The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-05-22
GOOD TEMPLARS.
A Brief Synopsis. of Their History

to give q few items as 10 us general
character, rise and progress. The
word Templar is Il term borrowed
from the ancient knights Templar,
who were sometimes called Soldiers
of the Temple, inaSmuch us they de-
! Tended the Temple at Jerusalem
against the many pilgrims who Wis
tied there to pay their deYotlons.
Temperance men having noticed
with the deepest feeling of regret
that the church and the morals OF
Christianity in general were threat
ened and severely injured by the
drinking customs of our land, saw
the necessity of banding themselves
together in a true brotherhood for
the purpose of warding Off and pre-
venting further inroadS being made
upon the peace and welfare of sOci-
ETY. by the Ubiquitous selling of rum.
Although all members of the order
are not, in the strict meaning of the
term. true Christians, yet they all
believe in Supreme Being and are
DESTROYS of assisting the human
family to arrive at that great moral
and intellectual development for
which they were ordained. They are
all pledged to. total abstinence, and
to use all the influence in their
power to remove the great barrier
which interceptS the progress of
Christianity. Hence they adopted
the name Good Templars. This
name was first adopted by Temper
ance men in the United States in the
year 1851. In the state of New
York there was an order organized
called the Red Cross, which had Il
ritual and one degree. This order,
however, soon passed away, but not
until it had formed power and
created a germ from which sprang
the present Independent Order of
Good TemplarS. In truth, the pres
ent order was established by seces-
sionists from the old. LeYerett E.
Coon formed the. first lodge at SYRIA
cuse, N. Y, which was Immediately
followed by another at Fayetteville.
when Nathaniel Curtis, who had
been initiated into the order, organ
lied another at Ithaca, on July 21st,
1852. Those three were the only
lodges in existence when the first
convention took place on August
18th, 1852, in the city of Syracuse.
Nathaniel Curtis was elected to fill
the important position of Grand
Worthy Chief Templar, and at this
first Grand Lodge the following de-
sign was adopted as a seal: In the
centre q large heart with
the shaft of an anchor running
| drought it, with chain
attached to the anchor, and around
them in small letters the motto.
Faith, Hope and Charity" in the
circle surrounding the whole, Grand
Lodge of L. o. of G. T.. organized
August 18th, 1852. Brother Curtis
| had formerly been a drunkard and
was reclaimed from that pernicious
habit by connection with the Wash
jingtonfans, and although compare
| lively uneducated he became a great
temperance lecturer, untlagging in
his devotion and enthusiasm to the
cause. The Grand Lodge next met
at Ithaca, in November, 1852, when
it was found that nine other lodges
had been added to the order which
were mainly due to the personal
efforts of Brother Curtis. From
this time ON both grand and subor-
dinate lodges were formed rapidly,
although many individuals became
unfaithful to their pledge, and in
some cases whole lodges dropped
and died. But the seed which had
been sown had taken root in the
hearts of some whose earnest desires
were for the deliverance of their
country from the curse by which it
is being encompaSSed- And by their
zeal and untiring eXertiOn, the order
was kept alive and built up. Thus,
through difficulties and severe trials,
was the order established on a firm
foundation. At a meeting of the
Grand Lodge of North America it
was resolved that National or Su-
preme Lodge should be instituted,
and in harmony with this resolution
a meeting was held at Cleveland,
Ohio, on May 10th, 1856, consisting
of representatives from the Grand
Lodges of New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana,
Illinois, Missouri, Canada and Iowa.
These were constituted into ma
tiOnal lodge, and known by the
name of Right Worthy Grand Lodge
of North America, and the election
of officers was conducted so
that each Grand Lodge represented
had an officer in it. AS was to be
expected the institution of the
r. w. G.. Lodge has proved of meal
culable benefit to the order, supply
ing the need long required for a
central authority, as the last court
of appeal, where the humblest men,
Der of a subordinate lodge may have
his plea considered by tried brethren.
It is the power which gives author
ity to changes in or addition to our
constitution, and thus secures har-
mony throughout the entire order
1t supplies help to the weak and
council to the perplexed, and gives
to the order unity and strength it
could not otherwise have. We
find in 1868 that this small
number which had commenced
in 1851 had increased in
the United States, Nova Scotia,
and Canada to S,642 lodges, with al
membership of 500,165, since which
time its increase has been still
more remarkable. At the r. w. G..
DHOdge session of 1869, representa-
tiyes were sent from Montana and
Virginia, showing an addition to
the above figures of 500 lodges and
10000 members. And again, at the
session of 1870, more grand lodges
were formed at New Brunswick.
Georgia, Texas, Washington Terri |
tory, Alabama and Scotland; and
the records of 1871 show still
grander progress, there being more
than 100 representatives from all |
parts of Great Britain, United States
and Canada. In the year 1857, Mr..
Mitchell, a Past G. W. Chief Tenn
plar of an American state, and Rev.
Mr.. Wilkinson, of the state of New
York, applied to the r. w. G. Lodge
for authority to plant the order in
Great Britain. After the applica-
ton, however, nothing more was
heard of the matter. 4 better. day
speedily dawned, when a young
man, Mr.. Joseph Mains, % years of |
age, having spent some time in Phil
adelphia, where he was made
Good Templar, and realizing the
power for good which exists in the
order. he being about to return to