Washington Lodge #3

History

Preamble:

July 2, 1777: Vermont delegates meet in Windsor and approve the constitution creating the republic of Vermont. Delegates elect Thomas Chittenden, Nathan Clark, Jonas and Joseph Fay, Moses Robinson, Ira and Heman Allen, and Matthew Lyon to the Council of Safety, the interim government.

January, 1791: Vermont delegates meet in Bennington and ratify the U.S. Constitution.

March 4, 1791: Vermont is accepted into the United States of America as the 14th state.

1791: UVM is chartered as the 5th college in New England, after Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown. Ira Allen is credited as the founder. First building destroyed by fire in 1824. New building is erected . Old Mill. Governor Cornelius Van Ness laid the cornerstone for the North College in April 1825, and in June 1825 General Marquis de Lafayette officiated at the South College cornerstone observance.

Masonry:

November 10, 1781: A charter was issued by St. Andrews Grand Lodge of Massachusetts (Paul Revere was Grand Senior Warden) to John Barrett and others for a Masonic lodge at Springfield, Vermont, under the name "Vermont Lodge #1". The number of this lodge in the Massachusetts register was 17.

October 6, 1794: The following brethren met at Manchester, Vermont to convene for the purpose of forming a Grand Lodge in the State of Vermont:

• Nathan Brownson of North Star Lodge (Manchester).
• Enoch Woodbridge of Dorchester Lodge (Vergennes).
• Noah Smith, Nathaniel Brush, and David Fay of Temple Lodge (Bennington).

October 10, 1794: Convention meets at Rutland to form the Grand Lodge of Vermont with the following brethren present representing the five lodges then existing in the state:

• John Barrett and Stephen Jacob, of Vermont Lodge (Springfield).
• Nathan Brownson, Christopher Roberts and William Cooley, of North Star Lodge (Manchester).
• Enoch Woodbridge, Jabez G. Fitch, and Roswell Hopkins, of Dorchester Lodge (Vergennes).
• Noah Smith, Nathaniel Brush and David Fay, of Temple Lodge (Bennington).
• John Chipman, Thomas Tolman, and Joel Lindsley, of Union Lodge (Middlebury).

October 15, 1794: At its first stated Grand Communication held under its new Constitution at Rutland, its first charter to a subordinate lodge was voted to Centre Lodge at Rutland, thus making six; one year later, Washington Lodge was chartered as #7.

October 13, 1795: Grand Lodge of Vermont convened in Windsor and granted a charter to 12 brethren under the name Washington Lodge #7, of Burlington.

• Ebenezer Marvin
• John White
• Solomon Miller
• Stephen Keyes
• Levi Allen
• Amos Morrill
• Samuel Mix
• Lemuel Bottom
• Joseph Griswold
• Gideon King
• Linus Atwater
• Stephen Pearl

Biographies 1 - Charter Signers:

Colonel Stephen Pearl: Merchant at Pawlet and Grand Isle, moving to Burlington at about 1794. He occupied a house erected by Frederick Saxton (#2 Colchester Avenue). He was a Captain at Bunker Hill and came out of the Revolutionary War with the rank of major. He acquired the rank of colonel in the Rutland county militia, and was present at the Rutland Shay.s Rebellion. Died in 1816 at the age of 69 . Pearl Street is named after him.

Gideon King: One of four brothers who came to Burlington in 1788 (age of 14) and was a prominent boatman and hotel keeper. He kept the first hotel at the corner of King and Water streets . King Street was of course named after him. The Lodge held meetings at his house for a time. He became so famous for his boating interests that he was once called the .Admiral of the Lake. and was the leading man in lake navigation for many years. He was long the agent of John Jacob Astor and had charge of the fur trade in this area. He died in 1826.

Stephen Keyes: The plots of land on the west side of Battery Street were originally called .Water Lots. and are much smaller than the usual quarter-acre .City Lots. on the east side of the street. Between the north end of the Stone Store building and the corner of King Street are the Water Lots numbered 15 . 20, sold by Ira Allen to Stephen Keyes. Keyes built his house and a log store here . the first retail store in Burlington. Sometime between 1797 and 1799 the property passed to Samuel B. Sheldon, who in 1803 sold it to Gideon King.

Biographies - Early Members:

Dr. John Pomeroy: Came to Burlington from Cambridge, Vermont in 1792 where he had practiced medicine for five years. Through the summer and fall, he and his family lived in a log cabin on the north side of today.s Pearl Street, just west of North Williams Street. He evenyually built and lived in the brick house which still stands today at 164 Battery Street. Pomeroy, conscious of the shortage of doctors in the area, began accepting apprentices, a program which eventually led to the establishment of the Medical College at the University of Vermont.

Nathan Haswell: Son of Anthony Haswell, one of the first journalists and printers in Vermont. He held an incredible number of offices (collector of customs, active during the war of 1812, offices of clerk of county and supreme courts, notary public, master in chancery, etc.) but was best known for his earnest labors on behalf of Masonry. No man of all of the Masons of Vermont compared with him in care and method regarding records. Without his list of members during the early years of the existence of this Lodge, we should be lacking valuable information.

Some other colorful characters: Horace Loomis, Ebenezer Englesby, Heman Allen, Ebenezer Allen.