Letter from Moses Holbrook to John James Joseph Gourgas, 1828 November 17

Letter from Moses Holbrook to John James Joseph Gourgas, 1828 November 17

Letter from Moses Holbrook to John James Joseph Gourgas. Dated November 17, 1828. In this letter, Sovereign Grand Commander Holbrook of the Southern Jurisdiction, who still suffers from the effects of Dengue fever, reports he is returning to Gourgas the documents that were to be sent to Kingston, Jamaica. Holbrook states Peter Javain, a Cerneau follower, has a letter, tableau and calendrier that he will attempt to copy for Gourgas. He fears that John Fowler’s health prevents him from replying to his letter. Reports that Charleston’s African Americans are in the street celebrating Andrew Jackson’s victory in New York, and Freemasonry is far from prospering in South Carolina, as is “the state at large.” Discusses the cost of cotton, the struggles of the state’s planter class, and the “Negro Insurrection” of Denmark Vesey, a carpenter and formerly enslaved person. These problems created a “diversion of investment” in South Carolina and “then a host of laws highly burdensome to the merchants, shipholders [sic] and others,” which led to calls for secession. Concludes by stating his desire that freemasonry may “again flourish."

Collection of the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Lexington, Massachusetts. SC 300.002

1828 11 17

This image is presented for research and educational purposes only, and may not be distributed or republished without permission from the Scottish Rite Mason Museum & Library.

English

A2019/178/0049a

Moses Holbrook Correspondence. Records and correspondence of the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction. See the Museum Archives for more information regarding this collection.

1 item (3 pages) ; 31 x 23 cm.

Gift of the Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the Scottish Rite