JEREMY LADD CROSS
by James R. Case, Historian Grand Council of Conn. R. & S.M.
Delegations of Royal and Select Masters from nearby Councils will conduct a
pilgrimage, on or about Saint John's Day in June 1983, to the grave Or Jeremy
Ladd Cross in Haverhill, New Hampshire. I here the 'Father of the Cryptic Rite'
was born 200 years ago on June 27th.
Reputable Masonic historians and encyclopedists credit this 'famous Masonic
author and lecturer' with having a 'wide spread influence on the practical
workings of Freemasonry'. A few detractors have maligned Cross as a 'charlatan',
a 'degree peddler' and one who 'made his Masonry a very nice paying investment'.
Occurrences which took place 125 years ago cannot be judged by today's
standards, rules and regulations. A close review of his diary and letters, and
more attention to chronology, brings out the high-spots in the career of this
'plain New Hampshire lecturer', the subsequent disseminator of the Royal and
Select Masters degrees, combined in the present 'Cryptic Rite', a term he never
used.
As a country boy with scant schooling, Jeremy went down to Portsmouth, the
political, social and commercial metropolis of the state, learned the hatters'
trade, and encountered his first set back in business, having made an
unfortunate choice of a partner.
He was twenty-three years old in 1807 when he applied for membership in
prestigious old St. Johns Lodge, of which the Master was Rev. George Richards,
an accomplished ritualist. Cross served some time as Junior Deacon and, late in
1813 took a dimit and began a circuit of northern New Hampshire and adjacent Vermont, as a journeyman in his trade. He never went back to his mother Lodge.
He was carrying a certificate from the Grand Lecturer which attested his
proficiency in the ritual. The version then in use had been agreed upon by
conferees from New Hampshire and Massachusetts some years earlier.
Cross was instrumental in the revival of interest in North Star Lodge at
Lancaster; was paid his shekel in Aurora Mark Lodge at Bradford; was arched in
Champlain Chapter at St. Albans, Vermont; and acquired the Select Masters degree
(and perhaps others) during an extended sojourn at Hopkinton. He became highly
proficient in all the degrees which he had regularly received or may have been
favored with, in return for his 'instruction in the degrees of the Lodge'. He
had knowledge of the Past Master's degree and the order of High Priesthood, but
not acquired through election.
With savings from his trade and lecturing, in May 1816 Jeremy set out for
Providence, where Thomas Smith Webb was then active in Lodge, Chapter and
Encampment (later Commandery). His objective was to 'perfect himself in the
work of the Chapter'. During a stop-over in Boston he records that he lectured
before and received the 'sanction' of grand lodge officers.
Delegates from Massachusetts and Rhode Island were about to sail for New
York, where the General Grand Chapter was to meet. Cross went along with them as
a visitor, having no credentials. During the session he made the acquaintance
of Philip Eckel of Baltimore and John Hart Lynde, Deputy Grand High Priest in
Connecticut, among others. He is said to have visited Columbian Council, and to
have obtained the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite but those matters
are not documented. Of greatest importance was a certificate of a sort over the
names of all the General Grand Chapter Officers, which was printed in the introductory pages of the 'True Chart' he issued three years later. The fact of
its being in print implied more than the document stated.
Cross continued to Philadelphia where Webb, John Snow and others had gone to
persuade Pennsylvania to join a coalition of Grand Commanderies, an attempt
which failed. Cross was refused permission to lecture in Pennsylvania, where
he reported tinding 'ignorance and obstinacy'. Undaunted, he crossed the river
into New Jersey, visiting lodges there and in Delaware enroute to Baltimore.
Here he conferred with Eckel, who invoked 'the authority in me vested' and
gave Cross permission to confer the degrees of Royal and Select Masters on any
group of the essential nine Royal Arch Masons wherever he traveled, found a
welcome and was successful in recruiting.
Striking out for the west he visited several places in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
A visit to Lexington, Kentucky coincided with the presence of Webb and John Snow
perfecting the organization of a Grand Chapter for the state, and a local
encampment of Knights Templar. Cross found the atmosphere congenial, prolonged
his visit, lectured and communicated the Council degrees. He visited Madison,
Indiana and St. Louis and then proceeded down the Mississippi.
At Natchez he spent twelve days and installed the officers of a Chapter
which Benjamin Gleason had congregated earlier in the year. Pointedly he
reported he did not confer the order of High Priesthood as he 'did not possess
it regularly'. He was never elected to the top office in Lodge, Chapter or
Commandery.
In New Orleans he was 'received and acknowledged by the Consistory, presented
with a full and perfect set of all the degrees, their histories, accompanied
with the drawings, emblems, seals, etc.'
On May 27, 1817 Cross was back in Baltimore and now obtained 'authority' to
issue warrants to Councils he had organized or might establish in the future. In
a letter to Eckel he wrote "There are so many of these little Degrees that are
given by anyone and in any place which are of no consequence that the Brethren
have but little confidence in this unless it has the appearance of some kind of
sanction, and I think those who receive it would not make sufficient application
to perfect themselves in the History Work and Lectures unless there was an
inducement held out for an office in the Council' .
After a years absence and a brief visit to the old homestead, in August he
was again in hospitable Hopkinton and then to Boston where he established a
Council and obtained the degree of Knight Templar in an 'irregular encampment'.
At Providence he perfected himself in the degrees of the Chapter with Webb and
'rehearsed' the degrees of the Lodge with grand lodge officers, Webb then being
Grand Master. At Hartford he found the Grand Master and Grand Secretary 'lacked
Masonic fire' so on to New Haven, where he conferred with Lynde about employment
by the Grand Chapter of Connecticut.
Again he headed south, going to New York city by steamer, and then across New
Jersey and Delaware, leaving warrants in several places and thus earning his
passage money. He arrived at Richmond early in December, attended a meeting of
the 'working committee' of the Grand Lodge and, on Christmas Day established a
Council with John Dove as TIM. He mentioned a hotel bill of $8.75 for three
days keep.
On his way north he organized a Council at Dumfries, was at Fredericksburg
for observance of St. Johns Day in December, visited the Lodge at Alexandria
and at Washington learned that Lynde had died. He continued to Connecticut
in expectation that their agreement would be honored. Waiting for Grand Chapter
in May, he made a swing around eastern Connecticut, warranting six Councils,
noting that in New London he 'rcd $55 for 7 days work'. At Norwich he made the
acquaintance of James Cushman, of whom more later.
He now chose New Haven as his place of residence and made his first business
arrangements when he 'Agreed with Amos Doolittle to engrave RA aprons and go
1/2 on expense and profits'. After a tour of western Connecticut he attended
meetings of the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter.
Cross became a Grand Lecturer in 1818, following appointment by the Grand
Chapter of Connecticut, each Chapter having been assessed $20 to cover four days
instruction. In 1819 he and Cushman were appointed Grand Visitors, now to act
under direction of the grand officers, with a prescribed limit to their
expenses. For the next few years Cross sat pro tem in different chairs at Grand
Convocations, reporting his activities as one of three Grand Visitors. His last
appointment was made in 1823 and no mention is made of him in Grand Chapter
records after 1826. However, his 'True Chart' had been recommended and he was a
committeeman on such business as aprons, procurement of jewels, robes and
certificates. Inexplicably his name is not on the membership list of Franklin
Chapter in New Haven.
At Grand Lodge in May 1818 he was appointed Grand Lecturer, an assessment
of $10 was made on each lodge, with a recommendation that other (rival)
lecturers not be employed. A year later his accounts were 'liquidated' and he
was directed to act thereafter under orders from the Grand Officers. He is
listed immediately following the Grand Secretary among those present in 1823,
and was installed while the office of Grand Lecturer was proposed in a revision
of the constitution, it was omitted from the final version adopted in 1824,
after which the name of Cross does not appear in reports of Grand
Communications. He had affiliated with Hiram Lodge in 1818 but became a charter
member of Adelphi Lodge when it was organized in New Haven in 1923. He was never
elected to any station in either, or any lodge as far as known.
With less than a decade of official recognition Cross had acquired the
'R.W.' and 'G.L.' which appear on his headstone. His reputation was firmly
established and there is plenty of evidence to show that he continued to lecture
and instruct for the rest of his life. A pertinent echo of sentiment among
delegates to Grand Lodge appears in the minutes of the session in 1842, when the
appointment of a Grand Lecturer was proposed, considered and negatived,
experience with a former grand lecturer having been unfortunate.
Cross had continued to 'sell' the degrees of Royal and Select Master and had
warranted as many as eleven Councils in Connecticut before delegates assembled
on May 18, 1819 and organized the first Grand Council in the world, which has
continued its existence and independence to the present day. Cross is not
recorded among those present at the organization meeting. He did serve as TIM
of Harmony Council in New Haven for eight years.
In Templar circles 1818 was an important year for Cross. In September he had
visited Providence, was 'healed' in St. Johns Commandery and received the
Order of Red Cross. On October he affiliated with Washington Commandery at a
meeting in New London. Here an arrangement was made with Henry Fowle, Deputy
General Grand Master, for publication of a 'Templars Chart', the silent partner
to have one third of the profits. Such was his ability to memorize that a short
time later he was able to communicate the work in 'the valiant Orders of
Knighthood' to Cushman who later was active in Virginia Templary. Although New
Haven Commandery was organized in 1825, Cross did not affiliate. His few visits
were connected with the design or procurement of a uniform.
In December 1819 the 'True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor' was
copyrighted. The foreword admitted that few changes had been made in earlier
texts of 'illustrations' by Preston and Webb. But Cross included forty pages of
pictured emblems and from that time his Monitor became so popular it ran through
sixteen editions in which Cross had an interest. Webb had died in 1819 but his
name and that of Cross were used for years on pirated or 'improved editions'
of their monitors.
The 'Monument' with such components as the 'Weeping Virgin', 'Broken Column'
and 'Father Time', often attributed to the inventive genius of Cross and
Doolittle, definitely was not. The text of the lecture is in the cipher notes of
John Barney in the ritual as he obtained it from Gleason at Boston in 1817 . An
earlier and much better engraving appears on a wall chart published by 'Comp. H.
Parmalee' in Philadelphia under the title of 'Masonic Mirror and Symbolic Chart'
and for which a copyright was secured in August 1818.
Cross did not abandon his lecturing entirely but was going into business in a
big way. He had earlier sold aprons from a Providence maker and arks from a
Hartford builder. Now he began to develop a system of production in New Haven.
His True Charts were being shipped all over the country which then had little
Masonry west of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. He supplied satin as well
as leather aprons, robes, capes and accessories. Doolittle printed diplomas and
Select ' flaps' . From some of Cross' letters we learn about prices and the
extent of his business.
John Barker was another disciple of Cross. He went to Charleston, South
Carolina for his health, became active in Masonic circles and was appointed an
agent of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Rite. Leaving Virginia
and North Carolina to Cushman
Barker traveled throughout the south and disseminated the degrees of Royal
and Select Masters in several locations, the Supreme Council having jurisdiction
over the degrees which were then considered detached or 'floating'. Barker knew
that Cross had numerous documents and miscellanea from the Consistory in New
Orleans, and worked out an exchange, whereby Cross turned them all over to the
Supreme Council and in turn was rewarded with membership and a 33d degree
patent. Cushman as courier also received the degree. Cross himself was never in
Charleston.
Cross did not lecture in Massachusetts lodges as Benjamin Gleason served
there officially, nor in Rhode Island where Webb lived several years. In
Vermont neither his book nor his work found favor. Pennsylvania was in
hospitable, Maryland was Eckels territory. Except in New York city, Cross
deferred to Salem Town, although Wadsworth, Eno and Hayes were named among his
protégés. Ohio and points west were left to Barney. This distribution of
territory which existed, perhaps was prearranged, gave rise to the idea that a 'Lecturers' Union' existed. One disgraceful action in which collusion is apparent
was the vicious campaign against David Vinton.
The anti-Masonic frenzy, sparked by the disappearance of William Morgan from
Batavia, NY in 1826, fostered by designing politicians and uncomprehending
ordained critics of the fraternity, had its effect on Cross and his supply
business. New Haven was the citadel of Freemasonry in Connecticut and braced
against the storm, but Jeremy felt that New York city was a more fertile field,
a better shipping point from which to satisfy the great demand in the southern
states, and a more favorable place for a man going into business as wholesale
paper dealer and publisher.
Cross signed the 1832 'Declaration of Principles' widely publicized in
Massachusetts and Connecticut. He then moved to New York city, 'entered into
mercantile employ' and prospered. He is listed in the city directory in 1834
and omitted 20 years later, having retired to Haverhill in October 1853 . His
parents were dead and he lived with a spinster sister in the old homestead.
Cross never married, although his diary occasionally hints at an interest in
some charming female, apparently never pursued or perhaps nor reciprocated. He
left a considerable estate.
In New York city Masonry did not suffer as much from the Morgan incident as
from personality differences within Grand Lodge circles and among the most
contentious and disruptive was Henry C. Atwood a 'favorite pupil of Cross'. His
ambitions and trouble making extended to the Ancient and Accepted Rite, and
Cross was persuaded to bring out his 33d diploma and accept the spot as titular
head of the 'Atwood' Council. Other respectable individuals who had been named
without being consulted did not serve. Within a year Cross was superseded,
having insisted on Royal Arch membership as a pre-requisite for admission, and
Templar Knighthood for advancement.
Jeremy took his Masonry into retirement with him, encouraged the reactivation
of Grafton Lodge in Haverhill, installed and instructed the officers and was a
regular attendant until a few months before he died on January 26, 1860. His
headstone memorializes a Right Worshipful Grand Lecturer and features an
emblem of the 33d degree. All very complimentary to a 'modest, devoted and
influential Mason.' Still more so is the epitaph which reads 'A Pattern Son and
Brother', one who was truly 'amiable, distinguished and exemplary'.
Notes and further reading.
The 'History of the Cryptic Rite' by Hinman, Denslow and Hunt, prints the
diary of Jeremy Ladd Cross in the appendix. Reprints of the Proceedings of the
several Grand bodies in Connecticut are basic references. Histories of the Rite
in North Carolina and Virginia are interesting reading. Authorized histories
of the Scottish Rite, both South and North, as well as Folger's, are not always
in agreement. An 'illustrated' twenty page biographical pamphlet by Brother
Case, compiled for the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire in 1958, is out of print.
Entries in Masonic encyclopedias vary in length and content.
NOTE: R.W. Bro. Case resides at Wells Apt. 302, 55 Masonic Ave.,
Wallingford, Conn. 06492.
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