Early
Masonic Lecture Cloth ca 1806
This is a Masonic Lecture
Cloth dating from 1806. It is about two feet square. It is much larger
than it looks in the above photo. There are nearly fifty Royal Arch and
Masonic Symbols spread across the cloth. It has four verses of a
Masonic Song written across the top, and four verses of another song across
the bottom. Unfortunately it is torn in the center, near where there is the
letter "G" being suspended from the arch. The images look like they were
engraved on a metal plate and then multiple copies of this lecture cloth
were made.
The original owner was Francis
Tabb, daughter of John Langhorne and Nancy Anderson Tabb. Francis Tabb
was born in 1785 in Virginia, she married Luke Terhune in Mason County,
Kentucky on June 19, 1804, and died in 1873, and is buried in Mason County,
Kentucky. She "found" this item about 1806. This "Masonic Cloth" was passed
down through four generations. Frances Tabb Terhune gave the "Masonic
Cloth" to her daughter, Jane Madden, who in turn gave it to her daughter,
Francis Boston, who gave it to her son, John Hobday Boston.
John Hobday Boston, was a
resident of Nicholasville, Kentucky for over fifty years. He was a Master
Mason and served as Master of Hart Lodge, No. 61, F. & A. M., in
Nicholasville, Kentucky for the years, 1933, 1934 and 1938. He was extremely
active in the Nicholasville Christian Church. He owned real estate in
Nicholasville, and was a shoe repairman. He is known for repairing indigent
childrens' shoes free of charge. He died in 1971 in Nicholasville at the age
of 85. When he passed away, he left all of his household possessions and
personal effects, including his Masonic Apron and the old "Masonic cloth" to
Mrs. Berniece Vincent Foster, widow of Patrick Doland Foster, a past Master of
Hart Lodge. These items were retained by the Foster family until 2008, when
they were given to Glen Teater, Historian of Hart Lodge, by Mrs. Foster's son,
Rev. Terry Foster, the minister that had preached the funeral of Mr. Boston in
1971.
The pictures and
history of this wonderful little Lecture cloth were submitted by Brother Glen
Teater, the historian for Hart Lodge No. 61 "In Memory" of Brother John Hobday
Boston.
|
