Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Purpose for Restoring Baylor Lodge

1) To Memorialize Judge R. E. B. Baylor with the Masonic Lodge that HE started and that was named in his honor.  A War of 1812 veteran, a lawyer, a state representative, a Mason, an ordained Baptist minister, a congressman, a judge, a missionary teacher and law professor, a framer of the Texas Constitution, a founder of Baptist associations, and of a University that bears his name, Judge R. E. B. Baylor is worthy of remembrance.


Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor  was born May 5, 1793 and lived until January 6, 1874.  He was a Kentucky native who served in the military during the War of 1812. After the war he studied and then practiced law in Kentucky. He was briefly a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1819 to 1820 before he resigned and moved to Alabama.

In Alabama he practiced law, studied theology, was licensed to preach, and was ordained to the Baptist ministry. In 1824 he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives. Baylor was elected as a Jacksonian to the Twenty-first Congress and was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1830 to the Twenty-second Congress.

In 1839, Baylor moved to Texas.  He was elected judge of the district and supreme courts of the Republic of Texas and was a member of the convention that framed the State constitution of Texas in 1845.  For over twenty years, Robert Emmett Bledsoe Baylor traveled on horseback with a Texas law book in one saddle-bag and the Holy Bible in the other, dispensing justice and preaching the gospel.  Baylor served as a district judge for twenty-five years.

Baylor came to Texas and settled near La Grange in Fayette County, establishing a missionary school. He also assisted in establishing the Texas Baptist Union Association and the Texas Baptist Education Society. Through this society he co-founded what came to be known as Baylor University in 1845 with the Reverend William Tryon and Reverend James Huckins--the first Baptist missionary to Texas.

A Mason since 1825, he served as Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Texas in 1843, 1846 and 1847. In 1853 he helped establish Baylor Lodge No. 125 at Gay Hill, Washington County, his home until his death.

Author of the charter of his namesake university, Baylor served on its Board of Trustees and as a professor of law from 1845 until his death.  Baylor died in 1874 at Gay Hill.  Baylor Lodge No. 125 ceased its operations fourteen years later in 1888.

Baylor never married. He died on December 30, 1873, and was buried, as he had requested, on the campus of Baylor University at Independence. His remains were reinterred in 1917 on the campus of Baylor Female College (now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor).  

It is time that the Masonic Lodge that he founded resume its labors.

2) To offer an Historic Masonic home to the Baylor Nation.  The Baylor Nation pertains to “all things Baylor University.”  With the restoration of Baylor Lodge No. 125, the Baylor Nation will be able to include a Masonic Lodge founded by Judge Baylor as part of their historical heritage.

3) To work with the Texas Baptist History Museum to protect the Baptist History associated with Baylor Lodge No. 125.  Not only was Judge R. E. B. Baylor a strong proponent of the Baptist traditions, but President of Baylor University, Henry L. Graves, and early Baptist missionary David Fisher were charter members of Baylor Lodge No. 125.  Working with the Texas Baptist History Museum in Independence will serve to help Texas to keep its Baptist History from fading.

4) To assist in the preservation and promotion of the history of Independence, Gay Hill, Baylor University, and Texas Baptists.  Judge Baylor, The Masonic Lodge in Independence, Milam Lodge No. 11 (demised and restored in West Texas in the 1990s), and Baylor Lodge in Gay Hill contain a rich history of metropolitan life on the Texas frontier in the mid to late 1800s.  Baylor Lodge No. 125 may work in assisting and preserving such heritage.

5) To work with other Masonic Lodges in the region to share early Texas Heritage.  Baylor Lodge No 125 will actively work to maintain the historical focus of the region it serves and will work with others who are interested in learning about the history of this region.

6) To offer programs for education, plans for fellowship, time for Masonic practice, and projects to assist our community.  One of the key features of Baylor Lodge No. 125 should be regular programs of education, for fellowship, and times of Masonic practice, and to serve in projects that assist in building up communities.

7) To serve as the historic Masonic Home of R.E.B. Baylor.  Judge R. E. B. Baylor was a Mason and was proud of it.  He served as the Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Texas on three separate occasions.  It is fitting that Baylor Lodge No. 125 serve as the Masonic Home for Judge R. E. B. Baylor.  As Mt. Vernon is associated with George Washington, and Baylor at Independence is associated with the Baylor Universities, so should Baylor Lodge No. 125, the lodge that the man founded and served in until his death, serve as the Masonic home of all things associated with his heritage.

8) Baylor Lodge is anticipated to be a “heritage lodge”, a masonic meeting place, and organization where the heirs of Texas, Washington County history, Baptist history, Baylor history, and Masonic history may meet for education, fellowship, service, and enlightenment.

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