Roseville Masons

MICHIGAN CITY LODGE No. 47, MICHIGAN BLUFF, CA Although gold was discovered within its precincts in the summer of 1848, and it soon became a lively camp, no Ma...sonic Lodge was organized at Michigan City (now Michigan Bluff, Placer County), until 1854. On June 11th that year Grand Master Radcliffe issued a dispensation for several brothers to open a lodge there, and the following May 3rd granted them a charter identifying the organization as Michigan City Lodge No. 47. Among the organizers of Michigan City Lodge No. 47 was W.W. Wixom, a physician and father the internationally famous singer Emma Nevada. He was also an organizer of Dibble Lodge No. 109 of Alpha Nevada County (extinct) and later Master of Lander Lodge No. 172 of Austin, Nevada. Another organizer of Michigan City Lodge who attained prominence was its first Senior Deacon, Leland Stanford, as President of the Central Pacific Railroad, Governor of the State of California, United States Senator from California, and founder of Stanford University and he needs no introduction. Despite the richness of the surrounding diggings, Michigan City Lodge did not have an easy time. Like other lodges of the gold country, it was subject to numerous and sharp fluctuations in membership. In 1858, it had to ask the Grand Lodge for remission of its Grand Lodge dues due to a fire that swept the town that year destroying its hall, furnishings, and records. And a short time later it suffered the effects of the Civil War, it's enrollment dropping from 44 and 1861 to 39 in 1865. Thereafter it did but little better than hold its own. The handwriting was on the wall, It's remaining membership voted to surrender its charter, and October 15th the Lodge was declared extinct. But the lodge did not officially pass in the history until 1899, after an officer appointed by the Grand Lodge hit collected all of its outstanding dues and fathers report. At the time it was declared extinct, Michigan City's property consisted of one small building used for lodge purposes, $162 in the treasury, and an one acre cemetery. It was all turned over to the care of Rising Star Lodge No. 83, of Forest Hill which later consolidated with Eureka Lodge No. 16 in Auburn. The cemetery is still exists and is under the care of the Brethren of Eureka 16. Virtus junxit mors non separabit -Excerpted from 100 years of Freemasonry in California (Leon O Whitsell, P.G.M)

Wednesday, June 19th, 1929. Its a hot day in Roseville and the brethren have opened the windows in the Dining Hall to try and cool things down a bit before the Royal Arch degrees that evening. Their tuxedos and the ritual garb they will wear during the degrees will make it even hotter. Afterwards, they can cool down over refreshments in the dining hall following the degrees. Meanwhile, Clara Bow is starring downstairs in the her first talkie "The Wild Party" at the New Roseville Theatre. The Brethren will have trouble keeping straight faces during the degrees with the sounds of the flapper bacchanalia going on downstairs; girlish screams and jazz music intruding on the solemnity of their ceremonies.

In 1876, Bros. John and James Taylor affiliated with Granite Lodge #222 from Rose Bar #89 F&AM in Smartville, CA. The Brothers Taylor were stonemasons, and came to work the many granite quarries then operating in the Rocklin area. John Taylor later operated the State Capitol Quarry from 1874 to 1890, so named because it supplied granite for California’s State Capitol Building. Rose Bar #89 F&AM holds a unique distinction in the annuals of history as decisions made at thei...r regular lodge meetings affected the development of California and consequently the United States. At one meeting a resolution was passed that prohibited slave owners from having slaves work their claims, nor could the owners file claims in the names of their slaves. At still another meeting, anti-slavery representatives were elected to the state Constitutional Convention which contributed to California admittance as a free state, in turn affecting the outcome of the Civil War. An example, my brothers, worthy of all imitation. See more

"Then let us pray that come it may, (As come it will for a' that,) That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth, Shall bear the gree, (excel) an' a' that. For a' that, an' a' that, ... It's coming yet for a' that, That Man to Man, the world o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that." -Bro. Robert Burns

William C Nicol P.M. Granite Lodge #222 (1900-1902) William C. Nicol (1865-1941) Bro. Nicol was born on July 6, 1863, in Inverurie, near Aberdeen, Scotland and came to the U.S. in 1886. He was a Stone Cutter by trade and at the time a member of Operative Lodge 150 in Aberdeen, Scotland. Operative 150 was then an Operative Lodge (not admitting non-operative masons until 1963); from their history we learn that from the 1850s onward, fast and regular migration of Granite Maso...ns from Aberdeen to the quarries of the eastern seaboard of the U.S.A., mainly to Barre, Vermont occurred. The Lodge members left in the spring of each year to return home when winter set in. The Lodge records show that an average of 200 brethren traveled regularly between Aberdeen and the U.S.A. until the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. The minutes of the Lodge provide some very interesting information on the migration of the brethren. On settling in Barre they established their own Lodge, namely Granite Lodge No 35. Bro. Nicol moved to Rocklin in the 1890s to become superintendent of the cutting sheds of the Delano Quarries, married and started a family. Being with Operative 150, it seems appropriate that he affiliated with his fellow stone masons in Granite Lodge #222, this he did in November of 1895 and was Master of the lodge from 1900-1902. He moved to Gridley, CA in 1915 and there owned a grocery store and a peach orchard in North Gridley. He died on July 25, 1941, in California at the age of 77, and was buried in Gridley, California. He was 50 years a Mason; both Operative and Speculative, a link from the crafts historical roots in Scotland to its future in the Golden West.

Bro. Samuel Trott’s 'Trott House Hotel', "one of Rocklin’s earliest and most notable buildings. Many of the beams and timbers used in it’s construction were of hand hewn redwood which have withstood the ravages of time and many fires to this day. The Trott Hotel, which was opposite the roundhouse and a short walk from the depot, was popular from the start with both railroaders and granite workers, as well as the traveling public who found it to be in a most convenient locatio...n. The hotel burned in 1869 but was immediately rebuilt by Trott who continued its operation until his death in 1878." Home of Granite Lodge #222 from 1872 until 1882, when the lodge, seeking a better and larger meeting place, entered into a building plan with the Levison Brothers, whereby the Levinson's would occupy the ground floor and the lodge the upper floor. It was to be constructed of brick, each party to assume the cost of their respective portion, with the Levinson's also assuming the cost of the roof. The total cost for the materials for the lodge amounted to $4,600. The cost of the brick was $425, but the labor of laying the brick was by the brethren. The lot was purchased from Bro. Lewis Curl and was located on Railroad Street in Rocklin and measured some 30 by 70 feet. Tenants at the time included the Heber Chapter of Eastern Star and the Rocklin Lodge of OddFellows. The temple was completed and dedication ceremonies and a ball were held on August 2nd 1882. Excerpted from '"Profiles from the Past" by Leonard "Duke" Davis.

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Included in The Farmers Almanac for 1823 , published at Andover, Mass., the following was printed under the heading, "Character of a Freemason": "The real Freemason is distinguished from the rest of Mankind by the uniform unrestrained rectitude of his conduct. Other men are honest in fear of punishment which the law might inflect; they are religious in expectation of being rewarded, or in dread of the devil, in the next world. A Freemason would be just if there were no laws,... human or divine except those written in his heart by the finger of his Creator. In every climate, under every system of religion, he is the same. He kneels before the Universal Throne of God in gratitude for the blessings he has received and humble solicitation for his future protection. He venerates the good men of all religions. He disturbs not the religion of others. He restrains his passions, because they cannot be indulged without injuring his neighbor or himself. He gives no offense, because he does not choose to be offended. He contracts no debts which he is certain he cannot discharge, because he is honest upon principal." See more

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