(INTERNET notes--by George D.M. Pushee, III)

    Forty-two years after Paul Revere died, the poem of the "Midnite Ride of Paul Revere" was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Paul Revere, born in Boston, MA in late December 1734, died on 10 May 1818.   He was one very active Mason for 43 years.  Paul's father died in 1753--Paul was age 19.  Paul Revere later married Sarah Orme in 1757--and produced one son and seven daughters.  Sarah died in 1773.  Paul then married Rachel Walker--and their union produced 8 more children. Four of these children died before their father, Paul Revere, who died at age 83.

    Paul Revere became a very active mason after he was initiated as an EA on 4 September 1760 (age 25).  He was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason (27 January 1761) at St. Andrew's Lodge.  He was their first candidate after the Charter (dated in 1756) was received from the Grand Lodge of Scotland.   Later on 11 December 1769, Brother Paul became a Royal Arch Mason and Knights Templar.
 
    Before being installed as the Worshipful Master of St. Andrew's Lodge on 30 November 1770, Paul Revere served as Jurnior Decon, Junior Warden, and Secretary.  It is worthy to note that Paul went on to serve 9 terms as WM--five at St. Andrew's Lodge, and four at Rising States Lodge.  Except for the years of the Revolutionary War, Paul Revere was elected Grand Master and served as such at the age of 60 years until 1797.  He was the first Grand Master to wear the tricorn hat. 
 
    As Grand Master, Paul Revere chartered 23 masonic lodges in Massachusetts and Maine--a record held for more than 100 years.  It was the GM, Paul Revere, who chaired a committee which began the practice of investigating candidates (within a 5-mile jurisdiction) to eliminate the practice of accepting "worthless and profane" petitioners from joining masonry.  The ruling was also put into practice to make sure the Secretaries and WMs of other nearby lodges knew the names and reasons those candidates had been previously rejected.  These practices are similar to those used in today's Lodges.
 
    On the Twentieth Anniversary of American Independence, the Most Worshipful Grand Master Paul Revere accepted an invitation from Governor Samuel Adams to lay a Cornerstone (intended for Legislative and Executive Branches of Government) .  On 4 July 1795, Most Worshipful Paul Revere assisted with a full and lengthy masonic procession and ceremony to lay the cornerstone of the new Massachusetts State House on Boston Common.  Two years earlier, President George Washington was involved in a similar event on 18 September 1793--at the National Capital Building in Washington, DC.

Sam Tish, I.M.