The first Freemason according to this book is Nimrod. This should tell you everything you need to know. Mackey's Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (also titled Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry and Its Kindred Sciences) was originally written by Albert Gallatin Mackey (1807–1881), a 33° Scottish Rite Mason and major Masonic historian, and revised/enlarged by Robert Ingham Clegg (also 33°). The spines in the images match the common two-volume set (Vol. 1 A–LEC, Vol. 2 LEC–Z) from the 1929 New Edition by The Masonic History Company. The open page shown is the entry on Nimrod, which quotes old Masonic manuscripts (York Manuscript No. 1 and Cooke Manuscript) describing him as a founder figure who organized masons and built the Tower of Babel and cities such as Nineveh. These are traditional Masonic legends, not historical claims; organized speculative Freemasonry dates to the early 18th century. 🔽 Freemasonry reached the American colonies from Britain in the early 18th century, with organized activity documented by 1730 and the first formally constituted lodges appearing in Philadelphia and Boston shortly afterward. Modern speculative Freemasonry (as distinct from operative stonemason guilds) coalesced in England with the formation of the Grand Lodge of England in 1717. It spread with colonial settlers, merchants, officials, and military personnel. Individual Masons were present earlier: Jonathan Belcher (later a colonial governor) was made a Mason in London around 1704, and Philadelphia port collector John Moore recorded attending “Masonic festivities” with brethren in 1715. Newspaper notices and lodge records show activity by the 1730s, though claims of a single “first” lodge depend on definitions of formality and surviving evidence. Official Beginnings: 1730–1733 The first official English recognition came on June 5, 1730, when the Grand Lodge of England (the “Moderns”) appointed Colonel Daniel Coxe of New Jersey as Provincial Grand Master for New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Coxe’s authority was limited in practice (he spent time in England and is not recorded as chartering many lodges himself), but the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania traditionally dates its lineage from this appointment. Benjamin Franklin reported in his Pennsylvania Gazette (December 8, 1730) that “several Lodges of Free Masons” existed in the province. In Philadelphia, the earliest surviving American lodge records are those of St. John’s Lodge (meeting at the Tun Tavern on the waterfront). The account book known as “Liber B” begins on June 24, 1731 (St. John’s Day), but Franklin’s dues payments imply activity at least from late 1730 or early 1731. This is often described as a “time-immemorial” or self-constituted lodge operating under older customs before receiving formal warrants. Pennsylvania Masons claim primacy for continuous organized activity from this period.⁠Freemasons-freemasonry In Boston, Henry Price (a tailor who had emigrated around 1723 and was made a Mason in England) received a deputation as Provincial Grand Master of New England in April 1733 from the Grand Lodge of England. On July 30, 1733, he convened brethren at the Bunch of Grapes tavern on King (now State) Street and constituted “The First Lodge” (later St. John’s Lodge). Massachusetts Masons regard this as the first duly warranted and regularly constituted lodge in the Americas under explicit provincial authority. Informal meetings of Masons had reportedly occurred in Boston earlier (including at King’s Chapel in the 1720s). These early centers operated under English (and later Scottish or Irish) warrants. There was no single overarching American body; provincial grand lodges and individual lodges remained autonomous under British authority. Benjamin Franklin and Early Growth Benjamin Franklin was initiated into the Philadelphia lodge around 1730–1731. He quickly became active: Junior Grand Warden by 1732, Grand Master of Pennsylvania in 1734, and secretary for several years. In 1734 he printed the first American edition of James Anderson’s Constitutions of the Free-Masons (originally published in London in 1723). Franklin’s writings shifted from mild satire of the fraternity before his initiation to strong support afterward. He remained involved for decades and is one of the best-documented early American Masons. Lodges appeared elsewhere in the 1730s: Charleston, South Carolina (Solomon’s Lodge, 1736); evidence in Savannah, Georgia, and New York City by the late 1730s; and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, soon after. Traveling British military lodges helped spread the Craft to ports, garrisons, and settlements. By the time of the Revolution, more than 100 lodges operated across the colonies under English, Irish, or Scottish charters. The Ancients and Moderns A major development was the rivalry between the original Grand Lodge of England (“Moderns,” founded 1717) and the rival Antient Grand Lodge (“Ancients,” founded 1751 under leaders such as Laurence Dermott). The Ancients accused the Moderns of innovations in ritual and attracted more artisans, soldiers, and middling sorts, while early Modern lodges were often associated with merchants, lawyers, and officials. Both systems chartered lodges in the colonies; the Ancients eventually became more numerous in many areas. Prominent figures such as Franklin and later George Washington were associated with the Moderns. The schism was formally resolved in England in 1813 with the United Grand Lodge of England, and American jurisdictions gradually consolidated. Toward Independence During the colonial period, lodges remained tied to British grand lodges. After the Revolution, independent American grand lodges formed. The Grand Lodge of Virginia (1778) was among the first fully independent ones; others followed in the 1780s–1790s as state jurisdictions replaced provincial ones. This completed the transition from an imported British institution to a distinctly American network of sovereign grand lodges. In short, Freemasonry began in the United States as an extension of the British Craft among colonial elites and professionals in the 1730s, centered first in Philadelphia and Boston, with formal structure under provincial grand masters, and it expanded steadily before independence reshaped its organization. Primary sources include lodge minute books (especially Liber B), Franklin’s Gazette, and English grand lodge deputations; scholarly treatments such as Steven Bullock’s Revolutionary Brotherhood provide broader context on its social role. Claims of absolute priority between Pennsylvania and Massachusetts remain a friendly jurisdictional point of pride rather than a settled historical fact. Source: Grok xitter.cf/i/grok/share/c2hhcmQtM…