of items of interest to Masons, many of which are not a normal part of the regular minutes of the Secretary. That he make report in December of each year to the Craft and that such report become another chapter in the History Of Unity Lodge.
May the following be of as much interest to you here assembled as it has been to me in preparing it.
The first Masonic Lodge of record in this area was known as Chester No. 61. According to Grand Lodge records it convened at Front Royal, County of Fauquier, and was chartered an petition to the Grand Lodge of Virginia on December 11, 1799. How Front Royal came to be mentioned as being of Fauquier County, we do not know. It is possible that this lodge may have been located in the Chester Gap area with Front Royal as a Post Office Address.
It’s charter members were:
| John Hickman | Worshipful Master |
| William Reynolds | Senior Warden |
| Moses Payne | Junior Warden |
In 1804, Chester No. 61 made it’s last return to Grand Lodge.
| Samuel Turner | Worshipful Master |
| John Latham | Senior Warden |
| John Tuttle | Junior Warden |
| Charles R. Mastin | Secretary |
| John Hickman | Treasurer |
| George Cooper | Senior Deacon |
| Francis T. Mastin | Junior Deacon |
| John Hickman | Steward |
| Hugh McMellon | Tyler |
Past Masters: John Hickman, Strauther G. Settle, Mason Pilcher, William Ash, Vincent Haynes, Sam’l Shackleford, Robt Hereford, Robt Simpson.
Master Masons: Wm. Monroe, Wm. Wroe, Andrew Turner, John Jacobs, John Hamston, Isaac Henry, Daniel White.
Fellowcrafts: Robert Jones
Entered Apprentices: Wm. Moreland
This Lodge made no other returns to Grand Lodge. It was declared extinct and the number 61 reassigned on December 12, 1848.
Thus passed into oblivion, the first Masonic Lodge in this area of the Blue Ridge and of the Shenandoah Valley. In all probability, the members scattered and perhaps became affiliated with Lodges in other areas as their names do not appear on the records of later Lodges in this area.
However, as time passed, new interest in Masonry awakened; good and able men of the area who perhaps had affiliated with other Lodges in other towns which necessitated longer distances to travel, especially at night, conceived the idea of reestablishing a Masonic Lodge in Front Royal, and again we refer to the Grand Lodge Records in Richmond, Virginia. Here we learn that on the 14th of February 1816, a dispensation was granted to Front Royal Lodge #102, A. F. & A. M., with Cyrus D. Baldwin as Worshipful Master; William Robertson as Senior Warden, and William D.
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Unity Lodge No. 146 