MASONIC HOME of Missouri

Leaders in Missouri Freemasonry

The Masonic Home of Missouri celebrates the contributions of PGM John D. Vincil, as one of the important founders of the Masonic Home. He is featured in the Masonic Museum and the Masonic Home’s giving society that celebrates lodge and chapter financial support is named in honor of him – The Vincil Society. While we have written articles to honor and commemorate his numerous contributions, this article was recently discovered which we would like to share.

The following excerpt from the Missouri Grand Lodge Bulletin: The Official Organ of the Masonic Service Association of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, February 1 No. 1, is a historical but also more personal biography of John Davis Vincil written by PGM Corna H. Briggs.

John Davis Vincil Grand Master of Missouri 1866 and 1868 And Grand Secretary from 1877 to 1904

John Davis Vincil, who was elected Grand Master in 1866 and again in 1868, was one of the most striking figures in the history of our Grand Lodge. Tall, handsome, eloquent, and with the courage of his convictions, he naturally came to the front in any assembly. He was borne in Taswell county, Virginia, August 24, 1830. But it was in Missouri that he gained distinction in two important fields of service. For twenty years he was a popular and successful pastor of the leading churches of the Missouri Conference of Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In 1877 he was elected Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge and served until his death, October 12, 1904. During his first term as Grand Master, on the death of Anthony O’Sullivan, Grand Secretary, he appointed as his successor the gifted George Frank Gouley, who perished in the Southern Hotel fire in St. Louis in April, 1877.

He had in him the stuff out of which martyrs are made. In reconstruction days the Drake Constitution of Missouri prescribed a Test Oath for ministers of the Gospel. It was not a mere oath of loyalty, which Dr. Vincil would have taken, but requirement a man to swear that he had not been concerned in any act of rebellion against the United States Government, and had never sympathized with anyone who had. Without taking this oath he continued his work. Hon. Perry S. Rader, Supreme Court Reporter, and author of a “School History of Missouri”, is my authority for the statement that one hundred and four indictments against him for preaching the Gospel were found in Livingston County, Missouri. A Catholic priest who disregarded the oath carried his case to the Supreme Court of the United States, which declared the oath unconstitutional, and thereupon the indictments against Dr. Vincil were quashed. After being elected Grand Secretary Dr. Vincil organized more than one Methodist Church in St. Louis. Of one of these there is a bit of history, probably without a parallel in Masonry. Immanuel Methodist Church is in the western part of St. Louis. About the time of the World’s Fair, a Lodge Hall in that part of the city was burned. The Trustees tendered the use of a side room of the Church until the Lodge could secure better quarters. The pastor, Dr. Arthur Mather, petitioned the Lodge and received all three degrees of Ancient Craft Masonry in the Church building of which he had charge. In conferring the degrees of Entered Apprentice and Master Mason the three principal stations were filled by three Methodist preachers who were Past Grand Masters. Dr. Vincil acted as Worshipful Master, Dr. C.C. Woods as Senior Warden, and the writer as Junior Warden.

He was elected Grand Master in May, 1866. That year the Grand Lodge changed its time of meeting to October, so his first term was seventeen months long. His long service as Grand Master-nearly two and one half years, his prominence in the ministry and his eloquence as a speaker caused him to be in demand for important Masonic occasions. Especially after he became Grand Secretary he was called to various parts of the State to lay corner-stones and deliver Masonic addresses. Next to Allan McDowell, who was Grand Lecturer from 1870 to 1906, he was probably the best known Freemason in the State, and for many years stood out as our most eloquent Masonic orator.

Before his election as Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge he had served the Missouri Conference as Secretary, and was continued in that office until his death.

His work as Foreign Correspondent for many years brought him prominently before the Freemasonry of the United States, and he was for years the outstanding figure of Missouri Freemasonry. He served the Grand Chapter as Grand Chaplain, and the Grand Commandery as Grand Prelate and Grand Commander. He was the first Grand Patron of the Missouri Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star, and at the formation of the General Grand Chapter in 1876 was elected Most Worthy Grand Patron.

He was a great Grand Secretary and a wise and helpful counselor to Grand Masters who needed his knowledge and experience.

I have said he had the courage of his convictions. He had convictions, and they were deep and strong. In the face of any odds he stood by them with dauntless courage and an eloquence that was unsurpassed. Two important measures in the history of our Grand Lodge owed their success largely to his eloquent leadership. One is our Masonic Home. He had much to do in securing the legislation which put the adequate support of the Home as a legal claim upon the entire membership of the fraternity in the State.

The older members of the Grand Lodge will remember how earnestly and eloquently he pleaded for the legislation which barred saloon keepers from membership from the membership of the Fraternity in this State. He and Dr. C.C. Woods were the two conspicuous leaders in that important work. In a striking manner Dr. Vincil showed us how a man can be active in the Church and in Freemasonry. He was unusually successful in both of these great institutions. His vigor of thought and eloquent speech gave him a fame in the pulpit and on the platform to which few men attain. Living half a century in the light of publicity his was a stainless life filled with faithful labors that made the world better.

In various Masonic functions such as conferring degrees, laying cornerstones, installing officers and delivering addresses, we doubt if his record has ever been equaled in the history of the Grand Lodge of Missouri.

He delivered the address at the laying of the cornerstone of the Masonic Temple on Grand Avenue, St. Louis. To the north are imposing structures belonging to a great ecclesiastical institution which has no enthusiastic regard for Freemasonry. Standing by the cornerstone while his audience had all these buildings in full view, he lifted his right hand to his shoulder and with his thumb pointed due north exclaimed: “The north is the place of Masonic darkness.”

We shall not soon have his like among us again.