On June 24, 1717, this being St. John the Baptist Day, the members of four old Lodges in London, England, met together in Grand Assembly to form the Grand Lodge of England. That this was a speculative Lodge is evidenced by the election of one styled "Anthony Sayer, gentleman," as Grand Master. All modern Freemasonry traces its beginning under the Grand Lodge system of government to this Grand Lodge.
Freemasonry came to America about the third decade of the Eighteenth Century when Lodges were established in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia. American Freemasons can take pride in the part which the members of this Fraternity played in the history of our country.
Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons and the same statement is true of those who signed the Constitution of the United States. Famous men such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, Lafayette, James Monroe and many others whose names awaken memories of the founding of our country and of Virginia as a State. Since our country's beginning thirteen of its President's have been Masons.
Masons have also won laurels in other field of endeavor and we find them prominent in government, in science, in sports, in entertainment, and finally in man's newest field, that of space exploration with Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, Virgil Grissom and the second man to set foot on the moon -- "Buz" Aldrin, all bound by the mystic tie of Freemasonry.
