How would I know if my ancestors were Freemasons?

Question

How would I know if my ancestors were Freemasons?

Answer 1

If you can find the obituary of someone you are inquiring about, there's a good chance it may tell you, if written by those who know them.  Perhaps they also belonged to additional Masonic organizations such as the Shriners, to give you another contact.

Answer 2

Hi, I asked a similar question a week or two ago, and got great advice here from Wendy C!

You did not provide a location (city, state, or country), so I cannot provide you a useful link.  

But if you do internet searches like "freemason lodge minnesota", for example, you should be able to find a list of lodges for that state (in this example, http://www.mn-masons.org/).  Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a standard naming convention for these sites.

There is NO worldwide directory where you can go online and search for your ancestors.  Instead, you must go to the state (or even better, to the most logical lodge where your ancestor would have likely belonged), and contact one of the officers for that lodge with your request for research.

I did this last week at two lodges in MN, one inquiry was answered within 10 minutes and by the end of that business day I knew that the officer had someone search the past 150 years of Masons records for that area and came up empty-handed.  But at least I knew the answer - - and it turned out he knew several of my living relatives who live near the small town where he and my ancestor lived!  The other one (for another lodge in another town in MN) hasn't answered me yet, but I didn't get an error message after sending, so I am guessing he may be on vacation...

Summarize the data you do have, even if it's just the places where the ancestor lived and when (based on the Census), and the ancestor's birth date and death date.  This will make it easier for the local lodge to search their records.

I hope this helps - - good luck with your search!

Answer 3

Good answer Terry.

Find your local Lodge or local Grand Lodge, if you need help let me know (although it sounds like Terry can help too)...

Just give them whatever info you do have and they will help you as best they can.

The Lodge I belong to has all of the records going back to its origin in the 1850's. Most Lodges will also have all their records (unless they were lost in some accident (fire, flood, etc...)