Knights Templar Certificate, 1856
Richard S. Spofford, Jr., joined St. John’s Masonic lodge in Newburyport when he was just twenty one. Two years later, in 1856, he became a Knight Templar and received this certificate. Encampment officers’ signatures verified Spofford’s membership. The signature of the state level Grand Recorder, or secretary, attested to the legitimacy of the Newburyport group.