Genealogy Chat

if a rellie was a Freemason in 1885ish would I be able to get any records of him at all thanks

Valarie I googled 'Freemason access to records' and stuff came up including Cyndi's List.... May be worth a try? Chris

thanks Chris going there now

Don't know much about it myself, but this is a site about certain freemasons. They might not have what you are looking for but they may be able to tell you where to look. http://www.grandlodge-england.org/sitemap.htm Kath. x

thanks Kathleen for that

There's a Freemasons Library, with various records, in London, somewhere. Perhaps if you Google it. Also, I think often some records might be held by the local records office.

thanks for that also Ann I am going to be busy

Hi Valerie Freemasons Hall, Gt. Queen Street and they have a website, here it is. Hope it's some use http://www(.)grandlodge-england(.)org/ Take out brackets as usual Jan xx

hi Jan thank you very much

Try your local record office - I found something about a T E Butler born Leicester 1820 being made a Freeman of the City of Leicester in 1844 - now all I have to do is work out how/if T E Butler is related to my John Butler born Leicester 1800, died 1834, who was in the same trade (chemist and druggist) - possible they might have been cousins of some sort.

thanks for that Maggie and I hope you find out if they were related

The archives seem to be held here http://freemasonry.london.museum/archives.php MB

Erm - but Freemasons and Freemen are two completely different things? Old Crone

thanks for that Old crone you are right of course

I've just seen this thread so maybe I can add my comments. The best place to start is with the Province (County) where you think the person may have been a member. If you go to the United Grand Lodge of England site (www.ugle.org.uk) you should find the contact for the Provinces. The information held, if any will be limited and will typically be Full Nmae, Address at time of initiation, Proposer and seconder and usually not much more. Let me know if there are any othe questions I can answer. Derek

thank you very much Derek have not had a lot of luck so far will try this much appreciated

You could try these websites: Centre for Research into Freemasonry: www.sheffield.ac.uk/~crf Canonbury Masonic Research Centre: www.canonbury.ac.uk Janet

The reply added by Janet is to 2 sites that cover research into Freemasonary but not into individual members. Derek

thanks for trying Janet and thanks again Derek hope I have some luck

I hope the following may be of some use: 'From the seditious Societies Act 0f 1799 until 1967 Masonic Lodges were deemed lawful provided they registered their members names annually at the quarter sessions. The resulting records deposited at County Record Offices are the best place to start researching a Masonic Ancestor. Depending on survival you should find an annual certificate from each local lodge signed by the Master or Secretary listing all members with details of their residence and occupation. Because they are annual a succession of these can help map out a Freemasons changes of job and home. Other names on the list are likely to be useful too for people tended to join Lodges in which they already had a trade, professional and particularly family connections. These can lead back to Lodge Records. Alternatively the Lodge can be guessed by consulting the Provincial United Grand Lodge handbooks,(helpful too is the Masonic Year Book) which list and number all local Lodges. People tended to join a lodge within easy geographical reach. Finally you can enquire at Grand Lodge. which holds semi complete annual returns of members of all Lodges, which they will search for a fee. Some Lodge Records are now at County Record Offices but most are still with the Masonic Halls, where you may find Lodge Histories, portraits or photographs of officers and membership books listing addresses, occupations, ages, dates of initiation and notes on death or transfer to other Lodges' This is taken from a seven page article on Masons called: 'Squaring the freemason circle' 'Ancestors' Magazine December 2004 Issue 28. You can usually purchase back copies. Janet