By T.S. Akers, KTCH
Past Grand Captain General
Knights Templar of Oklahoma
Past Grand Captain General
Knights Templar of Oklahoma
James E. Humphrey, Daniel M. Hailey, Edmond H. Doyle, and James A. Scott
Past Grand Commanders of Indian Territory
Past Grand Commanders of Indian Territory
It is believed that the birthplace of Masonic teachings in America was at
Tun Tavern in Philadelphia
in 1731.[i] This
was followed by the reprinting of Anderson’s Constitutions of the
Free-Masons by Benjamin Franklin in 1734.[ii] As
Freemasonry gained speed in the colonies, it was not uncommon for “higher” or
side degrees to be conferred in addition to the three degrees of the Symbolic
Lodge. The two more prevalent of these additional degrees were that of the Holy
Royal Arch and the Order of the Temple. The earliest recorded conferral of the
Order of the Temple was within St. Andrews Lodge in Boston on August 28, 1769. It is believed that the ritual
for the degree was provided by members of the various military lodges of the
British Army then stationed in the area. Templary in America was loosely
practiced from then on until the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the
United States was formally organized in 1816.[iii]
Templary would arrive in what would become the State of
Oklahoma in the summer of 1890. The Land Run of 1889 opened up what was known
as the Unassigned Lands to settlement and the Oklahoma Territory was
established.[iv] The summer of 1890 was a
very busy summer indeed; in addition to the creation of the territorial government,
a group of twenty Sir Knights in Guthrie petitioned the Grand Encampment to
form a Commandery of Knights Templar on July 12, 1890.[v] Guthrie
Commandery No. 1 was granted a dispensation to work with Cassius M. Barnes as
Eminent Commander; Barnes would go on to serve as the Fourth Territorial
Governor of Oklahoma.[vi]
The proceedings for the 1892 Triennial of the Grand
Encampment show that Templary was gaining momentum in the sister territories
that would become the State of Oklahoma. Both Muskogee Commandery No. 1 in Indian Territory and Oklahoma Commandery No. 2 at
Oklahoma City in Oklahoma Territory received dispensations to work during this
period.[vii] The
next two years saw the creation of three more Commanderies in the region. In
Oklahoma Territory, Ascension Commandery No. 3 was established at El Reno in
1893. In Indian Territory, Chickasaw Commandery No. 2 at Purcell and McAlester
Commandery No. 3 were established in 1894.[viii]
With three Commanderies each now residing in the two territories, the ground
work was laid for the creation of Grand Commanderies.
Enid Commandery No. 13, c. 1917
It was in Indian Territory that the idea for a Grand
Commandery was first proposed. On December 27, 1895, a convention was held at
Muskogee for the purpose of forming a Grand Commandery. Muskogee Commandery No.
1, Chickasaw Commandery No. 2, and McAlester Commandery No. 3 assembled and
formed the Grand Commandery Knights Templar of Indian Territory. The first
Grand Commander was Robert W. Hill of Muskogee.[ix] Indian
Territory’s neighbors to the west were taking note and she would soon have a
younger sister.
On November 8, 1895, the Grand Master of the Grand
Encampment granted a special warrant to those Commanderies in Oklahoma
Territory to form a Grand Commandery, in the same fashion as Indian Territory.[x] It
is due to this allegiance to a national governing body that sister Grand
Commanderies came to be in the twin territories. Though the Sir Knights of
Indian Territory were the proverbial “Sooners” in the run to establish a Grand
Commandery, a conclave was called at Guthrie on February 10, 1896, for the
purpose of establishing such a Grand Body. That day, representatives of Guthrie
Commandery No. 1, Oklahoma Commandery No. 2, and Ascension Commandery No. 3
duly formed the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma. The “lateness” of this action was
apparently due in part to Ascension No. 3 not being properly instituted, an
issue that was rectified shortly after being brought to the Grand Master’s
attention.[xi]
In the creation of the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma, Cassius
M. Barnes was once again at the helm. Having been the first Commander of
Guthrie Commandery No. 1, his fellow Sir Knights of Oklahoma Territory placed
their trust in him as their first Grand Commander.[xii]
Upon the forming of the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma, Barnes gave a stirring
address, which included these remarks:
We seek to join together in bonds
that are more sacred and binding if possible than any other can be, those who
have proven themselves by terms of pilgrimage and warfare through the degrees
of the ancient craft; who have wrought in the quarries and brought forth good
specimens of their skill in the Masonic art, and who have by successfully
traveling rough and rugged roads arrived at high eminence in the Royal Arch,
and by their patience and perseverance, their constancy, courage, and fortitude
have demonstrated their capacity and fitness to be clothed as princes of the
royal household.[xiii]
Oklahoma Commandery No. 3 on Easter Sunday, c. 1922
As the Sir Knights marched through the years that marked the
turn of the century, the merging of the two territories into one state was ever
present in their minds and this also meant that the time would ultimately come
for the two Grand Commanderies to consolidate. Government inaction would delay
statehood, though the Sir Knights of the twin territories began discussing
merging as early as 1905.[xiv] Grand
Commander John Coyle of Indian Territory noted this inaction towards
unification by Washington in his 1906 address with the remark “Alas, poor
Congress.”[xv] It was in 1907 that
statehood became a reality and the twin territories were combined into
one.
In a 1910 letter to Grand Commander Fuller of Oklahoma, the
newly elected Grand Master of the Grand Encampment, William B. Melish, stated
that it would give him great pleasure to hear of steps being taken towards consolidation
and that he hoped to receive news of such steps while traveling in England. While
the tone of the letter was certainly pleasant, such correspondence from the
supreme authority of Templary in the United States was without question an
ultimatum.[xvi]
Templar Parade Marshals at Tulsa, c. 1929
The two Grand Commanderies met on October 6, 1911, at the
Skirvin Hotel and formed in procession at nine in the morning. The Sir Knights
then marched to the “Baptist White Temple.”[xvii]
Once all the remaining business of the Grand Commanderies was settled, Grand
Master Melish declared the Grand Commandery of Indian Territory “closed without
day forever.”[xviii] Immediately following
Indian Territory surrendering her charter was the election of officers for the consolidated
Grand Commandery. The first Grand Commander of the consolidated Grand
Commandery of Oklahoma was Robert H. Henry of the former Indian Territory. The
first Deputy Grand Commander was Guy W. Bohannon of the former Oklahoma
Territory. For the first time in the history of the Grand Encampment of Knights
Templar of the United States, two Grand Commanderies joined as one.[xix]
[i] Henry W. Coil, “Introduction of Freemasonry
into America,”
Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia (Richmond:
Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Co., 1961), 31-33.
[ii] “Pennsylvania Masonic History,” The Grand
Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania, <http://www.pagrandlodge.org/programs/masedu/qa/41-50.html>,
Accessed 25 March 2012.
[iii] Frederick G. Speidel, The York Rite of Freemasonry: A History and Handbook (Mitchell-Fleming
Printing Inc., 1978), 53.
[iv] “Oklahoma
Territory,” Oklahoma
Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma
History and Culture, <http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OK085.html>,
Accessed 5 April 2012.
[v] Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States, Proceedings
of the 25th Triennial Conclave (Richmond: Wm. Ellis Jones, Book and Job Printer, 1892),
42-44.
[vi] John Bartlett Meserve, “The Governors of Oklahoma Territory,” The Chronicles of Oklahoma 3
(September 1942): 222.
[vii] Grand Encampment, Proceedings of the 25th
Triennial Conclave, 42-44.
[viii] Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Oklahoma, Proceedings
of the 17th Annual Conclave (Oklahoma:
1912).
[ix] Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Indian Territory, Proceedings of the 1st
Annual Conclave (Indian Territory:
1895).
[x] Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Oklahoma, Proceedings
of the 1st Annual Conclave (Oklahoma Territory: 1896).
[xi] Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of
Oklahoma, Proceedings of the 1st Annual Conclave.
[xii] Ibid.
[xiii] Ibid.
[xiv] Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Indian Territory, Proceedings of the 11th
Annual Conclave (Indian Territory:
1905).
[xv] Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Indian Territory, Proceedings of the 12th
Annual Conclave (Indian Territory:
1906).
[xvi] Charles E. Creager, History of Freemasonry in Oklahoma
(Muskogee, Oklahoma: Muskogee Print
Shop, 1935), 182-183.
[xvii] Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Oklahoma, Special Conclave for the Purpose of
Consolidation (Oklahoma: 1911).
[xviii] Creager, 185.
[xix] Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of
Oklahoma, Special Conclave for the
Purpose of Consolidation.
