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The
first meeting of Wolcott Lodge was held on October 12, 1819 at the
house Joshua Howe to talk matters over, a committee was named to draft
and forward a constitution. The next meeting was held November 5, 1819
at the Mineral Springs Hotel. From 1819 to 1821 was a dormant period.
In 1821 eleven charter members organized with no more than sixteen
charter members in all.
The
By-Laws were peculiar in that they met at 1 P.M. and the annual meeting
was at 10 A.M. The By-Laws were often suspended getting new members.
Some records were kept in an old Egg Book. Fellowship the 1st year was
with St. John-Urial Lodge. A lecture was secured form Tolland in August
1822 for the �good of the order� and the lodge was well equipped by
October of the second year. Early in 1829 they began to use Masonic
periodicals.
In
the fall of the next year they changed to four regular Communications
December, March, June, and September. This caused an unsettled period
with unsigned records incidental to a mention of two or three locks
being purchased. It is not known where many of the meetings were held
during the Morgan period except that there were some meetings held at
the Royce-Pero place.
In
the summer of 1836 they reorganized and held meetings at the
Jasper-Bolton place in Furnace Hollow. In the early 40's meetings were
held once a year only. Beginning April 1848 they jointly used Odd
Fellows Hall, but form 1854 to 1860 no records were found. There
began a new Masonic Spirit with much more growth. At that time a
boundary of Wolcott Urial was set at the old gate place on the turnpike
from Stafford to Tolland.
The
lodge had its first Seal in 1861 and there were many meetings. In the
summer two years later they began to use regular lodge manuals and
practiced E. A. degree on volunteer candidates. Soon there were many
new members having systematic degree work as announced from meeting to
meeting. Meetings were held regularly at 7 P.M. On
March 25, 1865 they considered a more suitable place for lodge to meet.
In April 1866 they accepted Mr. Beebe's offer at forty dollars a year,
the present lodge premises and by the fall they were really conducting
up to date degree work. Within a few years there was a period of spirit
for expansion so that the new century was marked by more visitors,
better fixtures, and closer association with the Masonic Home with much
greater interest in it.
November
of 1918 brought misfortune by a fire in the Masonic Lodge quarters and
meetings were held in the Grange Hall until September, 1919 when our
over improved and refurbished Masonic building was ready for
dedication. The members were much gratified to hold the activities in
their own quarters in 1921. The next decade was marked by steady and
especially enlivened by closer fellowship with the surrounding lodges.
This information was extracted from a document written by Brother John P. Brown, Secretary of Wolcott Lodge in October, 1931! To Be Continued�
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