Origins of FreeMasonry

A Rendering Displaying The Interwoven History Of FreeMasonry

The origins and Craft of Freemasonry is strongly rooted in God

Variously known as Freemasonry, Masonry or The Craft, the beginnings of our fraternity are lost to history. Although Masonry is believed to be the oldest surviving fraternal organization in the world, the exact date of its founding is uncertain. Freemasonry can, however, be easily traced to sixteenth century Scotland although the first Masonic governing body was not founded until 1717 in London. The oldest Masonic document, the Regius poem, dates to around 1390 A.D.   We know of no Masonry prior to that date. Somewhere between 1390 and 1717 lodges of operative masons began to accept as members men who did not work in the building trade. Eventually whole lodges composed of such persons arose, leading to a transition from lodges being composed of stone masons to lodges being composed of men from other occupations who gathered and shared a ritual replete with allusions to carpentry, architecture, and stone masonry.

In 1717, four of these lodges in England met and formed the first Grand Lodge. A Grand Lodge is a Masonic body having jurisdiction over the lodges within a certain geographical area.    Each state has its own Grand Lodge.   Also the District of Columbia has its own Grand Lodge. Symbolic, Craft, or Blue Lodge Masonry has three degrees. The three degrees are, in order: Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. In early Speculative Masonry there was only one degree. Later a two-degree system developed and finally the three-degree system of today evolved and was firmly in place by around 1760 A.D.

In March 1835 the first Masonic meeting was held in Texas for the purpose of establishing a lodge in Texas. Six Masons met under an oak tree near the town of Brazoria.   They applied to the Grand Lodge of Louisiana for a dispensation to form and open a Lodge.   A dispensation was issued and later a charter. This first Texas lodge was called Holland Lodge No. 36.   It was named after then Grand Master of Masons in Louisiana, John Henry Holland. Anson Jones was the first Worshipful Master of Holland Lodge No. 36, now Holland Lodge No. 1. The charter was brought by John M. Allen and given to Anson Jones just prior to the battle of San Jacinto.

Two more Texas lodges were formed, also given dispensation and charter by the Grand Lodge of Louisiana. They were:   Milam Lodge No. 40 in Nacogdoches, and McFarland Lodge No. 41 in San Augustine.   Both were formed in 1837. These two lodges, together with Holland Lodge No. 36, sent representatives to meet in Houston and established the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas.   The convention elected Anson Jones the first Grand Master of Masons in Texas. It should be noted that Anson Jones was the fourth and final President of the Republic of Texas, prior to becoming a state.

There are now over 122,000 Masons in Texas with a total of 914 lodges. How we have grown in those 171 years! We look forward optimistically to the future of Masonry in Texas and trust that its proud heritage will be built upon in the years to come in ways that will continue to serve and honor the great State of Texas of which we are a part.

History of the Alamo

The iconic San Antonio landmark

– The Alamo –

as it stands today 2000

The Battle of The Alamo1836

The Alamo is an old Spanish mission (like a church built by Catholic missionaries to minister to the natives) in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States. The Alamo was authorized in 1718 but was not built until 1744. Its original name was San Antonio de Valero Mission.

The Alamo is most famous for the Battle of the Alamo, which took place there in 1836. It was occupied by 187 men from Texas and elsewhere who were fighting for the independence of Texas, which was then in Mexico. the men in the Alamo were defeated by a force of 5,000 Mexican troops. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was the general for the Mexican Army.[1] Nearly all of the defenders were killed, and "Remember the Alamo!" became the battle cry of the Texas Revolution. The battle ended on March 6, 1836, when those who surrendered were executed.

Many years later, the Texas government restored the Alamo. The Alamo became a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is now open for tourists. It also became a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 5, 2015.

The Battle of the Alamo took place in 1836 at the Alamo in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States. Texas then belonged to Mexico, but many people wanted to have their own new country. Over 100 of them, including former Representative Davy Crockett, were in the Alamo. Under the Spanish Empire, it had been a mission like a church. A Mexican army of several thousand arrived, led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna. For 13 days, the Mexican army surrounded the Alamo and attacked it on March 6, 1836. All 187 of the men from Texas were killed.

General Sam Houston felt that holding San Antonio was unnecessary and impossible. He sent Jim Bowie with orders to destroy the Alamo and to return with all of the men and the artillery that were stationed there. Bowie went against his orders and failed to defend the city, which he had thought to be his duty.