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Indian Pioneer Papers - Index

Indian Pioneer History Project for Oklahoma
Date: September 10, 1937
Name: C. Ross Hume
Post Office: Anadarko, Oklahoma
Residence address: 503 West Central Boulevard
Date of Birth: April 30, 1878
Place of Birth: Tonogany, Ohio
Father: Dr. Chas. R. Hume
Place of Birth: New York
Information on father: Annette Ross
Mother: Ohio
Place of birth:
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Lillian Gassaway
Interview: #8531
 
Masonic Lodge, Anadarko
Historical Sketch Of Anadarko Lodge No. 21, and personal recollections of
Thomas and H. P. PRUNER, compiled by C. R. Hume

Elm Springs Lodge No. 7, A. F. & A. M. at Erin Springs, Indian Territory, held its meetings in the second story of an old log schoolhouse, and when the craft assembled they pulled the ladder up before they opened lodge. Here nearly all the brothers who afterwards organized this lodge were initiated into the mysteries of Masonry. Each month for years faithful members in a radius of more than fifty miles attended the stated communications of the lodge whose jurisdiction covered half of our state.

Practically all the Anadarko charter members attended this lodge, which located near the present site of Lindsay. In time they tired of going 100 miles to lodge, and enough of them located near here decided that they would like to have a lodge of their own. This was about the beginning of 1884, but before they could apply for a dispensation, it was necessary to provide a meeting place. They donated enough funds to build the hall which stood east of the old jail near the edge of the hill. The lumber was hauled from Stringtown, north of Caddo in the Choctaw Nation, and the building was completed about the time the dispensation was granted.

Some of those early faithful craftsmen lived beyond Minco, but were as faithful in coming here as they had been in going to Elm Springs, and seldom missed a communication. They made it an all night affair, and after lodge closed, had a midnight lunch, and either put on side degrees or tried to sleep until it was time to start home again.

The first meeting here was held July 12, 1884, under dispensation granted by the Grand Master of Indian Territory, and provided for the building. At the next meeting held on August 9, 1884, the first degree was conferred on Brother Frank SIMMONS. At the September meeting five candidates were elected to take the degrees, and two were conferred. This is the history while U. D.

The charter dated at Atoka, November 5, 1884, granted Thomas F. WOODARD, Master; W. G. WILLIAMS, S. W., W. M. Williams, J. W., Chas. RIDER, Sec., H. P. PRUNER, Montford T. JOHNSON, Chas, B. CAMPBELL, and Roger CORNETT, authority to work as Anadarko Lodge No. 21, A. F. & A. M. of Indian Territory, and was signed by Edward Henry DOYLE as Grand Master and attested by Joseph S. MURROW as Grand Secretary. On Saturday, December 13, 1884, Rt. Wor John COYLE, Spl. Dept. Gr. M. installed the following officers of the lodge, and among the visitors was Br. P. A. ROMICK of Elm Springs Lodge No. 7.

Thos. F. Woodard, W. M.
W. G. Williams, S. W.
M. T. Johnson, Treas.
Chas. Rider, Sec'y.
W. M. Williams, J. D.
Roger Cornett, Tyler.
H. P. Pruner, J. W.
C. B. Campbell, S. D.

At this meeting Bro. Frank Simmons was the first Master Mason raised in the lodge.

The early minutes show that lodge began labor at 7:00 p. m., and that adjournment was generally at midnight. Stated communications were held each month, and February 14, 1885, a resolution was passed thanking Brother Murrow for the gift of the Bible which still adorns our altar. March 14, 1885, Brother Phil A. ROMICK became the first affiliate member of the lodge, and the next month Timothy C. PEET whom many of us know was elected to take the degrees. At the June meeting the second set of officers were elected and Brother H. P. Pruner became the Master of the Lodge. The cost of the degree was $35.00, and the annual dues were $3.00.

Brother Pruner attended every grand lodge in Indian Territory, going to Atoka, Eufaula, Fort Gibson, and McAlester, which was no small task in those days. A detailed record of the doings of the lodge would tire you, but after old Oklahoma was opened to settlement, the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory was organized, and Brother Pruner representing the oldest lodge was tendered the office of Grand Master and became Chairman of the Board of Custodians.

Anadarko Lodge No. 21 of the I. T. Grand Lodge held its last communication Sept. 23, 1892, with Brother Woodard as W. M. and Anadarko Lodge No. 1 of Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory held its first communication November 12, and for nine years was the only lodge in the southwest country. The first minute book contains the records from the organization until March 3, 1903, and the first charter and bylaws whom the writer knew as a boy.

Up until the opening of this country the lodge had from 30 to 40 members, and they were Masons who were willing to go to some trouble to attend lodge, and there was nearly always something worth while doing. The records and history of the lodge since the opening is known to most of you, and the writer as secretary kept the minutes of the last meeting of Anadarko Lodge No. 1, held February 2, 1909. About that time the Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma was formed from the two territorial grand lodges, and at the meeting February 16, 1909, we were again lodge No. 21.

Thus the lodge worked for five months under dispensation, then for seven years was No. 21, under the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory; then we became No. 1, of Oklahoma Territory for seventeen years; and now for twelve years we have been No. 21, under the Grand Lodge of the State of Oklahoma. This is a glorious record of more than thirty-five years of Masonic achievement, and every member of the lodge should know and be proud of its history.

Possibly the recital of this has been somewhat prosaic, but it has seemed to the writer that if some one did not chronicle this history while the actors are alive it would be lost forever. This is the motive which has caused the preparation of this sketch, which we have tried to give the brethren of the early struggles, trials and triumph of your beloved lodge.

______T. F. Woodard______
______H. P. Pruner_______

Brethren, this lodge at its last meeting honored these two beloved members by electing them as Honorary Members for life, and I feel that the lodge joins with the committee who were delegated to notify them, in praying and hoping that the Grand Architect may spare them for many years of counsel and service, and may it be their reward to see the craft here erect a noble and worthy structure upon the foundation which they so well and deeply made, and the Masonic edifice be a fitting memorial to our united efforts in this great and glorious cause.

_____C. Ross Hume_____

PRESENTATION OF GAVEL

Worshipful Master and brethren.

In presenting Anadarko Lodge No. 21, with this gavel so skillfully made by Brother W. H. MORGAN, I wish to tell you of its peculiar historic value.

The head of oak is part of the first stake driven by me in the resurvey of the Kiowa Reservation, two miles west of Verden in August, 1900, when the country was being opened to settlement and civilization.

The handle of pine is part of the handrail of the old outside stairs of the Masonic Hall that stood at the Agency, and has guided many brethren from the cold and dark to the warmth and cheer of that first lodge room.

Submitter's note: $35.00 in 1885 would be worth $629.87 in 1999. $3.00 would be worth $53.99 in 1999.

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Sandi Carter, GGG niece of William Garrard Williams & Roger Cornett <SandKatC@aol.com> 07-2000.

 

Date: September 13, 1937
Name: C. Ross Hume
Post Office: Anadarko, Oklahoma
Residence address: 503 West Central Boulevard
Date of Birth: April 30, 1878
Place of Birth: Tonogany, Ohio
Father: Dr. Chas. R. Hume
Place of Birth: New York
Information on father:
Mother: Annette Ross
Place of birth: Ohio
Information on mother:
Field Worker: Lillian Gassaway
Interview: #8532

Masonic Lodge, Verden
 
Landmarks and Fathers

M. W. G. L. Officers, Worshipful Master, Officers, and Brethren of Verden Lodge No. 329, and Friends:

In the Great Light of Masons, we find that our first G. M. uttered the following words of wisdom:

"Remove not the ancient landmark, which the fathers have set." Prov. 22, 28.

Some days ago my boyhood friend, John R. Osborne, asked me to prepare a sketch of this lodge for its thirtieth anniversary, and I have chosen two words from this proverb "Landmarks and Fathers."

An All-wise father set in this locality ages ago a landmark consisting of from 100 to 200 giant cottonwoods in a swale by the Washita. The Cottonwood Grove became a landmark and meeting place for the wild tribes of the prairie.

Here in August, 1859, Major NEIGHBORS brought the Texas Reserve Indians, stating in his report "We arrived at Major Steen’s crossing of the False Washita on the 16th." He was joined by Agent BLAIN and the temporary camp was established about four miles up the river. It was described to me by William SHIRLEY, as "Massey's Ford," more than thirty years ago in relating the trip.

When the war closed in 1866, it was designated as Camp Napoleon, and here a firm treaty of peace was made between the wild tribes of the prairies and the civilized tribes of Indian Territory, as the splendid monument on your school square states.

In the seventies I am told a stage stand stood here on the route from Reno to Sill, and famous Half-Moon Ranch stood not far across the river.

In the eighties James N. JONES settled near hear, and the Grove became the half-way station between Anadarko and Chickasha when we went to the railroad for any purpose. Later, in 1900, he took an allotment surrounded by eight of the family stretching to the east. And here he surveyed and platted the town of Verden.

In recent years the Ancient landmark of that magnificent grove has been removed by the ravage of man, and with the fathers I, too, mourn its loss. In such a rich historical setting on May 8, 1906, a dispensation was granted to John R. OSBORNE and fifteen craftsmen to found a lodge and labor for the craft. The minutes show that on May 19th the first communication was held, when dues were fixed, by-laws established and petitions accepted for the following, James N. Jones, Harry J. BUTTERLY, James H. TEMPLE, Adelbert PIERSON, Milton H. EDENS, and Chas. S. RUSK, and referred to Committees.

Stated meetings were held every two weeks, and after a lunar month on June 16th the first degree was conferred upon Harry Joseph Butterly, followed by the initiation and affiliation of many worthy men of the community. Andres MARTINES was one of whom I speak in particular for the story of his life reads stranger than any fiction, and no finer character ever was handed a lambskin than he.

The records show almost seven months of extreme activity while the lodge was U. D.; in which you were careful of those who trod the tiled recesses of the lodge. The charter was issued to No. 157 of the Oklahoma Territory Grand Lodge thirty years ago this 13th day of February, 1937. Under it you worked until later statehood and the union of the two grand lodges into the Oklahoma State Grand Lodge when you became No. 329, under which you still labor in the community. Minutes show that the officers of those days were faithful in their attendance, careful in the selection of craftsmen, and zealous for the order. All the early officers but the Master have gone to their reward, in the Grand Lodge above; and we revere their memories as the fathers whom I speak of above.

You brethren, their sons and successors, have cause to be proud of those pioneers who watched over the destiny of this lodge in its infancy. Every thirty years a generation comes, labors, moves on, and is succeeded by another. This is a time we may well pause and pay a fitting tribute to those pioneers whose conception of true brotherhood is so wholesome that this age of unrest and strife may well emulate their true faith in their fellow men.

From records available the record of your temple here which was reared with great struggle and sacrifice was not gleaned, but in the memory of many of you it is well-known and we recall when its walls were raised and you proudly entered your lodge home.

It is fitting that you pause to pay tribute to your first master and his son, who have guided more than one-fourth of your lodge life, and in whose veins flows the blood of leaders of both white and red pioneers of this great Southwest; and so to John R. and Frank OSBORNE, this tribute of faithful service is dedicated.

Submitted to OKGenWeb by Sandi Carter, Granddaughter of Jonathan Richard "John" Osborne; Niece of Frank Gerard Osborne <SandKatC@aol.com> 07-2000.