On another note, if you know of a Lodge or Grand Lodge that is celebrating their anniversary please email me at aaron.r.gardner@me.com and tell me all about it. I would love to write an article about your lodge or Grand Lodge....
With out further ado I give you “ Brother Aaron Goodrich and the Grand Lodge of Minnesota” by: Bro. Ed Halpaus.
Brother Aaron Goodrich and the Grand Lodge of Minnesota
By Ed Halpaus,FPS
First published in Masonic Matters – March 01, 2003
In the book Centennium from the Grand Lodge of Minnesota is a short paragraph about the death of Right Worshipful Brother Aaron Goodrich on June 24, 1887 at the age of 80 years. The headline for the article is titled “Death Of A Founder.” It mentions that Brother Goodrich was absent from Minnesota from 1861 until his return in the early 1870’s, and that he had resumed his former interest in the fraternity. Brother Goodrich is listed in 10,000 Famous Freemasons, his date of death isn’t listed, however, but now you know the date.
Brother Goodrich was one of the founders of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota and was its first Deputy Grand Master. He was the first Chief Justice of the Minnesota Territory. Prior to coming to the Territory of Minnesota he had been a member of the Tennessee State Legislature.
From the early history of Minnesota we learn that in 1853 the Territory of Minnesota stretched from the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers on the east to the Missouri River in the west, and bounded on the north by the Territory of British North America, and on the south by the then recently constituted state of Iowa. Travel throughout the Territory of Minnesota through the lands occupied and held by the Indians [Native Americans] could be made only along the course of the St. Peter’s River, (later named the Minnesota River,) or by the Pembina Trail. The Pembina Trail was the route taken by the Hudson’s Bay Company for their convoys of Red River ox carts from Fort Garry, in the Red River Settlement, which was later to become Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba.
As mentioned above, Brother Aaron Goodrich was appointed Chief Justice of the Territorial Court of Minnesota. Our Brother was appointed to the position by Zachary Taylor, as the 12th President of the United States and, who by the way was in 1829 the commanding officer at Fort Snelling, in the Territory of Minnesota.
On the same evening as the Lodge being constituted Brother Pierson presented his Petition for affiliation with St. Paul Lodge #223, he was elected to membership and his membership was confirmed that same evening when he signed the by-laws of the Lodge. Brother Pierson that same night planted the seed that spouted into the idea of forming a Grand Lodge in Minnesota. He presented a resolution that provided that as there was now three constituted Lodges in Minnesota, which was the minimum number required to form a legal Grand Lodge, that the Masters and Wardens of these three Lodges be requested to meet on February 23, 1853 for the purpose of discussing the advisability of forming a Grand Lodge and, if it was deemed expedient, and in the best interest of the fraternity, to proceed with the organization.
On February 23, 1853 there appeared in the Lodge Room of St. Paul Lodge #223 eleven Brothers from the Three Lodges in the Territory of Minnesota for the purpose to investigate the formation of a Grand Lodge. After a few minor difficulties the convention was convened by Brother Pierson and, a ballot was taken electing Brother Alfred E. Ames President of the convention and Brother Pierson as its Secretary. Brother Ames appointed Brother Aaron Goodrich along with two others to write a constitution and present it for ratification the next day.
Our Brother, Judge Goodrich, sat up that night “by the light of a tallow dip” and wrote the first Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota. It was an extremely good yet simple document, which contained four articles, nine rules of order, and three resolutions. It professed obedience to all the Ancient Landmarks, established laws, usages and customs of the Fraternity.
The following day on February 24, 1853 a Lodge of Master Masons was opened in due form. Two additional Brothers were present making the lawful representation of the Lodges complete. The proceedings from the previous day were read and ratified; the Constitution was read and adopted by sections, and unanimously ratified as a whole. Brother Aaron Goodrich then offered a resolution that the Convention proceed with the organization of the Grand Lodge by the election of Grand Lodge officers for the ensuing year.
Elected were: Alfred E. Ames, Grand Master; Aaron Goodrich, Deputy Grand Master; Daniel F. Brawley, Senior Grand Warden; Abraham Van Vorhes, Junior Grand Warden. Then Grand Master Elect Ames announced the following appointments: Emanuel Case, Grand Treasurer; J. George Lennon, Grand Secretary; D.W.C. Dunwell, Senior Grand Deacon; David B. Loomis, Junior Grand Deacon; Sylvander Partridge, Grand Standard Bearer; A.T.C. Pierson, Grand Marshal; Henry N. Setzer, Grand Pursuivant; J.S. Chamberlain, Grand Chaplain; Lot Moffet, Grand Steward; C.W.W. Borup, Grand Steward; William Hartshorn, Grand Tyler.
An interesting part of the history of the Minnesota Grand Lodge is that the Reverend J.S. Chamberlain, who was appointed the Grand Chaplain was not raised a Master Mason until two days later to qualify him for his Grand Lodge office.
Brother Andrew J. Morgan, of the Grand Lodge of Ohio, duly installed all of the elected and appointed officers present on February 24, 1853 and the Grand Lodge of Minnesota was duly constituted.
The new Grand Lodge didn’t have an official name. Back in 1849 when the first Lodge was formed the Brothers in St. Paul called themselves “Ancient York Masons.” Brother, and Judge, Goodrich when he wrote the constitution titled it “The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of the Territory of Minnesota.” In 1853 the Grand Lodge was incorporated by an act of the Territorial Assembly and, the title in the articles of incorporation was “The Grand Lodge of Minnesota.” Those titles didn’t make any reference to Masonry and thus didn’t state what it was the Grand Lodge of. Other titles were used in early documents of the Grand Lodge, namely: Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons; Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons. However, the charters of the 3 Lodges of the new Grand Lodge, issued by the Grand Lodge read: “The Most Worshipful Alfred E. Ames Esq., Grand Master of the Most Honorable Society of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Territory of Minnesota.” And in the Grand Master’s Address at the Grand Communication in 1854 Grand Master Ames addressed the Grand Lodge as; “The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of Minnesota,” And that became the official name of the Grand Lodge.
Back to our Brother Aaron Goodrich: While he was elected to the office of Deputy Grand Master, he never became Grand Master. After he left the Bench, he practiced Law in St. Paul, and as Minnesota became a state in 1858 he was on the commission to revise the laws and prepare a system of pleading and practice. In 1861 President Lincoln appointed him secretary of the U.S. Legation at Brussels, Belgium and, he served in that capacity for eight years. Brother Goodrich’s Masonic Career began in Dover Lodge #29 in Dover, Tennessee, and St. Paul Lodge #223 of the GL of Ohio, which became St. Paul #3 of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota. He was a Past Mas
ter of the Lodge in St. Paul, and Deputy Grand master of the Grand Lodge of Minnesota.
For more information on the Grand Lodge of Minnesota follow this link.
