Nor tH Ca roli na
Ml Mason
Official Publication of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina
Oxford, North Carolina
September/October, 1993
We Do Not Live By Fiction Alone
Greensboro — The fiction section in the Masonic and Eastern Star Home’s library is a hot
spot. It doesn’t satisfy every appetite though. Christine Dellinger, resident and de facto
librarian there, says they need an encyclopedia. The most current(?) one is a 1958 edition
that’s missing several volumes. Is Sputnik even in that thing? Maybe someone out there can
help get a newer, more complete version.
NC Masons To Aid
Vaccination Program
Montfort Commission
Returned Home
Raleigh — The Montfort Commission is
back. It had been missing since July 1, 1991.
The document, making North Carolinian Jo
seph Montfort “Provincial Grand Master of
and for America,” was stolen from the Grand
Lodge offices in Raleigh 2% years after its
signing in England. Few held any hope of
seeing it again after the theft.
In July, police in Vestal, New York were
investigating a burglary there. They were ex
amining the contents of a rented storage facility
when they found computers and other office
See MONTFORT, Page 6
Most Masons can remember the times
when children were terrorized by frequent
and serious diseases. They were a fact of
life and a threat to life.
Measles, mumps, diphtheria, whooping
cough, and German measles were among those
which we knew. Polio was the most frighten
ing with large outbreaks crippling and killing
children each summer.
Over the past few decades, science has
given us vaccines which have put these
villains under control. The diseases al
ready named, as well as tetanus and
Haemophilus influenzae type b, can
currently be prevented with proper
immunization. Every state requires,
by law, that children be vacci
nated before starting school.
Shots don’t just save kids
the threat and misery of these
illnesses. They save us
money. Each dollar spent
on childhood immuniza
tion saves ten dollars in
later medical costs.
So, why are cases
of mumps up 600%
and measles reports
increased by 900%
since 1988?
It’s because kids
just aren’t getting the
shots. Among two-year-olds, four out of ten
have not gotten all their shots. The state health
department has set a goal for the year 2000.
They want to improve that to “age appropri
ately immunizing at least 90% of our children
by their second birthday.”
That’s where we, as Masons, come in.
As one of the most widespread community
organizations in the state, we have the “po
tential to reach all of North Carolina’s pre-
school children.” We hope to become a cen
tral focus of the Immunization Action Plan.
District deputy grand masters should already
be working with local health departments on
the beginnings of the plan and our place in it.
It’s a great opportunity for us to help our
neighborhoods. We can make our communi
ties better places to live as well as making
Freemasonry better known and better respected.
On a statewide level, beginning in 1994,
we will join state and local health depart
HEALTH IS A PRIZE WHEN YOU
IMMUNIZE
ments in declaring the first Saturday in each
November “Immunization Day.” This part of
the plan is to keep the issue in the minds of the
public year-round. The Grand Lodge will be
working to help develop materials to help you
and your local health department keep par
ents thinking about protecting their kids.
Locally, district deputy grand masters are
contacting your health department looking
for ways we can help them better reach our
children. The state will pay for vaccines
and local health departments will fur
nish health professionals to adminis
ter them. What will we do?
That should be tailored to
ward the needs of your community
and the abilities of area Masons.
Some of you may be able to
furnish transportation to clin
ics. Lodge buildings might
make great locations for one-
or two-day clinics, helping bring
vaccinations closer to
those who need them but
lack a way to get to dis
tant facilities. Some
of you may be able
to help educate
through your local
schools, churches, or
news media. Possi
bilities are limited
only by your imagination and labor.
This is not a one year plan. It is a com
mitment to our children and our communi
ties. According to Grand Master Rick Moore,
“We want this program to be a long term
success, and you are the key.” Write to the
Grand Lodge Public Relations Committee
about you ideas and plans. Let them know
how we can help. Your success or failure
with an idea can be of great value to an
other district in their efforts.
This could be a nationally important ini
tiative. In her letter to health department
directors, Annette Byrd, Immunization
Branch head said, “Through your efforts,
this will become a model [community based
organization] collaboration, that helps to
accomplish our goal of fully immunizing
every child by its second birthday.”
That’s good for you, your neighbors, and
the image of Freemasonry.
Freemasonry Central To University Celebration
UNC Enters Third Century
Our tale is complex. It comes in part from well-established
historical sources and in part from the oral history of the McCauley
family to which one of us (KBN) belongs. The first question is,
“Why was the University placed at New Hope Chapel Hill?
One version is related to General William R. Davie’s drinking
habits. It has been said that, while having lunch in the vicinity of
the Davie Poplar, he was overcome and made the decision to
locate the University there when he aroused. The truth is more
prosaic: it was the outcome of a complicated political process.
The General Assembly decided in January 1792 that the Univer
sity should be located near the center of the state. The trustees
then decided that it should be located within 15 miles of either
Raleigh, Hillsborough, Pittsboro,
Smithfield, two sites in Granville County,
or Cyprett’s Bridge across New Hope
Creek. The latter was chosen when all
the courthouse towns were eliminated
and the Granville County sites found
unsuitable. A committee visited sev
eral potential sites in the target area,
and Chapel Hill was selected because
its bid was the largest: 1290 acres of
land and about $1500 in cash! Profes
sor Archibald Henderson attributes the
winning Orange County bid to the co
vert activities of James Hogg, a friend
of Davie’s and a member of the selec
tion committee. Now, who were the
McCauleys and what role did they play?
Matthew McCauley and his brother
William emigrated from County Antrim,
Northern Ireland, to the Carolinas be
fore the Revolutionary War. They bought
land in Orange County — so named to
honor the Protestants of Northern Ire
land — and prospered. Matthew, the
younger, had been involved in a scrape
in Ireland and had to be smuggled out of the country in a
molasses cask. He acquired the nickname “Bung” because Wil
liam had fed him through the bung-hole of the cask until they
were well out to sea.
Both McCauleys donated land for the University, Matthew
150 and William 100 acres. Matthew (“Bung”) operated a grist
mill on Morgan’s Creek at the site of the present University Lake
dam and was reputed to make the best Irish whiskey in the state.
Both were present at the laying of the cornerstone of Old East on
Coming Up
In October
Chapel Hill —- When Masons laid the
cornerstone for,Old East, the first building at
the University of North Carolina, they also
laid the foundation for a radical new concept
— educational democracy. No longer would
a university education be limited to an aris
tocracy of a privileged few.
October 11-12 will mark the 200“ anni
versary of that dedication and the begin
See OLD EAST, Page 7
See UNC PLANS, Page 7
A mural in the old Franklin Street Post Office in Chapel Hill portrays one version of the laying of the cornerstone.