I haven't heard of that lodge in the B'ham area, but there were probably a dozen or so lodges operating around the area over the past 150+ years. I'd contact the Grand Lodge of Alabama in Montgomery and see if they can tell you where and when the lodge operated. You have a gold mine of information there in those old books. I'm quite sure there are many, many researchers needing info found in those books for their documentation. Posting some of the records on Jefferson County's Rootsweb List would be a wonderful contribution to Genealogy research that would forever be preserved in Rootsweb's online Archives for others to see and use. I wished I could find something like that in a Yard Sale. Robert Johnston -----Original Message----- From: rlw [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2003 8:05 AM To: Robert C. Johnston, Jr. Subject: Re: [ALBLOUNT-L] Free Mason Grand Lodge I have three books that I bought at a yard sale about 6 years ago. It is Fairview Lodge No. 664 A F & A M. They have death records and all kinds of information. They start about 1915 and go through the 1940's. It mentions a lot about Jefferson Co., so I am confused about where this Lodge is in Alabama. If I can be of any help let me know. rlw ----- Original Message ----- From: Robert C. Johnston, Jr. <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 2:17 PM Subject: RE: [ALBLOUNT-L] Free Mason Grand Lodge > The Grand Lodge in Montgomery does have TONS on records from all > inactive lodges, but they don't allow non-Masons to have access to > them, and they don't do research for people either. It's very sad. > I've tried many times. Most active Lodges maintain their own records > and should have all of their original records, but finding a contact > to a particular lodge is very hard. Once you find a contact, there is > no guarantees that they can help you with a lookup either because of > the lack of time and manpower. > > Hope this helps, > > Robert > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Donald Pruitt [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 5:14 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [ALBLOUNT-L] Free Mason Grand Lodge > > > There is a website for the Alabama Grand Lodge of Free Masons at: > > http://alagl.org > > Should be able to find out just how you would do research on your > grandfather and g-grandfather. Would imagine it is in Montgomery. > > Yes, Melba, I think that is why most of the churches in Forsyth Co., > GA where I was raised had become Missionary Baptists in the mid 19th > century because they were able to be Free Masons. The Rowan County, > NC (Salisbury) Courthouse has intact records back to 1750 because > General Stoneman was talked out of burning the courthouse in 1865 when > he overran the Confederate Prison Camp in Salisbury. He was a mason > and the mayor(a mason) asked him as a mason not to burn the CH and he > did not torch it. > > Don Pruitt > > ______________________________ > >