Page 29 - Montana Freemason Magazine March 2014

Montana Freemason March 2014 Volume 90 Number 1

He was a member of the Territorial Inscribed upon the Jewel:
Legislature from 1873 to 1879. “Presented to Past Grand Master Wilbur Fisk Sanders by the
members of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Montana,
He served as President of the Montana Helena October 5th 1869.”
Wesleyan University in Helena 1889-
1900. It therefore seems proper and fitting that you’re new Grand
Master, Drew Sanders, should be installed wearing the Past
After the admission of Montana as a Grand Master Jewel of his esteemed relative Wilbur Fisk Sanders.
State in 1889 he was elected to the U.S.
Senate 1890 and served one term. Wilbur Fisk Sanders

The first and only statue in the Montana Capital building,
until 1980, was of Wilbur F. Sanders.

Our Grand Master Thom Chisholm is the Superintendent of
the Plains Schools District which is located in Sanders County,
named after Wilbur Fisk Sanders.

Masonic History

Brother Sanders was raised in Akron Lodge No. 83, Akron M0st Worshipful Grand Master Thom Chisholm exchanged
Ohio on November 8, 1859. the original Grand Master Jewel of Utah with the Past Grand
Master’s Jewel that belonged to Wilbur Fisk Sanders.
In 1863, he was part of the movement to form a Masonic
Lodge and was a charter member of Virginia City Lodge No.
43 of the jurisdiction of Kansas becoming Virginia City No. 1
in 1866 with the formation of the Grand Lodge of Montana. He
later became a member of Morning Star Lodge No. 5 in Helena.

Brother Sanders was elected as the first Grand Secretary of
the Grand Lodge of Montana on January 26, 1866.

Two years later in 1868 he was named Grand Master, the
third to hold the office.

When the Montana Masonic Hall of Fame was established he
was inducted as its first member.

As Grand Secretary he signed the Charter for Wasatch Lodge
No. 8 (now Wasatch Lodge No. 1 of the Grand Lodge of Utah).

As you can see the Grand Lodge of Montana has a continuing
and strong relationship with the Grand Lodge of Utah, just as
the name “Sanders” has a long standing connection to both of
our Grand Lodge’s.

This brings us around to why we are here now. As Grand
Secretary and Curator of the Montana Masonic Museum, I
have brought the Past Grand Master Jewel presented to Wilbur
Fisk Sanders.

This Jewel was made in 1869, by Frank Bartos and Augustus
K. Will, jewelers in Helena Montana. Both were Masons and
members of Helena Lodge No. 3.

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