Moses Bickford's Masonic Life

My 2nd great-grandfather, Moses Bickford, was born in 1796 in Starks, Lincoln Co., Maine.  Moses left Maine around 1817 and headed west.  He married Ruth Green in Columbia, Ohio on May 2, 1819.  Moses and Ruth continued west, and after living in Sangamon Co., Illinois for a few years, they moved on to Iowa in 1838.  Moses was a farmer and a shoemaker. They raised 14 surviving children.

Membership in the Masonic organization was a very important part of his life.  Moses first became a Mason at about 25 years of age when he joined the order of Nova Caesarea Harmony Lodge in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1824. This lodge is still active today.  After immigrating to Iowa in 1838, Moses, along with Rev. James Shephard of Keosauqua, was influential in organizing a lodge in Keosauqua and became a charter member.  He was also a charter member of Winchester and Birmingham Lodges.¹

The first Masonic lodge in the territory of Iowa was established in 1840 under the authority from the Grand Lodge of Missouri.²  Moses was a representative in the first Grand Lodge of Iowa. The Birmingham Lodge No. 56 was chartered on June 6th, 1855 and Moses Bickford was a Past Master from 1855 to 1856.³

At his death on December 4, 1887, at the age of 91, Moses had been a Mason for 63 years, 8 months and 17 days. At that time, he was the oldest Mason in Iowa.¹  

Maple Hill Cemetery, Birmingham, Van Buren Co., Iowa.

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¹ Public dedication by the Hall of Birmingham Lodge, No. 56, A.F. & A.M.Birmingham, Iowa.     Submitted to the Enterprise newspaper for publication.

² History of Grand Lodge of Iowa A.F. and A. M., vol 1, Joseph E. Morcombe, Historian.  Published by Authority of the Grand Lodge of Iowa 1910, page 168.

³ Annuals of the Grand Lodge of Iowa,  Vol 2,  page 556.  Muscatine. Printed by order of the Grand Lodge, 1858.