Grand Masters of Scotland - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

their original locations for so long. Could it possibly be that their work was not the building of cathedrals, but speculative?
Dai McClymont
Lodge Alberton 1651 SC
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From: Jay Hochberg
Date: Thu Apr 7, 2005 9:41 am
Subject: Re: [ml] The Sinclairs/Dai
> "Among other marks of royal approbation conferred on his ancestors, for their faithful and valuable services, they enjoyed the
dignity if Grand Master Mason, by charters of high antiquity, from the Kings of Scotland. This hereditary honour continued in the
family of Roslin under the year 1736....
Bro. Dai,
The Cooper paper in AQC 115 parries this quite effortlessly. From page 112:
"More to the point, however, is that the position of Grand Master simply did not exist. The offices of the Scottish crown (for example:
Chancellor, Chamberlain, Comptroller, Justiciar of Scotland, Custodian of the King's Person, etc.) are known -- the post of Grand
Master is not one of them. The term Grand Master first appears in the 18th century, used in a Masonic context by Anderson in 1723,
when he claims that the patriarch Moses was the first Grand Master."
Earlier, on page 104, Cooper notes the list of Grand Masters as reported by Anderson in 1738. Here, the first Grand Master of
Masons is Malcolm Canmore (of "Macbeth" fame) in the 11th century. There are five others before our Earl of Orkney appears in the
15th century. Cooper is careful to call our attention to the timing of Malcolm's "grand mastership." He died in 1093, well before the
founding of the KT. The author also asks the reader to understand that Anderson (a Scot), writing his history in 1738, would have
been mindful of a Sinclair having been installed GM of the GL of Scotland only two years earlier.
The point of it all is to illustrate the intertwined, overlapping and contradictory theories of Templar and/or Sinclair involvement in
Masonry's evolution. Membership in the QCCC is recommended if for no other reason than to obtain this particular paper.
- Jay H.
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Dear Bro. Jay
My point remains unparried: whether or not historical records exist, the general public perception even by 1778 was that the
Sinclairs had a hereditary position which the last William Sinclair abrogated in 1736.
It is of no importance to the point I was making as to where or when this charter began. According to the minutes of Canongate
Kilwinning and the Grand Master himself in 1778, the first named Grand Master of Scottish Freemasonry in 1736 was William
Sinclair, a descendant of the architect of Rosslyn Chapel.
I referred to at least one original document - not to Anderson, who, in the context of this discussion, is a secondary source. You are
welcome to go to the GL of Scotland's website and examine the primary source records they have there of the GL from its
foundation in 1736.
I'm not at this point trying to make any assumptions about Templars and the earlier William Sinclair. I was answering certain
statements recently made in the chat room about Sinclairs and the foundation of the Scottish Grand Lodge. And I'm certainly not
doing verbal fencing, requiring "parrying".
Dai McClymont
2. George MacKenzie 3rd Earl of Cromartie 1737-38
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mackenzie%2C_3rd_Earl_of_Cromartie
George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie (c. 1703–28 December 1766) succeeded his father John,
the 2nd earl, in February 1731. In 1745 he joined Charles Edward, the young pretender, and he served
with the Jacobites until April 1746 when he was taken prisoner in Sutherlandshire. He was tried and
sentenced to death, but he obtained a conditional pardon although his peerage was forfeited. He died
on the 28th of September 1766.
He married Isabel Gordon on 23 September 1724 and had children:
http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/mac/mackenzie03.htm
Children:
(1) Maj. Gen. John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod, Count Cromarty in Sweden (b 1727, d 02.4.1789 m.
(04.06.1786) Margery Forbes (d 04.10.1842, dau of James Forbes, 17th Lord)
• John married, 1786, Hon. Margery Forbes (1761-1842), Duchess of Atholl, daughter of James
Forbes (bef. 1754-1804), 16th Baron Forbes, GM Scotland 1754-55 [see below]. Following John’s
death in 1789, Margery married, 1794, John Murray (1755-1830), 4th Duke of Atholl, GM
4