Central Lodge #44, Free and Accepted Masons, was constituted on September 6, 1856 in Vincentown NJ.
Central Lodge #44, Free and Accepted Masons, was constituted on September 6, 1856. According to the minute’s book and the notes available from that time, "A meeting of Free and Accepted Ancient York Masons, to be called Central Lodge." Its officers and charter members were members of Mount Holly Lodge #14, who for reasons, although valid at the time, are not known to us now; saw fit to break away from the Mount Holly Lodge and petition the Grand Lodge to warrant a new Lodge. Right Worshipful Theodore R. Varick, District Deputy Grand Master, installed Charles C. Simms as Worshipful Master; George C. Brown as Senior Warden, and Alexander Elwell as Junior Warden. The remaining signers of the petition were George Harvey of Louisiana; William B. Rogers; Joseph L. Oliphant, and Charles K. Hulme of Bristol, Pa ... These were the Charter Members of Central Lodge #-l-l and by December of 1856 twelve more members who had demitted from Mount Holly Lodge # 14, something that would not take place today, joined them.
The first years were marked by a slow increase in members and the loss of others by death, the call to arms, as Brother Charles C. Simms attended only one meeting after his installation as Master. He was "called to sea by the U.S. Government." Others demitted after several years for reasons apparent only to them. But membership grew until the outbreak of the Civil War and then there was a period of steady loss; by the end of 1865 there were only twenty-seven left. The minute books and collection of random notes for the time give instances and insight to the finances of the Lodge. On May 15, 1857 the Lodge offered a reward of $5.00 for the return of the first minute book, which was either lost or stolen. Also an entry mentions the Members approving the payment of twenty-five cents for lamp oil. Those years were difficult ones, not entirely because of money, but during the Civil War years there were few members in attendance. The Lodge continued to meet in Mount Holly until January 1863, when they decided to move to Vincentown. The first recorded meeting being on February 27, 1863 in the Odd Fellows Hall.
