Bill wrote: > could "Masson Lodge" refer to dwelling which had, at some > point, been used as a hall for Masonic meetings? Possible. But I don't know how thick Masonic Lodges were on the ground in rural Banffshire. And the evidence so far makes any association with the name Masson or Mason a bit tenuous. In 1841, the shoemaker was admittedly at "Masson Lodge", but in 1851, the same shoemaker lives at "Broomhill", while in 1861, a different shoemaker lives at plain "Lodge" The consistency of the surrounding placenames make it fairly likely that these are just different labels for the same address. > In some family correspondence from this time period, I have seen > "Mason" (mis?)spelt as "Masson." In older records, you will find Masson, Masone, Meason, Measone, Meassoun, Meson interchangeably used as both the proper name and the trade. MASSON is still the preferred form of the surname in the northeast, on the evidence of the Aberdeen phone book, where MASSON outnumbers MASON by over 6 to 1. Gavin Bell