HISTORY OF BLACKMER LODGE NO. 127 A. F. & A. M.

MT. GILEAD, NC

AS WRITTEN BY:  MARCUS B. ANDREWS

JULY, 1986

REVISED JUNE, 1995

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

    This has been prepared per request of the Grand Lodge in preparation for celebrating the 200th anniversary of Masonry in North Carolina in 1987.   Several Brethren have assisted by counsel, preparation of photographs, suggestions, and access to original minute books.   Additional help has come from Zion Church Historical Records, Montgomery County Register of Deeds, published history books shown in footnotes (1) and (2), the writer's personal knowledge, and contacts with non-Masonic persons believed to be reliable.

CHAPTER I

BACKGROUND

The history of Blackmer Lodge is closely related to the settlement and development of western Montgomery County.  The valley of the PEE DEE River and its two principal tributaries are the setting.  This overall geographical area is further described by references to the map, Fig. 1, Page 2.

    Fig. 2, Page 3 shows locations of the various meeting sites within the Town of Mt. Gilead.

    Blackmer Lodge No. 127 under Dispensation first met in Lawrenceville August 16, 1850 and under Charter in 1855.  References and Charter show Zion as permanent location.  Zion is approximately four (4) miles from Lawrenceville on 1986 roads.  Lawrenceville was almost destroyed by fire in 1836, and vanished as a town about 1900.

    Various references to Lawrenceville and "Swift Island" cover the same community about a ferry across the PEE DEE River.

    The earliest recorded group settlements of the region were in the early 1700's.  These were concentrated in the area east and south of the junction of the YADKIN and UWHARRIE Rivers, below which the stream is the PEE DEE.   The area west and north of the river junction developed more completely. The formation of Blackmer Lodge involved people and travel within the area above described, plus detail shown in Fig. 1. For practical purposes in this text, due to various prior records, the terms "Swift Island" and Lawrenceville" are the same, whereas in fact there were two distinct locations about one and one-half miles apart. ( 4 )

The Morganton-Fayetteville Turnpike ran from Morganton eastward through Salisbury and southward through Gold Hill, Lawrenceville, Zion, Pee Dee, and Providence toward Fayetteville. Providence became Mt. Gilead in the early 1800’s and the name of the incorporated own in later years. In 1986, highways would be US 52 south of Salisbury and NC 73 east of Albemarle through Mt. Gilead. Zion Methodist Church was established in 1786 and was the center of a growing community in 1850, followed by decline during and after the Civil War. Zion and Blackmer both have gone through difficult times and periods of suspension, but Zion celebrated its 200^th anniversary on the 22^nd of June 1986.

CHAPTER II

FOUNDING OF BLACKMER LODGE

Authority for organizing this Lodge was by Dispensation issued Aug. 8, 1850. It was issued in Raleigh to L. Blackmer, P. M. of Palestine Lodge No. 120 in Gold Hill; to organize a new lodge "at Zion in Montgomery County". It took two weeks for the mail to bring the document from Raleigh to Gold Hill.

The first meeting was held in Lawrenceville on August 16, 1850 with L. Blackmer as W. M.; assisted by Brethren J. M. Coffin and Arch Honeycutt of Palestine Lodge No. 120. Two petitions were received and both Preston Wooley and George Makepeace received the first two degrees that day. The organizers stayed overnight in Lawrenceville and the following day, the first two candidates received the M. M. Degree. In addition, that second meeting received two petitions from J. H. Montgomery, S. H. Christian, R. I. Mebane, all of which were elected.

Newly raised candidates were installed as officers, thus:

PRESTON WOOLEY, W. M.

GEORGE MAKEPEACE, S. W.

J. H. MONTGOMERY, J. W.

By late 1850, membership had passed 20.

Obviously, the organizers had traveled from Gold Hill, crossed the river at the Swift Island ferry, and met in the town of Lawrenceville. Lawrenceville was a formally laid-out town in rectangular shape with about 50-plus houses, and the County Court House at the center. The courthouse burned in 1836 and the town declined thereafter. ( 4 )

At the CourtHouse in Troy, the Montgomery County Register of Deeds, Book 16, Pages 366/7 shows an entry dated November 25, 1850. It shows that Col. Edmond Deberry (1787-1859) sold a lot "on the east side of the Turnpike --- at Zion." Buyer was Trustees of Blackmer Lodge No. 127 jointly the trustees of "Sons of Temperance"; for the purpose of erecting and "occupying a meeting hall."

The Charter of Blackmer Lodge No. 127 was issued on the 8^th day of December, 1850. The first meeting after its receipt was on the 27^th day of December, 1850. Approval was given to pay $10.00 for the Charter. Fig. 10, Page 26, shows the time damaged Charter on the wall in 1986.

Minutes from 1851 through 1855 show occasional brief notes indicating that a building was in progress and that the meeting in Lawrenceville was in 1855. The note at the top Fig. 3, Page 7, refers to moving from "Swift Island" to Zion in 1855. That is the overlap between the two names.

Figures 3, 3A and 3B, Pages 7, 8, and 9, list all Masters of Blackmer in to 1995. Note that the first four candidates served as W. M. within the first eight years. That list notes moving to Mt. Gilead in 1876, but the first recorded meeting there in 1878 noted the new building. The next to follow and Fig. 2, Page 3, shows seven locations within Mt. Gilead, all within eyesight distance of one another. 

CHAPTER III

BLACKMER’S YEARS AT ZION

Zion Church’s Historical Records of 1857 indicate an agreement was made to conduct a public school in the nearby building jointly owned by the "Sons of Temperance" and "Blackmer Masonic Lodge". The second floor (occupied by Blackmer) was excluded from school uses, whereas it was noted that the first floor was not being used extensively and that the presence of the school would cause no interference. The week-day school was conducted by the pastor of Zion through the winter of 1858-59. He was a native of Pennsylvania and was not well received in North Carolina with Civil War predictions abundant. He returned to Pennsylvania in the summer of 1859 with no more school being held at Zion.

The Zion Church building in use in 1986 was constructed in 1854 at a site east of Blackmer Lodge. It contained a balcony for the use of black slaves who wished to attend. After the Civil War, the original Zion donated land and assistance for the founding of AME Zion Church nearby. (Directly on NC 73, at the intersection with State Road 1112).

An 1854 agreement with Blackmer Lodge allowed Zion’s traffic to share "horse and buggy hitching space" in the vacant lot between the two facilities. Blackmer was active on a reduced scale during the Civil War, with casualty losses of members. Minutes of the early years show Brethren being taken to task by the Lodge for behavior outside the Lodge. References on several occasions note activities of an O. E. S. Chapter.

By 1875, it was noted that new homesteads were being established south of Zion, some in Pee Dee, and more favorable attention being given to Mt. Gilead. The Sons of Temperance had ceased by 1860. Minutes in early 1875 authorized the investigation and purchase of a site for re-location in Mt. Gilead. The first purchase agreement did not materialize. Book 27, Page 279 in the Montgomery County Register of Deeds shows that on June 26, 1875 the Trustees of Blackmer Lodge purchased at auction "Lot No. 6 on the east side of the Turnpike in Mt. Gilead." No maps have been found to confirm, but during the writer’s lifetime it has appeared that the Lodge property could well have been the sixth parcel south and east of the principal highway intersection of NC 73 and NC 731. The geometric layout of the town as a true circle, two miles in diameter, is centered at that intersection. Refer to Fig. 2, Page 3, for detail.

After moving from Zion, that Lodge building deteriorated and the lot was used by the church on an amicable basis. In the 1970’s a written agreement was made to the effect that the Blackmer lot would practically belong to the church with the proviso that it would ultimately go to the survivor of the two organizations.

As part of the above agreement, the marker shown in Fig. 4, Page 10, was installed by Blackmer. It is located on the north side of SR 1112, about ¼ mile north and east of NC 73.

MOVING TO MT. GILEAD

The building erected on the land purchased in 1875 is shown by photographs, Figures 5, 6, & 7, Pages 13, 14, and 15. The first meeting in the new building was recorded on April 13, 1878.

In the late 1800’s, the State of North Carolina gave local school authorities fixed tuition payments to cover two months instruction per year for those students whose families so elected. Various arrangements were made to accommodate those families who elected to pay for longer periods of study, at extra cost to the families.

The Mt. Gilead Academy was an arrangement between local school authorities and Blackmer Lodge. The building was planned and constructed to have school on the first floor and the second floor reserved exclusively for the Lodge.

The key personality for the newly established Mt. Gilead Academy was Professor (Bro.) Ransom Harris Skeen (1839-1905). Professor Skeen had several very capable assistants. The writer had conversations with numerous students of the academy who spoke well of their early schooling. The lifetime accomplishments of many in the group was living proof. One 85 year old lady, Mrs. Winnie Richter, still is active in 1986. She has confirmed and contributed portions of this text. ( 9 ) Classes were intermingled by age and subject, all related to class sizes, heat, light, and other factors. Professor Skeen was an excellent carpenter and cabinet maker. His pet carpentry student was a young man from Pekin whose last name was Blake. The Blake descendants from Pekin have included several carpenters an related industry activities.

Prior to the political election system being used to select members of local school boards, the Mt. Gilead board always included a good representation of Masons.