Grand Lodge of New York - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic District ...

meeting where the date is not destroyed was held August 25, 1797, the next is August 31st; then follows September 12th, October
23d, November 13th.
December 25th. On the following page is the date December 27th, but the year is missing; in all probability it was 1797, as at 'the
meeting held December 25th a committee was appointed to prepare a dinner on St. John's Day; and in the minutes under date of
December 27th is the following: "Lodge called from labour to refreshment and adjourned to the house of Mr. Libhart for the purpose
of dining and from refreshment returned back to the Lodge to labour."
Upon the next page is the following: "Bath Lodge, No. 57, January 3d (the year is missing), Chapter Lodge called by the W. M. for
the purpose of installing the officers. "At this meeting there were twenty members present and one visitor. The disbursements were:
"Expenses, Stewards apc $7 28
Tyler 1 00
$8 28"
The last recorded meeting in the book was held in January, 1798; there were twenty-one members and eight visitors present.
Two propositions for membership were received, two candidates were initiated, one passed and one raised.
The first officers of the Lodge were:
Charles Williamson. Master:
John Coudry, Senior Warden;
William Dunn, Junior Warden.
A portrait of the first Master was presented to the Committee on Antiquities of the Grand Lodge, May 13, 1897.
An old sketch of Freemasonry in Steuben County says, concerning the members of this old Lodge and the existing conditions in that
vicinity at that early period: "Among the visiting brethren on one occasion was URIAH STEPHENS, at whose house was held the
first ‘Town Meeting’ in the town, which comprised all of the present Steuben and part of Allegany and Livingston Counties. There
were seven votes cast at that 'Town Meeting.'"
Thus we find a Lodge of Masons in successful operation long before the village of Rochester had one and within three years after
the first clearing was made for the village of Bath by Captain Williamson, the agent of the Pulteney estate. Among the names
appended to those old by-laws may be found nearly all of the prominent men of those times, five pioneers who did so much to
develop the resources of Western New York. Among them we have CHARLES CAMERON, who kept the first store and was also
the first postmaster, under Captain Williamson, however, and long before Uncle Sam carried any mails in this vicinity. The nearest
mail station then was sixty-five miles distant. DUGALD CAMERON was a man of strong intellectual powers, and was for a long time
agent of the Pulteney Estate for this county. He was the representative of this county in the legislature in 1828. ANDREW SMITH
was the right-hand man of Captain Williamson, and had charge of his farming operations.
WILLIAM DUNN kept the first house of entertainment in 1798 He was the first sheriff of the county, appointed in 1796. JAMES
FAULKNER, an eminent physician of his day, was Chief Judge of the County Court in 1804. GEORGE D. COOPER was the first
County Clerk.
This Lodge appears to have become extinct, but we can get no information as to how or when it ceased to work.
Steuben Lodge has prospered and enjoyed a steady, healthy growth since it was first organized. The offshoots of the Lodge are
numerous.
Among the charter members of no less than seven Lodges are found the names of members of this Lodge. It was present at the
laying of the corner-stone of the Home at Utica. On March 22, 1897. it celebrated the "100th Anniversary of the Establishment of
Masonry in Steuben County." The occasion attracted a large gathering; the principal speakers were M.'.W.'. WILLIAM A.
SUTHERLAND and M.'. W.'. FRANK H. ROBINSON.
MEN IN PUBLIC LIFE.
John P. Parkhurst, Supreme Court Judge
William H. Chamberlain, Assemblyman.
GRAND LODGE OFFICERS.
Anthony L. Underbill, District Deputy Grand Master.
Edwin S. Underbill, District Deputy Grand Master.
MASTERS.
1846. Lewis Biles.
1847. Lewis Biles.
1848. Jesse Van Derhoven.
1849. Jesse Van Derhoven.
1850. Paul C. Cook.
1851. Lewis Biles.
1552. Philo P. Hubbell.
1553. Philo P. Hubbell.
1854. Philo P. Hubbell.
1855. John P. Biles.
1856. John P. Biles.
1857. Lewis Biles.
1858. Lewis Biles.
1859. Charles W. Campbell.
1860. Edwin R. Kasson.
1861. Edwin R. Kasson.
1862. George S. Jones.
1863. Charles F. Kingsley.
1864. Anthony L. Underhill.
1865. Anthony L. Underhill.
1866. Anthony L. Underhill.
1867. George S. Jones.
1868. T. Scott De Wolfe.
1869. E. W. Hardenbrook.
1870. Anthony L. Underhill.
1871. Charles F. Kingsley.
1872. Charles Dudley.
1873. Charles Dudley.
1874. William P. Sedgwick.
1875. Isaac J. Merrell.
1876. Byron A. Todd.
1877. Henry Faucett.
1878. Charles Dudley.
1879. Charles Dudley.
1880. William H. Shepard.
1881. Charles Dudley.
1882. Charles Dudley.
1883. Isaac J. Merrell.
1884. Moses Davison.
1885. Henry Faucett.
1880. Henry Faucett.
1887. William B. Brown.
1888. William B. Brown.
1889. Moses Davison.
1890. Moses Davison.
1891. Thomas Craig.
1892. Daniel B. Boileau.
1893. Daniel B. Boileau.
1894. William H. Davison.
1895. David Rothchild.
1896. E. W. Messerschmidt.
1897. Reinza T. Stansburg.
1898. Edwin S. Underhill.
1899. Edwin S. Underhill.
1900. E. Grant Hollenbeck.
1901. Henry J. Donnelly.
1902. John H. Gilmore.
1903. John H. Gilmore.
1904. Francis E. Wilkes.
1905. Clinton W. Richardson.
1906. Frederick W. Hastings.
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