Craft Masonry in Westchester and Putnam Counties, New York

mentioned containing their lunch, and while dinner was being prepared, John Romer, then a lad sixteen years old, was sent after it.
Upon his return he accompanied the party to Colonel Sheldon's headquarters in North Castle, their route lying across lots and
through the woods, in order to avoid the highways as much as possible. This is briefly the story of the capture of Andre as told by
John Romer many years afterwards. He was selected in 1853 by the Monument Association to identify the exact spot where the
capture took place, and selected a spot east of the present Post Road at Tarrytown. The monument was erected on the west side,
because the property where the capture really took place could not be obtained for the purpose.
* It appears that by a special dispensation David Williams had been made a Mason while on his visit to the city of New York, but it
was not generally known until a body of fellow craftsmen gathered at his bier clothed in their white aprons and full Masonic regalia.
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/10,000_famous_freemasons/Volume_4_Q_to_Z.htm
David Williams (1754-1831) American patriot and one of the trio who captured Major Andre in the American Revolution. b. 21 Oct
1754 in Tarrytown, NY. Enlisted in 1775 and served under Gen. Richard Montgomery at St. John's and Quebec, continuing his
service until 1779, when he resigned. His feet had been badly frozen and this partially disabled him for life. With John Paulding, q.v.,
and Isaac Van Wart, he was one of the captors of Major John Andre on 23 Sep 1780. After the war, he bought a farm near the
Catskill mountains that had been the property of Daniel Shays, q.v., leader of Shay's rebellion. He was given a silver medal by order
of congress. He was raised in Lotus Lodge No. 31, N.Y.C. in 1827. Charles A. Lakin in his History of Military Lodge No. 93, Manlius,
NY. states that he was first Junior Warden of this Lodge and presented the lodge with a sword he had taken on the Battlefield of
Yorktown. d. 2 Aug 1831.
[Note: it would appear the David Williams, noted as belonging to Military Lodge No. 93, is a different David Williams, of whom it has
been written in Revolutionary soldiers resident or dying in Onondaga County, NY . . . , “ by Franklin Henry Chase, page 100:
http://books.google.com/books?id=-
3sPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA100&dq=%22david+williams%22+%22yorktown%22+%22pompey%22&hl=en&ei=6gzgTdTyEIuftweO7ajoC
Q&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22david%20williams%22%20%22yorktown
%22%20%22pompey%22&f=false
“DAVID WILLIAMS—This veteran has been confused with his son David, who was buried in the Manlius cemetery, Nov 1875, aged 92
years. It is also said that "David Williams settled in Pompey in 1801, where he lived to the advanced age of 93 years. His farm was
situated about a mile and a half north of Watervale." Which David this was does not appear in this but it was the son. The father,
with three others, built a sawmill at Edwards' Falls, but he soon exchanged his interest for 60 acres of land. He was overseer of the
poor, 1794-6; lieutenant in a new Onondaga company in 1797; captain in 1798; 2d major in 1st Onondaga Regt., in 1801, and lieut.
colonel in 1803. He was ensign in 1793, when his son David was but eleven years old. Of the son the Pompey Reunion said: "The
subject of this sketch was born in Halifax, (Mass.) July 16th, 1782, and when nine years old came to Pompey. At the age of twentyone
he married Mary Eastman who was born July 4th, 1782.... Mrs. Williams' father, Timothy Eastman, served seven years in the
war of the revolution." Whether he also lived in Pompey was not stated.
“In Lakin's history of Military Lodge David Williams is mentioned as a captain in the Revolution, but he evidently had not this rank.
Lakin adds: "In 1802, when Military Lodge was instituted, he presented it with a sword that he secured on the battle field of
Yorktown. This old relic is held in high esteem—a prize without price." He was the first Junior Warden. It now appears that he was
born May 7, 1744, made his will July 26, 1827, which was proved Sept. 9, 1829, in the year of his death, making him 85 years old.
His wife survived him.” Note: Lakin also records that he was a Charter Member of Military Lodge, Raised 2 Sep 1802 – g.l.h.
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/10,000_famous_freemasons/Volume_3_K_to_P.htm
John Paulding (1758-1818) Major of American Revolution, who with two others, captured Major Andre. b. in 1758 in N.Y.C. He
served throughout the Revolution, and was three times taken prisoner by the British. A few days after his escape from his second
imprisonment, he, Isaac Van Wart, and David Williams were patrolling the east bank of the Hudson River, when they intercepted
Andre, who was on the way back to the British lines after his interview with Benedict Arnold. They refused to be bribed by Arnold
and later Congress struck a silver medal for each of them. The Eastern Argus of Portland, Maine, carried the following on 3 Mar
1818: "Died at Yorktown, NY, Major John Paulding, one of those distinguished Revolutionary patriots who received the thanks of the
nation for the capture of Major Andre. His remains were accompanied to the grave by a corps
of cadets from West Point, a Lodge of the Masonic fraternity, and a great concourse of
people." He was a member of Cortland[t] Lodge No. 34, Cortland[t], Westchester Co., N.Y.
He appears on the 1797-98 register of the Lodge, so he was initiated sometime between
1793 (date of charter) and 1797. d. 18 Feb 1818.
After the Revolution, John Romer married Leah, daughter of Cornelius Van Tassel, a
lieutenant in the war in Colonel Drake's Regiment of Militia, organized October 23, 1775.
Through his wife, John Romer became possessed of the Van Tassel farm, at Elmsford, upon
which he built the house long afterwards used as the Greenburg Town House. This house
was erected upon the site of the Van Tassel house, burned by the British in 1777, Leah, then
an infant, and her mother being turned out into the cold of a November night that the
structure might be destroyed.
Captain Romer was one of the prominent Free Masons of the county in his day, having been
admitted to Solomon's Lodge [sic], of Mount Pleasant, in 1800. Solomon's Lodge, at that
time, was in the settlement called Sparta, now a suburb of Sing Sing. Afterwards the Lodge
was moved to White Plains; then it was moved to Elmsford, and then under a reorganized
charter it was placed in Tarrytown, where it has remained and flourished for many years.
In 1853, at the dedication of the monument to the captors of Major Andre, at Tarrytown, John
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