A few weeks ago I went looking through some overlooked storage places in the Ashlar Masonic Temple and came across some interesting, yet long overlooked and forgotten, items.
The first find was a silver plate on copper tray presented by Ashlar Lodge No.3 in 1937 to William W. Lewis, who was Worshipful Master of Ashlar Lodge, No.3 in 1901 and 1902, District Deputy Grand Master in 1903 and Treasurer of Ashlar Lodge, No.3 from 1914 until 1936.
We have no idea how this piece of Ashlar Lodge No. 3 history has been lying, neglected and forgotten, in an overlooked storage area of the Ashlar Masonic Temple but we will take steps to remedy that situation.
Sometime in the next few days I will be taking this tray to Bastion Jewellers, a few doors north on Commercial Street from our Ashlar Masonic Temple, to ask the owner, who is also a Freemason, about cleaning this tray.
Once the William W. Lewis tray is cleaned it will go on permanent display in our Ashlar Masonic Temple so people can actually see this interesting piece of Ashlar Lodge No. 3 history instead of it being a forgotten relic collecting dust in the back of an overlooked storage area.
The other interesting piece of Ashlar Lodge No. 3 history I came across in my exploration of forgotten and overlooked storage areas of Ashlar Masonic Temple was a cardboard storage cylinder containing two Masonic documents relating to James Miller Brown (1830-1926), Worshipful Master of Ashlar Lodge No. 3 in 1874 and 1875. One of these documents is James Miller Brown‘s original Master Mason certificate, dated 1860, from Hiram Lodge No. 43, Grand Lodge of California.
I have taken these documents to be scanned and fixed in Photoshop before having the original documents framed and put on permanent display in Ashlar Masonic Temple.
But that will be the subject of a later post, likely in February 2017.
There’s a lesson to be learned here: have a look in overlooked storage areas in your lodge building. You never know what overlooked and forgotten historical gems might be waiting to be re-discovered.
For Brethren in other lodges, you might want go exploring in the cupboards and storage areas of your lodge building. You never know what you might find……
W.B. Mark Anderson
Historian and Webmaster
Ashlar Lodge No. 3
Nanaimo, B.C.
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