The December 2017 Regular Meeting of Temple Lodge No. 33 will be held on 12 December 2017, 7:30 p.m. at Duncan Masonic Temple, 163 Canada Avenue, Duncan, B.C.
All Visiting Brethren are very welcome to attend.
Vancouver based hip hop musician Moka Only, a Freemason (he is a member of a Lodge in Vancouver), is headlining Hip Hop’s Toys For Charity 2017, a charity concert to raise funds to help needy families at Christmas.
This concert will be held on 15 December 2017 at the Queens Hotel, 34 Victoria Crescent, in downtown Nanaimo. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. The Queens Hotel is only a few blocks from the Ashlar Masonic Temple, 101 Commercial Street, Nanaimo. Tickets are available at Fascinating Rhythm, half a block west of Ashlar Masonic Temple.
We encourage all interested Freemasons to attend and support our Masonic Brother Moka Only in this charitable event.
We came across this interesting lecture, sponsored by the Library of Congress, featuring Alonza Tehuti Evans discussing the Social Impact Of Prince Hall Freemasonry 1825-1900. The speaker comes onstage at the 7:54 point.
The Regular Meeting of Temple Lodge No. 33 for November 2017 will be held on 14 November 2017, 6:00 p.m. at Duncan Masonic Temple. Please note the change to 6:00 p.m. from our usual 7:30 p.m. meeting time.
This meeting will also be the Official Visit of our District Deputy Grand Master to Temple Lodge No. 33. In order to allow members of Admiral Lodge No. 170 to take the ferry to and from Salt Spring Island to attend the D.D.G.M. Official Visit we have moved the meeting time to 6:00 p.m. instead of our usual meting time of 7:30 p.m.
Visiting Brethren are, as always, very welcome to attend.
Each month Temple Lodge No. 33 and its Vancouver Island Masonic History Project features a Deceased vancouver Island Freemason as a way of highlighting Masonic history and heritage on Vancouver Island.
For November 2017 we are featuring David Russell Ker (1862-1923), a principal of the Brackman-Ker Milling Company, which has left two Heritage Buildings in downtown Victoria: 1407 Government Street and 1420 Broad Street. David Russell Ker was a member of Victoria-Columbia Lodge No. 1 in Victoria.
David Russell Ker’s Brackman-Ker Milling Company has left two Heritage Buildings in downtown Victoria: 1407 Government Street and 1420 Broad Street.
David Russell Ker is buried in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria.
For more information, see our webpage on David Russell Ker.
Each month Temple Lodge No. 33 features a deceased Brother of the Lodge as a way of highlighting the contributions Freemasons have made to Duncan and the surrounding Cowichan Valley.
Our Featured Deceased member of Temple Lodge No. 33 for November 2017 is Alfred Edward Green (1874-1968), who came to the Cowichan Valley with his family in 1921 and served as the local coroner. Descendants of Alfred Edward Green are still living in the Cowichan Valley.
Each month our Vancouver Island Masonic History Project features a deceased Vancouver Island Freemason as a way of highlighting the contributions Freemasons have made to Vancouver Island.
Our Featured Deceased Vancouver Island Freemason for October 2017 is Simon Leiser (1851 – 1917), a pioneer merchant of Victoria who also had commercial operations in Vancouver Island coal mining communities like Wellington and Cumberland.
Simon Leiser was a member of Vancouver & Quadra Lodge No. 2 in Victoria, as were his brothers Gustav Leiser (1856-1896) and Max Leiser (1862-1935).
For more information, see our webpage on Simon Leiser.
Each month Temple Lodge No. 33 features a deceased Brother of the Lodge as a way of highlighting the contributions Freemasons have made to Duncan and the surrounding Cowichan Valley.
Our Featured Deceased member of Temple Lodge No. 33 for October 2017 is Thomas Anthony Wood (1857-1945), a farmer and Reeve of North Cowichan from 1896-1899.
Thomas Anthony Wood was also first president of the Duncan Board of Trade, now the Duncan Chamber of Commerce, being elected to that position in 1909.
For more information, see our webpage on Thomas Anthony Wood.
Thomas Anthony Wood is buried in St. Peter’s Quamichan Anglican cemetery.
In the spring of 2018 there will be an Amalgamation Referendum on the question of whether to re-unite the City of Duncan and the Municipality of North Cowichan into a single political entity.
With this Amalgamation Referendum soon to be upon us it is interesting to consider the historical fact that Duncan residents broke away from North Cowichan and created the City of Duncan in 1912 on land formerly part of the Municipality of North Cowichan, primarily because residents of Duncan were dissatisfied with the services provided, or not being provided, by the Municipality of North Cowichan.
The Incorporation of the City of Duncan in 1912 was accomplished primarily by members of Temple Lodge No. 33, including Kenneth Duncan, J. Islay Mutter, Andrew Hans Peterson, James MacLeod Campbell, Frank Brettingham, Thomas Pitt, William Gidley, Charles Herbert Dickie, James Whittome, William Mordaunt Dwyer, Thomas Pitt.
Another Temple Lodge No. 33 member, Thomas Anthony Wood, was on the other side of the issue as Reeve of North Cowichan in 1911 when these events began.
To document this history we have created a new webpage on Incorporation of the City of Duncan In 1912.
Here are photos of some of the Temple Lodge No. 33 members involved in Incorporation of the City of Duncan In 1912.
The October 2017 Regular Meeting of Temple Lodge No. 33 will be held on 10 October 2017, 7:30 p.m. at Duncan Masonic Temple, 163 Canada Avenue, Duncan, B.C.
All Visiting Brethren are very welcome to attend.