The relationship between Mormonism and Freemasonry began early in the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and includes similarities between Mormon and Masonic rituals, such as elements of the endowment ceremony and stories of recovered ancient records. Smith was claimed to have stated that Mormonism had "true Masonry"; other leaders like Brigham Young said Masonic rituals were an "apostate endowment" corrupted from the rites given in Solomon's Temple that Smith had restored to its original form. Smith's older brother Hyrum joined Masonry in the 1820s, and his father, Joseph, Sr., may have been one as well while the family lived near Palmyra, New York. In the late 1820s, the western New York region was swept with anti-Masonic fervor.
By the 1840s, Smith and most Latter Day Saints (including but not limited to many in Church leadership) had become Freemasons and joined the Masonic lodge in Nauvoo, Illinois. Soon after joining Freemasonry in March 1842, Smith introduced the temple ceremony referred to as the endowment which included a number of symbolic elements that were very similar to those in Freemasonry. Smith remained a Freemason until his death. In modern times, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has stated that its members may become Freemasons, and Freemasonry allows them to join.
Historical connections A significant number of leaders in the early Latter Day Saint movement were Masons prior to their involvement in the movement, including Heber C. Kimball and John C. Bennett.
Joseph's brother, Hyrum, was a Freemason; their father, Joseph, Sr. has also been stated to have been a Freemason: That Joseph, Sr was a Freemason, however, is currently in dispute, as there were eight other men named "Joseph Smith" living in the same county (Ontario County, New York) as he was at the time that he supposedly joined the Lodge.
On 15 October 1841, Abraham Jonas (then the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge AF&AM of Illinois) issued a dispensation empowering a Lodge in Nauvoo and appointing the following Latter Day Saints to be its officers: George Miller as its first Worshipful Master, John Parker as its first Senior Warden, and Lucius Scovil as its first Junior Warden. The Lodge met on 29 December 1841 and accepted this dispensation. Officers were elected and appointed, and bylaws written and adopted. On 17 February 1842, the Lodge voted to hold off on installing its officers until 15 March; a request was also sent to Grand Master Jonas for him to preside over that Installation, which he accepted. Joseph Smith Jr (who was not yet a Mason) was appointed to serve in a pro-tempore position as Grand Installing Chaplain for this Installation. He and Sidney Rigdon were initiated as Entered Apprentices in the evening after the Installation, thereby becoming members of the newly-formed Nauvoo lodge; Abraham Jonas presided over that degree ceremony.
It appears that John C. Bennett had a particularly strong influence in the spread of Freemasonry among the Mormons. Within the year, there were over 300 Masons in Nauvoo Lodge, which resulted in Meredith Helm (the then-Grand Master who had succeeded Jonas) to issue dispensations to form two other Lodges in the Spring of 1843. One was called Nye Lodge (named for Rev. Jonathan Nye, who had previously served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Vermont from 1815 to 1817 and as Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar, USA from 1829 to 1835) and Helm Lodge (named for the Grand Master who issued this dispensation).
Soon after this, over 1,500 Mormon men in the city of Nauvoo were practicing Masons.
"By 1840, John Cook Bennett, a former active leader in Masonry had arrived in Commerce and rapidly exerted his persuasive leadership in all facets of the Church, including Mormon Masonry. … Joseph and Sidney [Rigdon] were inducted into formal Masonry … on the same day …" being made "Masons on Sight" by the Illinois Grandmaster."Is There No Help for the Widow's Son?" by Dr. Reed C. Durham, Jr., as printed in "Joseph Smith and Masonry: No Help for the Widow's Son", Martin Pub. Co., Nauvoo, Ill., 1980, p. 17. This freed Joseph from having to complete the ritual and memorization necessary to work one's way through the first three degrees.) Making one "A Mason on Sight" is generally reserved as an honor and is a rarity in occurrence.
Smith and Rigdon were raised to the third degree of Master Mason "on sight" by Grand Master Jonas of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. At the time and in the jurisdiction of that Grand Lodge, this meant that Joseph and Sidney could go through the three degree ceremonies in a relatively short time without having to prove their respective proficiencies between each degree. They each were passed to the degree of Fellowcraft on the morning of 16 March 1842 and raised to the degree of Master Mason later that day. Smith wrote: "Wednesday, March 16. — I was with the Masonic Lodge and rose to the sublime degree.
Note that Joseph Smith's journal does not mention the sublime degree on Mar 16, 1842, stating only "Continued with the Lodge". However, minutes from the Nauvoo lodge on the same day do state, "Joseph Smith applied for the third and sublime degree...he was duly raised..."
On 17 March 1842, the Relief Society was established as an auxiliary group for the female members of the church. Its structure originally had similarities to that of the Masonic Lodge; however, the Relief Society never had its own degree ceremonies nor did it ever purport to confer degrees of any kind on its members.
Hyrum Smith was not only one of Joseph's older brothers but also succeeded their father as Presiding Patriarch and Cowdery as Assistant President of the Church.
Bodley Lodge No. 1 in Quincy, IL presented concerns that the special dispensation granted to Nauvoo Lodge, U.D., was improper, and on August 11, 1842, the special dispensation was suspended by Grand Master Abraham Jonas until the annual Communication of the Illinois Grand Lodge. "During the short period covering its activities, this Lodge initiated 286 candidates and raised almost as many. John C. Bennett reports an instance in which 63 persons were elected on a single ballot." This suspension was later lifted and the Mormon Lodges resumed work although several irregularities in their practice were noted. The irregularities centered on mass balloting (voting on more than one candidate at a time) and not requiring proficiency in each degree before proceeding to the next degree (in many cases, initiates were being passed to the Fellowcraft degree and raised to the Master Mason degree within two days of being initiated as an Entered Apprentice).
There were 5 Masonic Lodges in Mormon communities by April 27, 1843:
Nauvoo Lodge, U.D. (Nauvoo, IL) Helm Lodge, U.D. (Nauvoo, IL) Nye Lodge, U.D. (Nauvoo, IL) Rising Sun Lodge No.12 (Montrose, IA) Keokuk Lodge, U.D. (Keokuk, IA) This Lodge is also referenced in some records and studies as "Eagle Lodge"; however, this is incorrect, as Eagle Lodge was a separate Lodge in Iowa created by the Grand Lodge of Iowa on 23 April 1846.
There were eventually 1,492 members of these lodges, but only a total of 414 Masons in all the other Illinois lodges. A resolution passed in the Grand Lodge of Illinois on October 3, 1843 to revoke the charter of Rising Sun Lodge, revoke the dispensations of and refuse to provide charters for the rest of these Lodges.
Rising Sun Lodge's charter was suspended because of refusal to pay dues to the Grand Lodge and because of doing its Masonic work irregularly. Nauvoo Lodge's dispensation was revoked due to irregular Masonic work, failure to bring its record books to the Grand Lodge for inspection, making men Masons without regard to character, and not requiring candidates to become proficient in one degree before advancing to another. Helm Lodge's dispensation was revoked due to irregular Masonic work (particularly "acting on four petitions in one day"), pushing candidates from the first degree to the third within two-day time periods, failure to present their records to the Grand Lodge for inspection, and paying only a portion of its dues to the Grand Lodge. Nye Lodge's dispensation was revoked for the same reasons as Helm Lodge and for initiating candidates within only one day of receiving their petitions (which did not leave any time for petitions to be examined or investigated). Keokuk Lodge's dispensation was revoked for irregular Masonic work and for allowing petitions to be received and acted upon "within one lunar month."
Following this resolution, Grand Master Alexander Dunlap later sent a representative of the Grand Lodge to Nauvoo Lodge to revoke its dispensation. According to the records of the Grand Lodge, its representative was "treated with contempt," the Lodge refused to part with its charter, and the Lodge stated that they would continue to do Masonic work. Because of this, a resolution in the Grand Lodge of Illinois passed on October 10, 1844 that withdrew all fellowship with Nauvoo Lodge, Helm Lodge, Nye Lodge, and all members thereof; that the Masons working in these Lodges be considered clandestine (or illegitimate), and that all members thereof be suspended from the privileges of Masonry in Illinois. The Lodge in Keokuk seems not to have been given the courtesy of being properly informed by the Grand Lodge of its charter being revoked or its members suspended following the 1843 resolution.
Although their respective charter and dispensation were revoked, Keokuk Lodge and Rising Sun Lodge were shortly afterward considered by the Grand Lodge of Illinois to be under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Iowa (as the Grand Lodge of Iowa was constituted in January 1844). These two Lodges attempted to join the Grand Lodge of Iowa at the 1844 Annual Communication; the Grand Lodge of Iowa voted that such would be permitted so long as these Lodges first present certificates of good standing issued by the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Illinois. At the Grand Lodge of Iowa's 1845 Annual Communication, word was given from Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Illinois that Rising Sun's charter had been revoked and Keokuk had been refused a charter, both for "gross, unmasonic conduct." Finally, at the Grand Lodge of Iowa's 1847 Annual Communication, while discussing the topic of "clandestine" (or "illegitimate") Lodges, it was decided that, as neither Rising Sun Lodge nor Keokuk Lodge had ever produced such certificates of good standing and had not contacted the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Iowa since 1844, neither Lodge could ever be a part of the Grand Lodge of Iowa.
It is theorized that, when Smith was in Carthage Jail in 1844, after he fired his last round in a small pepper-box pistol, he ran to the window and held up his arms in what may have been a Masonic call of distress, hoping Masons in the contingent would honor this call and not fire on him. It is recorded that he ran towards the open window with uplifted hands, and proclaimed, "O Lord my God."Times and Seasons, vol. 5 no. 13 [July 15, 1844], p. 585. The Warsaw Signal (the local newspaper based where those indicted for the conspiracy to murder Joseph and Hyrum resided), on the other hand, shortly afterwards wrote—and was later quoted by other newspapers at the time—that Joseph's last words were "Oh my God!" There is no evidence that any Masons participated in the attack on Carthage Jail (aside from the four victims of the attack; namely, Joseph Smith, Jr, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor, and Willard Richards). Three of the five men who were later indicted for conspiring to murder Smith were later initiated as Freemasons in Warsaw Lodge: Levi Williams, Thomas Sharp, and Jacob Davis.