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then comes as no surprise to be linkedto Maryland. In 1810, the Select MasterDegree of Philip Eckel and HezekiahNiles had already been conferred at a“Grand Council” in Baltimore. JeremyCross, well known and widely traveledMasonic lecturer, received the degreefrom Eckel and spread it far and wide.So far, so good.But it gets more murky and tangledwhen one tries to include or connect theRoyal Master Degree with that of the SelectMaster. It is true that Eckel receivedthe Royal Master Degree in 1819 – nineyears after conferring the Select Masteron Cross, but that was conferred in aRoyal Arch Lodge. Folger has said thatit was actually Jeremy Cross who putthem together in either 1818 or 1823.It would seem that, if that were true, itwould be in the latter time frame as thatwas after he had inherited the Masonicpublishing mantle from Thomas SmithWebb in 1819. Those that still adhereto the Baltimore Theory, however, haveone troublesome detail that has cometo light. That stubborn fact is that wenow know that Eckels received the SelectMaster Degree from a man namedHenry Wilmans, a Past Master of a Lodgein Charleston, South Carolina (later tobe founding Master of a Lodge in Baltimore).Wilmans it seems was a ScottishRite Inspector General from Europe, andit was this power which permitted himto bestow the Select Master Degree onEckels in Baltimore in March of 1792.This leads us to the Scottish Rite Theory.Without going into a great deal of detailabout the origins of the Ancient andAccepted Scottish Rite (AASR), suffice itto say that it was founded in France andthat it emigrated to the United Statesby way of several individuals, the mostprominent being Stephen Morin, ca. 1761in the Caribbean and thence to Charleston,South Carolina, etc. Part of the earlyRite of Perfection (25 Degrees) was the5 th Degree, termed the “Knight of theEagle or Select Master.” Morin and hissuccessors, Francken (Charleston, 1762and Albany, New York 1767) and MosesHayes of Boston (1768) were early proponentsof not only the AASR but also of the“Cryptic Degrees.” According to Hinman,et al, shortly after the organization of theSupreme Council AASR in Charleston, in1802, they issued a manifesto outliningthe degrees to which they claimed jurisdiction.It stated:“Most of the Inspectors are in possessionof a number of detached degreesgiven in different parts of the world andwhich they generally communicate freeof expense to those brethren who arehigh enough to understand them suchas Select Mason of “27.” Such in briefis the Scottish Rite claim to the originand control over the Cryptic degrees. Itis supported by the fact that their members,some of whom were inspectors(e.g. Cohen, Jacobs, and Lownds), actuallydid confer the degrees and in everyinstance the first record of conferringof either the Royal Master or the SelectMaster Degrees indicates that it wasconferred by a member of the Rite ofPerfection.”So what happened that they arenot so associated today? According toHinman, it was because of a falling outwithin the ranks of the AASR, NorthernJurisdiction between J.J.J. Gourgas andJoseph Cerneau which saw that Lownds,most influential over both York Rite andthe Cryptic degrees, sided with Cer-14 march 2013
neau, and the Degrees were actuallypermanently exported into the YorkRite, ca. 1818.To be continued next monthDr. Richard W. Van Doren is a retired psychologistand Past Commander of Boston Commandery,No. 2 KT. He resides at 53 WintergreenLane, Groton, MA 01450-4220.Oscar David OlssonNew JerseyGrand Commander 1997Born: November 2, 1926Died: November 24, 2012Subscriptions to the KnightTemplar magazine are availablefrom the Grand Encampment officeat a rate of $15.00 per year.Individual issues in quantitiesof less than 10 can be obtainedfor $1.50 each from the office ofthe managing editor if available.Inquire via e-mail to the managingeditor for quantities inexcess of 10. Some past issuesare archived on our web site.http://www.knightstemplar.org.We publish letters and articles from avariety of sources and points of view.The opinions expressed in these articlesdo not necessarily reflect theopinions or policy of the Grand Encampment,the Knight Templar magazine,or the Editorial Review Board.Charles D. KolbeWisconsinGrand Commander 2005Born: June 4, 1934Died: August 31, 2012Robert G. BirdMissouriGrand Commander 1984Born: May 31, 1923Died: November 22, 2012knight templarLeonard G. MathisonMinnesotaGrand Commander 1984Born: August 23, 1913Died: December 22, 201215
Page 3: ContentsGrand Master’s MessageGra
Page 6 and 7: Dome of the Rock - Jerusalemcopyrig
Page 9 and 10: Brother Mel Blanc:“The Man of a T
Page 11 and 12: Bunny, and Daffy Duck had two “hu
Page 13: An Encapsulated Historyof Cryptic M
Page 17 and 18: Dear Sir Knight Palmer:Letters to t
Page 21 and 22: Knight Templar Eye Foundation NewsA
Page 23: lieve it is also part of the cause
Page 26 and 27: meet some of the greatest challenge
Page 28: pean creators. A different mindset
Page 32 and 33: Initiatives like the International
Page 34 and 35: Knightsat the BookshelfBySir Knight
Page 36: Knight Templar5909 West Loop South,

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