by Melvin Maynard Johnson
Melvin Maynard Johnson (1871-1957) was one of the leading Freemasons of his day and this book has acquired the reputation of being a “Masonic classic.” It has been out-of-print for many years and is appropriately issued during this Bicentennial period of the formation of our nation. Johnson acquired an early interest in the history of the beginning of Freemasonry in America as he sought to prove that Massachusetts and not Pennsylvania was the birthplace of Freemasonry in this hemisphere. This volume is the result of many years of research and study with a slow growth as Johnson found material over the years. The fact that his thesis of primacy was questioned by many persons undoubtedly stimulated him into searching for more evidence to support his position.
On the national scene the matter started with an article written by Johnson in 1915, which was published in The Builder magazine, the official periodical of the National Masonic Research Society (Volume 1, page 11), being the first of a series of three articles under the general title “The Establishment and Early Days of Masonry in America.” The first installment covers the legends of the years 1606 and 1656. The concluding article (page 251) presents the details of his contention that Massachusetts was the place where Freemasonry started in America. In the book he explains that he presented a talk on the subject before the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts and that talk was reproduced in the 1916 Proceedings of that Grand Lodge. Volume 2 of The Builder magazine has a number of articles by persons disagreeing with the contention advanced by Johnson and he engaged in considerable correspondence on the subject as well as answering the items written by those persons who disagreed with him.
Westphalia Press 