At the stated meeting of the lodge last Tuesday, October 5th, pages 96-98 from the book, THE LIFE OF GENERAL ELY S. PARKER LAST GRAND SACHEM OF THE IROQUOIS AND GENERAL GRANT'S MILITARY SECRETARY, were read for the Lodge’s education presentation—In 1857 Parker was appointed superintendent of construction for a custom-house and a marine hospital in Galena, Illinois. Here he became acquainted with the clerk in the harness store and often had long "talks" with him, though the clerk did most of the talking. They became quite friendly especially after Parker had rescued the clerk from a serious predicament due to the "overflowing bowl." The harness shop clerk was Captain Ulysses S. Grant.
Parker found great comfort in his love of Freemasonry. Back in 1847, he had been "raised," as Masons say, in Batavia Lodge, No. 88. Later he affiliated with Valley Lodge, No. 109, of Rochester. This was on May 6, 1850. He became immediately active in Galena and with a few Masons that he found there, he became one of the founders of Miners Lodge, No. 273. He demitted from his home lodge September 6, 1858, and became the first Worshipful Master of Miner's Lodge in Galena. He was a member of both the Royal Arch and of the Knights Templar and his love of Masonry as well as his popularity with his fellowmen is shown in that he was Worshipful Master of Miner's Lodge in 1858- '59- '60, and M. E. High Priest of Jo Daviess Chapter of the Royal Arch in 1859- '60- '61. He was elected Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Illinois in 1861 but his duties as a Government engineer prevented his accepting the honor. In 1860,he was, however, grand representative near the Grand Lodge of Illinois.
Among the distinguished men of his time who were initiated into Masonry by Parker was General J. C. Smith. General Smith in writing of this in the Masonic Chronicle says:
May 25, 1861, Brother Parker as Worshipful Master of Miner's Lodge, No. 273, raised the Venerable Chief of the Masonic Veterans' Association to the sublime degree of Master Mason, having previously made him an Entered Apprentice and a Fellow Craft Mason. March 15, 1860, having at various dates conferred other degrees as High Priest of Jo Daviess Chapter, No. 51, he exalted the venerable chief to the Holy Royal Arch; hence, Do-ne-hoga-wa, the Six Nations Brother Ely S. Parker, was my father in Free Masonry.
Brave and eloquent as was Red Jacket, so was our veteran brother. Of the bravest of the brave, tender and loving as a woman, courteous as a Chevalier Bayard, the soul of honor and integrity, he. too, was an orator who would have been deemed worthy of Grecian prizes.
General Smith refers to the oration delivered by Parker at the Masonic banquet in Chicago in 1859. Ely Parker spoke of himself as almost the last of what once was a powerful and noble people, of his struggle in early manhood of seeing his race disintegrating ; and he asked,
“Where shall I go when the last of my race shall have gone forever? Where shall I find home and sympathy when our last council fire is extinguished? I said, I will knock at the door of Masonry and see if the white race will recognize me as they did my ancestors when we were strong and the white man weak. I knocked at the door of the Blue Lodge and found brotherhood around its altar. I knelt before the great light in the Chapter and found companionship beneath the Royal rock. I entered the Commandery and found valiant Sir Knights willing to shield me here without regard to race or nation. I went further. I knelt at the cross of my Saviour and found Christian brotherhood, the crowning charity of the Masonic tie. I am most happy to meet you in the grand councils of this gathering. and sit with you at this festive board to share these greetings and hospitalities.
I feel assured that when my glass is run out and I shall follow the footsteps of my departed race, Masonic sympathies will cluster round my coffin and drop in my grave the evergreen acacia, sweet emblem of a better meeting. If my race shall disappear from this continent, I shall have the consoling hope that our memory will not perish. If the deeds of my ancestors shall not live in story, their memories remain in the names of your great lakes and rivers, your towns and cities to call up memories otherwise forgotten.”
His address concluded in a like strain and one of his auditors records, “Silence reigned as our brother sat down, eyes were dimmed and hearts were too full for speech."
Later Parker became a charter member of Akron Lodge, No. 257, near his birthplace, and became its first Worshipful Master. A portrait of him hangs in the lodge room today.
https://www.electriccanadian.com/history/first/iroquois/lifeofgeneralely00parkrich.pdf
