| Pisgah Lodge #32 |
Appendix B, Historical Profiles
Appendix B, Page B-1
BRANDON, ARMSTRONG: Became affiliated with Pisgah Lodge by demit from Harmony
Lodge No. 5. He was the Harrison County Treasurer, and in 1826 was authorized to receive
bids for the construction of a 20'x30' building on lot No. 58 on which to build a clerk’s office for
the county. The agreement for the erection of the building authorized Pisgah Lodge to build
the second floor for lodge rooms. This arrangement obviously did not work out as the two
occupants could not always agree on who was to pay for what repairs and the building soon
fell into disrepair. The second story became vacant when the lodge went dark in 1828 and
was not occupied when it returned to light in 1851. In fact, the rooms were not occupied again
until 1857.
BUCKNER, ALEXANDER: Very little is known about his life. He was born in 1785 in Jefferson
County, Kentucky, and by 1812 was in Charlestown in the practice of law. He was one of four
who had been appointed to inform the Grand Lodges of Kentucky and Ohio of Indiana’s intent
to establish a Grand Lodge. He was Grand Master until he left the state in 1818 and moved to
Missouri, and was a U. S. Senator from that state until his death in 1831.
BUNTIN, ROBERT: He was a captain in the Revolutionary War and served in the Indian Wars
under General Wilkinson. He was the surveyor of Knox County and also clerk of the courts of
that county. Little else is known about him.
COLLINS, DAVID S: Nothing has been written about the personal life of Brother Collins except
that he attended early lodge and was Pisgah’s first Junior Warden.
COLLINS, ROBERT S
DAVIS, MILO: Very little has been found about the life of Brother Davis except that he was a
partner of Davis Floyd and managed the brick kilns for him, and owned several tracts of real
estate in and around Corydon prior to the panic of 1819.
DILL, JAMES: He was a general in the Indian wars and had acted as an aide to General
Anthony Wayne. He was a lawyer and the preceptor of Senator O. H. Smith, who said of him:
“He was frank and open in his intercourse with others, about the common height, wore a long
cue, dressed with taste, features good, eyelids heavy, hair thrown back in front.” He married a
daughter of General St. Clair; was Secretary of the Senate for many years and clerk of the
Dearborn Circuit Court.
FARQUAR, THOMAS: He was a builder by trade. He was on the committee appointed to
oversee the construction of Corydon’s first jail and jailer’s house in 1829, at the corner of
Cherry & Chestnut Streets.
Appendix B, Page B-2
FLOYD, DAVIS: A lawyer by profession, he moved to Harrison County from Clarksville when he
became the Territorial Auditor. One year later, he became the Territorial Treasurer. Later he
became Secretary of Indiana’s Senate, Speaker of the House, and a member of the
Constitutional Convention of 1816. In 1817, he was appointed judge in the second judicial
district, and served in that capacity until 1823 when he resigned to accept a federal
commission dealing in land claims in Florida. He owned the brick works across Indian Creek
from Corydon and built some of the finer homes of the day in Corydon. He lost most of his
Corydon assets in the panic of 1819; and there is no record of his being associated with
Harrison County politics or with Pisgah Lodge after that date. In fact, the records of the lodge
indicate that Pisgah barely existed after that date although it didn’t give up its Charter until
1833.
GRESHAM, WALTER Q: A prominent attorney who was born in Lanesville in 1832 and died in
Washington, D.C. in 1895. He was a major general of volunteers in the Civil War, and a United
States Judge for the Indiana district from 1869 - 1882. He was appointed Postmaster General
in 1862, Secretary of the Treasury in 1884, and Secretary of State in 1893. During his
Washington, D.C. career, he made many trips back home and always made an effort to attend
lodge.
HARRISON, CHRISTOPHER: He was born in Baltimore just after the close of the Revolutionary
War. He came to Indiana in an early day and assisted in the organization of Washington
County and the Town of Salem in 1817. At the first election held under the new constitution of
Indiana, he was elected its first Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with Brother Jonathan
Jennings, the first Governor.
HULL, HAZEKIAL B: Although he represented Vevay in the convention of 1817, he does not
appear in the Grand Lodge records after that time. The records show that she was expelled
from the lodge in 1820 for non-payment of dues, and later became a member of Asylum Lodge
No. 6 of Mississippi by depositing with them the amount of money he owed Vevay. It is
unknown what kind of rules in Mississippi permitted an expelled mason to pay up his dues from
another lodge and become a member of a Mississippi lodge in good standing. In any event,
history left him in 1820 and nothing further has been found out about him.
Appendix B, Page B-3
JENNINGS, JONATHAN: Indiana’s first governor and the first person to receive the degrees of
masonry after Pisgah received her first charter. After leaving the governor’s office in 1822, he
was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives where he had previously served as a
representative of the then Indiana Territory.
JOHNSTON, GENERAL WASHINGTON: He was a native of Culpepper, Virginia and moved to
Vincennes in 1793. He was instrumental in establishing the Knox County Bar and was the first
member thereof. He served in a number of positions such as Treasurer of Indiana Territory,
member of the Territorial Legislature, and Speaker of the House. He was also appointed judge
of the court at Vincennes and served in that capacity until his death in 1833.
KINTNER, JACOB W: He was owner and operator of a leather, harness-making and saddle
shop. He was one of the first land owners in the area and had purchased three tracts of land
prior to Hervey Heth chartering Corydon in 1808. He was also the Postmaster from 1833 to
1844, and from 1849 to 1851. It was in his hotel, The Kintner House, that the infamous
General John Hunt Morgan stayed while his men pillaged through Corydon in 1863. He owned
The Glades on the north end of Corydon on the banks of Indian Creek. It was here that
evidence indicates that Pisgah Lodge No. 5 kept its jewels and property from the time it went
dark until it was rechartered in 1852.
LILLY, WILLIAM H: He was the first Auditor of the State of Indiana, and served in that capacity
from 1816 until 1828. He was Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge in 1820-21-22-23-24-25.
He was a physician by profession and moved from Corydon to Indianapolis sometime during
1817, and there is no record of his attending Pisgah Lodge after 1820.
McGRAIN, THOMAS C: He was a very ambitious and successful businessman in Corydon. He
purchased the fine home of Jacob Kintner, The Glades, and was instrumental in establishing
the first railroad to serve the area.
McMAHAN, JOHN: He was born in Ireland in 1795, and settled in Salem about 1820. He was
made a mason about 1822, and was justice of the peace in Salem from 1822 to 1830, sheriff
from 1840 to 1844, and county treasurer from 1845 to 1849. His normal occupation was tailor,
and in later years, he became a very successful merchant and trader.
MEEK, ALEXANDER A: He was born in Ireland in 1786 and emigrated to this country at a very
young age with his parents. He later settled in Cincinnati where he entered into the study of
law with Arthur St. Clair, son of General St. Clair, and soon became a very noted practitioner in
Indiana. During the War of 1812, he served as a lieutenant in the Army of the United States.
At the end of the war, he married and settled in Madison and engaged in the practice of law.
His partner was Henry P. Thorton, Indiana’s first Grand Secretary, who had just moved from
Kentucky. President Madison appointed him United States Attorney for the First District, and
he served in that capacity until his death in 1821.
Appendix B, Page B-4
NELSON, REUBEN W: He was born in New York in 1777 and settled in Jeffersonville in 1810,
and lived part time in Corydon where he owned property. He was a prominent attorney and
made his two-story brick house located on the west half of lot No. 146, about two blocks east of
the present location of Pisgah Lodge, at Walnut & Maple Streets, available for the lodge to use
for meetings. Although he was of great importance in the early lodge and in establishing the
Grand Lodge of Indiana, he seemed content to hold only subordinate offices and was never
master of the lodge.
NEW, ROBERT A: He was the Secretary of State during the time Corydon was the capital. He
was a captain in the Indiana Militia and had served as Aide-de-Camp to Governor Thomas
Posey, the father of Thomas C. Posey, who was instrumental in getting Pisgah reestablished in
1852.
PEPPER, ABEL C: He was the first Worshipful Master of the lodge at Rising Sun and almost
always served the lodge in some capacity until his death in 1860. He was born in Shenandoah
County, Virginia, in 1793, and greatly assisted his home state in negotiating treaties with the
Indians. He was instrumental in the treaty that called for the Indians to cede about 80,000
acres north of the Tippecanoe River and relocate to a reservation west of the Mississippi.
POSEY, THOMAS: The son of the Governor of Indiana Territory, Brother Posey served as
Senior Grand Warden in 1821 and 1822. He was a very active member and officer of Pisgah
Lodge after it was re-chartered in 1852 and was Worshipful Master of the lodge in 1852-53-54-
55. (See Appendix E Resolutions for more information.)
SAFFER, WILLIAM M: He was born in Virginia and came to Harrison County as a young boy
with his parents. He was elected to the state legislature in 1853, and was very active in trying
to make Indiana a prohibition state. He ran for governor on the Temperance ticket and lost to
A. P. Willard by one vote. He was self-educated, but his hard work and perseverence elevated
him to positions of prominence.
SLAUGHTER, THOMAS C: He was a local business man of great repute. He was a member of
the board of officers instrumental in getting Corydon reincorporated in 1849 after it had lost its
charter in 1835. After the state capital was moved to Indianapolis, interest in Corydon waned
except for the foresight of some of the leading citizens of the day. He also served as Judge of
the Third Judicial Circuit.
Appendix B, Page B-5
SMITH, ALMA E.L.: He was a prominent local physician and the son of Corydon’s first
resident, Edward Smith, whose house is still standing near the Consititutional Elm. It was his
sister who is reputed to have sung the song, Corydon, for visitors, thereby giving the town its
name.
STEVENS, STEPHEN C: Little is known about Brother Stevens except that he voted against
the establishment of a Grand Lodge in Indiana. His reasoning for doing so has been lost in
antiquity.
SULLIVAN, JEREMIAH: He was of Irish descent, and was born in Virginia about 1796. He
settled in Madison in 1817, and remained there the remainder of his life. He was a successful
lawyer and served as a Supreme Court Judge for nine years. In 1820, he was elected a
member of the legislature and it was he who gave Indianapolis its name. The committee
charged with this responsibility proposed a number of names, many of them in jest, and after
all the banter had subsided, he submitted the winning name to Governor and Brother Jennings
for his approval.
TIPTON, JOHN: He had the rank of General and was a hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe. He
was the sheriff of Harrison County and would later serve in the Senate. In 1818, he was Grand
Senior Warden, in 1819 Deputy Grand Master, and was Grand Master in 1820. He was
elected Worshipful Master of Pisgah Lodge in 1821. Nothing further is known about his
masonic career, and he died at Logansport on April 7, 1839.
VIGUS, GORDON: He was a tailor by trade and came to Corydon in 1816, where he built and
kept a tavern, and was very active in the early lodge. He was Grand Stewart & Tyler for the
years 1821-22-23-24-25-26-27-28.
WRIGHT, SAMUEL J: He served as Corydon’s postmaster for one year in 11851. He was in
the mercantile business from 1850 to 1866, and ran the Eclipse Mills until 1873. He was also
one of the major stockholders of the Corydon - New Albany Plank Road, and served as its
treasurer. He served two terms as Auditor of Harrison County, and also practiced law until his
death in 1884.
BRANDON, ARMSTRONG: Became affiliated with Pisgah Lodge by demit from Harmony
Lodge No. 5. He was the Harrison County Treasurer, and in 1826 was authorized to receive
bids for the construction of a 20'x30' building on lot No. 58 on which to build a clerk’s office for
the county. The agreement for the erection of the building authorized Pisgah Lodge to build
the second floor for lodge rooms. This arrangement obviously did not work out as the two
occupants could not always agree on who was to pay for what repairs and the building soon
fell into disrepair. The second story became vacant when the lodge went dark in 1828 and
was not occupied when it returned to light in 1851. In fact, the rooms were not occupied again
until 1857.
BUCKNER, ALEXANDER: Very little is known about his life. He was born in 1785 in Jefferson
County, Kentucky, and by 1812 was in Charlestown in the practice of law. He was one of four
who had been appointed to inform the Grand Lodges of Kentucky and Ohio of Indiana’s intent
to establish a Grand Lodge. He was Grand Master until he left the state in 1818 and moved to
Missouri, and was a U. S. Senator from that state until his death in 1831.
BUNTIN, ROBERT: He was a captain in the Revolutionary War and served in the Indian Wars
under General Wilkinson. He was the surveyor of Knox County and also clerk of the courts of
that county. Little else is known about him.
COLLINS, DAVID S: Nothing has been written about the personal life of Brother Collins except
that he attended early lodge and was Pisgah’s first Junior Warden.
COLLINS, ROBERT S
DAVIS, MILO: Very little has been found about the life of Brother Davis except that he was a
partner of Davis Floyd and managed the brick kilns for him, and owned several tracts of real
estate in and around Corydon prior to the panic of 1819.
DILL, JAMES: He was a general in the Indian wars and had acted as an aide to General
Anthony Wayne. He was a lawyer and the preceptor of Senator O. H. Smith, who said of him:
“He was frank and open in his intercourse with others, about the common height, wore a long
cue, dressed with taste, features good, eyelids heavy, hair thrown back in front.” He married a
daughter of General St. Clair; was Secretary of the Senate for many years and clerk of the
Dearborn Circuit Court.
FARQUAR, THOMAS: He was a builder by trade. He was on the committee appointed to
oversee the construction of Corydon’s first jail and jailer’s house in 1829, at the corner of
Cherry & Chestnut Streets.
Appendix B, Page B-2
FLOYD, DAVIS: A lawyer by profession, he moved to Harrison County from Clarksville when he
became the Territorial Auditor. One year later, he became the Territorial Treasurer. Later he
became Secretary of Indiana’s Senate, Speaker of the House, and a member of the
Constitutional Convention of 1816. In 1817, he was appointed judge in the second judicial
district, and served in that capacity until 1823 when he resigned to accept a federal
commission dealing in land claims in Florida. He owned the brick works across Indian Creek
from Corydon and built some of the finer homes of the day in Corydon. He lost most of his
Corydon assets in the panic of 1819; and there is no record of his being associated with
Harrison County politics or with Pisgah Lodge after that date. In fact, the records of the lodge
indicate that Pisgah barely existed after that date although it didn’t give up its Charter until
1833.
GRESHAM, WALTER Q: A prominent attorney who was born in Lanesville in 1832 and died in
Washington, D.C. in 1895. He was a major general of volunteers in the Civil War, and a United
States Judge for the Indiana district from 1869 - 1882. He was appointed Postmaster General
in 1862, Secretary of the Treasury in 1884, and Secretary of State in 1893. During his
Washington, D.C. career, he made many trips back home and always made an effort to attend
lodge.
HARRISON, CHRISTOPHER: He was born in Baltimore just after the close of the Revolutionary
War. He came to Indiana in an early day and assisted in the organization of Washington
County and the Town of Salem in 1817. At the first election held under the new constitution of
Indiana, he was elected its first Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with Brother Jonathan
Jennings, the first Governor.
HULL, HAZEKIAL B: Although he represented Vevay in the convention of 1817, he does not
appear in the Grand Lodge records after that time. The records show that she was expelled
from the lodge in 1820 for non-payment of dues, and later became a member of Asylum Lodge
No. 6 of Mississippi by depositing with them the amount of money he owed Vevay. It is
unknown what kind of rules in Mississippi permitted an expelled mason to pay up his dues from
another lodge and become a member of a Mississippi lodge in good standing. In any event,
history left him in 1820 and nothing further has been found out about him.
Appendix B, Page B-3
JENNINGS, JONATHAN: Indiana’s first governor and the first person to receive the degrees of
masonry after Pisgah received her first charter. After leaving the governor’s office in 1822, he
was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives where he had previously served as a
representative of the then Indiana Territory.
JOHNSTON, GENERAL WASHINGTON: He was a native of Culpepper, Virginia and moved to
Vincennes in 1793. He was instrumental in establishing the Knox County Bar and was the first
member thereof. He served in a number of positions such as Treasurer of Indiana Territory,
member of the Territorial Legislature, and Speaker of the House. He was also appointed judge
of the court at Vincennes and served in that capacity until his death in 1833.
KINTNER, JACOB W: He was owner and operator of a leather, harness-making and saddle
shop. He was one of the first land owners in the area and had purchased three tracts of land
prior to Hervey Heth chartering Corydon in 1808. He was also the Postmaster from 1833 to
1844, and from 1849 to 1851. It was in his hotel, The Kintner House, that the infamous
General John Hunt Morgan stayed while his men pillaged through Corydon in 1863. He owned
The Glades on the north end of Corydon on the banks of Indian Creek. It was here that
evidence indicates that Pisgah Lodge No. 5 kept its jewels and property from the time it went
dark until it was rechartered in 1852.
LILLY, WILLIAM H: He was the first Auditor of the State of Indiana, and served in that capacity
from 1816 until 1828. He was Grand Treasurer of the Grand Lodge in 1820-21-22-23-24-25.
He was a physician by profession and moved from Corydon to Indianapolis sometime during
1817, and there is no record of his attending Pisgah Lodge after 1820.
McGRAIN, THOMAS C: He was a very ambitious and successful businessman in Corydon. He
purchased the fine home of Jacob Kintner, The Glades, and was instrumental in establishing
the first railroad to serve the area.
McMAHAN, JOHN: He was born in Ireland in 1795, and settled in Salem about 1820. He was
made a mason about 1822, and was justice of the peace in Salem from 1822 to 1830, sheriff
from 1840 to 1844, and county treasurer from 1845 to 1849. His normal occupation was tailor,
and in later years, he became a very successful merchant and trader.
MEEK, ALEXANDER A: He was born in Ireland in 1786 and emigrated to this country at a very
young age with his parents. He later settled in Cincinnati where he entered into the study of
law with Arthur St. Clair, son of General St. Clair, and soon became a very noted practitioner in
Indiana. During the War of 1812, he served as a lieutenant in the Army of the United States.
At the end of the war, he married and settled in Madison and engaged in the practice of law.
His partner was Henry P. Thorton, Indiana’s first Grand Secretary, who had just moved from
Kentucky. President Madison appointed him United States Attorney for the First District, and
he served in that capacity until his death in 1821.
Appendix B, Page B-4
NELSON, REUBEN W: He was born in New York in 1777 and settled in Jeffersonville in 1810,
and lived part time in Corydon where he owned property. He was a prominent attorney and
made his two-story brick house located on the west half of lot No. 146, about two blocks east of
the present location of Pisgah Lodge, at Walnut & Maple Streets, available for the lodge to use
for meetings. Although he was of great importance in the early lodge and in establishing the
Grand Lodge of Indiana, he seemed content to hold only subordinate offices and was never
master of the lodge.
NEW, ROBERT A: He was the Secretary of State during the time Corydon was the capital. He
was a captain in the Indiana Militia and had served as Aide-de-Camp to Governor Thomas
Posey, the father of Thomas C. Posey, who was instrumental in getting Pisgah reestablished in
1852.
PEPPER, ABEL C: He was the first Worshipful Master of the lodge at Rising Sun and almost
always served the lodge in some capacity until his death in 1860. He was born in Shenandoah
County, Virginia, in 1793, and greatly assisted his home state in negotiating treaties with the
Indians. He was instrumental in the treaty that called for the Indians to cede about 80,000
acres north of the Tippecanoe River and relocate to a reservation west of the Mississippi.
POSEY, THOMAS: The son of the Governor of Indiana Territory, Brother Posey served as
Senior Grand Warden in 1821 and 1822. He was a very active member and officer of Pisgah
Lodge after it was re-chartered in 1852 and was Worshipful Master of the lodge in 1852-53-54-
55. (See Appendix E Resolutions for more information.)
SAFFER, WILLIAM M: He was born in Virginia and came to Harrison County as a young boy
with his parents. He was elected to the state legislature in 1853, and was very active in trying
to make Indiana a prohibition state. He ran for governor on the Temperance ticket and lost to
A. P. Willard by one vote. He was self-educated, but his hard work and perseverence elevated
him to positions of prominence.
SLAUGHTER, THOMAS C: He was a local business man of great repute. He was a member of
the board of officers instrumental in getting Corydon reincorporated in 1849 after it had lost its
charter in 1835. After the state capital was moved to Indianapolis, interest in Corydon waned
except for the foresight of some of the leading citizens of the day. He also served as Judge of
the Third Judicial Circuit.
Appendix B, Page B-5
SMITH, ALMA E.L.: He was a prominent local physician and the son of Corydon’s first
resident, Edward Smith, whose house is still standing near the Consititutional Elm. It was his
sister who is reputed to have sung the song, Corydon, for visitors, thereby giving the town its
name.
STEVENS, STEPHEN C: Little is known about Brother Stevens except that he voted against
the establishment of a Grand Lodge in Indiana. His reasoning for doing so has been lost in
antiquity.
SULLIVAN, JEREMIAH: He was of Irish descent, and was born in Virginia about 1796. He
settled in Madison in 1817, and remained there the remainder of his life. He was a successful
lawyer and served as a Supreme Court Judge for nine years. In 1820, he was elected a
member of the legislature and it was he who gave Indianapolis its name. The committee
charged with this responsibility proposed a number of names, many of them in jest, and after
all the banter had subsided, he submitted the winning name to Governor and Brother Jennings
for his approval.
TIPTON, JOHN: He had the rank of General and was a hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe. He
was the sheriff of Harrison County and would later serve in the Senate. In 1818, he was Grand
Senior Warden, in 1819 Deputy Grand Master, and was Grand Master in 1820. He was
elected Worshipful Master of Pisgah Lodge in 1821. Nothing further is known about his
masonic career, and he died at Logansport on April 7, 1839.
VIGUS, GORDON: He was a tailor by trade and came to Corydon in 1816, where he built and
kept a tavern, and was very active in the early lodge. He was Grand Stewart & Tyler for the
years 1821-22-23-24-25-26-27-28.
WRIGHT, SAMUEL J: He served as Corydon’s postmaster for one year in 11851. He was in
the mercantile business from 1850 to 1866, and ran the Eclipse Mills until 1873. He was also
one of the major stockholders of the Corydon - New Albany Plank Road, and served as its
treasurer. He served two terms as Auditor of Harrison County, and also practiced law until his
death in 1884.
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