The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 319
616 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
States was a-borning, and Mexico was trying to learn to govern
herself--and the Texans. If these 141 pages of background seem
overly long for a prologue, the reader must remember that the
author is covering a century and more of complicated history,
while the Texas story runs through only the twenty-six years
between the start of Anglo-American colonization and Annex-
ation. Quite apart from their relevance to the Texas story, Car-
ter's presentation of the role of Masons (if not Masonry officially)
in the creation of the United States and independent Mexico is
a significant contribution.
In 136 pages the rise of Masonry in Texas and its spread to
1846 are minutely traced and individual Masons who participated
significantly in public affairs are identified. In fact, Carter has
compiled an alphabetical list of all Masons who were in Texas
before 1846 which fills forty closely printed pages. There are
tables of lodges, statistical tables showing the proportion of Ma-
sons in Conventions, Congresses, battles, skirmishes, expeditions,
and civil offices. Here one can find the answer to almost any
question relating to early Texas Masonry, and few of the data
are available handily elsewhere.
The appendices constitute a veritable Handbook of Indis-
pensible Masonic Information: a list of American Masonic
Lodges, 1733-1776, with the sources of their charters; a list of
Western Masonic Lodges, 1788-1821; a list of all Masons involved
in the American Revolution (forty-six double column pages);
and, most useful of all, the alphabetical list of Texas Masons to
1846.
Whether or not he so intended it, Dr. Carter's writing future
seems to be laid out for him. From this background study he will
be obliged to trace Masonry in this region through the last cen-
tury. It has been a social force that has been only dimly appre-
ciated and never evaluated. Such a study, like this volume, will
be almost as interesting to non-Masons as to Masons.
Physically the book is one of the best designed and printed
volumes I have seen lately. It was manufactured by the printing
department of the Masonic Home and School at Fort Worth,
and it indicates that the institution is training superior crafts-
men as well as students and athletes.
HERBERT GAMBRELL
Southern Methodist University319
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/348/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.