Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -

Sale 2708 - Lot 206

Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(WEST--TEXAS.) Minutes of the Henderson Yoakum chapter of the Freemasons, 9 years after statehood. [23], 331 manuscript pages including index. Folio, original vellum, moderate wear, loss to backstrip; final leaf detached, otherwise minimal wear to contents; Galveston stationer's tag on front pastedown, modern collector's inked stamp on front flyleaf. Moscow, TX, 26 October 1854 to 14 July 1888
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Additional Details

This chapter was located in the small east Texas town of Moscow, with a population of just over 200. These entries cover the formation of the chapter, record votes on members (with a record of the number of white and black balls cast), bylaws, design of a chapter seal, resolutions honoring or announcing the death of members, founding of a Masonic school in Moscow, and proceedings of trials against members, including one on 27 May 1860 at which "it was decided that the accused was guilty of gross unmasonic conduct by 6 bl[ac]k balls to 3 white." The entries are interrupted after the meeting on 20 October 1860, at which a committee was appointed "to report on the propriety of withdrawing or seceding from the Grand Chapter of the United States." On 19 August 1865, after the close of the Civil War, the entries resume.

Henderson King Yoakum (1810-1856) was a soldier and politician whose 1855 "History of Texas" was described by Jenkins as "the first scholarly history of Texas written after annexation"; he was a close friend of Sam Houston. He was also a founding member of this Texas Masonic chapter that adopted his name.

With--carbon copy of a letter to the son of Texas Governor William P. Hobby, remarking that his grandfather, Edwin Hobby, was a member of the Henderson Yoakum Chapter. 1 page, 4to. Moscow, 25 October 1964; and 3 other pieces of circa 1960s ephemera.

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