America, Introduction of Freemasonry into

America, Introduction of Freemasonry into. As in many other connections, there has been a tendency on the part of Masonic writers to antiquate Masonic activities in America as much as possible. While claims exist for lodges as early as 1656 or 1658 in Rhode Island, these lack evidence. It is now generally agreed that John Skene, a member of Aberdeen Lodge, Scotland, who settled at Burlington, New Jersey in 1682, was the first Freemason in America. Other early claims, such as those of John Moore (1715) or Jonathan Belcher (1704), remain debated or unsubstantiated.

The first official act of the Grand Lodge of England was the 1730 deputation of Daniel Coxe as Provincial Grand Master for New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. While Coxe seems not to have exercised his deputation to erect a lodge, Philadelphia saw significant activity from private lodges. The Libr B, the oldest Colonial lodge document, records the activities of the lodge at the Tun Tavern, Philadelphia, starting in 1731, with Benjamin Franklin as a prominent early member. In 1733, Henry Price was appointed Provincial Grand Master for New England by the Grand Lodge of England, leading to the formation of the first warranted lodge at Boston.

Primacy between Boston and Philadelphia has long been debated. While Philadelphia had the first organized lodge, it was an immemorial rights lodge. Boston actually organized the first operating Provincial Grand Lodge and warranted the first regular lodge, establishing a continuous chain of authority that became a primary source for the spread of Freemasonry in the Colonies.

Macoy Collector's Note: Coil meticulously deconstructs the ”myth of antiquity” that often plagues Masonic history, distinguishing between unsubstantiated claims and documented facts regarding the birth of the Craft in the American Colonies.