The above note as recorded upon the Minutes of Alexandria Lodge, No. 39, shows that Washington was in complete harmony with the Masonic Fraternity; further, that by his acceptance of membership, Washington became a Pennsylvania Mason.
Among the cherished relics in the Alexandria Lodge, there is none more valuable than the Masonic portrait of Brother Washington, which forms the frontispiece of this volume. This was painted from life in pastel, by William Williams, at Philadelphia in 1794.
In the year 1910 a fac-simile of this portrait was made in oil by Miss Fanny M. Burke, an artist of repute, and a great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson. This replica made for the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania is the only one ever made of this portrait and shows Brother Washington as a man and Mason, neither heroized nor idealized.[26]
BY JEAN ANTOINE HOUDON, 1785.
Footnotes:
[24] "Washington and his Masonic Compeers," by Sidney Hayden, New York, 1866, p. 104.
[25] John Wise's tavern, in which the above Masonic Banquet was held, is a large three-story brick building still standing on high ground at the northeast corner of Cameron and Fairfax Streets, Alexandria. At that time it had an unobstructed view of the Potomac.