Regular Meeting and Installation of 2017 Officers

MMRS Regular Meeting

Saturday, December 3rd, 2016

at the

Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M of Maryland

304 International Circle

Cockeysville, MD 21030

Meeting in the basement of the main building

Lunch at 12 noon

$15 payable at the door

Please contact the Secretary (mmrs1979@gmail.com) to confirm your attendance

Meeting and Presentation 1 pm

together with the installation of 2017 officers

“Anti-Masonry in Upstate New York – Why?”

By Chuck Crossett, outgoing President of MMRS

The disappearance of William Morgan in 1826, know as the Morgan Affair, is widely regarded as the start of the incredible backlash against Freemasonry, which had been very popular and widespread in the still-young United States. Such an event, even a possible murder, cannot explain the breadth and depth of the anti-Masonry movement that resulted. This talk is meant to illustrate upstate New York at the time Morgan decided to publish the Masonic rituals, his sudden departure, and resulting huge membership decline, hundreds of closed lodges, and the loss of Masonic esteem and power. Religious revivals, blue laws, the Erie Canal, Shakers, and the prediction of the end of the world all played a part!

Chuck Crossett is the 2016 President of MMRS, as well as a member of Freedom Lodge #112, Druid Chapter #28, and the Alexandria Valley Scottish Rite. He is an engineer and historian.