Early History of Levy County Masonic Lodges Available

Levy County family researchers and other interested persons have another resource to help them learn more about the lives of their ancestors. Levy County Genealogy and History Society member, Dix Stephens, has compiled a listing of the Masonic Lodges of Levy County and other nearby lodges.

The twenty page pamphlet lists the date the lodge was chartered, the names of the charter members, and the date many of the lodges went defunct or merged. The names of previous lodges of membership are noted also.

The first lodges in Florida were established when we were just territory and they were constituted by the Grand Lodges of Georgia and Alabama. After three such Lodges were formed, a convention was held and a Grand Lodge of Florida was established with the authority to further establish new Lodges in the territory.

New Lodges were formed by petition to the Grand Lodge by local Masons who were desirous of forming a local Lodge and thereby not have to travel such great distances to attend meetings. Early Levy County Lodges included Brown Lodge No. 51 meeting at Levyville, chartered 16 January 1867; Bronson Lodge No. 7, chartered 13 January 1875; Cedar Key Lodge No. 74, charter 13 January 1876; Judson Lodge No. 100, chartered 18 January 1888; and Ornan Lodge No. 117 meeting at Williston, chartered 22 January 1890.

The publication is $3.50 postage paid and is available from the Levy County Genealogy and History Society, P.O. Box 159, Bronson, FL 32621. From more information, please call Dix Stephens at 447-2966, Toni Collins at 486-5275, or Cindy Jo Ayers at 486-2312.

Masons outside the Judson Lodge No. 100, Judson, Florida. Photograph taken between 1890 and 1895. Photograph from Florida State Archives Photographic Collection.