Did you know that former Secretary of State James Baker's great-great grandfather served as Worshipful Master of Florence Lodge # 14 from 1849 to 1851?

Florence Lodge # 14 F & A M
DIRECTIONS: Court Street at Tombigbee; Florence.

City - Florence

County - Lauderdale

Meetings are 1st & 3rd Monday

"Last Night I Knelt Where Hiram Knelt"



Last night I knelt where Hiram knelt

And took an obligation.

Today I'm closer to my God

And I'm a Master Mason.



Tho' heretofore my fellow men

Seemed each one like the other,

Today I search each one apart;

I'm looking for "My Brother".



And, as I feel this friendly grip,

It fills my heart with pride;

I know that while I'm on the square

That he is on my side.



His footsteps on my errand go

If I should such require;

His prayers will plead in my behalf

If I should so desire.



My words are safe within his breast

As though within my own;

His hand forever at my back

To help me safely Home...



Good counsel whispers in my ear

And warns of any danger;

By Square and Compass, Brother now!

Who once would call me stranger.



I might have lived a moral life

And risen to distinction

Without my Brother's helping hand

And fellowship of Masons.



But God, who knows how hard it is

To resist life's temptations

Know why I knelt where Hiram knelt

And took that obligation.



*author unknown

Many famous men throughout history were members of Masonic Lodges.
A few of them were:

COMPOSERS: Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John Phillip Sousa, Richard Wagner, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Listz, and many others.

ENTERTAINERS: John Wayne, Gene Autry, Ernest Borgnine, Joe E. Brown, Bob Burns, Eddie Cantor, Charles D. Coburn, William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, Donald Crisp, Cecil B. DeMille, Richard Dix, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., W.C. Fields, Clark Gable, Arthur Godfrey, David W. Griffith, Oliver Hardy, Jean Hersholt, Harry Houdini, Al Jolson, Charles "Buck" Jones, Harry Kellar, Harold C. Lloyd, Tom Mix, Dick Powell, Will Rogers, Charles S. "Tom Thumb" Stratton, Richard B. "Red" Skelton, Paul Whiteman, Ed Wynn, Darryl Zanuck and many others.

SCULPTORS: Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum (together carved Mt. Rushmore National Memorial), Johann G. Schadow (Prussian Court Sculptor) J. Otto Schweizer and many others.

WRITERS: Robert Burns, Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author of Sherlock Holmes), Edward Gibbon (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), Edgar A. Guest, Rudyard Kipling, Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Scott, Jonathan Swift, Lowell Thomas, Voltair, Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller and many others.

BUSINESS LEADERS: John Jacob Astor (financier), Lloyd Balfour (Jewelry), Lawrence Bell (Bell Aircraft Corp.), William H. Dow (Dow Chemical Co.), Henry Ford, Alfred Fuller (Fuller Brush), King C. Gillett (Gillett Razor Co.), Sir Thomas Lipton (tea), Fredrick Maytag, Andrew W. Mellon (banker), James C. Penny, George Pullman, David Sarnoff (father of T.V.), Leland Stanford (railroads - Stanford Univ.) and many others.

MILITARY LEADERS: Generals John J. Pershing, George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Joseph Stillwell, Johnathon Wainwright, Curtis E. LaMay, Omar N. Bradley, Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Claire L. Chenault, Mark Clark, James Doolittle, Admirals David G. Farragut (First Admiral of the U.S. Navy), Ernest J. King, Richard Byrd and many others.

UNITED STATES PATRIOTS: Francis Scott Key (wrote our National Anthem), Ralph Bellamy (wrote our Pledge of Allegiance), Paul Revere, John Paul Jones, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Patrick Henry and many others.

UNITED STATES POLITICIANS: Thomas Dewey, Everett Dirksen, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, John Marshall, Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey, Robert Dole, Jack Kemp and others.

UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS: George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, James Garfield, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Gerald Ford.

WORLD LEADERS: Emilio Aguinaldo (Phillippine Patriot and General), Miguel Aleman (Mexican President 1947-52), Eduard Benes (President of Czechoslovakia 1939-48), Sveinn Bjornsson (1st President of Iceland), Simon Bolivar ("George Washington of S. America") Napoleon Bonaparte (and his four brothers), King Charles XIII (King of Sweden 1748-1818), Sir Winston Churchill, Randolph Churchill, King Edward VII and King Edward VIII (Kings of England, 1901-10 & 36, respectively), Francis II (Holy Roman Emperor, 1768-1806), Frederick the Great (King of Prussia 1740-86), George I & George II (Kings of Greece, 1845-1913 & 1922-47), George IV & George VI (Kings of England 1760-1820 & 1820-30), Gustavus VI Adolphus (King of Sweden 1792-1809), Kamehemeha IV and Kemehemeha V (Kings of Hawaii (1854-63 & 1863-72) Leopold I (King of Belgium (1831-65), Peter the Great (Emperor of Russia 1689-1725), William I (King of Prussia 1861-88), William II (King of the Netherlands (1792-1849), William IV (King of England (1830-37) and many others.

RELIGIOUS LEADERS: James C. Baker (Bishop, Methodist Church, organized first Wesley Foundation in U.S.), Hosea Ballou (Founder, Universalist Church), Robert E. B. Baylor (Baptist clergyman, founder of Baylor University), Preston Bradley (founder of the Peoples Church), Father Francisco Calvo (Catholic Priest who started Freemasonry in Costa Rica in 1865), Hugh I. Evans (National head of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.), Most Reverend Geoffrey F. Fisher (former Archbishop of Canterbury), Eugene M. Frank (Methodist Bishop), Reverend Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (Methodist Episcopal minister and author) Titus Low (President of Methodist Council of Bishops), Thomas Starr King, Swami Vivekananda and many others.

ASTRONAUTS: Ed Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Gordon Cooper, Don Eisle, Virgil Grissom, Ed Michell, Tom Stafford, Fred Haise, and Wally Shirra.

EXPLORERS: Hiram Bingham (Discoverer of Machu Picchu), James Bruce (Discoverer of the source of the Blue Nile), Adm. Richard E. Byrd, Christopher "Kit" Carson, William Clark; Merriwether Lewis, and Robert E. Peary.

INVENTORS AND SCIENTISTS: Samuel Colt (firearms), Sir Alexander Fleming (penicillin), Edward Jenner (vaccination) Simon Lake (first practical submarine), John L. McAdam (Macadamized roads), Luther Burbank and many others.

SPORTS: Grover C. Alexander, Cy Young, Jack Dempsey, Arnold Palmer, Tyrus R. "Ty" Cobb, Carl O. Hubbell, Christopher "Christy" Mathewson, Mordecai P.C. Brown, Gordon "Mickey" Corchran, Avery Brundage, Albert "Happy" Chandler, Branch Rickey, Knute Rockne and many others.

YOUTH ORGANIZATION FOUNDERS: Daniel Carter Beard (Boy Scouts), Frank S. Land (International Order of DeMolay), William Mark Sexson (International Order of Rainbow for Girls

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