FEATURED ARTICLE
WHO WAS
JONATHAN DAVIS Written By SP Alonza T. Evans, 32°
The story of the Scottish Rite within Prince Hall Freemasonry begins in 1850 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Count de Saint-Laurent of the Supreme Council of France conferred the degrees of the Scottish Rite, including the Thirty-third and Last Degree of Scottish Rite Freemasonry, upon David Leary, a prominent member of African Grand Lodge of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1854, after receiving his patent of authority from the Supreme Council of France, investing him with the privileges and prerogatives of a Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Active grade, he began training and conferring the degrees upon several worthy Brothers and established King David (Darius) Supreme Council with a full complement of elective and appointive officers In January 1856. Edward M. Thomas of Felix Lodge No. 3, Union Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia petitioned the King David Council of Philadelphia, for the 33rd degree to be conferred on five representative Masons in D.C., and on May 5, 1856, the conferment was made, and a Supreme Council was established in Washington, DC. By 1879 five Supreme Councils had been established near the eastern United States requiring those brothers to reconsider how they were establishing themselves. They held a series of meetings in New York City of all five (5) Supreme Councils in late 1880/early 1881. They then created a framework for a union. This framework was responsible for the Articles of Union which established two Supreme Councils, the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction (PHA) and the United Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction (PHA). The constitutions for the Southern Jurisdiction were finalized and established in 1887. Because of these agreements, the Washington DC Supreme Council was reorganized and renamed. The Illustrious Brothers of the District of Columbia bestowed the highest honor of respect for a man and his work in freemasonry and his masonic history on a brother they thought was instrumental to the progress of Freemasonry in Washington, DC. They 12
CHOKMAH | MARCH 2023
“I think that there is so much opposition to the National Grand Lodge that it will not exist for any length of time. Its Grand Secretary, Dr. Jonathan Davis, of Philadelphia, is a very efficient officer, and I judge that it is through his influence that the National Grand Lodge has held together so long.” Josiah H. Drummond PGM of the Grand Lodge of Maine
named their newly constructed consistory, Jonathan Davis Consistory No. 1, United Supreme Council Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Prince Hall Affiliation, Southern Jurisdiction, USA As this consistory has had a consistent existence for the ensuing 135 years, the question of who Jonathan Davis was has been raised without satisfactory answers as to his identity and what prompted the Illustrious brothers of the District of Columbia to name their consistory after him. In the mid-1950’s noted African American historian, the Illustrious Charles H. Wesley, 330, undertook the task of trying to answer the unknown facts about who Jonathan Davis was. He completed a 15-page biography, The History of Jonathan Davis[1], which has some discrepancies but is still the most comprehensive attempt to unveil the history of the man Jonathan Davis. Illustrious Wesley also used much of this biography in an article published in the Crisis magazine in 1977.[2] Jonathan Davis was born on April 10, 1820, in Frederica, Delaware.[iii] He was known to practice herbal medicine and was listed as a druggist in several Directories published during his life. He was awarded an honorary MD status by the Electic Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1867. He was also known as a “civil activist” in Pennsylvania. Jonathan Davis was a member of Widows Son Lodge No. 4 , African Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania,
