What do Henry Ford, Tim Horton, Sir John A. Macdonald and Phil Collins have in common?
They, along with many other notable figures throughout history, have aligned themselves with the age-old fraternity known as the Freemasons.
Shrouded in superstition and generally misunderstood, the oft-called “secret society” has been actively involved in bettering communities behind the scenes since the 1700s.
This tendency to fly under the radar and reject credit for the many projects and initiatives they undertake has partly led to many of the misconceptions perpetuated by popular culture over the years.
This month, a new exhibit opening at the Wellington County Museum and Archives hopes to assuage some of the misunderstanding and evoke a newfound appreciation for the organization.
Curator Susan Dunlop says the exhibit will cover the history of Masonry and some of the stereotypes portrayed in the media along with a special focus on the lodges of Wellington County.
“Freemasonry is something a lot of us are intrigued by, but we don’t know much about it and consequently in popular culture you can get some misconceptions,” Dunlop said.
The historical origins of Freemasonry date back to the middle ages in Scotland, England and France, where stone mason guilds were developed to train men to construct buildings and enforce a higher standard of workmanship. Passwords and handshakes were developed to protect trade secrets and quickly identify members. Knowing a password gave a stone mason instant credibility in the field.
Today, there are some 3.2 million Freemasons worldwide, with over 47,000 in Ontario alone, and while members no longer construct cathedrals, they have continued to play an important role in the community. Because their mandate is to keep mum on all contributions, this has often led to suspicion.
“I think it’s like the Christian faith says: don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. In other words, you don’t have to be blowing your own horn and touting how great you are,” Dunlop said. “You don’t have to be out there looking for pats on the back.”
Contemporary popular culture in part has been responsible for fuelling the speculation and conspiracy theories associated with Freemasonry – particularly movies like National Treasure and Dan Brown’s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code.
“It’s maybe this secretiveness that they do have – they’re closed-mouth about their rituals and what they do at their lodges, so I think it’s easy to speculate,” Dunlop said.
“Modern pop culture sees it as an institution shrouded in secrecy, but often misses the deeper historical significance.”
Over the years Masons have been associated with Nazism, communism, devil worship, founding the United States, sympathizing with Middle Eastern terrorists, writing their own religious doctrine, answering to a pagan deity and being the masterminds behind some of the world’s greatest crimes. Surprisingly, some believe London’s Jack the Ripper acted on Mason orders.
Masons are also often erroneously connected with another enlightenment-era group: the Illuminati who were persecuted for promoting revolutionary doctrine and heresy. During the 1700s, Masons were connected with the group and the revolution due to their overlapping values of freedom, liberty and equality.
However, unlike the Masons, the Illuminati believed in the creation of a new world order by toppling church and government. Despite modern superstition, the Illuminati had disbanded by 1800.
“It’s easy to read the sensational, but if you take the time and hard work to learn about the group, they’re really quite an impressive organization,” Dunlop says of Freemasons.
Members say they simply share a common goal of helping each other be better men and believe they have a responsibility to improve themselves while still remaining devoted to family, faith and country.
Mapleton resident John Green has been a member of the Drayton-Conestoga Masonic Lodge for almost 40 years and says he didn’t really know what to expect when he first joined.
“I knew the people that belonged there were well respected in the community, but it was something that was very secretive and I didn’t know much about it,” Green said. “Some of my friends were members and I thought maybe I should be a member too.”
He scoffs at the notion of a secret society.
“It’s a secret society that’s not very secret in my opinion,” he said with a chuckle. “There are certain things that a lot of people don’t know, but you can find almost anything with the introduction of the Internet.”
Some of the charity initiatives of local Masons in recent years include providing scholarships for students and seeing-eye dogs for the visually impaired.
Green says the current province-wide initiative focuses on prostate cancer research.
“We’ve given money to three researchers in Kingston, Hamilton and London and they’re researching different aspects of prostate cancer,” he said. “One of the philosophies of Masonry is that you do good in the community and you be a good person but you don’t go around bragging about it and saying ‘look what we did.’ We do it very quietly and have the inner pride of knowing we did something good.”
Green says he is looking forward to the exhibit coming to Wellington County as it has received a great response from other areas of the country. He says he hopes it will give the group some exposure and the public a better understanding of what they do.
Although the organization has changed very little since its inception nearly 300 years ago, Green foresees it continuing successfully into the future due to its promotion of universal values.
“It’s about brotherly love, relief and truth … supporting your family, your friends and your neighbours – being generous (to) those who are less fortunate and have honesty prevail your whole life,” he said.
The exhibit runs from Jan. 24 to April 26 at the Wellington County Museum and Archives and features a special history of local Freemason groups and the role they played in Ontario towns. One room in the museum will also be converted into a “lodge” setting.
A special event will be held on Feb. 22 featuring guest speaker Michael McDonald, who will provide a look into the fraternity.
