

[00:04:26]James, right works for deputy grandmaster uh Jonathan White uh right worship with grand senior warden Dwan Kanty and a right worship with grand junior wood and uh Reggie Walker along with our grand secretary grand treasurer and grand chaplain. So because of the leadership of what they can do allows me to do stuff that that I can do now and they're standing on the leaders of some of the men that I'm going to be talking about, standing on the shoulders of some of the men I'll be talking about shortly.

[00:04:56][snorts] So this saying comes as a tagline from a um from Dr. Joseph Robert Love's 1873 lecture before Excelsia lodge number 16 which was located in Savannah, Georgia. Excelsia lodge number 16 was a subordinate lodge to the most Russell United Grand Lodge of New York which I'm going to get into shortly. Um I've tried to pronounce this several times. I've worked on it like all weekend and I still messed it up. So I'm not going to do it now. But ultimately it translates to I am human.

[00:05:30]Therefore, nothing human is alien to me.

[00:05:33]Basically, uh this comes from uh the playwright Terrence who was an African slave. Uh this is roughly around I guess he was roughly born around the year 165 BC. And he was saying that just because one person achieved greatness, it doesn't matter what situation you were born in or condition you were born under, you can achieve greatness as well. And this is maybe what Dr. love was trying to convey to the members in Savannah when he gave his lecture in 1873.

[00:06:06]So when we talk about Georgia history, uh this common thing has been said probably for the last 50 60 70 years.

[00:06:16]>> Uh there's another prayer station I give where it talks about why why James even went to Boston. some of other men that were involved in uh the organiz organ the organization of our early lodges.

[00:06:28]But uh with this point I'm going to just start with 1870.

[00:06:32]And then it talks about Sims um coming back from Boston as a district deputy grandmaster under Massachusetts for the states of uh Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. And while he's there, he helps establish Eureka Lodge number 11 and Hilton Lodge number 13, which was subordinate to the Prince Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. The third lodge, which was located in Augusta, was established by uh the most Russian Prince, sorry, the most Russian Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, a free accepted ancient York Masons.

[00:07:07]Um, and it states that he called all three of these lodges together. And on June 24th, 1870, he organized the most worseful grand Georgia friends at the Mesa. Now, you just looking at that at face value, all that stuff makes sense.

[00:07:20]But then uh when you start looking at the small details, how did James Sims call Banaker to Savannah when he was only the district grandm under Massachusetts and Banaker was supporting it to Pennsylvania? Well, now we got to insert pastmaster Richard L. Nuome of Banaker Lodge number 38. Banana uh uh brother Newsome was one of the early members of the Grand Lodge and he wrote biography of John Barfield who served his first grand junior warden around 1909.

[00:07:57]And some of the things she said was that John Barfield was at the organ was at the first one of the first meetings to organize the Grand Lodge. But that first meeting happened in the fall of n of of 1869.

[00:08:12]Um and it's important that John Bairfield was there because a year prior he had been appointed as district deputy grandmaster for Pennsylvania uh well by Pennsylvania for Banaker Lodge. um he stated that John Barfield was present when the Grand Lodge formed on June 24th, 1870 and then Barfield will be elected as the the jurisdiction's first grand junior warden. Um and then he also talks about stuff with Banaker Lodge and that one of the first meetings to organize Banaker Lodge happened at the at the home of Reverend Kent. uh he mistakenly puts Rent in the uh in his bio who had been made amazing in Philadelphia in 1853.

[00:08:58]Um so this was key to understanding why how Banaker got to that meeting and that was because and they were being represented by their dish deputy grandmaster John Barfield who would become later become the first grand junior warden.

[00:09:14]But then we also have to in in uh insert a man that I feels like a really shadowed figure in Prince Hall history and that is Charles F. Daly.

[00:09:26]Uh Charles Daly.

[00:09:30]Um I found his name spelled multiple ways.

[00:09:35]He was according to Pennsylvania he was a member of Lor's lodge number 141 under the Grand Oran of France. But Pennsylvania had made him special district deputy grandmaster for the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama.

[00:09:50]Um, and this happened roughly around 1868.

[00:09:55]But a year later, John Barfield, as I stated previously, would be appointed as district deputy grandmaster for Banaker Lodge. But something very important happens.

[00:10:06]daily leaves Pennsylvania or whatever he was membership of and he goes to the hire grand lodge of Pennsylvania which was the rival grand lodge in PA and they helped form the first grand lodge in the independent grand lodge in uh Florida and this man gets elected as that grandmaster and that's Dr. Joseph Robert Love the person who I mentioned in the quote uh that gave a lecture before Elijah in Savannah. So he becomes the first grandmaster of the independent grand lodge in Florida. So Dr. Love born in Bahamas around 1839 1880. He he had the distinction of becoming the first African-American to graduate from the University of Buffalo. Uh doc he was he became a medical doctor. He was very influential. I think he wrote also authored a book called Romanism, not Catholicism or something like that. Um, but he was an author. He was very well educated, amazing speaker, uh, very influential and he becomes very vital to the rest of the story a little bit later.

[00:11:11]So when Daly helps form that grand lodge in Florida, it sends ripples throughout the South. Uh, and the Grandmaster of Pennsylvania has to address it.

[00:11:23]And so he states July 22nd, 1870 that he received notification that Daly had left and Daly was special district deputy grandmaster for North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama and uh under Pennsylvania.

[00:11:38]So the grand master had to notify what he says that he has to notify the grand lodges in both South Carolina and Georgia about uh Bob Dailyaly because now his commission especially deputy grandmaster was going to be null and void. So, Grandmaster Cooper uh also states that he received letters back from both Grand Lodges in Georgia and um South Carolina that they had received this letter and that they had notified all their lodges that Dy's commission especially district grandmaster had been revoked.

[00:12:19]So now it brings us to August 22nd, 1870. The Grand Lodge is entering into its first session. Um at this session, the um constitution is read and the officers are installed by then past national well at the time the national grandmaster uh Richard Gleaves. So what's also key to this story is not only was Glee there to install the officers, he was there to deliver a warrant to the newly formed Grand Lodge, Georgia.

[00:12:54]Um and then later years this was kind of explained by John Wesley Dobs and he said that like he was kind people I guess maybe the question of the number of grand sessions had came up and he explained how the grand lodge had formed in June but we had our first session a couple months later in August. So the very next year in 1871 while the ground lodge was just one year old we were already having our second session. Um but uh one of the key things that happens during this session is the reading of the constitution and article one section two. It states that that this grand lodge meaning the newly formed Grand Lodge Georgia was the highest source of legitimate m highest source of colored masonry within the state of Georgia and it exercises jurisdiction and government over all symbolic lodges within the state. So even though they had accepted a warrant for the National Grand Lodge, they were stating right there with Glee uh present that Georgia was the only authority here or the Grand Lodge was not the National Grand Lodge. And this will be key later on uh and something that happens about 15 years later. Um, the Grand Lodge never saw and there's nothing in our proceedings that every states where the saw the National Grand Lodge as an authority figure and from what I can tell there is nothing that I've ever seen where the National Grand Lodge says that Georgia was a subordinate. Georgia only saw the National Grand Lodge as something that they were in union with the same way that they were in union with other Grand Lodgers.

[00:14:39]And just two and this kind kind of becomes evident because just two years after the grand lodge forms they receive a communication from the national grand lodge about attending the session uh attending the session the next year.

[00:14:55]So the grand lodge once they received it um they said that we're not going to send a delegate to the session. We're going to send a proxy and that proxy is going to be Jonathan Davis who was the national grass secretary and that proxy as I'm going to read this word for word uh our proxy be instructed to vote for the dissolution of the national grand lodge. So just two years after they formed they were already done with it.

[00:15:25]They were all retired of this National Grand Lodge, whatever they had going on, they wanted it dissolved. And Jonathan Davis was supposed to vote for the Grand Lodge in uh in favor of the uh supposed to vote our vote from the Grand Lodge to dissolve the National Grand Lodge. But what actually happens, as you can see on the right, the National Grand Lodge said they only received a report from Georgia. they didn't receive a dele uh Georgia wasn't represented by a proxy or delegate which you see in our proceedings. It's clearly the the complete opposite.

[00:16:00]So what happens is uh the Grand Lodge continues to exist because of this.

[00:16:06]Jonathan Davis writes a letter to the Grand Lodge explaining what happened and it doesn't seem like that's that well with anybody. Um and from the years 1872 to 1878, the National Grand Lodge itself is probably mentioned a total of maybe two, three times max. Uh within those years, they were really tired of National Grand Lodge and this was a storm. This was the beginning of the storm that would continue to happen between Georgia and the National Grand Lodge.

[00:16:38]So the other part of the storm that was brewing around the same time frame was not necessarily Masonic related. It was involving the church and it and it involved the church that these two men past Grandmaster John H.

[00:16:54]Devote and past Grandmaster Joseph Robert Love belong to in Savannah. So love why after he has served his tenure as grandmaster he had now moved to Savannah where he had become director of St. Stevens Episcopal Church. And if you recognize the photo at the bottom, this is from the first time um the grand the Grand Commander um name well now the namesake of John H. Vo Grand Commander visited the church that pastor Grandmaster John H. Dvau belonged to. Uh this was roughly around December 2013.

[00:17:32]Uh the church is now St. Matthews for a reason. Um, and the reason involves these two men, which is talked about in the book, The Negro and Savannah. Now, if you also go Google St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Savannah and in their history, it would tell you about two separate churches.

[00:17:56]Um, so Joseph Robert Love became the director of St. Stevens and St. Stevens Episcopal Church was their membership was comprised of mulattoos, whites, and dark-skinned blacks. The bulados in that in the um Savannah area comprised or made basically the up became the upper class blacks in that society.

[00:18:20]And this book describes them as being extremely clanish.

[00:18:25]So, not only would DevOp belong there, Lewis Tumer who was the second grandmaster, Anthony Destiny who was the fifth Grandmaster, the Grand Secretary, Albert Jackson, um, all them belong to the same church and they all made up the upper class blacks in Savannah.

[00:18:45]Well, 1872, the church decided they were going to change their membership. and they were changing their membership to remove all dark-kinned blacks.

[00:18:58]Love being part of that and he preached against it. He could not understand basically this was not of God. This is the same thing as the reason why the African Methodist Episcopal Church started because they they could not worship alongside the white people. But now you have darker skinned people being kicked out of the church by other black people just because they were of darker skin.

[00:19:24]Um, and this is something that really kind of continues throughout black society uh where people get categorized or give different advantages because of the color of their skin. Now, this also talks about um the blue vein society.

[00:19:42]And some of you may be familiar with the blue vein society, but if you're not, what it was is that the skin your skin had to be light enough so they could see the blue in your veins. If your skin was light enough so they could see the blue in your veins, that meant that you more likely had white blood. If you had white blood, then you had probably had access to more money, better education, better jobs, better houses, better environment, better everything because you were connected probably to somebody white who was influential.

[00:20:19]And you would have that over the darkerkinned blacks who probably just came from slaves and had absolutely nothing. So these people that was part of that class would look down on the darker skinned black people.

[00:20:35]Love being part of that even though he was just as educated, just as well spoken, just as influential. Um this man was somebody he was somebody that later on that Marcus Gyver would look up to um as as uh being like a pseudo mentor to him.

[00:20:55]love was very influential. So he left that church, took those darker skinned people out and they formed St. Augustine's mission. That church later merged together to form this uh the current St. Matthews Episcopal Church that you saw in the picture.

[00:21:11]Additionally, if you remember a couple of um days ago, I posted a picture about John Dvau and uh Robert Abbott.

[00:21:21]John Devo starting the Savannah Tribune and Robert Abbott starting Chicago Defender. Well, this also talks about Robert Abbott, you know, trying to write articles to the Savannah Tribune and it goes to him trying to work for the Savannah Tribune, but he was not allowed to work for the Savannah Tribune because of him being dark skinned. Now, he also complained about how the Savan Tribune wouldn't talk about certain issues. And so, him and his stepfather, John Hunstack, you remember that name as well, um started the Woodsill Times newspaper where they would talk about those certain things. So now you have uh a rival newspaper kind of sort of to the uh Savannah Tribune in the same area because Robert Abbott was born was was born in the Savannah area and Robert the S in his name stands for Singstack which was his stepfather um who we're going to see shortly or or why he was also a rival to John H. Dvau.

[00:22:30]So while this is happening in the church, you would have three quoteunquote independent lodges that were formed in Savannah. Uh Ohio would establish a lodge called St. Augustine.

[00:22:42]Um they didn't actually charter this lodge and in the Grandmasters um well I think it's in the Pacific appeals around 1874. The Grandmaster states that for some reason he didn't have the authority to charter that lodge. Excuse me. and they gave it to Him Grand Lodge of Delaware. Him Grand Lodge of Delaware charters it and it becomes St. Augustine Lodge number 16. Um Ham Lodge of Pennsylvania they they established a lodge called Mount Mariah number 56 and United Grand Lodge of New York established a lodge called Excelsia Lodge number 16. These three lodges will meet together in 1874 to form the most Russian Grand Lodge of Georgia ancient Phoenix Masons. Joseph, Dr. Joseph Robert Love, the same one that was the first grandmaster in Florida, the same one that got kicked out of St. Steven's Episcopal for being darkkinned, will become their first grandmaster. And who would become his first grand secretary?

[00:23:40]John HH Singstack, Robert Abbert's uh stepfather. So, as you can see, all these men were connected in some way, shape, or form. And it wasn't just so much as compact and independent. Even though Love did write a letter to Mackie and asked him about the the legality of the National Grand Lodge.

[00:24:01]And as you can see here from the organization, they basically were saying that there can only be one legal grand lodge in any state or territory. And they did not view that Grand Lodge in 1870 as a legal grand lodge.

[00:24:16]The issue stemmed was or the issue between the two was personal. You had Dvau being kicked out of I mean sorry you had love being kicked out of Dvau's church for being dark skinned. You have uh Singstack who also has a beef because Dvau wouldn't hire his stepson and they wouldn't talk about stuff in their area. So he had to start an own news his own newspaper to get the issues in um and uh his area the Wilfield area talked about.

[00:24:48]So there were all kind of personal beasts between the two. And then to make it worse you have Caesar Brimson who was uh the first master of St. Augustine's lodge one of the organizers of the Grand Lodge. Now he leaves and he's helping to form this independent Grand Lodge as well. So there were all kind of personal beasts that was going on uh uh within this time frame and while these personal beats were going on both lodges were both grand lodges were still starting to progress.

[00:25:20]They were establishing lodges in various areas. Um but to fast forward to like roughly May 1878, you know, people just wanted unity. They didn't want to deal with any more of this compact independent um uh stuff. They just want to move forward as a body. And what culminates in that is for lack of better terms a summit that happens in May in uh Del in Wilmington, Delaware in May 1878. What it was not was a convention or session of the National Grand Lodge. That wasn't to be confused at all. is also that also is addressed in our 1885 proceedings and it says specifically this was not a national grand lodge session. This was basically a meeting between the K pack and independent grand lodges but John Dvau uh he takes over as temporary chairman of the session. Um they're having deliberations and Dvau is young John H. Dvau was the youngest grandmaster in Georgia history. He was elected at the age of 26.

[00:26:27]And now him being at the Delaware Convention, he's about 29, 30ish time frame, maybe a little older, and he has a confrontation with William Boyd, who was already established, who was already at the time, I think he was already a past Grandmaster. Everybody in the country knew him. And William Boyd starts talking and Devo basically tells him to sit down and shut up. and um Boyd takes offense to that and he la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la launches an attack later on. But anyway, after this Delaware convention, well, during this Delaware convention, they come up with a set of resolutions that were to be voted on by all the compact independent grand lodges. And um once it was voted on by twothirds majority, the National Grand Lodge had to wind up as affairs.

[00:27:20]Uh Georgia adopted those resolutions uh uh maybe a couple of weeks later. Not only did we adopt those resolutions, we notified the National Grand Lodge that we had done so. And from 1878 on, the uh the Grand Lodge never communicates to the National Grand Lodge again.

[00:27:43]But now it's 1885.

[00:27:47]Um the 1870 Grand Lodge, they're trying they're now trying to establish Amity with other Grand Lodges.

[00:27:55]One of those being the Grand Lodge of Arkansas.

[00:27:59]So, which is now known as the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Arkansas and William Terry who was being young and now he was the uh CCFC.

[00:28:10]He reaches out to Arkansas tries to establish Amity and Joseph Corbin writes him back and says, "Hey man, I appreciate what y'all trying to do, but we already recognize the Grand Lodge in Georgia." Um, so we really can't mess with y'all like that. Also, we never seen anything from you all saying anything about a public declaration of independence. We knew that y'all messing with the compact, but we ain't heard nothing about you all saying y'all sovereign again. So, and also in those resolutions, y'all had to merge and you ain't did that either.

[00:28:50]So why don't you just come back and holl at us once you figure out all that stuff out.

[00:28:57]So the um Terry no doubt was probably defeated and then he gets another blow by from Connecticut and Connecticut says, "Hey, do you all remember that um exchange representatives that we had last year?"

[00:29:12]Yeah, we gonna need that back. We thought we were talking to the other Grand Lodge. Uh we don't really know who y'all are. So yeah, let's just act like this whole thing never happened. Um Terry comes before the Grand Lodge. He tells everybody what happened. Um and he said, "Man, we need to fix this." And you get back to somebody, a young brother who's now trying to just make something happen. And he said, "We need to fix it. We need to go ahead and submit this public declaration of independence." And Lewis Tumer says, "Hold on, Young Buck. Let's slow down.

[00:29:47]Uh, I know you don't remember this cuz you weren't Mason yet, but I was there in 1870 when we adopted this constitution.

[00:29:55]Uh, in article six, article one, section two says that we were the only authority here. We've always been sovereign since we formed. So, there's no need to make a public decoration of something that we've already been doing.

[00:30:11]So, we appreciate this your suggestion, but yeah, as a grand lodge, we ain't doing none of that. And that's what the grand lodge sides with Lewis Humer. They they verified that that's what the Constitution said. Uh, and they never make a public declaration of independence. They say they've always been sovereign since they formed.

[00:30:34]Um, but the Grand Lodge still continues to operate. They still reach out to other grand lodges. Uh they do establish amity with some of them or they have been continued communication with uh with various grand lodges. But ultimately they had to heal what was broken. And what was broken was that brotherhood within the state of Georgia.

[00:31:00]And one of the things that seemed to be instrumental in tearing them apart being a church was the thing that brought them two together. So, Alexander Harris, who was now uh become a grandmaster and was dark-skinned and was a pastor as well, was also the president of the minister union in Savannah at Savannah. His secretary was Joseph Robert Love.

[00:31:27]So, you can probably see those two that around that time frame, that's when talks began to happen and it continued all the way up until 1888.

[00:31:38]When both grand lodges decide to merge, uh they form, they decide that uh neither neither sitting grandmaster will be the will be the grandmaster of this new grand lodge and they elect William Terry to serve as the grandmaster.

[00:31:57]Uh the next year, John D. Campbell's elected grandmaster and then confusion slowly begins to happen again.

[00:32:07]Um, John Campbell was described as an extreme tyrant that he would do all kind of unnecessary stuff that would essentially piss off the entire membership.

[00:32:20]Um, and it came to a head in 1894 when uh, Brother Robinson tries to make a motion to resend the suspensions of two brothers.

[00:32:31]Giant Campbell says, "Uh, I'm not hearing nothing you got to say right now, and I'm tired of talking to you about this, so we gonna close the session for the day." So, he does. He clos the session, orders everybody out the room.

[00:32:45]Um, the Grand Lodge resumes later, the same brother stands up again and says, "Oh, no. You going to hear what I got to say.

[00:32:54]I'm going to make this motion to resend the suspension of these two brothers."

[00:32:58]Uh, John Campbell says, "All right, since you want to take it there, we gonna take it there." He orders everybody out the room except for two other brothers. And once everybody's out the room, they sit the door and Robert, I mean, John Campbell proceeds to put hands on his brother.

[00:33:14]And, and I guess during the commotion, uh, everybody starts to hear, I guess, the screaming and everything that's happened from the room because this brother's essentially being jumped at this point.

[00:33:25]Uh the brothers rush back in William Terry, John Devo, they get they get control control of everybody and they said, "Nope, this guy got to go. We hope we got to have elections."

[00:33:36]Um they hold elections.

[00:33:39]Uh William Terry is elected by someone like 95 votes, but John Campbell, who was known to bring these illegal processes to the Grand Lodge, says that no, he's the Grandmaster still.

[00:33:54]Um, the buyer says, "Nope, William Terry is. He's our grandmaster. He's about to be installed." John Campbell says, "Yeah, none of this is about to happen."

[00:34:03]And he calls the police and they prevent the installation of William Terry.

[00:34:08]Because of this, the Grand Lodge splits for an entire year. They go to court.

[00:34:12]They're arguing about money. Um, John Campbell is refusing to give up the title of Grandmaster, but ultimately peace and harmony prevails.

[00:34:25]Uh, John Campbell says, "Man, that within a year later says, man, I got to give this up." And he conceds and William Terry is the rightful grandmaster of the Grand Lodge.

[00:34:36]And they continue in um moving forward in peace and harmony.

[00:34:41]Uh it could have been a combination of John Campbell was also starting to get sick as well. He maybe just didn't have the energy to keep fighting.

[00:34:48]But now that William Terry, you see here, is now Grandmaster. The very next year, the Grand Lodge is hit again. Uh but this isn't necessarily Masonic related. The grand session was supposed to be held was scheduled to be held in uh Columbus, Columbus, Georgia, where William Terry lived. But something diabolical happens weeks before the grand session was about to about to happen. Two men, Jesse Sllayton and William Miles, were brutally unalived in the middle of downtown Columbus. And this was just a block away from where the grand session was to be held.

[00:35:24]Um Jesse Sllayton was taken from the courthouse, uh rope thrown around his neck. He was un alive before he got to the tree where they ultimately strung him up.

[00:35:36]William Miles was taken from the city jail, forced to march to the spot where Jesse Stton was had been unalived, b to look up on him, and the crowd told him, "This is what's about to happen to you."

[00:35:49]And they strung him up as well.

[00:35:52]Um, lodges from all over said they did not feel safe coming to Columbus. They didn't want to do it. I mean, two men were just brutally unal alive in public and their bodies hung for hours. We don't feel safe there. We don't want to come there. And you think about how you feel now.

[00:36:13]Sometimes you don't want to go to sessions if the hotels aren't up to, you know, standard. These they had to deal with this public unalivvening.

[00:36:22]Um, and I'mma show the image on the next slide, which is going to be graphics.

[00:36:26]So, I'm going warn you ahead of time.

[00:36:29]Uh, William Terry denies the request to change the venue of the Grand Lodge. He said it's going to be held in Columbus.

[00:36:39]They have the session. They open up just a block away from where this incident happens. They march to St. James AM, which is past the Old City Jail, probably in the exact same path that William Miles was forced to walk in just weeks before. Terry goes into St. James A and E. He speaks before the body and he tells them his reasoning for not changing the venue at the of the Grand Lodge. As a result, he's given a standing a standing ovation.

[00:37:08]But this is the incident that happened.

[00:37:13]This they posed for this picture. So put that in your mind as well. They posed for this picture and there were several pictures of this incident. There were different policemen in here. They had somebody go in the tree to hold up a hit hold up one of the guy's head and this image was a postcard.

[00:37:34]So let that sink in as well. That's what they had to deal with during this time frame. Forget just compact and independent and all this. They had to they were living in fear of just being black and walking around and they had to deal with this that was in the very center of town. Um, so I'm move past this image, but now we're going to the Grand Lodge gets through that incident and now we into 1900. The man on the left, Colonel Floyd Crumbley, uh, was serving as deputy grandmaster.

[00:38:10]um he was in the Philippines um fighting in war and he writes a letter to the grandmaster and says that you know he doesn't know when he's going to come home. Uh you know he has to command these troops. They're doing great things over there. Uh believe he even talks about the the lodges that were there at the time.

[00:38:34]Uh but he said he since he doesn't know when he's going to come home, he will be doing a disservice to the Grand Lodge by still continuing to serve as deputy grandmaster.

[00:38:44]So he ultimately resigns and William Terry appoints the man on the right, Dr. Henry Rutherford Butler Senior as his deputy grandmaster.

[00:38:56]uh ult ultimately um crumble starts coming home later that year.

[00:39:03]Uh roughly July 19 July 1st 1901 William Terry passes away as the sitting grandmaster. So his deputy grandmaster takes office and everybody's expecting but everybody was expecting Colonel Crumbley to be elected as Grandmaster that upcoming coming session. Crumbly was a war hero. He had been in Grand Lodge from the beginning.

[00:39:30]Um he only resigned because he was at he was in war but as fate would have it he would not be elected grandmaster and HR Butler would HR Butler then turns around and appoints Crumbly as the jurisdiction's first historian. Crumbly accepts the position serves in that serves as the jurisdiction's first grand historian for roughly about a year and then he moves to California where he spends the rest of his life.

[00:40:00]Uh but while Butler was grandmaster uh he he would see the Grand Lodge grow from about 197 lodges to over 580.

[00:40:09]But he would also see a lot of horrible things as well. He would see our lodges burn to the ground. Uh he would see members being unalized. One of them being including one of them being a grand associate patron.

[00:40:24]um he would encounter a governor of Georgia that signed a bill to try to shut uh his grand lodge down in which he uh uh responded. He had a very fiery response in the newspapers as to what our membership was doing amongst the black community in Georgia. Um so he had an extremely um uh positive tenure and he had a tenure that was filled with all kind of things that we couldn't possibly imagine today. Um as far as we know as far as I know that he was only opposed for the office of grandmaster once from 1931 until his death in 19 sorry from 1901 until his death in 1931. Um, and that opposition happened roughly around 1930. A brother rant said he was running for grandmaster that he was nominated, but not a single person voted for him. Uh, and then he got in his feelings because he felt that HR Butler did him wrong. Um, but when Dr. Butler died 1931, December 1931, his deputy grandmaster had died two months prior, which means our grand lodge was being ran at the time by a name of Dr. Manley Taylor. Dr. Manley Taylor was from Columbus. He was a medical doctor, same as Dr. Butler. He was very well known. I believe we have two historical markers in the city dedicated to um Dr. Butler.

[00:41:55]I mean, sorry, Dr. Dr. Taylor. But as fate would have it, when he came into that 19 uh 32 session thinking that he was going to be elected Grandmaster, he was not. He was defeated at that session by a man that we all know most Russell John Wesley Dobs. Uh Dobs had had previously served as Grand Senior Wharton but stepped down from the office of Grand Senior Wharton because as a nation or as a body we were dealing with a little incident called the shrine case in which uh John Wesley Dodge was representing the entire state of Georgia during this time frame. So he was putting all his efforts into that and could not essentially run continue to serve as grand senior warden. Um but this time after the death of Dr. Butler maybe he saw his time to lead again and that's when he ran ran for office of grandm again and he won. During his tenure I mean we would we would face uh numerous things. We would face the great depression. We would face World War II.

[00:43:01]um he would see the lodges go the jurisdiction go down to almost nothing and then he had to revive it again. Uh he would go through the civil rights era. He would had an FBI file on him. Uh he was one of the men that was recommended to run for the president of the uh vice president of the United States. Uh he would see black police officers hired in the city. Uh he would saw multiple things happen in a jurisdiction to grow to get to where we are now. And as of today, 2026, in order to be a Mason in the state of Georgia, you have to be a registered voter. This was enacted during John Wily's tenure, roughly around the year 1956, and it's still affect today. So, we still feeling the effects of some of the things that John Wy does put in his place during his tenure. So, this is where I'm going to conclude my presentation.

[00:43:57]Hopefully you all have gotten something out of it.

[00:44:02]And um I guess now we're going to stand by to look for for any questions.

[00:44:10]So, um, before we before we go into questions, I I I'd like to say one of the things that that like just makes Dave so great was it's it's one thing to like research um history and then, you know, you you you discover facts and everything, but I've always said great Dave is one of the greatest Masonic storytellers that I've ever come across in my, you know, a little over 30 years of Freemasonry in regards to being able to take a story or take a piece of history and not just say it, but like just, you know, it's it's almost like a oldtime storyteller.

[00:44:56]So, I I I appreciate um brother that that skill that you have that's um because it just it makes it interesting.

[00:45:04]I'm I'm sitting up here like, "All right, what's coming next? what's coming next, you know, what what what because it's just how you how you tell your stories um when we when we you know when when you present. So, um definitely a lesson in in and not only for those that are out there researching and coming across because some people are just great researchers but they they may not be good at at telling the story. Um, and then some people may, you know, tell the story, but their research skills, you know, when you could like master both, it it really helps. And just being able again, uh, just a lesson to those those young researchers out there, you know, learn how to take what you're what you've discovered and be like, okay, instead of just it's not just about putting it out, but how am I going to put this out to make it interesting and to make it connect with people? So for that, my brother, I applaud you um greatly for that. All right. Um we do have a couple of uh interesting questions this evening and if you do have some questions, please go ahead and feel free to go ahead and post those. First up, uh was past Grandmaster JC Corbin of Arkansas present at the merger of the Grand Lodges of Georgia in 1888?

[00:46:25]Yeah, if I remember correctly, he was um and then we also had a lodge named after JC Corbin as well. So, he was really instrumental and um in Georgia history.

[00:46:38]Uh but if I remember correctly, the next year that lodge uh had to change its name. Uh the Grand Lodge passed a basically a resolution that no lodge could be named after a living person.

[00:46:54]Okay, next up are these >> Oh, go ahead.

[00:47:02]>> I will I will double check. Uh maybe that was time to ask that. I will double check to make the see if he was there or not and I will get get you to answer personally.

[00:47:11]>> Okay. Uh next up, are these Episcopal churches that brother Dave is referring to or African Episcopal African Methodist Episcopal churches?

[00:47:21]No, they were not. They were not African Methodist Episcopal churches. Um, this is when the the Methodist Episcopal Church came was coming to the south and they became known as the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Uh, so these were not AM churches and uh the church that in that picture is is just a Methodist Episcopal church, not AM.

[00:47:44]>> All right.

[00:47:46]And then Mount U Mora number 54 is the same as in Savannah today.

[00:47:57]That would be a no and essentially a yes. Um that Mount Mariah uh 56 that was established by H Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania and along with St. Augustine lodge uh end up leaving the independent ground lodge Georgia and they merged and those two lodges merged together to form the current Mount Mariah Lodge that we have in Savannah today and I believe this merger happened uh roughly about 18 1875 1876.

[00:48:33]All right and that was the last of our um questions from the audience. So, great questions this evening. Dave, I I had a question on like what I'm always interested like what's what stood out to you the most when you were um not only putting this presentation together, but just in your your your you know research of of your grand lodge, what stands out to you the most?

[00:48:57]>> I think that those early 1870 years and what was happening in Savannah? Well, I take two areas, Savannah and Columbus.

[00:49:09]So, with the foundation of the Grand Lives being in Savannah and you have all these influential members, you have a lot of former slaves. You have James Sims not only being a former slave, but a former Confederate soldier.

[00:49:23]Um, it's not Confederate, former Union soldier.

[00:49:27]Um but he also on that same in that same area you have Alexander Harris who was a former Confederate soldier.

[00:49:35]all these men were existing in the same realm. Um, and then you have the colorism issue where not only did you have uh Anthony Destiny who was on the Savannah Cotton Exchange which was, you know, seemed odd being, you know, a black man, but he was part of that blue vein society and part of upper class blacks.

[00:49:59]And if you all are familiar with the story of PE um uh Denmark Vessie from South Carolina and you know that he his plot was thwarted because he was basically snitched on by two slaves. One of those slaves was Anthony Dean's father.

[00:50:19]And as a result, Anthony Dean's father got paid on an annual basis because of what he snitched on on Denmark Vincy on Vessie. And that money continued. And so when Anthony Destiny came left South Carolina and came to Georgia, he was already wealthy based off the just from the money that his father received from snitching on Demar Vessie. So this was all the stories on how all these people connect everything they have going on and it was just mindblowing. And then you take the Columbus piece when James Sims and uh Henry McNeil Turner were coming to Columbus to establish Bradwell alive. Both of them were abolitionists.

[00:51:05]Uh Sims being a former slave. Both of them being Union soldiers. Sams was in the east while a man named Horris King was in the west. Horris King was a former slave. This the famous bridge builder Horris King, former slave who was a bridge builder that then became a slave owner and was part of the Confederate Navy. So you have these two men s in the same lodge and you have um uh Henry McNeel Turner there as well in the same area and all these men from all these backgrounds all coexisting and you don't see at least in the Columbus area I didn't see any conflict.

[00:51:48]Um, but then you have to deal with the Savannah piece with all those people with uh Harris being uh Confederate, Peter uh Tany's father being essentially a paid snitch. Uh you have Dvau being a young grandmaster and commander of all the color troops in Georgia and all these people are all interacting. So I think it was just uh unique as to how they operated, how they even continue to get the Grand Lodge off the ground during this time frame. So that would be one of my most interesting things.

[00:52:23]>> And [clears throat] I guess then [laughter] I'm sorry in the followup see that's what I'm talking about like that's that's that story but I guess my followup to that would be like how and I don't know if you like so how did that with that interaction like with those because those are almost like two ends of the spectrum as far as the thought process in regards to um the institution of slavery abolitionist movement and then all of this stuff. But then you like you said you have this entity where like it brought those those two ends of the spectrum um together and and I think it's I think the the default answer that we often say but like you know Freemasonry you know you leave all that stuff at the door and Freemasonry you meet on the level and we don't care but this is when we need to be realistic that like that that sounds good and especially and it looks better on paper but then You just have these like two very like different mindsets that they were members of this same organ. Not one thing to be it's one thing to be I'll say it like this. It's one thing to be say like Booket T. Washington the boys both Freemasons but there's no record as far as them belonging to the same lodge or whatever within the functioning within the same area. You had these dudes, like you said, belonging to the same lodge within the same area. So, what how does that play out, man? You know, it's it's so different.

[00:53:56]Um, it seems like the stuff that would happen outside of masonry didn't affect what was happening inside of masonry at at times. Sometimes it did, sometimes it didn't. And I give you an example. Uh so when Sims while he while he was in uh Massachusetts, not only was he made a Mason, he was ordained as a minister, but when he came back to Savannah, that was not recognized. They said, "We don't know who this little crazy dude that he wasn't really well liked in Savannah."

[00:54:27]Um so there was an incident in church with Alexander Harris, who had now become pastor.

[00:54:33]And Sams and Ulysus Houston came to the church and they were making they wanted to make a scene. They want to cause all this confusion to disrupt Alexander's Harris's sermon. And Alexander Harris said, "I'm not putting up with this." He called the police and had them put in jail. James Sims was the first Grandmaster of Georgia. And it was amazing. And Alexander Harris had his old Masonic brother who they were at the same lodge at one point in time before uh Sims went to Hilton Lodge and had him put in jail all for disrupting his sermon.

[00:55:07]And these men were all in the same city.

[00:55:09]They all had to interact with each other. And so it was just unique how something that how that could happen.

[00:55:20]But then in the Eureka minutes and the grand life proceedings, you don't really see too much of a negative interaction between the two.

[00:55:32]>> Yeah. I just I just I just find find it amazing that and and you really I mean I know and brother Joseph Walk said it um before and paraphrasing like you really can't tell the history or the black history in America without um >> you know mentioning or using Prince Hall history to help tell that story because there's just just so much there. But uh Damian, you had a question?

[00:55:57]>> I did. I did. Um um Dave, just echoing off what brother Cathy said, you know, your ability to tell a story is is phenomenal. Like I'm I'm sitting here getting a a a mental picture of of the fight that took place in there. You know what I'm saying? Just thinking about the screams and the chair chairs and tables moving and and and things like that. and and you actually made me run to my car because as you were talking about the um the lynchings that took place um one of the things that uh we learn and we have to learn and and brother web be the boy talked about it like you can't you can't talk about history and then try to romanticize it like you you know you, you know, true history is when you talk about the good, the bad, the ugly of of what, you know, took place, tell telling the truth. And so, you made me run to my car because when you showed uh the picture, which I know, you know, most likely is is is uncomfortable for some.

[00:57:13]I was I was running to check to see if that particular picture is is in a book that um that I have that I implore everyone to get. Um I I cover up most of it, but it is a book entitled Without Sanctuary. Um this is a um a book uh that goes into um uh that part of of history that took place um through, you know, throughout the United States. Um, my question to you is, and and and we've had to dive into this this years ago when we when when we did another episode, but you know, for those who are are seeing just how how well you you put this together, they see the finished product, they don't understand the process, right? So if you can explain the process because you connected a lot of dots like you went from you know New York to to Florida to to here to to there all encompassing you know Georgia. So in in in in connecting those dots explain you know to the audience the the the level of difficulty putting that together so they can see what was you know presented here tonight.

[00:58:33]All right. Um, one is finding the records itself or the accounts of the situations.

[00:58:41]Um, so you can, it's easy to look at what happened. You have to figure out why it all happens. And, um, and so finding out what happened means that you got to trace each person's life, everywhere they went, anybody they interacted with. Uh, you got to check obituaries, where they went to church, who they were married to, uh, what organizations they were members of, see if it cross sex, check church histories.

[00:59:14]Um, and so that's what it was. Uh, some of the stuff that I had to do. And then you have to just get lucky. Like this book right here, The Negro in Savannah, that's where I get a lot of the excerpts from. This book, I don't think it's in print anymore. Uh, I did see one website that had a copy of it for $200.

[00:59:33]Um, so it takes an extreme amount of reading, reading old books, old newspapers, uh, trying to detail every single thing about that person's life. And somebody just said it in the chat said, "You got to go outside the box. If you just looking within the lodge minutes, within the ground proceedings for these stories, you're going to miss about 95% of the story." Um, so you have to be able to trace everything and even with uh love with Excelsia Lodge, you got to see the connection because he became I say at the beginning the first African-American graduate of the University of Buffalo, New York. So that got it was the piece that got him to New York. Seeing the uh the stuff that other presentation I did with S was what got him to to Boston and Lewis Hayden being involved. And so it's learning all the every single thing about a person. And this is just not overnight thing. I've been doing this for at least over a decade researching all this stuff. And this is night in night out being frustrated. Uh, calling Damian probably. Uh, we having a virtual drink or two [cough] of of water. We having a virtual drink or two of water.

[01:00:51]Uh, and and all these other brothers. And just the other day, I was just at just asking brother Rodney and brother Cathy about the lodge that Ohio started. So, this is just it's constant. So, everybody you might see the finished product, but you know that this is years and years and years worth of research.

[01:01:11]So I think that's what it is. And then if I had any advice, don't just look at what happened, look at why it happened.

[01:01:21]Yeah. And I think the important thing too is like you you don't you don't start out, you know, you don't come into the craft or even when you start researching things like you don't I don't think few people start out with that skill set necessarily. It's it's something that you build over time because I know sometimes stuff can be intimidating for folks like I can't I'll never be able to do all of that, you know, and I'm not speaking for these brothers, but I know me personally like coming in and and listening and um hearing um a brother um Ralph McNeel, you know, rest in peace. Um, and hearing other brothers, uh, Ezekiel Bay, you know, hearing other brothers, you know, and just you listen to brothers and like, man, one day I hope I can do that.

[01:02:09]So, you just keep on plugging, keep on plugging, but before you know it, you've literally put together some things and, you know, you present, but I think it stems, it all stems from, in my opinion, again, what makes for a good researcher and presenter is a true love of the crowd. Like you literally have to love not only the craft and the history but like just finding I think every historian like when you you can read you may read three or four different books proceedings or whatever and when you find that one nugget it makes everything that you've done worth it like you get excited you know it's almost like this high you get on in discovering something especially if it was a question that you had and then you finally track um tracked it down. I I can't tell you how I felt when I find it was it was a it was a a dual feeling of like just excitement and stupidity that like I've been looking for the picture of the first worshipful master in my lodge for years and I finally found it and then I realized I literally had it and looked at it for years and didn't realize it was him and then I realized how easy it was if I would have went a different route to find it, you But it's those little bitty things that um it makes you excited and and then because you know that you that's information that you're going to be able to pass down too and you know that people are going to appreciate that as well all that hard work that you put in. So um I applaud you Dave and I applaud all the brothers that that you know really working the quaries and trying to get that done.

[01:03:49]>> Yes.

[01:03:49]>> Yes. If if I may add, um I I want to u just also just repeat what uh brother uh Jack and brother Cathy said about man way to weave the story together because I'm over here driving and then trying to get home but I'm over here like wait what what and I was thinking about the whole situation with brother Campbell. I was thinking like what was that? Close the door. [laughter] I was like, "Oh, it's it's going down in here." Uh, you know, unfortunately, we still have maybe not to that extent things go on, but you know, different matters going in different jurisdictions. But, uh, I I do Georgia, our grand so much history, and I think brother Cath was hitting on it like you were hitting on it. I know, brother Jack, too. Um, we we can go down some rabbit holes sometimes when because we have so much that we can do. And I I think what you what we all do and you said it's years of research. A lot a lot of the stuff that we've done, you know, and for those anybody that's out there, put your information aside. Nothing is you might not need it right away, but there might be something that you can put for and and like, oh, I'll need it later. I'll put this story together.

[01:04:56]I'll reach out to that jurisdiction. Oh, this is fits another part of the puzzle there. So, I I really appreciate that.

[01:05:02]In fact, uh can you uh we we had talked a couple years ago about uh bishop a bishop uh that was in was sons of kings lodge in Columbus Georgia was Harold Bearden uh that was there and he went from Columbus Georgia and then he came to Columbus, Ohio and he joined the consistry here uh and and was became a 33rd degree not too long after that but it was controversial in our at least locally because that was a sim commander but that's another story for another Okay. Uh, but I do want to make sure uh that we uh just say thank you for all that. Uh, you have presented um I'm not sure if Okay, I wish I was frozen there, but uh Georgia has a very special part place for for me. So, I will save that for closing, but but appreciate what you've done with this presentation.

[01:05:53]>> All right. So, um again, thanks uh as always, Dave, for for that great story.

[01:05:59]We're about to go to um and thanks for the great questions as well um by our audience. They were definitely on point.

[01:06:05]About to go to um closing statements and we will start out with brother Blonde.

[01:06:11]>> U again thank you um Georgia uh again has a special place in my heart because that's where my paternal family is from from Thompson, Georgia outside of Augusta. And my favorite Mason from Georgia, he's not Georgia Mason, is my grandfather uh who uh joined Samaritan Lines 117 here 52 years ago as one of our oldest members, Ernest Blunt. So I have definitely personal tie to the Georgia connection. Uh but just h thinking about how the early members of these grand lodges uh the different personalities to put together a successful functioning entity that still lasts today uh is is very impressive and we we often focus a lot of time on prominent members when it comes to the more famous and and some of our brothers that we are are not as well known they were heavy hitters in their day. So, uh, and just what they did to make sure that they had a a solid grand lodge or or whatever Masonic organization that was formed after to make sure it survived is is a big deal despite all the obstacles both internally and externally. So, thank you for for showing uh and putting that out there, brother Gar, and also to uh my fellow Prince Hall think tank uh brothers here. Uh, and I look forward to next time. Thank you.

[01:07:32]>> Thank you, brother Brock. Brother Jack.

[01:07:37]>> Yes sir. As uh as always uh Dave uh out outstanding job. Uh want to thank uh as always the audience for the greatest gift which you can never give us which is your time because this is something that you cannot give back. Um outstanding uh history and of course like he said he you know he he wasn't done. um you know if you know you can have a whole um you know just on most Worc by by himself uh and and and the things that you know that that he did uh by himself and and moving forward you can have a whole um episode on that. So, um definitely to the jurisdiction of Georgia. Um um be proud to of of the history and and and I have to uh dedicate um this episode to uh my my my grandfather uh Frank Woreren Senior uh who my my dad told me was a uh a Mason in the uh in the Georgia jurisdiction.

[01:08:43]Uh my father uh Frank Woreren was actually uh born and grew up in Wadley, Georgia. So uh so I do have uh ties to uh Georgia as well. So uh dedicate that uh this to both of them. Uh may God rest their souls. Um, and as we get ready to end uh April and and get ready for uh for May, I would be remissed uh if I would if I did not say uh to uh to all the sisters who are out there uh and to all the mothers out there, happy early Mother's Day to you all. Um God bless you all. We know that uh Mother's Day should be celebrated every day. Uh but um on that special day, we we we thank you and and uh hope that you um are celebrated uh in the way that you should. Uh so until until next time, thank you all for uh for joining in and uh we'll see you on the next episode.

[01:09:40]>> Thank you, brother Jack, brother Gillar.

[01:09:43]>> Uh once again, thank you all for your comments. Uh so I think you all know how much hard how much work I put in my presentations, so I definitely appreciate it. Uh to everybody watching, thank you all for your time. Um I just don't know what to say, man. It's it's a lot when it comes to Georgia history.

[01:10:03]And as you talking about a grand that was established in 1870, uh if you all can remember the movie Charasanica um with me and a director, we filmed for three days and it was we just really covered three areas, Columbus, Lraange, and Atlanta.

[01:10:23]And we had enough film just from those areas to do an entire Georgia movie. And we hadn't even got to Savannah and Mon and Augusta and Vala uh Thomasville and all these other places. Um so man, I love Georgia history. It's all right that I didn't grow up in Georgia. Born and raised in Illinois. Everybody in my family that's a member that's a Mason or a member of OD star are all members of Illinois and the only thing that brought me to Georgia was for Bennett and um and it was my first conversation with Doug Evans when I was junior warden of my lodge and he was serving as the grand historian and it was the passion that he had when talking about Georgia history and it was that moment that's what made me fall in love with Georgia history. I wanted to know everything that I could about history and I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to have that type of passion, that type of knowledge. And I started with my lodge history. And I wanted to know every single thing about my lodge history, then every single thing about the city of Columbus, then every single thing about the district. And that passion just continued to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow. But Doug is the one who helped like initially plant that Masonic seed. My mother did the research portion. I had I grew up doing this stuff, but with his passion then and it's still helpful that even now he continues to still support me, still help mentor me, still help support anything I have going on and uh I definitely appreciate that along with the leadership. Uh Corey Shack, sorry, most Cory Shackle for senior uh Bruce A.

[01:12:08]James, Douglas Jones, uh Ramsey Davis, Willie Williams, um Benjamin Barksdale, and my current grandmaster, Primise T James, along with the rest of the elected staff and all the other members.

[01:12:21]Man, it's a lot of love that I feel being around Georgia Masons, and I feel the love everywhere else uh as well. But it's great when your home jurisdiction uh will support and especially leadership support anything you do. So definitely thank you for all that. Um, and [clears throat] as always, man, thank you all for your time. It truly means a lot. And continue to pray because now we have another Georgia battle going on.

[01:12:51]And this is one that I will probably get brought up on CHARGES ABOUT.

[01:12:55]>> I KNEW IT. [cough and laughter] >> LOOK, we were all we were all thinking like, how is he gonna weave this in?

[01:13:03]Hey. Hey. Hey, Kev. If Cass if he didn't do it, I swear I had the question ready.

[01:13:09]I had the question [laughter] ready. I know it was coming. I was saying, man, at grand session, they gonna bring me up on charges [laughter] because especially when we beat these Hawks. Oh. Oh, NOBODY'S I'M TAGGING EVERYBODY.

[01:13:22]Everybody gonna feel this. I know my grand I love him to death. This is my brother, my friend. He's an amazing dude. Reggie Walker. He's the biggest hater of the Knicks that I know on earth. He's bigger than Reese Bird.

[01:13:36]Anybody else? He's He's way bigger than y'all. Y'all compared to him. He's a hater. Uh, [laughter] [cough] but I can't wait till we beat these Hulks. And I can tell him I told you so.

[01:13:49]Then he's probably going to bring me up on charges and I'll be gone. But [cough and clears throat] I promise you. I promise you. You get bought up on Masonic charges, I'm coming in the three-piece suit. [laughter] >> [cough] >> It's gonna be But you know, I look forward to it, man. I I every anytime the Knicks play the Hawks, I look forward to his interactions because he is going to say something. But uh love that brother to death, man. And love you all. Continue. Hey, we gonna win this series. Nicks Nicks to the finals.

[01:14:23]>> There it is. [laughter] Oh man. I was waiting for it. I was waiting. He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it. So, you know, as we as we close out tonight, you know, obviously we want to thank Dave again for that great presentation. You know, what we heard really it it just it wasn't just history. It was a reminder of why the work that historians do, why it matters.

[01:14:46]You know, documenting the history of our grand lodges is essential. uh when we take the the time to really research and get it right, we protect the integrity of the craft and we really preserve the the troop, you know, for those who come after us. Part of that research entails fitting the history of our respective grand lodges, as we talked about earlier, and the members that were around back then into the historic fabric of the times. So, as you've heard tonight, by doing so, you really see, you know, not only what our early brothers and sisters went through, but what makes you it really makes you appreciate it um even more. So, you know, um lastly, you know, also too, let it be known as as Dave illustrated tonight that the good brothers of Georgia will put hands on you per their history. So again, thank you for joining us this evening and for your continued support of the Princeaw think tank. As always, let's continue to teach masonry in our lodges. Have a good evening.