Thomas P. Chiffelle, Grand Master, 1886
Brother
Chiffelle was born in Charleston, South Carolina, December 11,
1816, and lived in that city during his boyhood.
He was appointed to a cadetship at
West Point from his native State and graduated from that
institution in the class of 1836.
After a few years' service as an
officer in the U. S. Army he resigned his commission, began the
profession of civil engineering, and took up his residence in
Baltimore, Maryland, and one of his monuments in that city is
the Maryland Institute, the cornerstone of which bears his name
as architect.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he
came to Washington, where he was closely associated with his
former classmate, Gen. M. C. Meigs, in engineering work on
public constructions under the War Department A man of unusual
attainments he was a public-spirited and exemplary citizen, a
loving husband and father, and altho not a Mason until past the
meridian of life was for nearly a quarter of a century an active
and valuable member of the Fraternity.
His death occurred April 27, 1891,
and his funeral was held under the auspices of the Grand Lodge
April 30, on which occasion the services of the Rose Croix were
conducted by the officers of Evangelist Chapter Rose Croix, No.
1, the Templar service by Potomac Commandery, No. 3. The
interment was at Arlington and the Blue Lodge service at the
grave was rendered by the officers of the Grand Lodge.
Brother Chiffelle was initiated in
Potomac Lodge, No. 5, January 3, 1870; passed April 4, 1870, and
raised May 2, 1870; served as Master of his lodge, 1877-79; was
J. G. Warden, 1881-82; S. G. Warden, 1883; Deputy Grand Master,
1884-85, and Grand Master, 1886. He received the Chapter degrees
December 5, 1876, and January 23 and February 11, 1877, in
Potomac R A. Chapter, No. 8, and was also a member of Potomac
Commandery, No. 3, K. T., of this jurisdiction. In Scottish Rite
Masonry he had attained the thirty-second degree.
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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