The Early Introduction of Bogus Freemasonry in the United States of America and Texas Among Colored Masons

by C. L. Mitchell

FREEMASONRY FIRST ORGANIZED IN THE STATE OF TEXAS ON APRIL THE 10th, 1873, AT AUSTIN, TEXAS.

Tenth Question—When was Freemasonry first established in the State of Texas among Colored men? As there have been a great deal of controversy about the matter, inasmuch as some person have fixed it one place and some have fixed it another place, let us see who is right?

Tenth Answer—The first Lodge of Colored Masons organized in the State of Texas was at Austin, Texas, April 10th, 1873, the name of the Lodge was Mount Bonnell Lodge, it was instituted and chartered by the notorious self-constituted clandestine King Solomon Grand Lodge of the State of Kansas that Wm. D. Mathews was the Grand Master of, and all Masonic students and all Masonic authors in the United States have said time after time that the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas was a bogus Grand Lodge. Sometime after Mount Bonnell Lodge was organized at Austin, Texas. A Lodge was organized at San Antonio, Texas, and Houston, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, all these Lodges were established by the spurious King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas. And it appears from the records and a circular issued by the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas that at the time the convention was held to organize a Grand Lodge for the State of Texas that the Lodge at San Antonio, Texas, and the lodge at Houston Texas, was only working under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Kansas, and only a few years ago I held a conversation myself with Wm. D. Mathews, Grand Master of the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas and he stated to me that at the time the Grand Lodge of Texas was organized that there was only one Lodge and that was Mount Bonnell Lodge at Austin, Texas, that was in good Masonic standing and that Saint John's Lodge at Galveston, Texas, and the Lodge at San Antonio, Texas, and the Lodge at Houston, Texas had been suspended by the Grand Lodge of Kansas for un-Masonic conduct and that the dispensation to three of these Lodges had been revoked by him as Grand Master of the King Solomon Grand Lodge of State of Kansas and in support of that the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas refused to recognize and hold any Masonic intercourse or affiliation with the Grand Lodge of Texas. That matter came up and was discussed at the National Masonic Convention held in the city of Chicago, Sept. 4th, 5th, 6th, 1877.

Eleventh Question—When was the Grand Lodge of Texas organized?

Eleventh Answer—A convention of delegates for the purpose of arranging to organize a Grand Lodge of Texas was held at Brenham, Texas, Aug. 19th, 1874, and after some considerable discussion the convention adjourned to meet at Houston, Texas, Jan. 19th, 1875, at Houston, Texas, the so-called Grand Lodge of Texas was organized Jan. 19th, 1875, N. W. Cuney was elected Grand Master and J. J. Hamilton was elected Grand Secretary so it will be seen that Freemasonry in the State of Texas was established in a clandestine manner by the compact King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas.

Twelfth Question—Did the Grand Lodge of Texas work under the National Compact Grand Lodge of North America and affiliate with it?

Twelfth Answer—It appears from the records that the so-called Grand Lodge of the State of Texas took out a charter and worked under the bogus National Compact Grand Lodge of North America and affiliated with it and this same Grand Lodge of Texas now affiliates and recognizes such bogus Grand Lodges as the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and the notorious Compact Grand Lodge of Illinois whose records for irregularity and spurious Masonic work have no equal in any part of the world.

Thirteenth Question—Has the so-called Grand Lodge of Texas that J. W. McKinney is the Grand Master of since it was instituted in an unlawful and irregular manner, has it ever been Masonically legalized by any Grand Lodge of Masons in the whole world, if so let them state what Grand Lodge it was, when it was, and where at, that question has been propounded to them time after time and they have refused to answer it and in as much as they have refused to answer it, it must be taken and accepted as being unlawful and a bogus Grand Lodge let me have your opinion about the matter?

Thirteenth Answer—I have called upon the leaders of the so-called Grand Lodge of the State of Texas that is managed and controlled by J. W. McKinney and his followers in the State of Texas to name the time and place if they could, if their Grand Lodge was ever Masonically legalized and set Masonically right by any legitimate Grand Lodge in the world. And they have failed and refused to give the name, time or place when the Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas was ever Masonically legalized by any legitimate Grand Lodge in the country and they have failed to do that, they are certainly designated as an unlawful and clandestine Compact Grand Lodge. They were established in an irregular manner and are unlawful and bogus from their inception down to the present day and the most of the leaders of the Compact Grand Lodge in the State of Texas are the largest falsifiers, and liars and Masonic innovators that have ever held their hands up toward heaven and as for the truth, for any statement that they might make I would just as soon believe one of them over a spelling book as a Bible.

J. F. Van Duzor, 33° Grand Secretary M. W. King Solomon Grand Lodge A. F. & A. M. Jurisdiction of Texas.

KING SOLOMON GRAND LODGE OF KANSAS ORGANIZED JUNE 24th, 1867.

Fourteenth Question—When was the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas that Wm. D. Mathews was Grand Master, when was it organized in the State of Kansas, and whereat, and did this King Solomon Grand Lodge in Kansas take out a charter and work under the National Compact Grand Lodge of North America, give me all the facts and information that you have at hand relative to that matter?

Fourteenth Answer—When the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas was organized June 24th, 1867, at Leavenworth, Kansas, it was accepted and stated by most every Colored Mason in the United States that knew anything about the matter that this King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas was organized and proclaimed to be a Grand Lodge by Wm. D. Mathews and his followers in the State of Kansas with only one Lodge and nobody knows whether or not even that Lodge was a chartered Lodge. It was said however that this one Masonic Lodge that proclaimed itself and organized the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas that it secured a charter from the Compact Grand Lodge of the State of New York and at the time the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas was organized with only one subordinate Lodge composed of a membership of eleven members. June 24th, 1867, at Leavenworth, Kansas, it took out a warrant of authority from the National Compact Grand Lodge of North America that was organized in the State of Massachusetts on the 24th day of June, 1847, for it must be admitted by all well informed Masons that Massachusetts was the hotbed and the Masonic factory where all kinds of Masonic degrees were manufactured and all sorts and kinds of Masonic Lodges and Grand Lodges and a spurious National Grand Lodge of North America was organized to suit the time and conveniences of those that wished to secure and gain high sounding Masonic titles regardless as to whether it was right or wrong. If you have any doubt about the matter I herewith present a copy of the warrant that was issued to the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas by that irregular and self-constituted National Compact Grand Lodge of North America whose record has covered the very blackest page in Masonic history among the colored Masons in this country.