Craft Masonry in Albany County, New York - Onondaga and Oswego ...

the government: and it continued neglected or abstracted for many years. In March, 1847, the following entry appears upon the
Journal:
"March 26, 1847, on motion of the Hon. John L. Viele, Resolved, That the Clerk of the Senate cause the portrait of Christopher
Columbus presented to the Senate by Mrs. Maria Farmar in 1784, to be removed from the city of New York and put up in some
suitable place in the Senate Chamber.
"Mr. John F. Bacon, then Clerk of the Senate, in compliance with the orders of this resolution, visited New York and after
considerable search, and through the assistance of the venerable Mr. Skaats, the Keeper of the City Hall, found it in the garret of
that building. He proved it to be the property of the State and brought it to Albany, where it was placed in the old Senate Chamber,
afterwards known as the cloak and document room of the Assembly. When the Senate Chamber was changed, it hung over the fireplace,
when by the resolution of the Hon. Senator from the 31st District [Mr. Babcock] it was ordered rescued."
John Orton Cole
“A Standard History of Freemasonry in the State of New York,” by Peter Ross, page 767-68.
http://books.google.com/books?id=-GciAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA768&dq=%22John+O.+Cole%22+%22justice%22#PPA768,M1
It is fitting that here we should speak of the career of John Orton Cole, who was Grand Secretary (of the Grand Chapter, Royal
Arch Masons of the State of New York) from 1825 to 1867 and whose active work in the quarries and the Temple closed with the
last-named year, although he lingered on life's stage for over ten years longer, or until Jan. 4, 1878, when he passed to his rest at
Albany. The record of the Grand Chapter sums up his character thus:
A man of virtue, honor and integrity; a citizen of exalted worth; an efficient public officer of unspotted reputation; a Christian and
a Mason; beloved and respected by his brethren, companions and fellow- citizens for his amiable disposition, blameless life, many
virtues and unswerving fidelity to every trust.
This high eulogy was in every way deserved, and it is in the story of the careers of such men as John O. Cole that the members
of the fraternity find their best earthly example. For that reason we are more than justified in reprinting the following account of his
life work, drawn up, we believe, by John L. Lewis and recorded in the Transactions of 1879 as part of the report of the Committee on
Memorials of the Dead.
The biography of John Orton Cole is a conspicuous part of Masonic history for half a century; his high reputation as a Mason, his
spotless character as a man, is a valued portion of our common Masonic inheritance. Coming to the Grand Secretaryship of the
Grand Chapter of New York in 1825, he found the capitular branch in the brilliancy of its renown and prosperity, and strove to add to
its high character by unceasing personal and official labors. With him it was a labor of love, whether he wrought in the quarry or
advised in the Council; and with abilities of the highest order, and zeal and energy never flagging, never failing, he received in its
proud position amongst craftsmen, a laborer's reward. But the bright sunshine of favor was of brief continuance; the clouds were
already darkening the horizon, and in three years the sky was overspread with blackness. It was well for the Grand Chapter of New
York then that it had an officer so skillful, so devoted, so undaunted as John O. Cole; for, although the duties of his office were
apparently only ministerial, in reality he wielded the right hand of executive direction and influence. During the darkest period of the
Anti-Masonic crusade which followed, he stood firm and undismayed; and that keen, piercing, eagle eye, and those clear, decisive,
ringing tones of his seemed to be seen and heard, like those of Henry of Navarre on the battlefield, shouting to his shrinking
companions: "Rally around my white plume!" Carefully gathering the fragments of that which seemed to be lost, watching and
encouraging Chapters beset with difficulties and trials, preserving the memorials of the past, and guarding with untiring watchfulness
the diminished finances of the Grand Chapter, that body was a rallying point upon which the faithful and true-hearted could fall back,
and be encouraged to persevere.
Who of our veteran companions has forgotten, who can forget, the tone, stern and sharp almost to fierceness, with which he
rebuked and sought to check every wasteful and every needless expenditure of the smallest sums? Who does not remember the
clear, incisive logic, expressed in few well chosen words, with which he exposed a fallacy on the one hand, or disarmed opposition
to some just and proper measure on the other? Whoever of our younger members, does not remember with admiration, almost
wonder, that powerful, retentive, accurate memory, that astonishing self-possession, which enabled him to read from a blank sheet
of paper the minutes of a session, everything in the order in which it had occurred, nothing omitted or misstated, when the
occupations of the time, steady and unremitted, had called his attention elsewhere, and prevented the record being in fact made?
And he lived to have his further reward. He lived to see the fires which had been quenched on myriad altars, rekindled with yet
brighter blaze: he lived to see many of his nurslings that he had cherished in their weakness, regain their pristine strength; he lived,
in abundance of instances, to affix his well-known signature to certificates of renewal and revival of forfeited warrants, for whose
custodians the Anti-Masonic contest had been too great, the opposition too powerful, the odds too unequal.
And after these brief allusions to his forty-two years of successive and continuous labor as Grand Secretary—a term of years which
it would be difficult to say reflected the most honor upon the body which so justly appreciated the merits of such a servant, or the
officer whose integrity, zeal and fidelity received such unanimous recognition—there is but little for us to add. for the fact unfolds his
character. If it be thought the incidents sketched depict too much sternness and severity, be it remembered they were only official.
When charity was to be extended, that flashing eye put on a milder lustre, and that powerful voice was subdued to a gentler tone;
when a question of moral duty was involved, he was unsparing and unflinching for the right; for his life was one of charity and high
moral duty. Those who knew him best knew him as the courteous Christian gentleman; the friend and champion of all that pertained
to social or intellectual culture; the diligent co-worker with those who sought their advance; the upright and fearless civil magistrate;
the active and enterprising citizen in the city of his abode, and affectionate and true in all his domestic relations. Such was the
character of John O. Cole. Let us give a brief outline of his personal and Masonic history.
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