Episode 74. 18:53 Working Tools Series – A.T.C. Pierson

Our Salute to Service continues with another installment of the 18:53 Working Tools Series. Did you know that Grand Master A.T.C. Pierson served in that position for nine years? Known as the “Father of Minnesota Freemasonry,” he faced innumerable challenges: a disastrous financial panic, the Civil War, and unifying our “work” throughout the state. 

“Brotherhood thrives upon adversity. The harder the times the stronger became the Masonic Tie. Our Brothers were determined to hold their Lodges together, and this spirit, coupled with the continuous work of Pierson among them, kept the fraternity intact.”

Episode Transcript

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The 1853 Working Tool seriesfeatures shorter episodes, not
exceeding 18 minutes and 53seconds in duration.
This week we are diving into theselfless service of a TC Pearson
Past Grand Master of Masons inMinnesota.
Pearson's served in thatposition for nine years and

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dealt with some majorchallenges.
Disastrous financial panic, theCivil War, and unifying our
work.
Let's take a step back in timewith the writings of Edward
Johnstone in his book titledCenten, Which, by the way, is
likely floating around yourlodges archives.

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Highly recommend checking itout.
Pearson served as Grand fornearly nine years.
Special mention is made of hisadministration because it was
the most critical period in thehistory of this jurisdiction.
And to, again, pay a tribute tothis very eminent and most
remarkable mason.

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He laid the cornerstone uponwhich the grand masters who
followed him have so ably, builtthe Masonic edifice of today.
Early in his first year, apetition was made to him by
several German brethren for adispensation to establish a
German lodge in St.
Paul.
This, he declined a grant on theground.

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That quote, no act should bedone or recognized, which will
affect or tend to produce a castof country or character among
those who as one commonfraternity should meet on one
common level, act by one commonplum, and part upon the same
square unquote.

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In 1857, brother DA Robertson,chairman of the Executive
Committee of the MinnesotaHistorical Society, invited the
Grand Lodge to lay thecornerstone of its proposed
building in St.
Paul as a compliment to thecraft.
He named St.
John the Baptist Day for theceremony.
Grand Pearson with about 200masons present, conducted the

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ceremony according to MasonicCustom.
This was the first publicceremony among Masons in the
territory during the depression,which followed a year later,
work on the building had to beabandoned and it was never
finished.
The zeal for the institution iswell expressed in the words of

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Pearson at the sixth GrandAnnual Communication January,
1858.
Quote, what is it that hasinduced you, my brethren, to
leave your family firesides inthis cold and inclement season
of the year?
Some of you traveling hundredsof miles where railroads are not
known through snow driftsforwarding half frozen rivers.

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Crossing prairies where humanhabitations are miles apart.
Why this exposure?
What inducement for thissacrifice of time?
Money, and ease.
What?
But your love of your fellowmen, your desire to counsel
together to advance theinterests of freemasonry

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unquote.
He further observed.
there is pervading this wholecountry from the Iowa line to
the Crow wing river, and fromthe St.
Croix to the Big Sioux.
A desire for the establishmentof Masonic lodges.
It appears to be acharacteristic of the brethren

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residing in this state orterritory as soon as a home is
secured, to look around amongtheir neighbors and ascertain
how many are masons to the endthat a lodge may be established.
When Pearson took office inJanuary, 1856 as third grand

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Master, there were eight lodgeson the register.
Charters had been granted toShakopee number six in 1855 and
to Dakota Number seven andHastings and Red Wing, number
eight in 1856.
It was in the forming of DakotaNumber seven that William Lee, a
pass master of King SolomonLodge, number 14 of New

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Hampshire, revived a custom ofthe old Scotts Masons of the
17th century who met in theearly morning on the top of a
hill.
at dawn on a fine clear Junemorning, he with six other
Masons, four from New Hampshireand two from Ohio.
Met on a circular hill near thevillage and there conducted

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separate examinations andproceeded to select the most
proficient among them forofficers in this proposed lodge.
while he engaged, the Tyler gavean alarm.
They hastily dispersed andwandered down the hill casually
gathering handfuls of corneliangrowing profusely on the
hillside.

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the two strangers approaching,proved to be new settlers with
spades, examining the topsoil onthe prairie.
Ironically.
They were afterwards found to bemasons.
After this lodge received itsdispensation, it held its first
formal meeting in Smith's Hall,for which it paid$1 per night

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for the use of the room, warmedand lighted unquote.
Red Wing Lodge.
Number eight had grown from asmall and pioneer beginning to
one of the most substantiallodges in the jurisdiction.
In Pearson's second year, theterritory was stricken by a
disastrous financial panic.

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This occurred in the fall of1857.
There was no money incirculation.
Those who had any kept it lockedin their strong boxes.
Checks on Minnesota banks wereworthless.
Debts and other contractualobligations were paid with
script and shin.
Plasters were used in the placeof small currency.

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All kinds of commercial progresswas stifled and there was no
incentive for the investment ofcapital.
Hennepin Lodge number four andWinona Lodge number 18.
Adopted resolutions requiringall dues and fees to be paid in
silver or gold.
Other lodges adopted similarprecautions.

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The records of the Lodges showthese were hard times, and that
recovery was slow.
Territorial days passed intohistory on May 11th, 1858, when
Minnesota became the 32nd stateof the Union, but it had little
or no effect on the financialsituation.

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Then came the Civil War.
Followed by the Sioux Rebellion,large areas of the most
productive farmland along theMinnesota River Valley were
deserted in his address In 1861,Pearson said, quote, I have
looked forward to this meetingwith anxious forebodings,

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doubting whether a quorum wouldbe in attendance.
Every lodge in the state haslost for the time being, more or
less of its numbers.
In some, all of the actingmembers are gone engaged in the
service of the country.
Pecuniary embarrassment existsfrom one end of the state to the
other.

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No section of it is exempt.
Under such circumstances, it isa source of peculiar
gratification to witness solarge a representation of the
craft in this jurisdiction,unquote.
These were his remarks at the10th Grand Annual communication
in October of that year After acanvas of the lodges, Pearson

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did not call the grand Annualcommunication in 1862.
The state of the craft is bestexpressed in his own words,
quote, not a company has gonefrom this state, but that some
of our lodges were representedin it.
Not a regiment, but that atleast one half of its officers

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were members of our order.
Not a lodge in the state, butthat some of its officers have
answered their country's call insome of our lodges.
One year since all of theofficers had gone in, others, a
portion of the officers andmembers, and in one lodge, but

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three members were left socrippled were our lodges that in
September, 1862.
I sent a circular letter to thelodges requesting their views as
to the policy of postponing themeeting of the Grand Lodge,
unquote Thomas C.
Clark Pass Master of St.

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John's number one.
Grand old veteran of Masonry andthe Spanish American War
President of the MasonicVeterans Association for 30
years from 1904 to 1934.
Speaking of St.
John's, number one said, 41 worethe blue.
A striking evidence, surely thatmasonry does not conflict with

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loyalty to one's country, butrather that it fosters it
unquote.
William P.
Roberts, past Grand Master in1908.
Writing of Hennepin Number fourlists, 44 members of that lodge
who served in the Union Army.
He stated the shock of the warfairly stunned.

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The lodge and meetings were wellnice suspended.
St.
Paul number three and ancientlandmark number five had similar
lists of Patriots who left theirhomes and gainful occupations in
defense of the Union.
Unfortunately, all the recordsand Chronicles of these two
lodges were totally destroyed byfire.

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Every lodge that existed at thattime could tell a similar story.
Were there historical recordscollected and given here, but
brotherhood thrives uponadversity.
The harder the times, thestronger became the masonic tie.

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Our brothers were determined tohold their lodge together in
this spirit.
Coupled with the continuous workof Pearson among them, kept the
fraternity intact.
He spent long days traveling tolodges, sometimes in the most
inclement weather, usingriverboats, open buggies,

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sleighs, or farmer's wagons toreach his destination.
The enthusiasm among the lodgesand the desire for Masonic
knowledge compelled him to stayfrom two to four days at many
places, instructing the lodgesin the work, informing them on
matters of procedure andexplaining correct methods of

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keeping and writing theirrecords.
Pearson was known as a wisecounselor, well learned in the
Constitution laws and usages ofmasonry.
He was also a profound studentof the ancient work and taught
it to the lodges.
At that time, the lodges werecomposed of masons from 34

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jurisdictions.
They brought the work they hadlearned causing a circumstantial
variation among them.
The language and modes wereoften improvised by reason of
the frailties of the mind.
After a long lapse of contactwith their old lodges, Pearson

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attempted to unify the work andin order to identify it, they
referred to it as the Pearsonwork.
his work was confirmed by theGrand Lodge in 1865.
For the reason that so many ofthe officers of lodges had not
returned from military service.
No program was adopted at thattime to instruct the lodges in

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it.
It was unquestionably the pianweb work.
On one of his visitations, thebrothers had driven him to a
boat landing on the Mississippito board a Steamboat to St.
Paul, which was due late thatnight.
I.
He sat on a keg all night longstudying the celestial bodies

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awaiting the boat, which did notappear around the bend until
after dawn the following day.
Another anecdote is told at theexpense of the Grand Master when
he visited Mankato number 12, toconfer the master Mason's degree
upon two candidates.
The lodge held its communicationin a room which was used as a

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general meeting place for alloccasions in the town.
That night, the Presbyterianswere having a social and lecture
in the room after coffee andcake.
The minister and elders retiredat a decorous hour, but the
young folks, knowing the Masonswanted to occupy the room, kept

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up the festivities until twoo'clock in the morning.
When they retired, exhausted,the masons marched in.
The degree was conferred in fulland regular form, and when the
lodge was closed, the sun waswell up over the horizon.

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Mrs.
Pearson was a great helpmate andinspiration to the grandma
during his long term of officebeing a kindly woman with a
charitable heart.
She helped him in his work inthe many details of his office.
She was a great lover of thefraternity and was constantly at
work in its interests.

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In the proceedings of the GrandLodge appears this resolution
quote that the Grand Lodge ofMinnesota presents.
Its fraternal thanks to Mrs.
Pearson, wife of the mostworshipful grandma for the
skill, labor and beauty withwhich she has adorned the Grand
Lodge regalia.
She was constantly makingcorrect regalia for the lodges

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with little hope of fee orreward at its first annual
reunion held in January, 1893,the Masonic Veteran Association
presented her with a jewel,which she prized very highly on,
which was inscribed, quote, withthe best wishes and loving
remembrance of the MasonicVeteran Association of the State

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of Minnesota, unquote.
one of the events of these dayswas the completion of the first
10 miles of railway built in thestate between St.
Paul and St.
Anthony.
The first train traveled over iton June 28th, 1862.

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In 1864, a line was completed toElk River, a distance of 34
miles.
the year following the MinnesotaValley Railroad had built as far
as Shakopee a distance of about30 miles.
The much needed telegraph linehad been completed to St.
Paul in August, 1860.

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The only reliable information onwhich to base an estimate of the
population of this period is acensus made in the principal
towns in the early sixties.
It showed the population of St.
Paul 10,401 St.
Anthony, 3,258.
Minneapolis 2,564 Winona 2,464and Stillwater 2,380.

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There were 41 Lodges Charteredduring Grandma Pearson's term of
office.
He He retired in October, 1864and was elected Grand Secretary,
an office he held for only oneyear for many succeeding years.
He was chairman of the GrandLodge Committee on Foreign
Correspondence In 1876, he wasagain elected Grand secretary

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and served in that office for 14years to the time of his death
in 1889.
He was the only grand of thisjurisdiction who had never been
the master of a lodge Masonrysends forth no missionaries.
Its progress is a force ofnature that stems from the age

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old desire among men to unite ina bond of friendship for their
mutual welfare and happiness.
And so it was.
The groups of Sojourning Masonswho had come to reside in the
new towns and villages, formedthemselves into lodges as soon
as there were sufficient numbersto do so that they might meet

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and work together as masons andenjoy one another's society.
This has been another episode ofthe 1853 Working Tool series.
Thanks for listening toMinnesota Masonic Histories and
Mysteries.