CHARTER MEMBERS: Who were these men? Thomas Hunt

Dr. Thomas G. Hunt was born Jan 8, 1779, Granville Co., NC.  He died 1862, in Gay Hill,Texas.  The husband of Elizabeth Duke,and son of Memucan & Mary (Wade) Hunt, His father, Memucan was a US Revolutionary War Soldier and the “First Treasurer” of NC 1777 - 1787.

Hunt family history recalls the cause of death as being due to robbery and murder while Dr. Hunt was traveling on the La Bahia Road early in 1862 about 4 miles northwest of his home. Local legend indicates Dr. Hunt is buried in Oak Rest Cemetery.

CHARTER MEMBERS: Who Were These Men? David Fisher

Additional information added Jan. 18, 2019

David Fisher was a prominent Baptist Missionary. His brother Orceneth, an equally prominent Methodist Missionary.  A photo of his tombstone, right, fallen over and forgotten was found on the internet, but the location of that burial site was unknown – until 2014. 

Research demonstrates that David Fisher was a prominent Baptist Missionary of the Union Baptist Association.  He was instrumental in founding or leading many churches that would go on to become prominent in their communities, among them: 

• Brenham Church, Washington County constituted in 1846 by R.E.B. Baylor and Hosea Garrett.  the First Pastor of Brenham church was David Fisher.  Brenham Church would later become "Brenham's First Baptist Church."

• Union Church, Washington County constituted in 1851 by R.E.B. Baylor, G.W. Baines, and H.L. Graves.  David Fisher was the first pastor of this Baptist Church.  Was this church located in Gay Hill as part of the "church and Masonic Lodge" referenced in Baylor Lodge minutes?  It would seem so since many of those constituting the church are also the officers and members of Baylor Lodge:  R.E.B. Baylor, David Fisher, along with his wife Nancy and his daughter Eliza, John Lauderdale, W. G. Veazey, and perhaps others.  As "Union" was the name of the community where his parents were from, and the Baptist Association took the name Union Baptist Association, it would seem logical that Union Church would be closely associated with David Fisher.  Research continues.

Baylor Lodge Restoration Project

Currently, the Baylor Lodge No. 125 restoration project is on hold.  If a groundswell of interest is restored, the project is ready to proceed.  

If you have an interest in pursuing this project in or near Independence, TX please leave your comments.

We have digitized the minutes from its origin in 1853 through its last meeting in 1888.  Now all we need are Masons interested in preserving the Masonic history along the La Bahia trail and old Independence.

Please learn more about the project from these pages:
     Lodge Restoration
     Objective
     Purpose
     1873 Lodge Memorial of Judge Baylor

If you are interested in pursuing this project please contact us.

The Sine of Masonry (Conclusion)

By Sir Knight Thomas J. Driber, Ph.D.
Excerpted from an article in the Knight Templar Magazine, August, 2015  for educational purposes.

Builders

So one may ask, what does all this mean and why is this important?  The answer lies in the question of whether or not we are Masons .... So then, what is a Mason?  insofar as we claim the Operative Masons as our "ancient brethren" we must define ourselves according to what our ancient brethren were.  They were builders.  They built cathedrals, convents, shrines, priories, etc.  They built or created something where before there was nothing other than raw materials.  As such we can say that they were builders, and builders are in this world, creators.  As we do not build with brick and mortar, we are now speculative Masons or philosophical Masons, building a corpus of moral science upon which to guide our lives.  Simply put, we are thinking Masons who are building in the vanguard of creation, expanding the universe through our thoughts and actions.  In this regard we are the light after which we incessantly week, creating as in the beginning, in the present, and in the future which is now.

Education on the La Bahia Road

Washington County was one of the religious and educational centers of early Texas by virtue of one of the capitals of the Republic's being located there. A failure to provide education facilities was one complaint Texas revolutionaries had against the Mexican government. But after independence, the government of the Republic, lacking money, did no better. Therefore the early responsibility for education fell to private and religious groups.  

The church denominations were interested in training ministers, as well as providing a general education. Dr. Frederick Eby, an education historian, calculated there were 19 educational institutions chartered by the Republic of Texas, including Baylor University and a forerunner of Southwestern University of Georgetown, the state's two oldest educational institutions.

The Sine of Masonry (Part 3)

By Sir Knight Thomas J. Driber, Ph.D.
Excerpted from an article in the Knight Templar Magazine, August, 2015  for educational purposes.

Jacob's Ladder

In the allegory of Jacob's ladder, Jacob is said to have left his father's house at Beer-Sheba and traveled toward Haran.  He stopped for the night and gathered rocks for his pillow, and after falling asleep, he dreamed of a ladder extending from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth.  Angelic beings were descending and ascending the ladder (Gen. 28: 10-22).  At the top of the ladder is the voice of God which speaks to Jacob.  Clearly we find Jacob in the material world as symbolized by his head laying on the denseness of a rock as he dreams of the voice of God and the ongoing descent and ascent of those angelic beings going up and down the ladder from heaven to earth and back again.  Again, the periodic oscillation of proportional displacement is depicted in imagery for us as a sine wave of continuous undulation of up and down on the ladder.  With God's voice at the top of the ladder, there can be no doubt as to where those beings are going who are ascending up.  With Jacob asleep with his head on a rock there can be no doubt as to where those are going who descend the ladder into the density of the material world.

More to come...

Gay Hill

Gay Hill is a historic town with strong business and cultural ties to Independence, Texas.  The town was an educational and religious center on the La Bahía Road in early Texas. Rev. Hugh Wilson established the second Presbyterian church in Texas there in 1839. Presbyterians from throughout the republic met in the community, then known as Chriesman Settlement, to organize the Brazos Presbytery in 1840. By 1840 the Republic of Texas established a post office in the new town under the name Gay Hill, after the owners of the town store, Thomas Gay and William Carroll Jackson Hill.

The beautiful forested hills and healthy climate attracted prominent early Texans, including residents Horatio Chriesman, R. E. B. Baylor, John Sayles, and Dr. George C. Red. Horticulturist Thomas Affleck's Glenblythe Plantation was located in the Gay Hill vicinity. Old Gay Hill served as the supply point of a moderately prosperous agricultural area. In 1854 a Masonic lodge was founded there.  Between 1853 and 1888 Rev. James W. Miller operated Live Oak Female Seminary in Gay Hill. By 1860 the town had flour and lumber mills and a population of 280. After the Civil War a cotton gin augmented the town's prosperity; retail establishments continued to thrive. The Masonic lodge and Presbyterian and Baptist churches were active.