Barney, John.
Barney, John. Masonic ritualist and lecturer, born in Connecticut, October, 1780, died in Illinois, June 22, 1847. He was made a Mason in Friendship Lodge No. 20 at Charlotte, Vermont in 1810. In 1817, he received lectures personally from Thomas Smith Webb and, later the same year, applied to the Grand Lodge of Vermont for its recommendation of him as a lecturer. A committee appointed to consider the matter reported that they found Bro. Barney well qualified, but did not think that a Grand Lecturer should be appointed, since the lodges were already obligated to pay the expenses of the District Deputy Grand Masters. It therefore suggested that the Grand Lodge give Bro. Barney letters of recommendation to all lodges and brethren. The committee report also stated that he was ”an unfortunate brother deprived of his health, and unable to procure a living by the common avocations of life.”
Barney seems, however, to have been a lively invalid, for he had an active career thereafter and earned a wide reputation as a lecturer. He moved to Ohio in 1826, took part in the formation of a Royal Arch chapter in Cleveland in 1832, became a member of New England Lodge No. 4 at Worthington, and was elected Grand Lecturer by the Grand Lodge of Ohio in 1836, serving in that capacity for seven years. He was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention of 1843. (See CONVENTIONS AND CONGRESSES, MASONIC.) Moving to Chicago, Illinois, he affiliated with Apollo Lodge No. 32, and, though spending some time in lecturing in Michigan, was appointed in 1845 Grand Lecturer of the Grand Lodge of Illinois, which position he held for one year. The present Michigan ritual is said to be that established by Barney.
