Luke A. Lockwood
Most Worshipful Brother Luke A. Lockwood
by Deborah LaPlace
One of the hidden treasures of Freemasonry in Connecticut is the Luke A. Lockwood Library and Museum, located in the Grand Lodge office in Wallingford. In addition to an interesting collection of books, the Library and Museum houses a variety of papers from American and British Research Lodges and relics of Connecticut’s Masonic Heritage.
The reason the library is named for Luke A. Lockwood is easily understood from reading his biography.
Luke A. Lockwood was born in December 1, 1833 in Riverside, Connecticut. After attending Greenwich Academy, he entered Trinity College in Hartford in 1851. He graduated as valedictorian in 1855. He passed the bar in New York in 1856 and practiced law there until his death. In 1888 he earned his Masters of the Arts degree from Trinity College and was chosen by the alumni as an elective trustee for three terms. In 1890 he was elected Trustee for life.
An earnest and devoted Episcopalian, Brother Lockwood, a member of Christ Church in Greenwich, was instrumental in starting St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Riverside, which began as a Sunday school October of 1875. The Sunday school grew and by the time the cornerstone was laid for a chapel in September of 1876 the school had one hundred seventy-three students and twenty-three teachers. Until the parish was able to sustain a Rector, he acted as lay reader. Brother Lockwood was a well-established expert on Church Law.
We learn from his Masonic biography, that he was raised in Union Lodge, No. 5, at Stamford, January 16, 1856. In 1858 he became a charter member of Acacia Lodge, No. 85, at Greenwich, where he served as Worshipful Master in numerous years beginning in 1858 and as Chaplin in 1868.
In 1858 he was exalted a Royal Arch Mason in Rittenhouse Chapter, No. 11, Stamford and served as Excellent High Priest in 1864 and 1865. May 9, 1865 he was elected Most Excellent Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter and was re-elected in 1866.
His involvement with Grand Lodge began by serving on Committee on Grievances in 1860. In 1864 he served on a Special Committee on the Circulation of books purporting to reveal the secrets of Freemasonry. His legal training served Freemasonry. He was a member of the Committee on Jurisprudence beginning in 1865 and continuing with only few breaks until 1905. Lockwood’s Masonic Law and Practice published in 1867 is the foundation of our current Rules and Regulations. It was adopted as authority by the Grand Bodies of Connecticut and is recognized as a standard work throughout the country.
May 9, 1872, the Deputy Grand Master RW William W. Lee declined promotion and the Grand Senior Deacon, RW Charles W. Sterns declined re-election. Thus, Luke A. Lockwood was elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut without having served in the Grand line.
In his first address in 1873 he outlined a method of rendering opinions with a concise statement of facts and the argument upon which the opinion was based to be preserved in the archives for reference. One of his decisions from that year was prescient to national discussion 90 years later, “Color is not one of the qualifications of a candidate, and each member of a Lodge has the right, and it is his duty, to vote on every candidate of whatever color as in his conscience he may decide, to be for the interest of his Lodge and of the fraternity.”
Scholarship and legal expertise are only part of his legacy; in 1873 he created the Masonic Charity Foundation when the Connecticut Grand Lodge received $332, the residual of their $1000 donation to the Chicago Fire Fund of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. With this he fulfilled the wishes first presented in 1797 by Reverend Brother Ashbel Baldwin, Grand Chaplin of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, who implored the Grand Lodge to start a charity fund to minister to the needs of the poor and distressed.
In the same 1873 Annual Address Brother Lockwood made the argument for the Masonic Home and Orphanage, “The distressed Brother, the bereaved widow, the desolate orphan, are the brightest jewels in the Masonic Crown. They are our dependent wards, our precious heritage, and we must not under our solemn obligation, we dare not, overlook or despise the blessed privilege of doing them good…Our obligations, as Masons, are as broad and comprehensive as Masonry is universal. We are made members, not of only of a Lodge, but also of the family of Masonry.”
The foundation was incorporated in 1889 following a unanimous vote of approval at the 85th annual Communication May 14. Luke Lockwood was made the Foundation President and served until his death.
By 1894 the Charity Foundation had raised more than the $17,500 to buy the buildings and 88 acres for the Masonic Home and Orphanage. It was dedicated on September 25, 1895 and opened with thirty-two sleeping rooms, seventeen of which were occupied.
Luke Lockwood passed away November 20, 1905, two months short of receiving his 50 year “button,” when his lodge was to give him a $1000 sterling service. His Masonic funeral was rendered by Past Grand Master, John H. Barlow, Grand Secretary, with the Grand Master acting as an honorary bearer. Sixteen Grand Lodge Officers and nine Past Grand Masters were present as well as numerous members of the Masonic body. The Grand Master ordered that altars be draped for sixty days.
Biographers waxed eloquent referring to Bro. Lockwood as “a Solon,” the statesman whose rulings founded Athenian democracy and as “Father of Israel,” accenting the great respect they had for the man and his service.
Over one hundred years after Luke Lockwood’s passing, Masonicare offers a continuum of care to three hundred eighty two long-term care residents, one hundred four independent living residents, eighty-six assisted living residents, and Ashlar Village houses almost 600 residents.
Today his service is memorialized with both the library and the Luke A. Lockwood Medal, the highest award given by Masonicare to people who provide exemplary service to patients, residents, and guests.
The Luke A. Lockwood Library is an invaluable resource for Masonic historical material. All the research on which this article is based came from volumes contained in the institution which bears his name.
You can contact the library at Luke A. Lockwood Memorial Library, Grand Lodge, PO Box 250, Wallingford, CT 06492 or by calling 203-679-6808.
