From the East for March 2021

Brothers,

Well the year keeps marching on and weather changes have really added to the isolation and current state of hibernation. At least that’s he feeling I am getting. I hope you are all not getting too comfortable being away from the Lodge lately.

In the Grand Master’s message as of January 29th, all meeting restrictions are withdrawn with the following exceptions.

  • NY State guidelines on gatherings indoors still as of this writing limited to 50.
  • Masks still must be worn indoors and social distancing observed
  • Degrees are still under the COVID modified rules.

So in light of the lessening of restrictions, our next Stated Communication on March 4th 2021 will be in person and attire will be business. We’ll be meeting upstairs for this one and there is very good reason for this. In just a few short weeks really, the Lodge will be holding elections and hopefully investiture and Installations. Our Jr. Officers really need to be back in the Lodge and practicing their ritual so they can take the reins and keep the Lodge running into the future.

I hope to bring as many back into Lodge as possible, since 50 at a meeting is unheard of, I’ll gamble that we do not come near that number, although it would be really cool to see it. Freemasonry will endure and so will Potunk Lodge and we need officers to know the work and be able to take the lead.

I have high hopes that by April we’ll be able to begin planning some fundraisers to try and get back to assuring the financial future of the Lodge as well.

I truly hope all are healthy and doing well and can come out and be with your Brothers in a Lodge setting and enjoy human to human interaction and enjoy true Brotherhood.

President’s Day Message

My Brothers, Snow seems to be the gift that keeps on giving As I listen to what is happening in the “field” and I am happy that you continue keep on giving. As a result of adapting to the Governor’s color-coding of zones for Lodge attendance, I am seeing Lodges once again safely conducting degrees […]

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Super Bowl 2021

Super Bowl 2021

Brothers from Smithtown Lodge Volunteered to deliver meals to veterans in homeless shelters all over long island for a special Heros for Heroes for Super Bowl Sunday.  This tradition has been going on for years delivering meals to veterans in shelters to let them know they are not forgotten.

Brother Robert Cornicelli of Veterans Recovery Coalition with assistance of Bro. William Mountzouros, Bro. Jay Dimucci and Bro. Mariusz Bialecki (not in photo) In photo is Assemblyman Michael Durso who volunteered to deliver meals also.

Thank you Brothers for all your efforts in being good Masons and helping out veterans in need.

The post Super Bowl 2021 first appeared on Smithtownlodge1127.

From the Secretary Jan-Feb 2021

My Brothers,

 

I hope this communication finds you all staying safe and in good health.

 

You should all have received your dues notices for 2021 dues and thank you to those who have already sent them in. If you have not please remember that due to Covid we have not been able to have any fund raisers or rentals, both very important to meeting the expenses of the lodge, including our GL assessment.

 

Hoping we can get back to seeing each other at Lodge soon!!

Fraternally – Jimmy G.

From the East Jan-Feb 2021

Brothers,

As all have been keenly aware of the ongoing situation with COVID and meetings at Lodges, I am concerned about the ongoing damage to the Craft that virtualized meetings are doing. That being said, we are Masons and we are obligated to follow the rules, edicts and laws of the Grand Lodge. That’s all I will say about that.

There are a few things going on at our Lodge that we should all know about. Mainly that although we so far have been able to keep things going regarding the building and bills etc., this situation will soon turn critical.

I discussed in the last 2 meetings (1 virtual one in person) the fact that LIPMA has setup a grant program to assist with some of the losses in revenue due to the above situation Lodges are having. I have asked the Secretary, to review the info/application packet and begin pulling together the required documentation so that we may submit an application for the Grant this month.

I am still optimistic that by March/April we’ll begin to see the light at the end of this very long tunnel and begin to operate normally again.

Going forward I will resist any virtual Lodge Communications (unless new directives from the Grand Master are released). So I will be opening the Lodge as normal starting with the first meeting in February.

I hope all are staying healthy and safe this days and as in previous posts, wanted to thank all who have been busy at the Lodge all these long months getting things done that have been needed for some time, painting, tiling and fixing.

I look forward to seeing many of you soon at the Lodge and back to the quarries doing what we do.

We have a few candidates in waiting for sometime now and we need to look to get these potential Brothers initiated and educated.

Fraternally,

V:.W:. Bill Arnold

Master

Potunk Lodge #1071

From the West Jan-Feb 2021

Brothers,

I hope all is well with everyone! During these trying times I think we should all reflect on ourselves and our families. I want to give a special thank you to some brothers that have been doing a lot of work at the lodge! RW: Jimmy W:Kevin and Brother Dominick. Thank you so much guys! I really hope this year will go back to normal.

We can finally get our new guys who have been waiting for so long through as we did. Take care brothers and I hope to see you soon!

Fraternally,

Bro. Jeremy Conner

Sr. Warden

Potunk Lodge #1071

From the South Jan-Feb 2021

Greetings my Brothers,

 

I think it appropriate to point out that even in the most troubled times, perhaps especially so, that we remember what Masonry represents and why we proud to be a part of it. Charity, brotherhood, self improvement and moral behavior, in the eyes of the Grand Architect of the Universe are among our most sacred mandates. Although we are unable to meet at lodge in traditional fashion to practice our craft, we are still able to carry on the spirit of Masonry by helping someone less fortunate and in need.

As I write this article, it is snowing and Center Moriches is in a state of emergency. I think i will go help shovel some snow for my elderly neighbor and see if any of my older clients need a hand. I encourage you all to keep your heads up and make the most of the moment by carrying on the work we have all endeavored to do. Covid 19 will be a distant memory soon enough. It is much easier to be a good person when times are good,  A man is better defined in the tough times, when the chips are down as you really get a glimpse into their true character.

Rise to the challenge my Brothers!

Bro. Jeff Lanzet

Jr. Warden

Potunk Lodge #1071

Going forward in 2021

Brothers,

Many of you have been getting updates from the web, Facebook etc. on the state of the pandemic and the restrictions we are currently under. You can go on over to suffolkmasons.com and the latest video message from MW Sardone is on the home page.

By the way I am of the belief that the image in this post is more and more a reality in this era than ever before.

There are only effectively 5 months left of my time in the east and although it has been challenging to try and gather and meet as Brothers we have done OK.  It seems that time truly does fly.

What we will be focusing on the next few months, restrictions or not, will be to train and educate our up and coming officers and ritual and Lodge management. I would ask that all elected and appointed officers please do your very best to attend in person meetings Feb-June 2021 so we can assure you are prepared to lead the lodge into the months and years to come.

Of course we will continue to follow all directives and edicts as good and true Brothers but although “Masonry never stops” is the current mantra, “slowing to a crawl” is not what I had envisioned at all. There are still lodges doing things here and there and some charitable giving etc. but time is that we need the Brotherhood and companionship face to face (albeit with covered faces) more then ever.

So I will say if you are feeling healthy and would like to attend please join us over the coming weeks and months as we begin our work anew to prepare our Jr officers for Mastership.

Bully! In Search of the lost origins of the Mysterious Water Buffalo Head

By W:. Ronald J. Seifried, DSA

No current furnishing, artifact, or memorabilia has been discussed in Jephtha Lodge more than the mysterious African water buffalo head mounted on a second-floor wall. Some of the wild conspiracy theories include the long-held legacy than the mighty beast was hunted and killed by nearby resident and Brother Theodore Roosevelt and personally delivered to the Huntington lodge by the former President.

As our late Brother coined over one hundred years ago, “Bully!”

The Expeditions of Theodore Roosevelt

Our mystery commences in February 1915, when Theodore Roosevelt delivered a lecture entitled “My Masonic Experiences in South America and Africa” to his local masonic brothers residing near his home in Cove Neck. An invitation went out to the members of his own Matinecock No. 806 and their parent lodge, Jephtha No. 494 in Huntington. It is estimated over 30 Jephtha brothers from Huntington trekked over to Roosevelt’s home in Sagamore Hill, including one of his second degree examiners, R:.W:. Douglass Conklin for this exclusive gathering. While in Africa, Roosevelt did find time to visit a masonic lodge in Nairobi, in the British colony of Kenya, but the focus was clearly on his hunting exploits.

Roosevelt’s first expedition started just 19 days after the conclusion of his final term as President. Organized by the Smithsonian Institute to collect specimens for their new Natural History Museum, the small group was led by legendary hunter-tracker R. J. Cunninghame and set sail for East Africa on March 23, 1909. By the end of the trip over 10 months later, the team killed or trapped approximately 11,397 specimens, including 512 by Roosevelt and his son Kermit. Roosevelt kept a detailed diary of his adventures and later published the exact list of his kills in the book “African Game Trails.”  The variety of big game personally hunted by the former president was extraordinary, including lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, elephant, white rhino, the now exceedingly rare black rhino and ten buffalos-six by the former president and four by his son Kermit.

Roosevelt stated in his book, “Kermit and I kept about a dozen trophies for ourselves; otherwise, we shot nothing that was not used either as a museum specimen or for meat…the mere size of the bag indicates little as to a man’s prowess as a hunter, and almost nothing as to the interest or value of his achievement.” If Roosevelt’s claim that the family only kept one dozen for themselves is accurate, a tour through the Sagamore Hill home would count for most if not all these specimens.

Roosevelt later led a scientific survey expedition in South America between December 1913 to April 1914 to follow the path of the Rio da Dúvida in the Amazon basin. The problematic tour including many members coming down with malaria, poorly supplied food leading to starvation diets, one person drowning, one person murdered, and his accused killer left behind in the jungle to perish. Roosevelt himself was near death after having received a gash in his leg that later became infected. Roosevelt returned to New York greatly weakened and never fully recovering, dying at his Cove Neck home less than five years later. There is no record of Roosevelt hunting for buffalo in South America.

Roosevelt started giving lectures in May 1914 in part to silence the critics doubting he discovered the river and made the exhibition. These series of lectures included his invitation-only event to Oyster Bay  and Huntington Freemasons in February 1915. Unfortunately, there are no known records of the lodge receiving a prized water buffalo head from Roosevelt.

A Forgotten Sale from a Coroner

But Roosevelt was not the only big game hunter to cross paths with Jephtha Lodge. On February 15, 1937, Jephtha Lodge took possession of nine taxidermied animal parts from Dr. William B. Gibson in exchange for one dollar of American currency. The list of stuffed animal parts included two large, mounted moose heads; two mounted deer heads; two mounted caribou heads; two mounted deer hoofs and one moose horn. The bill of sale was accepted by W:. Allison E. Lowndes, Past Master (1922) and longtime Trustee of Jephtha and filed in the archives by W:. Herman Chris Lorck, Secretary (1935-1944) and Past Master of Jephtha (1932).

There is no known connection between Dr. Gibson and Jephtha Lodge. He was not raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason, nor is there any record of a petition. There is also no recorded proof that Gibson hunted the mammals or if he acquired the pieces from an intermediary.

William B. Gibson (1855-1941) was born in Clarenceville, Quebec, Canada to Dr. John B. (b. Scotland) and Lucy S. Baker Gibson. In 1878, he obtained his medical degree from McGill Medical College (now McGill University) in Quebec. Gibson practiced medicine in London for one year, before returning to Dunham, Quebec. Between 1878-1885, he was an Assistant Surgeon of the 60th Canadian Regiment, obtaining the rank of Major in a commission signed by Queen Victoria. Appointed to the Medical Department at the University of Vermont in 1885, Gibson lectured on materia medica and obstetrics until 1889.

Gibson moved to Huntington, New York in 1891, living on 153 Main Street (1900 -1920) and 71 New Street (1930-41). Elected President of the Queens and Nassau Counties Medical Society and Associated Physicians of Long Island in 1901, Gibson was the Suffolk County Coroner for several decades. In 1880 he married Amelia Caroline Moore, and they had two sons, Gordon, and Frederick.

The big game trophies from the collection of Dr. Gibson have long vanished from the rooms of Jephtha Lodge. Although water buffalo is not listed as part of Gibson’s former collection, there is no evidence that his items were acquired in the African continent.

In Search of Additional Evidence

We can determine that the mounted head on the second floor is a water buffalo based on its horns growing slightly downward and backward, then curve upward in a spiral. More common in Asia, water or river buffalo, can be found in Egypt. But Roosevelt’s safari was in the sub-Saharan part of Africa, miles away from the northeast corner of Egypt and based on photographic evidence, Roosevelt only hunted cape buffalo.

The water buffalo was introduced in the Amazon river basin in 1895, which was part of Roosevelt’s 1913-14 exhibition. Because of the challenging South American survey trip, including almost facing death, it is not believed Roosevelt did any hunting in the continent during his three months stay.

The origin story of the old water buffalo staring out to curious onlookers with its glass eyes in the small second floor room will remain a mystery for the time being. It does not stop brothers from spinning tales to unsuspecting visitors that Jephtha Lodge’s connection to Long Island’s most famous freemason is more than a proficiency examiner and personal lecturer. The framed picture of the former president with one of his African prizes still hangs adjacent to the mounted head, with a black and blue masonic baseball cap on one of its horns. The evidence is not clear, but Jephtha lodge members can carry the infamous legacy forward as a distinct possibility if not a certainty, the TR Buffalo can retain its moniker.

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