FreeMason Native Americans

Dear Aunt Ludie,

I recently attended an Indian POW –Wow and I thought I understood that
Indians took part in Masonry. I would like to research this and find out
more about this. Can you help?

JD

Dear JD,

There were many very famous Indians that were FreeMasons. The earliest date
I found for a Lodge was Cherokee Lodge #21 in Tallequah Cherokee Indian
Nation. It was founded November 7, 1848. Among the tribes that belonged
were Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Seneca, Iorquios, Oneida, Seneca, Mohawk,
Ojihwe, Shawnee. William Augusta Bowles, a Mohawk, was Grand Master of five
Nations in 1790. Crazy Bull grandson of Sitting Bull was a FreeMason,
Techumse who was Shawnee was a FreeMason.

There is an Indian degree team that administers degrees in full native
dress out of Oklahoma City. I will send you under separate cover, note and
address to find more about various nations and leaders that were the most
famous FreeMasons.

Happy Hunting

Aunt Ludie

Readers,

I was in Oklahoma at a library recently and I had to the opportunity to
visit with another person that was researching her Indian heritage. I was
really surprised to find how difficult she said it was to find her Indian
roots. This lady was half Choctaw, and her husband was three-quarter
Choctaw.

What has happened is the assimilation that the native Americans were
taught. From the story she related to me, the older ones that could have
helped with her heritage were taught to bury their past. Therefore it
wasn’t discussed or written down. This leaves the fourth and fifth
generations without documentation of their lineage.

Aunt Ludie