Prince Edwin, the brother of King Athelstan of England was an eminent and distinguished Mason and King Athelstan was the grandson of King Alfred the first anointed King of England who translated the Holy Bible into the Saxon language.
The Grand Lodge that was established in York, England, in 926 prospered and flourished. The City of York, England, was the seat of Masonic government of the craft in England.
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suspended by the Grand Lodge of Kansas for un-Masonic conduct and that the dispensation to three of these Lodges had been revoked by him as Grand Master of the King Solomon Grand Lodge of State of Kansas and in support of that the King Solomon Grand Lodge of Kansas refused to recognize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?