By T.S. Akers
Oklahoma has been home to three grand lodges of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. Interestingly, the state of Oklahoma itself was assembled from three different areas: the Indian Territory, No Man’s Land, and Oklahoma Territory. Beginning in the late 1820s, citizens of the Five Tribes (the Muscogee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole) were forced west of the Mississippi River by the federal government. At that time, their new designated lands ran from the western border of Arkansas to the eastern boarder of Texas. Since the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery north of the thirty-sixth parallel, Texas surrendered a 168 x 34 mile-wide strip of land it had claimed since declaring independence, so that it could join the Union in 1845.[2] The area was often noted as “Public Land” on government maps, but became more commonly known as “No Man’s Land” as it remained unattached to any government until 1890.[2] It was in that year that the Oklahoma Territory was formed, which is directly linked to the reconstruction treaties with the Five Tribes that were entered into in 1866. These punitive treaties imposed upon the Five Tribes for aligning with the Confederacy resulted in the western half of Five Tribes’ land being ceded to the federal government.[3] Punitive treaties, such as these, were nothing new for the Muscogees for example, who suffered forced land reductions in 1790 and 1814.[4] Though the Indian Territory likely could have, and should have, stood on its own as the state of Sequoyah with the wealth of the coal and oil fields in the region, it was from that territory, along with the Public Land, and Oklahoma Territory that the state of Oklahoma was organized in 1907. Both twin territories that became Oklahoma were fertile places for the spread of Freemasonry, and that growth led to grand lodges in each territory; grand lodges which ultimately created a new grand lodge following statehood.
Whilst the reconstruction treaties of 1866 have had lasting repercussions in Oklahoma today, they had very little impact on the lives of Five Tribes citizens then. Few Muscogees or Cherokees ventured to the western end of their lands, as they first encountered the existing Osage before other Plains tribes; similarly, virtually no Chickasaw citizen lived west of the Cross Timbers due to the Plains tribes. The federal government ended up leasing the land between the 100th and 98th meridians from the Chickasaws in 1855, known as the Leased District, to be used as reservation land for the Plains tribes. Further to the west was Greer County, created by Texas, and an area in dispute.[5] It was in the Leased District, on the Kiowa Reservation, that Freemasonry began to creep from the boundary of the Indian Territory. With charters obtained from the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, Freemasonry quickly began to grow and prosper amongst the Five Tribes, leading to the formation of the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory in 1874. Though outside of the bounds of the Chickasaw Nation, and thus outside of the Indian Territory, it was not a serious stretch for the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory to grant a dispensation for a lodge to form on the Kiowa Reservation. It was, after all, still Indian country. On May 15, 1884, Grand Master Edmond H. Doyle granted a dispensation for the formation of a lodge at Anadarko.[6] That lodge was chartered a few short months later on the 5th of November as the twenty-first lodge on the rolls of the Indian Territory and had sixteen Masons among its ranks by 1885.[7]
The year 1889 would see an event occur that has come to define Oklahoma’s identity. People outside of Oklahoma may not know much about the state, but if one mentions the Oklahoma Sooners, they are likely familiar with that college football legacy. It is the Land Run of 1889 which brought forth the Boomers and Sooners of present-day Oklahoma fame. The Boomers being those advocating for the opening of the “Unassigned Lands” to white settlement, who often entered the area illegally, and the Sooners being those who set out to stake land claims before the land run commenced.[8] The “Unassigned Lands” encompassed the area not assigned to any of the Indian tribes that had been removed to the region. These lands were, however, far from empty of people, namely Indians considered to be “off the reservation.” Technically, the Muscogees and Seminoles still had a legal claim to the Unassigned Lands, but the Indian Appropriations Act for 1890 provided for payment to quit any claims to the 2,950 square miles. At the same time, the Springer Amendment to the act called for the opening of the “Oklahoma District” for homesteading.[9] Oklahoma is a Choctaw word meaning “red people” and comes from the Choctaw and Chickasaw reconstruction treaty of 1866 where a clause referred to all the area of the Five Tribes as the "territory of Oklahoma." This had been suggested by Allen Wright, a Freemason, and member of the Choctaw delegation.[10] At noon on April 22, 1889, settlers raced into the newly opened territory to stake their claims for 160 acres of free land.[11] This event, the first of several land runs, has become the quintessential image of Oklahoma. Today, the legacy of Oklahoma Territory outweighs, to some extent, that of the Indian Territory; due to the principle of Manifest Destiny, which the several land runs embodied.
On that opening day of the land run in April of 1889, two cities of note came into existence before night fall. The Santa Fe Railway crossed the Unassigned Lands, running north and south. Near where the railroad crossed the North Canadian River existed the Oklahoma Station. To the north, not far from where the railroad crossed the Cimarron River existed the Guthrie Station. Overnight, Oklahoma City and Guthrie came into existence, with streets laid out, town lots staked off, and steps taken towards forming municipal governments.[12] Within months, Freemasonry had taken hold at both cities. At Guthrie, Brethren were granted a dispensation to form a lodge on the 29th of August. At Oklahoma City, brethren received a dispensation to work as North Canadian Lodge on the 17th of September.[13] A grand lodge truly exists for administrative purposes to provide for regularity in Freemasonry. In this administrative capacity, it was the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory that provided the necessary paper for the lodges at Guthrie and Oklahoma City to be established.
The Organic Act, which became law on May 2, 1890, provided for the formation of Oklahoma Territory and a territorial government. A governor and secretary were to be appointed by the President of the United States and a bicameral legislature was to be elected by the residents of the new territory. Guthrie was to be the provisional capital, courts were to be established, and seven counties delineated.[16] The first session of the territorial legislature saw the creation of institutions of higher education. At Norman, the University of Oklahoma was established; at Stillwater, the Agricultural and Mechanical College; and at Edmond, the Territorial Normal School. Of these three institutions, it was the Territorial Normal School that first held classes in November of 1891. Classes at Stillwater commenced in December of 1891, and it was not until the fall of 1892 that instruction began in Norman.[17] Edmond also happened to be the next Oklahoma Territory town to secure a dispensation for a Masonic lodge on April 5, 1890. This was followed by Norman on the 28th of July of the same year. Both lodges were granted charters on November 4, 1890, becoming Edmond Lodge No. 37 and Norman Lodge No. 38. Stillwater was granted a dispensation for a lodge the following year on July 4, 1891, and that lodge was chartered less than thirty days later on the 18th of August as Frontier Lodge No. 48. The year 1892 saw the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory charter an additional four lodges in Oklahoma Territory, which included: El Reno Lodge No. 50, Kingfisher Lodge No. 52, Hennessey (later Coronado) Lodge No. 56, and Chandler Lodge No. 58.[18]
During this period, Leo Bennett was at the helm of the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory as Grand Master of Masons, his term would last four years. Bennett was a physician and newspaper publisher, who was well known in the Indian Territory. He served as Indian Agent, Mayor of Muskogee, and United States Marshal at various times in his life.[19] One of the challenges facing Bennett’s tenure as Grand Master was that of establishing a uniform system of ritualistic work for the Indian Territory.[20] With Masons coming from a variety of jurisdictions, each tended to bring their own ritualistic work with them. This issue was further compounded in the lodges of the new Oklahoma District where so many men from so many other states filled a relatively small geographic area. District Deputy Grand Master H.H. Moose noted this in his 1891 report, stating:
The impediment to harmony in most of our Lodges is due from discrepancies in the work. Our Lodges are made up of members from nearly all the jurisdictions in the United States, consequently there are discrepancies in the manner of teaching the grand principles of the Order. The only way to obviate these things is for the Grand Lodge to adopt a work and have that work properly taught by our Grand Lecturer. In my visitations I have not attempted to instruct our Lodges in the work for the reason this Grand Lodge has no adopted work at this time. The Lodges of Oklahoma each have a way of teaching its members in the principles of Masonry, and they do smooth work, but no two Lodges teach alike.[21]
In addition to the adoption of ritualistic work, the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory in 1892 saw another important matter come before it. Selwyn Douglas of Oklahoma City introduced a letter before the assembled Craft asking consent for the lodges of Oklahoma Territory to form their own “separate and independent grand lodge.” The letter was referred to the Committee on Law and Usage who determined that the Grand Master of the Indian Territory would call a convention of the Oklahoma Territory lodges to consider the question of forming their own grand lodge and if those lodges chose to separate, the Grand Master would preside over the organization of the new grand lodge, its adoption of a constitution, and election of officers. The Grand Master of the Indian Territory would then formally claim that the new grand lodge was legally organized.[25] These additional steps by the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory were likely taken owing to the challenges she faced in obtaining recognition as a legitimate grand lodge from other jurisdictions.
Anadarko Lodge No. 1
Whilst Oklahoma Territory was short lived, the true story of the territory and its grand lodge is one of expansion. Two land runs have been mentioned here, but there were five altogether, plus a land lottery and a land auction.[30] The end result was of course the reduction in lands occupied by Indian tribes in favor of white settlement. And then there was the case of Greer County, an area in dispute with the state of Texas. The dispute arose from the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, which defined the border between the United States and Spanish territory in North America. The treaty relied on the 1818 Melish Map, based on secondary sources, which showed the Red River to have a single channel. A further surveying error in 1852 placed the 100th Meridian one degree east of its actual location, making it intersect the Red River near the mouth of its north fork. The surveying expedition reached the south fork but was unaware it was also the Red River. The error was discovered in 1857 and Texas, which had entered the Union in 1845, was now claiming the area between the two forks as its own, creating Greer County in 1860. Finally, in 1896, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the south fork of the Red River was indeed the boundary established by the Adams-Onís Treaty.[31] And of course, the Grand Lodge of Texas had established Masonic lodges in the disputed territory along the way. Mangum Lodge No. 685 had been chartered in 1889 and Altus Lodge No. 711 in 1891.[32] The Grand Master of Texas wrote to the Grand Master of Oklahoma in May of 1896 to address the transfer of these two lodges. To see to this matter, Grand Master Henry Rucker of Oklahoma appointed Cassius M. Barnes of Guthrie, then serving as the first Grand Commander of Knights Templar, to attend the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Texas at Houston in December. There it was noted that “following the American rule and Masonic custom,” the two lodges of Greer County should be transferred to the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma Territory (a reference to the principle of American grand lodges having jurisdiction over the states and territories in which they reside). The resolution offered to make the transfer was adopted by the Grand Lodge of Texas and on February 10, 1897, and the two lodges joined with Oklahoma Territory as Mangum Lodge No. 29 and Altus Lodge No. 30.[33]
The opening of the Unassigned Lands had a direct impact on the Indian Territory. The General Allotment Act of 1887, authored by Senator Henry Dawes, called for the allotment of reservation lands. That is, the dissolution of communally held land, in favor of privately owned land. The act specifically exempted the Five Tribes and the Osage, Miami and Peoria, and Sac and Fox Nations. With the Unassigned Lands being opened to white settlement, the way was paved for allotment of other Indian land, and thus the end goal of Indian assimilation. This began in 1889 when President Benjamin Harrison appointed the Jerome Commission to negotiate with the Cherokee and other tribes, specifically around the Cherokee Outlet. The outcome was the sale of the Cherokee Outlet to the federal government, along with any land not specifically allotted to individuals. This was followed by the Dawes Commission beginning in 1893, which was responsible for compiling rolls of members of the Five Tribes and allotting homesteads. Land thus not allotted was then available for sale by the federal government.[34] The Curtis Act of 1898 dealt a further blow to tribal sovereignty in the Indian Territory, as it was set to dissolve tribal governments in 1906. Due to this, several principal chiefs of the Five Tribes sought to form their own state for admission into the Union in 1905, the state of Sequoyah.[35] Whilst bills for Sequoyah statehood were filed, the Republican-led Congress refused to consider them, as they had no desire to admit a heavily Democratic state into the Union.[36] It is unfortunate that this was the prevailing sentiment in Congress. According to the pre-eminent Oklahoma Masonic historian Charles E. Creager, the popular proposal of the time was that the new State of Oklahoma would include only the Territory of Oklahoma.[37] The Twin Territories ultimately became the state of Oklahoma on November 16, 1907, and the new state found itself with two grand lodges within its bounds. According to the rules concerning Masonic regularity, this was not a situation that could prevail, and a remedy had already been set in motion.
The Oklahoma Enabling Act, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 16, 1906, provided for the writing of a constitution for a state to be formed from the Twin Territories.[38] The year 1906 also saw the process begin of merging the two grand lodges into one. A committee consisting of Masons from each of the territories was appointed that year and met in December at Oklahoma City. The plan for consolidation was laid out by the committee as follows:
Each grand jurisdiction was to be surrendered, in order that a new grand lodge could be organized by the two existing grand lodges; the new grand lodge was to be known as that of the State of Oklahoma; the Grand Master and Grand Senior Warden were to come from the Indian Territory, with the Deputy Grand Master, Grand Junior Warden, and Grand Treasurer coming from Oklahoma Territory; the balance of the grand officers were to be equally apportioned from each territory; the Grand Secretaries of each territory were to be retained, sharing the role geographically; the esoteric, or ritual, work of each grand jurisdiction was to be retained until the new grand lodge adopted work; and the charters of the original sixty lodges chartered by the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory would revert to their previous numbers, with lodge numbers being determined after that based on their date of dispensation.[39]
When the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma met again on February 11, 1908, the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory sent a delegation to attend the communication. In that delegation’s report to the Craft, they remarked upon how the question of statehood had remained undetermined when they met in August of 1907. The situation had of course changed by February of 1908 and the Indian Territory delegation invited Oklahoma to send a similar delegation to their annual communication that coming August. The Oklahoma Territory delegation did indeed attend at McAlester and at that communication Joseph S. Murrow, known today as the Father of Masonry in Oklahoma, offered a resolution to provide for delegations from the Twin Territories to further outline the “details upon which a harmonious and fraternal union of the two Grand Lodges into one may be effected.” The resolution was adopted, and the two delegations conferred, reporting on the outcome of those discussions the following day. To bring about the merger of the two grand lodges, it was decided that the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory would assemble on the second Tuesday of February 1909, the same time of the next annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma. The two grand lodges were to each pass resolutions vesting their jurisdiction in the Grand Lodge of the State Oklahoma upon its organization and both grand bodies were then to meet in convention at Guthrie the following day to form the new grand lodge.[41]
It was at McAlester on February 9, 1909, that the Grand Lodge of the Indian Territory met, under the direction of Grand Master Henry L. Muldrow, to officially begin their portion of the steps toward merging with Oklahoma Territory.[42] Similarly convened in Guthrie under the direction of Grand Master David D. Hoag was the Grand Lodge of Oklahoma. In his address, Hoag remarked:
It is with some degree of sadness that I view the closing day of the bright, prosperous, and zealous Grand Lodge of Oklahoma. I have enjoyed so many happy days with friends, in good fellowship, that I dread to see it pass into a greater and larger body where I cannot have that intimate and close acquaintanceship with all the brethren that I have had with my brethren in this Grand Lodge.[43]
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