Penrhyn-Gold Hill Lodge #32
making the World a better place

 

Lodge History

The lodge history is an onging research project, please be patient.  This is what we have so far.

Gold Hill Lodge No. 32, Lincoln

<>Several bretheren at Gold Hill, Placer County, California, having petitioned Grand Master MW. Bro. D. Hyam, for a lodge to be opened at that place, he in accordance therewith granted them a dispensation on November 1, 1852, for a lodge to be known as Gold Hill lodge, and at the fourth Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of California a charter was granted to it as Gold Hill lodge No. 32, to be established at that place.  The returns made to the Grand Lodge at that time under dispensation gave the following officers, viz.
 

P.L. Maxey  - WM	A. Mills - SW	J.W. Patton - JW	W.R.K. Devane – Tres.
W.S.C. Woods – Sec.	J.M. Bedford - SD	J. McCarley – JD	Unknown  – Mar.
Unknown - SS	Unknown - JS	R.M. Wagner  - Tyler

 

Including the officers there were 23 Master Masons and 2 Entered Apprentices.  This lodge, as of 1898, had 41 Master Masons, including 9 Past Masters on the roll.  Originally located at the small village or mining camp of Gold Hill on the Old Auburn road from Sacramento, among the shallow placer mines or dry diggings as they were termed, the population dwindling and travel diverted by the Oregon Railroad, the charter of the lodge was moved down to the town of Lincoln, where it is permanently located, with a small but steady population to maintain it.  Here is manufactured the greater portion of sewer and drainage pipe, as well as tiles throughout the State, by Gladding, McBean & Co., W. Bro. Albert James Gladding, PM. And Treasurer of Gold Hill lodge, being the principal of that enterprising firm.  That lodge can never complain that it is not well tyled.  We wish it all prosperity in the future and expect that it will have a good time six years hence (when it will celebrate its semi-centennial anniversary) and congratulate our brethren of Gold Hill lodge No.32, in advance, for having maintained and preserved their organization so long.

We well remember Auburn Ravine and Coon Creek, when we surveyed the land in the vicinity of Lincoln in 1855-6-7, at the time Colonel Charles Lincoln Wilson located the town and laid out the railroad from Folsom to that place.  He now sleeps his last sleep in Mountain View Cemetary, Oakland, California and the sewer pipe made in the town he laid out is used in the drainage of the cemetery where his ashes repose.  The following is a list of officers and Past Masters:

Frederick C. Davis  - WM	Henry D. Fredericks - SW	Anthony M. Blackie - JW	Albert J. Gladding – Tres.
Henry W. Bessac – Sec.	Walter Jansen - SD	John Goy – JD	George M. Pemberton  – Mar.
William M. Sparks - SS	Robert C. Hartwick - JS	James Wyatt  - Tyler	Thomas B.Harper – PM
Christopher C. Sanders – PM	James E. Young – PM	Edmond J. Sparks – PM	John Haenny – PM
Albert J. Gladding – PM	Walter Jansen – PM	John Gerber – PM	Henry W. Bessac - PM

 (Reference: Fifty Years of Masonry in California Vol. I)

Penrhyn Lodge No. 258, Penryn

The first preliminary meeting for the establishing of a Masonic Lodge at Penryn, Placer County was held February 27, 1879.  The following Brethren assembled in the room over the store of Bro. Griffith:

Levant Markham	Griffith Griffith	William W. Fippins
James P. M. Phillips	William W. Severance	John Owen
Thomas Dickenson	Peter F. Caddy	Jacob H. Free
Albert H. Scheutze	William Cranley	Ivory R. Marston
Robert M. Rowe	David Lloyd	Alexander McLennan
Matts Sundholm	Robert W. Roberts	John J. Hughes

 

Grand Master William W. Taylor granted dispensation on November 6, 1879, and at the thirty-first Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge, on October 15, 1880, a charter was granted them as Penrhyn Lodge, No. 258, with the following:

Officers:

Levant Markham - WM	James P.M. Phillips - SW	James Dickenson - JW	Griffith Griffith – Tres.
James R. Little – Sec.	Hosea Taylor - SD	William W. Fippins – JD	William Cranley – Mar.
Robert W. Roberts - SS	William W. Severance - JS	Robert M. Rowe - Tyler

 

Members: (Master Masons)

Peter F. Caddy	Pierre C. DuBois	Allen B. Fippins	Jacobs H. Free
John J. Hughes	John Jenkin	David Lloyd	Charles Martin
Alexander McLennan	Owen R. Owens	Albert H. Scheutze	Matts Sundholm
Edwin Tippett	Ira F. White	Henry Nelson - EA	Ivory R. Marston - W
John Owens - Died

 

In 1898, the lodge consists of thirty Master Masons, including the following officers and past masters:

Robert W. Roberts - WM	Gustave A. Deiter - SW	John Powell - JW	David A. Roberts – Tres.
George C. Boller – Sec.	James E. French - SD	Robert W. Ford – JD	Samuel C. Laird – Mar.
Clifton G. Lavers - SS	Alfred E. Garnett - JS	Owen R. Owens - Tyler	Nathaniel R. Peck = 14th Term Chaplin
Robert W. Roberts – PM	James P.M. Phillips = PM	Frederick C. Miles - PM	Charles Martin - PM

 

The first Master under the dispensation and charter was a little spare man but earnestly devoted to Masonry, W. Bro. Levant Markham, who was appointed, elected, and served over four consecutive terms in 1879, 1880-1-2-3.  He withdrew in 1885 and afterward affiliated with Santa Cruz Lodge No. 38 at Santa Cruz.  Penrhyn Lodge largely owed its existence to Bro. Griffith Griffith, whose name and fame were a household word in California.  The massive stone building and lodge room in Penryn are his handiwork and his money freely given made Masonry strong in that locality.  There have been a number of good Masters at Penrhyn lodge, but none better or more beloved than the present incumbent, in 1898, W. Bro. Robert W. Roberts, who is serving his sixth term.  A most excellent citizen and skillful officer, the lodge in his charge flourished. (Reference: Fifty Years of Masonry in California Vol. I)

Penrhyn-Gold Hill Lodge No. 32, Penryn