History of Wooster Lodge #79

Wooster Lodge was named for General David Wooster, who was made a Mason in St. James Lodge in London, England in about 1745.  In 1750, he obtained a warrant from the provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and organized Hiram Lodge #1 in New Haven, Connecticut.  Several members of Hiram #1 were instrumental in forming the Wooster Lodge.   Charlie H. Skiff, Asa Buddington, Charles Brown, James L. Clark, Robert Edmondson, Nehemiah D. Sperry, Julius Tyler and others drew up a  petition to form the new lodge.  By virtue of a warrant from the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the State of Connecticut , on May 29, 1851,  Wooster Lodge #79 was instituted and duly constituted  by the Most Worshipful William E. Sanford, Grand Master of Connecticut at the Masonic Hall in the Temple in the City of New Haven, Connecticut.  The following were the first officers of the newly formed Wooster Lodge:

    Worshipful Master        Charles Brown
     Senior Warden            James Clark
     Junior Warden             Robert Edmondson
     Senior Deacon            Nehemiah D. Sperry
     Junior Deacon             Samuel Wire
     Treasurer                      Asa Buddington
     Secretary                      Charles H. Skiff
     Senior Steward           Julius Tyler
     Junior Steward            Joseph Fairchild
     Tyler                               William H. Wellman

At the Communication of February 25, 1852 Nehemiah Sperry was appointed to secure The Work  from Jeremy Cross, then Grand Lecturer in the State of Connecticut.  He successfully accomplished his mission and this became Wooster's Work.  Wooster still preserves and performs this ritual, by permission of the Grand Lodge, as it was done in Washington's time to this day.

Wooster Lodge is proud to claim five members who have gone on to become Grand Masters:

Henry Peck,  1843-1846
Eli S. Quinard, 1865-1866
Frederick H. Waldron,  1883-1884
Walter H. Pickett, 1941-1942
Herbert L. Emanuelson, 1984-1985

Henry Peck remained an affiliated member of Wooster Lodge from 1843 until his death in 1867.

On December 28, 1927, Wooster Lodge held their first Communication in the New Temple building at 285 Whitney Avenue and raised the first two brothers to be raised in the New Temple:  Raymon C. Darby and Newell J. Hamlin.  In 1997, the Wooster Lodge had the pleasure of presenting Brother Hamlin with a 70 year pin.  Even with declining membership, we at Wooster Lodge are hopeful of carrying on well into the future.