The History of African Lodge No. 459
It is impossible to write about African Lodge No. 459 without writing about Prince Hall. Black Freemasonry began when Prince Hall and fourteen other free black men were initiated into Lodge No. 441, Irish Constitution, attached to the 38th Regiment of Foot, British Army garrisoned at Castle William Island (now Castle Island) Boston Harbor on March 6, 1775.
The Master of the Lodge was Sergeant John Batt. Along with Prince Hall, the other newly made masons were Cyrus Johnson, Bueston Slinger, Prince Rees, John Canton, Peter Freeman, Benjamin Tiler, Duff Ruform, Thomas Santerson, Prince Rayden, Cato Speain, Boston Smith, Peter Best, Forten Howard and Richard Titley.
When the British Army left Boston in 1776, this Lodge, No 441, granted Prince Hall and his brethren authority to meet as African Lodge No. 1 (Under Dispensation), to go in procession on St. John's Day, and as a Lodge to bury their dead; but they could not confer degrees nor perform any other Masonic "work". For eight years these brethren, together with others who had received their degrees elsewhere, assembled and enjoyed their limited privileges as Masons.
Thirty-three masons were listed on the rolls of African Lodge No. 1 on January 14th, 1779. Finally on March 2, 1784, Prince Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England, through a Worshipful Master of a subordinate Lodge in London (William Moody of Brotherly Love Lodge No. 55) for a warrant or charter.
The Warrant to African Lodge No. 459 of Boston is the most significant and highly prized document known to the Prince Hall Mason Fraternity. Through it our legitimacy is traced, and on it more than any other factor, our case rests. It was granted on September 29, 1784, delivered in Boston on April 29, 1787 by Captain James Scott, brother-in-law of John Hancock and master of the Neptune, under its authority African Lodge No. 459 was organized one week later, May 6, 1787.
Prince Hall was appointed a Provincial Grand Master in 1791 by H.R.H., the Prince of Wales. The question of extending Masonry arose when Absalom Jones of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania appeared in Boston. He was an ordained Episcopal priest and a mason who was interested in establishing a masonic lodge in Philadelphia. Under the authority of the charter of African Lodge No. 459, Prince Hall established African Lodge No. 459 of Philadelphia on March 22, 1797 and Hiram Lodge No. 3 in Providence, Rhode Island on June 25, 1797.
African Lodge of Boston became the "Mother Lodge" of the Prince Hall Family. It was typical for new lodges to be established in this manner in those days. The African Grand Lodge was not organized until 1808 when representatives of African Lodge No. 459 of Boston, African Lodge No. 459 of Philidelphia and Hiram Lodge No. 3 of Providence met in New York City.
Upon Prince Hall's death on December 4, 1807, Nero Prince became Master. When Nero Prince sailed to Russia in 1808, George Middleton succeeded him. After Middleton, Peter Lew, Samuel H. Moody and then, John T. Hilton became Grand Master. In 1827, Hilton recommended a Declaration of Independence from the English Grand Lodge.
African Lodge No. 459 continued until March, 1848, when the Lodge was split to form three Lodges: Union Lodge No. 2, Celestial Lodge No. 3 and The Rising Sons of St. John No. 4, just after the Grand Lodge changed its name to Prince Hall Grand Lodge, honoring its founder and first Grand Master, Prince Hall.
In 1869 a fire destroyed Massachusetts' Grand Lodge headquarters and a number of its priceless records. The charter in its metal tube was in the Grand Lodge chest. The tube saved the charter from the flames, but the intense heat charred the paper. It was at this time that Grand Master S.T. Kendall crawled into the burning building and in peril of his life, saved the charter from complete destruction. Thus a Grand Master's devotion and heroism further consecrated this parchment to us, and added a further detail to its already interesting history.
Today, over 4,500 lodges can trace their roots to African Lodge No. 459, forming 47 independent jurisdictions with a membership of well over 300,000 masons worldwide.
