Connecticut western news., 1896-09-24

being received and they were the in- fuential and leading men of all these four towns.
 Apparently one great source of an- noyance to them was the collecting or interest upon money loaned. Brother Michael F. Mills was their attorney and should judge that hIs success in get ting either interest or principal was many times very unsatisfactory. have heard of no trouble in placing the surplus in our treasury since I have been & member.
 April 2, 1916, petition from num- Der of brethren in Winchester and Torrington as received praying that a new lodge might be established in Tor rington. Voted not to approve of the petition for new lodge in our juris- diction. Brother Joseph Battell and Eleazur Holt were appointed to op- pose it at the Grand Lodge.
 June 18th, 1877, Seneca Lodge, No. 55, at Torrington was chartered with thirty-fiye charter members & large ma. lority of whom were members of Vest ern Star. Israel Coe, one of the charter members from St. Paul Lodge at Litch- field, lived to be 97 years old. He has been dead but few years. Doubtless some here remember him. This new lodge tcok many of Western Stars prom inent members. Such men as Clarence Humphrey. Joseph D. Humphrey, Truman Wetmore, Samuel Hurlbut, Lemuel Hurlbut, John Wetmore, Elisha Hinsdale, Leonard Hurlbut and John McA1pine were among the charter members. have not been able to find a record of the line of jurisdiction be- tween this and Seneca Lodge as estab- lished a. that time, but have no doubt that it included Torrington, Winches- ter and Colebrook, as many of its char. ter members were residents of those towns.
 May 14th, 1923, St. Andrews Lodge, No. GA, was chartered. the two lodges taking from the jurisdiction of Western Star more than one-half of its territory and very large per cent of it's mem- bers.
 May 17th, 1869, our territory was remaining jurisdiction and members went from us, when Housatonic Lodge, No. 61, received it's charter with twenty four charter memb bers
 Thus it will seen that these large
 
 duced our numbers and somewhat crip- pied the old lodge, leaving the few re- maining members at times almost dis heartened and discouraged.
 In April 1927 committee was ap- pointed to draft petition to the Grand Lodge requesting that Colebrook be set back to this lodge. Nothing more is heard of it upon the records, but it Dtoa k ed, as in 1885 in the dark days of Ma sonry the lodge voted to divide the money in the treasury between Nor folk, Colebrook and Canaan, in pro- portion to it's members, Norfolk, S42; Colebrook, S15; Canaan, S27. At this meeting they voted to place all the books, notes and other property of the lodge in the hapds of the treasurer and that tho furniture of the lodge to be placed In charge of the Senior Warden for safe keeping.
 These were indeed dark days Oc- casionally meetings were held, officers elected and some routine business trans acted. In 1888 several communications l were held. Richard Tibbals and War ren Brown were received. These two were the only additions to the lodge for | a period of some thirty years from 1929, But little was done until about 1860, since which time all of the present members have been received, and the records show that very few communi- cations have been omitted.
 Old and feeble as we are, we, like most parents, take great pride in our children, who have been so prosperous and are now 90 strong and vigorous, and it is great pleasure to us to have SO many representatives of the three fam lilies with us upon thus our centennial anniversary, and our hope is that the fraternal feeling which now exists, and, think, ever has existed, may continue l so long as the sun shall rule the day and the moon govern the night"
 At the conclusion of MT Crissey's his- torical address the orchestra played an appropriate selection.
 s. o. Beckley WAS called upon to speak for Housatonic Lodge, No. 6l. of Canaan. He was completely taken by surprise at being called upon to speak in advance of representatives of older and larger lodges. He responded, how ever, but the surprise given him caused him to forget toast that he had intend ed to propose during his remarks. The principal points of his speech were: "I am glad to be here tonight. I have 1 postponed my vacation in order to be present. I am proud that was raised in Western Star Lodge by that grand old man, that loyal and enthusiastic Mason, the late Captain John Dewell. He was my ideal of Mason. It is a great and grand achievemt nt for lodge to exist one hundred years, more espec- ially when it covers the period known as the Anti Masonic period Confession is good for the soul; and I confess tha, Norfolk possesses many institutions which Canaan covets. Canaan covets Norfolk's summer hotels and summer boarding houses. Canaan covets Nor. folks library and gymnasium; covets the memorial fountains, the soldiers monument, the Robbins school, the park, and many other things that ] could mention. But most of all, Canaan covets, or rather envies, the Masonic fidelity and enthusiasm which has sus tained Western Star Lodge for one hun dred years. On behalf of Housatonit Lodge. No. 6l, tender you congratula tions on your one hundredth anniver sary, and invite you to attend the cen
 tennial of Housatonic Lodge lin 1869 although cannot promise to be pres
 ent and entertain you as royalty as yor have entertained us tonight" MI Beckley also spoke of the fraternal rela tions that exist between Western Sta , Lodge and Housstonic Lodge, and h. also mentioned the history and presen conditi on of Housatonic Lodge.