I have a couple of questions and I was hoping someone here could answer them. For the purpose of full disclosure, I am not a Mason. I have had discussions with people who I see adorned with the S&C,  who are Prince Hall Masons and a few points have come up that struck me as odd or at least inconsistent with what I have heard from Blue lodge(?) Masons.

My first question is- was George Washington a mason. In a conversation today I was told that Washington was an only"honorary Mason." That seems to go against, at least the mainstream, story of Washington.

2) Does a member one of the appendant bodies has to be of age equal to the degree he seeks. i.e- to hold the 33rd degree in SR would a mason have to be 33 years old?

3) The last question I have is the statement the Prince Hall Masonry hold the oldest charter in the US. How could that be possible if lodges were operating on the American continent for more then 100 years prior to the formation of PH Masonry?

Thanks in advance.

Here is my take:

1) George Washington was a regular Mason (not honorary) and was Worshipful Master of the Alexandria Lodge (No 22) in Virginia.

2) I've never heard of an age-related requirement like this, but there are two Scottish Rite jurisdictions and perhaps the Northern one does this.

3)  The Prince Hall charter is the oldest charter that anyone in the US still physically has.  Other charters are older, but have been lost over time (to fire, etc.).

nope



 

Sounds like everything this person told me was false and I shouldn't believe anything he tells me in the future.

The only reason masonry, as a subject, came up was I noticed he had several S&C tattoos.  He claimed to be a 33rd degree mason but he said a bunch of stuff that just didn't seem to jive.

 

PH has its own SR, YR, Shrine, etc.



 

I think my best option going forward is to avoid the topic with this individual. He may be everything he claims but at this point I don't feel he's a good source of information.

I wasn't really asking him questions about masonry. I noticed his tattoos and commented that I hadn't realized he was a Mason. Then asked if he was PH or blue lodge. He pretty much took it from there.

The basic foundation block of Freemasonry is Symbolic Lodge.  "Blue Lodge" is a euphemism for Symbolic Lodge.  The Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason are conferred in Symbolic Lodges.  The highest Degree in all of Freemasonry is Master Mason.

If anyone tells you they have any Degree higher than Master Mason they're either a poser or they have forgotten what Freemasonry is all about.  These "higher" Degrees are further learning of Masonic teachings.  Do you learn more?  Absolutely.  But, they are not a hierarchy of power or importance.  I'm in many invitational and honorary Masonic organizations.  But the highest honor I can ever have is being a Master Mason.

BrianC, OverScoped and PSI- Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions.

There are some individuals that claim to be masons or are members of bogus Masonic groups.  I'm not sure what their motivations are for pretending to be Masons.  Some of the groups are created by individuals that have been banned from regular Masonry.  In Texas, the Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F.&A.M. is the legitimate "main stream" blue lodge.  You can also check out the legitimate Prince Hall counterpart.   These two grand lodges and their appendant bodies are the only non-clandestine Masonic groups in Texas.

If you are curious, ask him what his lodge name and number is.  Also ask him if he is a member in good standing.  You can then look up the lodge on the web.  If he avoids the questions or says that he isn't a member of any particular lodge then he is bogus.

Edited to add:
For my curious brothers from other states, the Grand Lodge of Texas does recognize the Texas Prince Hall Grand Lodge.  However, we don't have visitation rights with each other.

Wisconsin F&AM and Prince Hall have visitation.  If a member of one wanted to join the other they would have to take their degrees again.  Stupid.

*** WARNING ***  The following is not an indictment of PHA nor the "regular" Lodge system.  It's just the facts as I have observered them.

We are having many young men coming home who were Initiated, Passed and Raised in Prince Hall chartered Military Lodges overseas.  These Lodges accept both black and white members.  In Wisconsin, PHA Lodges are only in Milwaukee and Madison.  White members, quite simply, are shunned.  PHA in Wisconsin does not, to the best of my knowledge, I, P and R white petitioners.  They also will not release a member for transfer by affiliation.  Ergo, our Grand Lodge cannot accept a PH Mason because they cannot get documentation from PH that they're a Mason.

This is not a problem for white members.  Being ostrizied by PH anyway, they have no problem going through the degrees again.  But many of the black Brothers, when they find out they have to do the degrees again, think it's because of us and get pissed.  I tried to get a guy a couple of months ago.  The new GM tried to talk the PH GM into releasing him.  No go.  Several black Brothers of our Lodge tried to explain it to him, but he was too pissed.  So a good man lost.

As I said, stupid.