1849 LETTER by EDWARD P. BURNHAM, MASON GRAND MASTER, SON OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Description: FOUR PAGE MANUSCRIPT LETTER, written on a single-fold four-page sheet of paper, each page 8.5” x 9.75”. A personal letter, full of flights of fancy, talk of spirits, advice for overcoming grief, humor (give them a kiss for me - or don’t you do such a thing?), etc. WRITTEN BY A SON OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, FREE-MASON GRAND MASTER and GRAND COMMANDER in MAINE, and Resident of SACO and BANGOR MAINE and ROXBURY MASSACHUSETTS. Here are some bits taken from the letter: ******Bangor Aug 10 ’49 Dear Ned, God bless you dear little(?). Ned, how are you? Lay aside your book for awhile. I attend to secular concerns. I wish that I could make some astonishing revelation which would wake you out of that good cozy drowse wherein you have beheld wondrous things as the sweet image of --- has flitted before your half bewildered vision. Come, WAKE UP. And yet I cannot wonder for she is gone, is it not strange that sadness should shine over you. All these things must happen according to the course of “nature”. So do not be cast down or disgusted within you(rself), but try and take a grain of comfort, for I am persuaded that though absent in the flesh, still in spirit is she present with you and while your bosom heaves with emotion, know you not that it is but the re-echo of (??) the swelling of anther breast. But ah, I must pause, or I too shall be lost in ideal fancies, and (?) into the regions of fairy bliss to which the jurisdiction of the Court to have my practice is confirmed by liberal construction be extended (??) I heard Dr. (??) last night… tell how one can determine one’s disposition by their teetn, if the two upper front incisors… I have just received a letter from May (?) & Hannah, for which please KISS them for me (or don’t you do such things?) at any rate I thank them for their kindness, and all the others in advance for what I expect soon to receive. The Cholera had made its appearance at Hampton (and) two adjoining towns & carried off some 8 or 10 - it may visit us, though I do not feel alarmed as yet. I have just had a nice Swim in the Penobscot and a run on the logs & feel about 10 per cent better for it. I have just had my daguerreotype taken. I think it looks rather too Savage for such a little innocent as I am. Please write soon. Yours, Burnham.****** About GRAND MASTER EDWARD PAYSON BURNHAM (from MASONIC related websites): ******Edward Payson Burnham, Twenty-seventh Grand Master Edward P. Burnham was born in Kennebunk, December 3, 1827, and died in Somersworth, N. H., May 12, 1902. Educated at Bridgton Academy, he read law, was admitted to the bar in 1849; practiced in Bangor, and Holyoke, Mass. In 1853, he was elected Treasurer of the Saco and Biddeford Savings Bank, and soon afterward Treasurer of the Saco Mutual Fire Insurance Company, both of which positions he continued to hold until 1885, when on account of his wife's health, he resigned. After a winter in the South they returned to take up residence in Roxbury, Mass. Brother Burnham was raised in York Lodge, No. 22, at Kennebunk, on September 22, 1852, but the next year, having moved to Saco, he joined Saco Lodge, No. 8, which he served as Master from 1857 to 1860, and was its Treasurer from 1871 to 1885. In the Grand Lodge was appointed Grand Junior Deacon in 1856, and continued to hold office in subordinate positions until 1874 when he was elected Senior Grand Warden; Deputy Grand Master in 1875, and Grand Master in 1877 and 1878. Brother Burnham was equally active in other grades of Masonry. He was Grand High Priest in 1869; Vice President of the Council of Grand High Priesthood from 1879 until his death; M. I. Grand Master of the Grand Council from 1858 to 1862, and Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery in 1881. In Scottish Rice he received his degrees to the eighteenth in 1857; the thirty-second in Boston Consistory the same year, and was a charter member of Maine Consistory, which he served six years as Commander-in-Chief. He was made an Honorary Member of the Supreme Council, Thirty-third Degree, in Boston, May 22, 1862; and on September 27, 1883, was crowned Active Member for Maine, of that body.****** GENEALOGY of EDWARD PAYSON BURNHAM, SON OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (from Sons of the American Revolution, Maine Society, website): ******SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, MAINE SOCIETY 16. EDWARD PAYSON BURNHAM, Saco, Me. (1) Son of Owen and Eliza (Smith) Burnham, grandson of Seth and Lydia (Lassel) Burnham, great- grandson of James and Grace (Dalzel) Burnham. James Burnham was a delegate to Faneuil Hall Con- vention in September, 1768. He was also one of a Committee of Inspection chosen by the town Decem- ber 27, 1774. Five of his sons, James, Samuel, Jacob, Forest and Seth, rendered military service in the Revolution. (2) Son of Owen and Eliza (Smith) Burnham, grandson of Seth and Lydia (Lassel) Burnham. Seth Burnham was a militia man, and was engaged in the attack on an English brig of war, August 8, 1782, in Cape Porpoise Harbor. Capt. James Burnham, a brother of Seth, was killed in this action. (3) Son of Owen and Eliza (Smith) Burnham, grandson of Robert and Lydia (Hovey) Smith, great- grandson of John and Mary (Barter) Hovey. John Hovey was a representative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1775, 1778, 1780, 1782. He was a member of the Committee of Inspection, Correspond- ence and Safety, and a delegate to the Provincial Congress, 1775. Edward P. Burnham died May 12, 1902.******

Price: 100 USD

Location: Napa, California

End Time: 2024-12-01T20:08:16.000Z

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