Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

194 DAIS
DALCHO
the Grand Lodge of Holland . It was at this
December meeting that Baron Van Aerssen
Beyeren Van Ho erheide was appointed
Grand Master. (Tory, Acta Lat ., i ., 72 .)
Dais. From the French dais, a canopy.
The raised floor at the head of a banqueting
room, designed for guests of distinction ; so
called because it used to be decorated with a
canopy. In Masonic language, the dais is the
elevated portion of the eastern part of the
Lodge room, which is occupied by Past Masters
and the dignitaries of the Order. This should
be elevated three steps above the floor . The
station of the Junior Warden is raised one, and
that of the Senior two .
Dakota . The first Lodge organized in
Dakota was St. John's Lodge, at Yankton,
which received from the Grand Lodge of Iowa,
December 5, 1862, a dispensation, and afterward
a Charter, dated June 3, 1863 ; Incense
Lodge, at Vermillion, received a dispensation,
January 14, 1869, and a Charter, June 2, 1869 ;
Elk Point Lodge, at Elk Point, received a dispensation,
March 23, 1870, and a Charter,
June 8,1871 ; Minnehaha Lodge, at Sioux Falls
received a dispensation, July 13, 1873, and a
Charter, June 3, 1874 ; Silver Star Lodge, at
Canton, received a dispensation, February 6,
1875, and a Charter, June 2, 1875 ; and Mount
Zion Lodge, at Springfield, received a dispensation,
February 16, 1875, and a Charter,
June 2, 1875 . All of the above warrants were
granted by authority of the Grand Lodge of
Iowa . A dispensation was issued by the Grand
Master of Minnesota, November 22, 1872, for
S!iiloh Lodge, at Fargo, and a Charter was
issued January 14, 1874 . He also issued a
dispensation to Bismarck Lodge in 1874, and
again in 1875, and on January 12, 1876, the
Lodge received a Charter .
June 21, 1875, a convention was held of the
representatives of St . John's, Incense, Elk
Point, Minnehaha, and Silver Star Lodges .
Those of Mt . Zion Lodge, U . D ., were present
but did not participate in the proceedings, the
Lodge not having a Charter . A constitution
was adopted and they elected their Grand
Officers.
July 21, 1875, the convention met again and
the Grand Officers were installed in public, by
Illustrious Brother Theodore S . Parvin, P. G .
Master and Grand Secretary of the Grand
Lodge of Iowa .
This Grand Lodge continued until the session
of June 11-13, 1889, when by Act of Congress,
approved February 22, 1889, the division
of the Territory of Dakota into North and
South Dakota was likely to be accomplished
within a few months. The report of a committee
on division of the Grand Lodge was
adopted, and certain Lodges located in North
Dakota were permitted to organize a Grand
Lodge of North Dakota .
A Grand Chapter of Dakota was constituted
in 1885, which was divided in 1890 into
the Grand Chapters of North and South Dakota
. On May 14, 1884, a Grand Commandcry
of Knights Templar was organized, with
five Commanderies .
Dalcho, Frederick, M .D. One of the
founders of the Supreme Council of the Ancient
and Accepted Scottish Rite for the
Southern Jurisdiction of the United States .
He was born in the city of London in the year
1770, of Prussian, parents . His father had been
a distinguished officer under Frederick the
Great, and, having been severely wounded,
was permitted to retire to England for his
health. He was a very earnest Mason, and
transmitted his sentiments to his son. At his
death, this son was sent for by an uncle, who
had a few years before emigrated to Baltimore .
Here he obtained a good classical education,
after which he devoted himself successfully
to the study of medicine, including a more
extensive course of botany than is common
in medical schools .
Having received his degree of Doctor of
Medicine, he took a commission in the medical
department of the American army . With his
division of the army he came to South Carolina,
and was stationed at Fort Johnson, in
Charleston harbor . Here some difficulty arose
between Dr . Dalcho and his brother officers, in
consequence of which he resigned his place in
the army in 1799 . He then removed to
Charleston, where he formed a partnership in
the practise of physic with Isaac Auld, and he
became a member of the Medical Society,
and a trustee of the Botanic Garden, established
through its influence .
On the 12th of June, 1818, Dr. Dalcho was
admitted to the priesthood of the Protestant
Episcopal Church . On the 23d of Februar ,
he was elected assistant minister of St . MYchael's
Church, in Charleston . He died on the
24th of November, 1836, in the sixty-seventh
year of his age, and the seventeenth of his
ministry in St. Michael's Church .
The principal published work of Dr . Dalcho
is, An Historical Account of the Protestant
Episcopal Church in South Carolina . He also
published a work entitled The Evidence from
Prophecy for the Truth of Christianity and the
Divinity of Christ ; besides several sermons
and essays, some of which were the result of
considerable labor and research . He was also
the projector, and for a long time the principal
conductor, of the Gospel Messenger, then the
leading organ of the Episcopal Church in
South Carolina.
The Masonic career of Dr . Dalcho closely
connects him with the history of York Masonry
in South Carolina, and with that of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite throughout
the United States .
He was initiated in a York or Atholl Lodge
at the time when the jurisdiction of South
Carolina was divided by the existence and the
dissensions of two Grand Lodges, the one deriving
its authority from the Grand Lodge of
Free and Accepted Masons of England, and
the other from the rival Atholl Grand Lodge .
His constant desire appears, however, to
have been to unite these discordant elements,
and to uproot the evil spirit of Masonic rivalry
and contention which at that time prevaileda
wish which was happily gratified, at length,