Was Great-Great-Grandpa a Freemason?

Photo: James Monroe McKaskle, photograph, ca. 1920; digital image 27 Dec 2017, privately held by Jessica Horne Collins, Houston, Texas, 2017. Photograph displayed on wall of New Hope Masonic Lodge No. 328, in Liddieville, Franklin Parish, Louisiana. Dates on label stipulate years McKaskle served as the lodge’s Worshipful Master. Photograph donated to lodge prior to 2002 by McKaskle’s granddaughter Ethel McMurry Horne.

Using Grand Lodge Past Proceedings for Family History Research

by Jessica Horne Collins, Genealogist

A family’s involvement in Freemasonry may extend many generations, but this knowledge can be lost over time. My journey of rediscovering my family’s rich Masonic heritage began with a photograph, a friend’s casual observation, and Past Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana.

“I think there’s an old photo of your ancestor at the lodge,” Adam Faulk, a member of New Hope Lodge No. 328 in Liddieville, told my father in 2017. I had never seen a picture of my great-great-grandfather James Monroe McKaskle, and—until this tip from a family friend—I was unaware my direct-line ancestors had Masonic connections. On my next visit to Liddieville, Adam met me and my father at New Hope Lodge, and we viewed the photograph hanging first in a long line of portraits. I learned James Monroe McKaskle was more than just a member of New Hope—he was its first Worshipful Master.

Did James have a long history in Freemasonry? Where else was he a member? Did records exist with details about his involvement? I wanted to know the answers to these questions, and I soon discovered a resource that could reveal more: Grand Lodge Past Proceedings.

WHAT ARE PAST PROCEEDINGS? Past Proceedings are historical minutes of a Grand Lodge. Published annually, these documents were distributed among local lodges to communicate Grand Lodge business. Past Proceedings contain a wealth of historical information such as correspondence, speeches, committee reports, lodge directories, and membership and officer lists. The Grand Lodge of Louisiana has digitized its entire collection of Past Proceedings—from 1812 to 2019—and makes these documents publicly available on the Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum website (http://library.la-mason. com/). The earliest proceedings are short and contain only the most basic information about Grand Lodge business. Past Proceedings grew longer in the 1850s, often surpassing 200 pages in length as printing costs decreased. Publications from this time frame forward contain a vast amount of detail at the local lodge level, making Past Proceedings a useful resource for family history research.

WHAT CAN I LEARN FROM PAST PROCEEDINGS? Whether a high-ranking Grand Lodge officer or an ordinary member of a local lodge, Past Proceedings can provide much information about an ancestor.

MEMBERSHIP & OFFICES

The largest section of most Past Proceedings is “Work and Returns.” This section lists officers and members of each local lodge. Locating your ancestor in this section proves his membership and responsibilities in the local lodge. Tracing your ancestor through multiple Past Proceedings, you can compile a history of his Masonic activities.

In addition to membership and offices, this section also shows changes in membership status. These statuses include when degrees are conferred: “initiated” for Entered Apprentice, “passed” for Fellow Craft, and “raised” for Master Mason. Other statuses include “affiliated” for joining from another lodge, “dimitted” for resigning membership, “suspended,” “reinstated,” “expelled,” and “dropped.”

MIGRATION

Men usually joined a lodge close to home; therefore, tracking a Mason’s changing lodge memberships over time can show his migration pattern. It is helpful to be familiar with your ancestor’s land holdings and the area’s geography when interpreting these moves. A membership change from one lodge to another nearby, especially if the receiving lodge was newly organized, most likely means the ancestor lived in the same place. A change of membership across many miles indicates the Mason moved to a new area and became affiliated with a lodge near his new home.

FULL NAME

Men of the 19th and early-20th centuries frequently used their initials instead of full names in daily use and even on official documents. Even with extensive genealogical research, an ancestor’s full name may remain unknown. Past Proceedings sometimes include a Mason’s full name, especially when reporting his initiation to Entered Apprentice. Identifying these men by full names may have been necessary to distinguish them from relatives with similar names in the lodge or community.

DEATH DATE

A Mason’s membership status is listed as “died” in the Past Proceeding following his death—a great source of death year in the absence of vital records and grave markers. Commemorative sections listing deceased members may also appear in the publication.

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

If your ancestor was a high-profile Mason—a Grand Lodge officer or someone who made a large financial donation—a biography or obituary may be included in the Past Proceeding following his death. These biographies sometimes include birth date and place, immigration information, occupation, death date and place, and burial location.

ACTIVITIES

Activities of local lodges and specific Masons are recorded in Past Proceedings, especially in correspondence and committee reports. If your ancestor was a local officer, you may find him mentioned when his lodge requested a charter or dispensation. His lodge may also be noted for construction projects, cornerstone dedications, or charity work. Individual Masons were recognized by the Grand Lodge for attaining forty or more years of membership, and their names were recorded in the publication if they were present at the annual meeting. For more scandalous reading, appeals made to the Grand Lodge regarding Masonic trials also appear in Past Proceedings. These committee reports name individuals accused of un-Masonic behavior—and sometimes detail the behavior, too! “FAN” CLUB Other lodge members are key people in your ancestor’s “FAN” Club. This term, coined by genealogist Elizabeth Shown Mills, represents the friends, associates, and neighbors in an ancestor’s life. These men saw one another at least monthly, if not more frequently. Investigating other lodge members could lead to your ancestor’s father, brothers, father-in-law, brothers-in-law, cousins, or other men with shared origins.

HOW DO I SEARCH PAST PROCEEDINGS?

Past Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Louisiana are stored as PDFs on the Louisiana Masonic Library/Archives website (http://library.la-mason.com/):

• Click Resources on the menu bar. • Click Past Proceedings. • Click the publication year you wish to view. The PDF will open in your browser window.

Use the “Find” function (or press CTRL-F on your keyboard) to search the entire PDF for specific names or phrases. PDFs use optical character recognition (OCR) to comb the document for your search parameters. If you wish to search for an ancestor, try entering only his surname. Entering the whole name may not return a result if the publication uses an abbreviation or initials. Try all spelling variants if the surname is easily misspelled. If your ancestor has a common name, search for his local lodge by name or number and find him within the roster.

If your ancestors lived outside of Louisiana, check Grand Lodge websites for their states of residence. Many Grand Lodges and their libraries are digitizing Past Proceedings. The George Washington National Masonic Memorial also hosts a Masonic Digital Archive on their website (https://gwmemorial.org/pages/archives) that includes Past Proceedings from across the country.

REWARDING RESULTS

The photograph of James Monroe McKaskle at New Hope Lodge was only the beginning of my Masonic research journey. With Past Proceedings, I pieced together my great-great-grandfather’s 50-year history in Freemasonry.

James Monroe McKaskle joined Brookline Lodge No. 198 in Hood’s Mill, Jackson Parish in 1881, and attained his Master Mason degree that same year. He served in local offices of increasing responsibility and became Worshipful Master for the first time in 1892. In 1903, James became a charter member of Rosemary Lodge No. 278 in Newport, Winn Parish, slightly closer to his home on the Jackson/Winn Parish line. He served as its first Worshipful Master. James remained with Rosemary for less than two years, moving his family to Liddieville, Franklin Parish, by 1905. James joined the nearest lodge, Winnsboro No. 246, that year, and began work again organizing a lodge closer to his home. He was a charter member and first Worshipful Master of New Hope Lodge No. 328, helping organize it in 1907, and recover from a devastating fire that destroyed its meeting house in 1909. At the February 1918 gathering of the Grand Lodge in New Orleans, James was recognized as attaining 40 years of membership. (His math was a little off; it had only been 37 years.) James was active in New Hope Lodge until his death in 1932.

Three generations of James Monroe McKaskle’s descendants have been active Masons at New Hope Lodge, but James was not the first Freemason in his family. Past Proceedings show his father, Daniel M. McKaskle, and fatherin-law, James S. Fowler, as members of Brookline Lodge No. 198 at the time of James’s initiation—taking the family’s Masonic heritage back yet another generation.

1 Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana for the Year 1882, Seventieth Annual Grand Communication (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1882), p.165; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1880/1882. pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).

2 Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings, Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Louisiana, 1893, (New Orleans: [publisher not identified], 1893), p.151; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1890/1893.pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).

3 Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, Free and Accepted Masons, Ninety-First Annual Grand Communication (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1903), p.160; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1900/1903.pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).

4 Ibid.

5 Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, Free and Accepted Masons, Ninety-Fourth Annual Grand Communication (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1906), p.173; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1900/1906.pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).

6 Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, Free and Accepted Masons, Ninety-Sixth Annual Grand Communication (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1908), p.264; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1900/1908.pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).

Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings of the M. W. Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, Free and Accepted Masons, Ninety-Eighth Annual Grand Communication (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1910), p.58-59; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1910/1910.pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).

7 Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings of the M. W. Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of the State of Louisiana, One Hundred and Seventh Annual Grand Communication (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1918), p.146; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (http://library.la-mason. com/PastProceedings/1910/1918.pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).

8 Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings of the M W Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana, Free and Accepted Masons, One Hundred and TwentySecond Annual Grand Communication (New Orleans: Searcy & Pfaff, 1933), p.451-452, unnumbered pages; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/ Museum (http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1930/1933.pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).

9 Grand Lodge of Louisiana, Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the State of Louisiana for the Year 1882, Seventieth Annual Grand Communication (New Orleans: A. W. Hyatt, 1882), p.165; digital image, Louisiana Masonic Library/Museum (http://library.la-mason.com/PastProceedings/1880/1882. pdf : accessed 6 Jan 2021).