History of Wooster Lodge #10

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HISTORY OF WOOSTER LODGE No. 10, A. F. & A. M.

Wooster Lodge, No. 10, A. F. & A. M., received its original charter from the Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Ancients under date of January 23, 1781 and signed by Colonel Joseph Webb, Grand Master; Samuel Barrett, Deputy Grand Master; Paul Revere, Grand Senior Warden; James Jackson, Grand Junior Warden, and others.

There is no list of charter members handed down in the records, but those few incorporated in the charter are as follows:

Henry Champion
Hezekiah Holdridge
John R. Watrus
Andrew Fitch
Daniel Whitney
Rubin Pride
William Higgins
Asa Worthington
Jabez Clark
William Little
John Tiffany

To these are added two men who were present at the institution, viz:

Noah Coleman
Elijah Bingham

-all of whom had seen long and honorable service in the Revolutionary War.

The lodge was instituted on the sixth of June, 1781, at five o'clock in the morning, by, Right Worshipful Brother James Church, Esq., Master of St. John's Lodge at Hartford, who had been deputed by Most Worshipful Brother Joseph Webb, Esq., Grand Master of Ancient Masonry for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The following officers were elected:

Master (by appointment) Brother Henry Champion.
Senior Warden Brother William Little.
Junior Warden Brother Noah Coleman.
Secretary Brother Asa Worthington.
Treasurer Brother Hezekiah Holdridge

The institution took place at John Taintor"s Tavern, located at the corner of Broadway and Lebanon Avenue, on the present sight of the O'Connells residence, and continued there until the end of the year, after which they met in various private houses and taverns throughout the town until the end of the record in 1829. At the time of its institution and for over a decade thereafter, Wooster Lodge was the only Connecticut Lodge east of the Connecticut River, and lively interest in Masonry was shown by the large number of candidates coming from the far distant quarters of eastern Connecticut for the purpose of being made a mason in this lodge. Wooster Lodge began to feel the effects of the Anti-Masonic crusade in 1829, at the close of which year the records come to an abrupt end. There is evidence, however, that the lodge struggled along, reporting more or less regularly to the Grand Lodge, until 1837, after which interest waned and the charter was revoked in 1841. In 1851, after the anti-masonic excitement had blown over, masonry was revived in Colchester, but as the old Connecticut charter could not be found it became necessary to petition the Grand Lodge for a new one. A complete list of these petitioners has not been handed down, but the following are mentioned in the charter, viz: Samuel A. Peters Avery Morgan Newhall Taintor George Way Ezekiel W. Parsons Joseph D. Packwood Marvin W. Hutchins Joshua B. Wheeler and others, all foregoing being members of the old lodge.

For the first decade of the new lodge, meetings were held in the Odd Fellows Hall in a building that formerly stood on the present site of the A. & P. store. This building was removed in the early 1860's and attached to the rear of the late Brother Dawley's undertaking establishment. The lodge now moved to Brother Pedinghous Hall, which was on the second floor of a frame building standing in the site of Rutka's Market, at the head of Linwood Avenue.

This hall was rather small and inconvenient. As time went on, the lodge grew and more spacious quarters were imperative, but no suitable place was available. Brother Joshua B. Wheeler, who had always been prominent in lodge affairs, and had stood by during the anti-masonic period, took the matter into his own hands and erected a business block opposite the park on Norwich Avenue. The first two floors were fitted for business purposes and the third floor as a home for Wooster Lodge. The lodge took possession in 1872 and has lived there ever since. In 1910, Mrs. Emelion T. Ransom, a daughter of Brother Wheeler, presented the lodge with a 99-year lease of the rooms free of all expenses, and subsequently the lodge voted that there quarters shall henceforth be known as "Wheeler's Masonic Hall," as a memorial to Brother Joshua B. Wheeler, the mason and builder.

A book of by-laws, including a list of members, has been published about every ten years since the lodge was revived in 1851. None of these lists, however, have been correct; there have been many errors of omission as well as errors in spelling. As a result of a careful review of the ancient records we have been able to make many corrections; yet we do not claim this to be a correct list. We will say, however, that this comes the nearest to perfection of any list yet published. In the publication of 1921, an attempt was made, for the first time, to give the residences of the early members with a view of showing something of the extent of the jurisdiction of the lodge during its early days. In many cases the records mention the residence of the candidate, but generally this information is omitted. Most of the missing items have been obtained, with the valuable assistance of Brother James Case, from genealogies, town and country histories, church and town records, etc.The foregoing historical information was prepared on June 15, 1934 by Brother Cyrus E. Pendleton, who for many years was Lodge Historian. It has been adjusted slightly for the lapse of time in 1993. Fond memories of W. Brother Pendleton’s interesting historic recitals will long remain in the memory of the brethren, as well as those later delivered by Brother Case.

See Our Past Masters since 1781

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