CHRONICLES
OF ST. JOSEPH LODGE NO.78
BEFORE A.D. 1900,
PAST MASTERS SERVING
IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
Submitted by the Secretary, Copywrite February 4th 2012.The Constitution of the United States was only 58 years of age and the Missouri Territory only 44 years old when the petition for a dispensation issued May 11th 1841 under the name of Katseel Lodge, created the first Masonic Lodge in Buchanan County applied through Liberty Lodge No.31, Missouri. In its charter, which was issued October 8th of the same year, the name was changed to Sparta Lodge No.46. St. Joseph Lodge No.78 was the offshoot of this, the mother Lodge of the County. Chartered in 1846, St. Joseph Lodge at the period of its organization was the most northern on the Missouri River and the most western in the United States, its jurisdiction extending thousands of miles west and northwest. From 1845 to December 1859, its meetings were held in the third story of a building in the store of Joseph C Hull, on Main Street.
Recorded in the Minutes of the Lodge on Oct. 11, 1856 pg.23, "Resolve that this Lodge take 200 shares of stock in the building known as the "Odd Fellows Hall" about to be built in this city. And that said resolution stand, until next regular meeting." In January 1859 St. Joseph Lodge relocated and shared its meeting space with the Odd Fellows, in a large 3 story building on the corner of Fifth and Felix until June 1873 moving to the spacious hall in the third story of a building on the northwest corner of Fourth and Charles streets and met there through 1881.
William R Penick, a pharmacist by profession, petitioned St. Joseph Lodge No.78 on January 5th 1856, Passed to the Degree of Fellow Craft February 16th, was Raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason March 1st of the same year and was elected Worshipful Master in 1858. WB Penick became the 21st Grand Master of Missouri in 1861.
In America, 1861 is known as the "Year Of The Rebellion", and the beginning of the Civil War. In St. Joseph, Missouri from the first Post Office located at the Patee Hotel, the Pony Express carried President Lincoln's Inaugural Address west to Sacramento, CA., men with Confederate and Union sympathies, some being Masonic brethren, battled in the Streets of St. Joseph and citizens watched as the American Flag was torn from the Post Office flag pole by an angry mob. RWB Penick, entered the Union Army in 1862 as a Colonal in the 2nd Regiment, Missouri Militia and wrote his address to the Annual Grand Lodge of Missouri Communication from the battle field. Some members of the same Lodges fought each other as political and cultural beliefs outweighed moral and fraternal obligations made in the fraternity. Two such brothers were RWB William R Penick and WB William H Carpenter.
Worshipful Brother Carpenter, born in Luray, Virginia, had come to the new frontier by river boat on the Missouri River in 1854. The following spring the family moved to a farm in Marion Township where they lived for many years. At the outbreak of the war in 1862 now a resident of St. Joseph and prominent in financial circles, enlisted in the Confederate Army serving in Company H, 1st Missouri Cavalry under Col. Elijah Gates. WB Carpenter, participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark, where he was made a prisoner by the Federals, and was paroled the following Summer. After returning to Company H the next year engaged in battle at Baker's Creek, Champion Hill and Black River, and was engaged in the siege of Vicksberg and the battle of Kenesaw Mountain where General Polk was killed. Taking part in the siege of Atlanta and the battle of Jonesboro, at the battle of Franklin he was wounded with grapeshot and recovered in a hospital as a prisoner for six months. His regiment surrendered in April 1865. Returning from the Confederate Service, he went to Green County, Arkansas, bought a farm, engaged in raising cotton and taught school for two years. In 1868 he began traveling for an agricultural implement firm and returned to St. Joseph, Missouri.
Worshipful Brother Carpenter, born in Luray, Virginia, had come to the new frontier by river boat on the Missouri River in 1854. The following spring the family moved to a farm in Marion Township where they lived for many years. At the outbreak of the war in 1862 now a resident of St. Joseph and prominent in financial circles, enlisted in the Confederate Army serving in Company H, 1st Missouri Cavalry under Col. Elijah Gates. WB Carpenter, participated in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark, where he was made a prisoner by the Federals, and was paroled the following Summer. After returning to Company H the next year engaged in battle at Baker's Creek, Champion Hill and Black River, and was engaged in the siege of Vicksberg and the battle of Kenesaw Mountain where General Polk was killed. Taking part in the siege of Atlanta and the battle of Jonesboro, at the battle of Franklin he was wounded with grapeshot and recovered in a hospital as a prisoner for six months. His regiment surrendered in April 1865. Returning from the Confederate Service, he went to Green County, Arkansas, bought a farm, engaged in raising cotton and taught school for two years. In 1868 he began traveling for an agricultural implement firm and returned to St. Joseph, Missouri.
He served as Worshipful Master at St. Joseph Lodge78 in 1886. In 1889 he organized the "Phoenix Loan Association, with a capitol of $4,000,000 and was president located near the present German American Bank at Fifth and Francis Streets, St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1891 he was a member of a Knights Templar excursion party which visited important places in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, England and Wales. Upon his passing from this earth in March 1916, WB Carpenter was permanently interred at Mount Mora Cemetery in St. Joseph Missouri. WB Carpenter is pictured on the left with two other visiting Brethren to Europe.
