Joseph Enos, Jr. - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic District ...

CHAPTER XVII.
Grand Master Joseph Enos, Jr. and
THE COUNTRY GRAND LODGE.
Ibid. page 287.
Grand Master Enos, according to the terms of his adjournment, called the Grand Lodge together in Tammany Hall on the forenoon
of June 4, 1823.
He was supported by Deputy Grand Master John Brush and Senior Grand Warden John Greig, but the remainder of the official
chairs was filled by temporary appointments. After appointing a committee on credentials the Grand Lodge again adjourned until the
following day, mainly for the purpose of gaining time to see how the lines in the struggle were settling. At that meeting (on June 5)
Grand Secretary Hicks and Grand Treasurer Bogert were summoned to appear before the Grand Lodge with "the books, papers,
funds and vouchers" in their possession, a summons to which it may here be said they paid no attention, and both were in time
suspended from Masonry for ten years, a sentence which gave neither of them any concern. The Lodge then went into the election
of officers, their choice resulting as follows:
Joseph Enos,
John Brush,
Nathaniel Allen,
Thomas Barker,
Grand Master.
Deputy Grand Master.
Senior Grand Warden.
Junior Grand Warden.
Aaron M. Merchant,
Welcome Eslecek,
Rev. Henry I. Feltus,
Rev. W. B. Lacy,
Grand Secretary.
Grand Treasurer.
Grand Chaplain.
Assistant Grand Chaplain.
The Grand Secretary and Senior Grand Chaplain, however, declined to serve, but the other officers were at once installed and a
visit from Past Grand Master Tompkins and Brother Erastus Root, Lieutenant-Governor of the State, added eclat to the proceedings.
The next business of importance was the removal of the decree of suspension against Ebenezer Wadsworth and that brother was
not only received with open arms, but a committee reported that not only was he free of any indebtedness to the Grand Lodge, but
that body was indebted to him $24.50. How this conclusion was arrived at, in the absence of any data is a mystery, but there is no
doubt of Wadsworth's personal honesty. On June 6 thirteen new Lodges were warranted, some of them also getting a warrant from
the City Grand Lodge, and the official list was completed by the election of Charles G. Haines as Grand Secretary, and the Rev.
Hooper Cummings as Grand Chaplain. But it was found that a serious mistake in tactics had been made, for, while the Country
Grand Lodge had the members, the City Grand Lodge had the money and the records. Instead, even at this juncture, of using a little
policy which might have been productive of profitable results, the Country Grand Lodge affected to deny the existence of any Grand
Lodge in the State but itself and authorized the newly elected Grand Secretary and Grand Treasurer to demand and receive from
Elias Hicks and Cornelius Bogert, whom • it was pleased to designate respectively as Past Grand Secretary and Past Grand
Treasurer, "and of and from all other person and persons and corporate body or bodies, all the books, records, vouchers,
parchments and papers, together with the seal and all the moneys of every description in the hands or possession or under the
control of any such Past Grand Officer." Fearing that this demand might prove unavailing, or at all events to strengthen it, the
following resolution was also passed:
That a committee of three be appointed for the purpose of securing the legal and equitable rights of the Grand Lodge of the State of
New York in relation to the conduct of the late Grand Secretary and late Grand Treasurer, and that they be authorized to see such
judicial proceedings instituted as they may think proper and to employ such counsel as they may deem proper, after finding judicial
proceedings necessary and expedient.
The committee appointed under this resolution comprised Joseph Enos, John Brush, and Charles G. Haines, but neither the
demand nor the resolution proved to be worth the paper on which they were originally written. It was "bad politics" to put at the head
of such a committee, if serious results were intended, the man who had been the immediate cause of the division and about whose
personal honesty grave doubts were entertained. After revising the constitution and ordering the revision sent to the Lodges for
approval, arranging for the representatives to be paid by their Lodges, the amount so paid to be deducted from the Grand Lodge
returns; authorizing several payments for rent and service—an item to Enos under the latter category—the Country Grand Lodge
adjourned on June 10. Two Lodges of emergency were called the same month, one at New York on the 12th, when Enos made
Hooper Cummings the new Grand Chaplain, a Mason at sight, and one at Poughkeepsie on the 23d, when Deputy Grand Master
Brush performed the same office for the Rev. Dr. John Read, who afterward was also appointed a Grand Chaplain.
In spite of the long agitation for the Grand Lodge to meet at Albany or some place other than New York it is a significant sign of the
real weakness and lack of cohesion on the part of the Country Grand Lodge that its second meeting, June 2, 1824, should be
convened in the same city. Of course one reason for this may have been that the sinews of war were in New York and hope may
have been nourished that by meeting in this city the Grand Lodge here existing might be brought into submission, if not into union.
But whatever the reason, it was a token of weakness which would not have been exhibited except under the most slipshod sort of
leadership. According to the records, when the Grand Lodge was called to order by Enos on the morning of June 2, 1824, the
following Lodges were represented in Tammany Hall by their officers or duly appointed proxies. We give the list in full, as we did that
of the City Grand Lodge, as it shows the strength of the country forces:
Solomon's, No. 6.
St. Patrick's, No. 11.
Washington, No. 13.
Hudson, No. 15.
Unity, No. 17.
Union, No. 30.
Otsego, No. 41.
Montgomery, No. 42.
Orange, No. 43.
Apollo, No. 49.
Temple, No. 53.
St. Paul's, No. 64.
Homer, No. 74.
Wadsworth, No. 78.
Mount Vernon, No. 97.
Roman, No. 79.
Federal, No. 80.
Horizontal, No. 82.
St. John's, No. 90.
Phoebus, No. 94.
Friendship, No. 95.
Constellation, No. 103.
Charity, No. 114.
Hamilton, No. 121.
Rising Sun, No. 126.
Hiram, No. 131.
Genesee, No. 138.
Hamilton, No. 144.
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