1910 History Page 13 of 25

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DALHOUSIE

At the first meeting, June 25, 1860, Brother Adin B. Underwood proposed the name " Dalhousie," in honor of Lord Dalhousie, of Scotland, and it was voted that the Lodge be called " Dalhousie Lodge of Newton."

The Freemason's Monthly of October, 1860, referring to the new Lodge, said:

In the selection of a name the brethren have sought to honor the memory of the Grand Master of Scotland, whose term of office continued from November 30, 1767, to November 30, 1769, and who, on the 30th of May, 1769, granted letters of deputation to General Joseph Warren by which he became Grand Master of Masons in Boston, New England, and within one hundred miles of the same.

George, the eighth Earl of Dalhousie, the Grand Master referred to, was a descendant of the illustrious family of Ramseys, which came from Germany and settled in Scotland as early as the reign of King David I. Sir William Ramsay, in 1295, was the first designated by the title of Dalhousie. George, the eighth Earl, succeeded his brother Charles, the seventh Earl, on the 29th of January, 1764, and died in 1787.

[Note: This appears to be the only record or document having reference to the title of the Lodge which has been preserved, and a possible doubt exists as to its correctness. That the Lodge sought to honor the eleventh Earl of Dalhousie, Grand Master of Scotland and Deputy Grand Master of England, at the time the Lodge was established seems probable.]

The following is from the record of October 21, 1863:

Worshipful Brother W. D. Coolidge presented to the lodge a likeness of the present Lord Dalhousie,which he had solicited of him for us.

This portrait of the eleventh Earl of Dalhousie was hung over the Master's chair in the Lodge room for many years, and is still preserved by the Lodge.

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