[Published in serial form in Harashim, issues 70 & 73]
THE ‘KIDD COLLECTION’
© 2016 Neil Wynes Morse
Background
In 2009 the Masonic scholar and author WBro Karen Ann Kidd of Oregon purchased a collection of
manuscript [handwritten] ritual materials from an internet auction site. At that time it was supposed by the
vendor to have connections to African-American Freemasonry, as it was sourced from an African-American
bishop’s estate. Her purchase at that time was predicated on the beliefs that the material should be kept from
the hands of the profane and would be an interesting future research project.
WBro Kidd has been unable to commit the necessary time and resources to advance this project. In
August 2015, while I was in the USA undertaking Masonic research, the collection was brought to my
attention. Having been allowed to borrow the volumes, I perused them on the flight home; I realised that
they had nothing to do with Prince Hall Freemasonry, but had their own significance. Subsequently I
acquired the material in order to undertake the required research. [You’ve got to have a hobby!]
The Volumes of the Collection
Volumes II to VI are small commercial blank notebooks measuring 6 inches by 3¾ inches and are ⅜ inch
thick, containing about 196 pages. The other volumes are larger in size, except for Volume I which is
6 inches by 3¾ inches, but of only 24 pages.
The titles and/or details of the eleven volumes in the collection are:
I. No title; a notebook listing signs and responses; principal signs; tokens; sacred words; passwords;
ages and knocks for 4th to 14th degrees [with the 15th and 16th degrees in another hand].
II. Masonic Text Book No. 3: “Ritual of the Masonic Degrees or Orders of Knighthood; viz; Knights
of the Red Cross; Knights Templar; and Knights of Malta of the Holy Order of St John of
Jerusalem. From various Authentic Sources with Notes explanatory +c. Penn-Yan 1849. Also
Some accounts of the Honorary Degrees of Knighthood, conferred (as are the preceding) in
Encampments of Knights Templar and the Appendant Orders. viz: Knights of the”
III. “The Honorary Degrees of Free-Masonry; viz: Honorary Degrees of Knighthood; Honorary
Chapter Degrees; and Honorary Master-Mason’s Degrees; consisting of Knights of the Christian
Mark; Knights of the Holy Sepulchre; Thrice Illustrious Order of the Cross; and the Mediterranean
Pass; High Priesthood; Royal Master; Select Master; Super-Excellent Master; Perfect Past Master;
Heroine of Jericho and Ark and Dove; Secret Monitor; Knights of Constantinople; Knights of
Three Kings; Master Mason’s Daughter; and the True Kinsman. Compiled and collected from
various authentic sources. 1849.”
IV. Masonic Text Book No. 5 The Eleven Ineffable or Sublime Degrees of Masonry, conferred in the
Lodge of Perfection; copied from the work called “Light on Masonry”, by Elder David Bernard
published in Uttica in 1829 together with an Introduction to each Degree; From Webb’s Free-
Masons Monitor_ Part II 1816 and also Notes to the Opening, Reception, Lectures +c.
Penn-Yann N.Y. April 1849.
V. Masonic Text Book No. 5 In Two Parts: The Masonic Degrees conferred in Grand Councils of
Princes of Jerusalem; viz: I Knight of the East or Sword; and II Prince of Jerusalem. Also, the
Masonic Degrees conferred in Sovereign Chapter of Rose Cross [Croix] viz: I Knight of the East
and West; and II Knight of the Eagle or Sovereign Prince of Rose Croix De Heroden [Herodim].
VI. Masonic Text Book No. 7 In Two Parts: The Masonic Degrees conferred under the authority of &
in Sovereign Grand Consistories of Princes of the Royal Secret, viz: Grand Pontiff; Grand Master
&c; Prince of Libanus; Chief of the Tabernacle; Prince of the Tabernacle; Knight of Brazen
Serpent; Prince of Mercy; Commander of the Temple; Knight of the Eagle and Sun; Patriarch of
the Crusades; Noachite or Chevalier Prussien; Knight of Kadosh; Grand Inspector Inquisitor
Commander; Prince of the Royal Secret. Also Masonic Degree (33d + last _ Official) conferred in
the Supreme Council; called Sovereign Grand Inspector General. According to a book entitled
“Light on Masonry” by Elder David Bernard published in Utica – 1829. Also the French Masonic
Degree of “Patriarch Noachite or Chevalier Prussien”.
VII. Degrees of Perfection KVR MS 1861. [viz] IV: Secret Master; V: Perfect Master; VI: Intimate
Secretary; VII: Provost and Judge.
VIII. Sovereign Grand Inspector General; 33° (Thirty Third) A + A Rite; (Rite Ecossais), as used
by the New York Supreme Council, June 5, 1862 . . . Received from Ill Edmund B. Hayes 33º
MPSGC.
IX. Tableaux of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General 33°, A + A Rite in the United States of
America from 1801 to 1875 inclusive including The Supreme Council of America [afterwards the
Supreme Council for the Southern Jurisdiction of U S A] and the Several Supreme Councils
of the No J of U.S.A. both at Boston + New York and The Supreme Council for the Northern
Jurisdiction U S A formed at Boston, May 17, 1875. Compiled by John L. Lewis P Sov
Gr Comm September 1875.
X. Sov Gra Ins Genl 33d
XI. Degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite; sometimes called “Rite Ecossais” or Scottish Rite, and
known as Sublime or Ineffable Masonry; being thirty degrees from the 4th to the 33rd inclusive;
the three Craft degrees be excluded from the numeration. 1860.
The numbering of the volumes in the Collection is purely arbitrary; based on the order in which they were
packaged, probably based on size.
The compiler
Following the clue provided in the title of Vol. IX, I sought a comparison of the handwriting in the MSS
with records held in the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction. Through the kind offices of Jeffery
Croteau, it has been confirmed that the writer of all but the first of the documents in the Collection was Bro.
John Livy Lewis Jr of Penn-Yan, New York [1813–1889].
The Grand Lodge of New York masonic record states:
John L. Lewis was born in Yates County in 1813, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1835;
was district attorney from 1837 until 1848, when he was elected Judge of his county. After holding
that office for four years he engaged in the ordinary practice of his profession, acquiring a good
practice and winning hosts of friends.
He was a man of bright social proclivities, an attached friend, a clear-headed adviser, a brilliant
orator and a most painstaking executive. His intellect was not that of a genius and his success in life
came from his industry, aided by his commendable natural traits and his many good qualities of heart
and hand. He was an earnest student, indefatigable in research, a close reasoner and an honest and
earnest advocate of whatever cause he believed to be right. As a Mason his reasoning on disputed
points of history or jurisprudence was clear and convincing and he did much to codify and bring into
proper shape the constitution which is known as that of 1860 and which is practically that under
which the Grand Lodge is now governed. He was also the first real student of the history of
Freemasonry in New York, the first Historian of the Grand Lodge in fact, if not in name.
It was, however, as Grand Master during the four eventful years of 1856-7-8-9 and on until June,
1860, that his services to the order stand out most prominently, and his memory is likely to be
longest enshrined in the annals of Masonry in the State. Its crowning glory was that during its
continuance the last vestige of division and schism disappeared from the story of Freemasonry in
New York, disappeared, it is to be hoped, never again to return.
There is more, but it is easily found, and not necessary to be published here.
Lewis was raised in Milo Lodge No. 108 at Penn-Yan, NY on 15 May 1846. He was exalted in Penn-Yan
Chapter No. 100 on 23 February 1847 and knighted in Monroe Encampment No. 12 at Rochester NY on
17 May 1861. Subsequently he was Grand Master of Masons in New York from 1856 to 1860, Grand High
Priest of the Grand Chapter of New York from 1852 to 1854, Grand Generalissimo of the Grand
Commandery of New York from 1851 to 1853 and General Grand High Priest of the General Grand Chapter
of the United States from 1865 to 1868.
Further detail on individual volumes
Volume II compares the rituals in common exposures, Avery Allyn’s Ritual of Free-Masonry of 1831, and
David Bernard’s Light on Masonry of 1829, with ‘a MS copy of the Charges, ceremonies +c in the
handwriting of Sylvester Spencer of New York city, then Grand Recorder of the Grand Encampment of the
State of New York made some years ago, the precise time unknown & is semi-official & was received in
1848 from the Grand Master of that body. This is called the “Spencer MS” and is placed in the third column
& marked “S”.’
The compiler states that ‘taken together they constitute a very full + complete Ritual of the Masonic
Degrees of Christian Knighthood.’
There follows a total of 91 two-page spreads divided into three columns headed A, B and S, in which
Alleyn is used as the basic text and differences in the other two works are noted.
Unfortunately the first 48 pages, a complete section of the notebook, of Volume III have been lost. So there
are no introductory remarks and the text of the rituals of the Knights of the Christian Mark, Knights of the
Holy Sepulchre and the first nine pages of The Illustrious Order of the Cross. Despite this loss, the sources
can be divined from references in the remaining texts. As with the other volume, Barnard’s Light on
Masonry and Allyn’s Ritual of Free-Masonry have been used. Other material referenced include Cross’s
Masonic Chart of 1826, Cole’s Ahiman Rezon or Free-Mason’s Library of 1826, Ward’s Anti-Masonic
Review and various issues from the 1840s of Moore’s Freemason’s Monthly Magazine. The final two
degrees of this Volume are in printed form and are headed ‘Masonic Sister’s Degrees’. Lewis notes that it
‘came into my hands in June 1861 with papers of WHD and copied [July 1861] verbatim.’
The ‘Tableau’ in Volume VII relates to Cerneauism, a matter which has dogged the Rite in the US since
1807. In this document Lewis commenced to list the names and details of every SGIG created in the
“A & A Rite in the United States of America from 1801 to 1875 inclusive”. It is an incomplete table
entitled “Tableau of members of the New York or Supreme Council established by Joseph Cerneau August
28th 1807 (Note. In this Table are contained the names of those who composed the Grand Consistory
between 1807 and 1812)”. It contains two names only, Cerneau and Clinton, and is also incomplete in the
details given. However, Lewis prefaced his Tableau with an introductory retrospect of the Order[s] as he
saw it. It is this nine page ‘history’ which is of interest. Lewis was both well placed and well informed to
write such a report. Although the rights and wrongs of the matter remain contentious, this is one of a few
personal, rather than official, documents extant.
Volume X is of significant interest as it contains the text of a letter to M Ill Bro Edward A. Raymond, at
the time [1861] the “Sov Grand Commander of the Supreme Gr Council of M Ill S G I G
33d and last degree “Ancient and Accepted Rite” for the Northern Mas Jurisdiction of the United States of
N America” from M Ill Bros John J J Gourgas and Giles F Yates. This letter relates to the rise, fall,
and anticipated resurrection of Cerneauism.
One of the more interesting items is Volume XI; a ‘side-by-side’ comparison of seven different exposures in
which the compiler reproduces Richardson’s Monitor of Free Masonry of 1860 with notes describing the
differences with Scottish Rite ritual material produced by Allyn, Bernard, Webb, Carlile, George Crafts, and
Mary Hanlon’s Revelations in Masonry of 1827.
Lewis occasionally compares the written word with his personal experience, using such phrases ‘as I was
taught’; ‘I was instructed in this way’ and ‘the manner in which I received this Degree was . . . ’.
He also was blunt in his assessment of some of the ritual material; in one case noting the inclusion of an
incident involving William Wallace fighting the English was ‘pretty much twaddle and humbug – there is
about as much connection between the things as light & darkness’.
Conclusion
Given the contribution of Lewis to the progress of the NMJ, [see Baynard’s History, Vol 1, pp359-360] it is
of interest to note Lewis’s personal interest in ritual development. He writes in the foreword to Volume XI:
Authenticity is not claimed or pretended in any portion in either of the text or subjoined notes. A
number of professed rituals or pretended exposures of these degrees having come to my hands I have
arrived myself with an effort to compare and collate them as a matter of curiosity.
Oh, that some of the present ‘rulers of the Craft’ had such ‘curiosity’, and interest in masonic research! And
did something about it.
The volumes of the ‘Kidd Collection’ contain significant indicators of Masonic development in the USA.
The Cerneau references are particularly important to the documented history of the Scottish Rite.
FINIS
Acknowledgments
My grateful thanks are due to Jeffrey Croteau, Manager of Library and Archives, Scottish Rite Masonic
Museum and Library, NMJ, for his assistance, expertise and many kindnesses, especially in identifying
Lewis’s handwriting. Larissa Watkins of the Library of the House of the Temple in Washington DC has
been, as ever, most helpful.
Obviously I owe a great debt of gratitude to WBro Karen Ann Kidd, without whom . . .
WBro Karen Kidd and her Collection John Livy Lewis Jr,
I-photo © 2015 Ronald Kirk, used with thanks [from http://gwm.lunaimaging.com/]
pto
Title page of Vol. II Title page of Vol. III
The comparative three-column layout A, B & S in volume II. [the pencil additions are not original]
