John Nicholson Moulder, Grand Master,
1826-27, 1830, 1832, 1838
Brother
Moulder was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in May, 1792, and was a
grandson of John Nicholson, an associate and friend of Robert
Morris, of Revolutionary fame. He was a man of unusual
intellectual attainments, a public-spirited citizen, a valued
officer in the Federal and local municipal government, and as a
Mason gave to this jurisdiction without stint for many years the
best of his talents.
In his early
manhood he conducted a school in Philadelphia, but spent the
greater part of his life in Washington as a resident of the old
First Ward, having his home on I between Twenty-first and
Twenty-second Streets, North West, but later moved to the Third
Ward and lived on the east side of Ninth between I Street and
New York Avenue.
In the
government service he held for many years a responsible position
in the office of the Second Comptroller, and was Comptroller of
the Currency under President Andrew Jackson, who was a personal
friend. In his capacity as a citizen of Washington he served as
Alderman in the First Ward from 1817 to 1819, and again in 1825
and 1826, was also at one time a member of the Board of Common
Council, was for a number of years a Justice of the Peace, and
was President of the Union Fire Company in its early days.
Originally a
member of Columbia Lodge, No. 3, of this jurisdiction, he filled
the station of Master there from 1821 to 1827, inclusive, and in
December, 1825, was elected to the Grand East without previous
service in any of the subordinate offices of that body. During
his second term, in 1327, he granted a dispensation for the
formation of Hiram Lodge, and in 1828 withdrew from Columbia,
entered the former lodge and was immediately called to the East
in that body. Subsequently, as stated above, he served for four
more years as Grand Master. During the first year of his
incumbency (1826) of that office he laid the cornerstone of the
first Masonic Temple ever erected in Washington in which the
Grand Lodge was actively interested, the building on the
southwest corner of Indiana Avenue and John Marshall Place,
which is still standing, and the history of which is given in
detail in other pages of this work.
On this
notable occasion he delivered an address which is a model in its
class and may be found in the Grand Lodge Proceedings for the
year 1826.
He was a
member of Washington R. A. Chapter, No. 1, and served that body
for two terms as High Priest.
From a letter
of condolence, written by a committee of Washington Chapter, to
the widow of Brother Moulder, and dated January 18, 1839, we
quote the following extract: "For upwards of twenty years our
friend and Companion John N. Moulder, Esq., was connected with
the Order of Free Masonry in this city, and for a considerable
portion of that time was a distinguished officer and member of
this Chapter (having twice been elected to the office of Most
Excellent High Priest). We, Madam, knew him well, and improve
this opportunity to bear cheerful testimony to his kind and
courteous manner, the dignity with which he presided over the
Craft, the avidity with which he voted favorably on every case
of distress, and the haste which sped his willing feet, by day
or night, to relieve the wants of the suffering. These were
characteristics in John N. Moulder which never can be erased
from the memory of his Companions."
That his
private life was above reproach is shown by a communication from
Brig.-Gen. John M. Wilson, U. S. A., retired, a grandson, who,
while never having seen his grandfather, recalls the
conversations of his mother in which she described the "superb
character and lovely home-life" of her father, a beautiful and
sufficient tribute to his memory.
He died in
this city January 7, 1839, and his remains were interred in
Congressional, but later moved to Oak Hill Cemetery.
AHGP
District of Columbia
Source: History of the Grand Lodge and
Freemasonry in the District of Columbia, compiled by W. Brother
Kenton N. Harper, 1911.
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