San Francisco
County
Biographies
WILLIAM
ABRAHAM DAVIES
The
subject of this sketch received the first degree in Masonry on St. John the
Evangelist’s day, December 27, 1849, in Little Falls Lodge, No. 181, Little
Falls, N. Y.; was passed to the degree of Fellow Craft January 17, 1850, and
raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason January 24, 1850. He was elected
Secretary of the Lodge immediately thereafter, and was elected its
representative to the Grand Lodge which met in New York City in 1850. In 1851
he was elected Senior Warden, and within the year received the degrees of Mark
and Past Master in Oneida Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, No. 40, at Utica, N. Y.
In the spring of 1852 he came to California, and after the usual mining
experience in Calaveras county, settled in Columbia, Tuolumne county where he
affiliated with Columbia Lodge, No. 28, and Columbia Royal Arch Chapter, No. 8,
receiving first therein the Most Excellent and Royal Arch Degrees. In 1858 he
was elected Secretary of Columbia Lodge, and in 1859 Master, in which position
he was continued for six years. Meanwhile he was appointed Senior Grand Deacon
by Grand Master Belcher, and filled successively the positions of Junior and
Senior Grand Wardens, Deputy Grand Master, and was elected Grand Master in
1867. Brother Davies was a friend and admirer of that typical western Mason,
Brother Isaac Davis, and renewed his unsuccessful efforts to arrest the Masonic
grievance of that early day, viz: The unrestricted
rendering of unauthorized versions of the Masonic ritual. This jurisdiction
being peculiarly affected by this unusual Masonic complaint, for the reason
that here were gathered Masons from all the States of the Union, as well as
many from the Masonic families of the Old World; hence we frequently found in
the organization of a Lodge a Master from Mississippi; a Senior Warden from
Vermont, with a Virginia Junior and a New York Senior Deacon. The forms of
expression in reciting the traditions of the craft have differed widely in the
several States, and our work was being marked by the peculiarities of all.
The
subject being again brought to the attention of the Grand Lodge, a committee
was appointed of which Brother Davies was named as chairman, and his report may
be found on page 99, vol. vi, Grand Lodge proceedings of 1863.
This
report, after an exhaustive debate, was adopted. A committee, consisting of the
Grand Master, the Deputy Grand Master and three Past masters, was appointed to
revise the work. That committee assembled at the Masonic Temple in November,
1863, and after a working session of two weeks completed their labors, adopting
the present work, which after exemplification at the ensuing session of the
Grand Lodge, in 1864, was by them approved and made obligatory upon the Lodges.
He
was the first Deputy Grand Lecturer appointed under the resolutions of the
Grand Lodge, and he labored earnestly for the success of the system, which has
since become “the Masonic Work of the Pacific Coast.” He was, at the session of
1863, Chairman of the Committee of Jurisprudence, and has remained a member of
the committee with its present able chairman, Brother W. C. Belcher, Past Grand
Master, the succeeding twenty-five years.
During
the years 1859 to 1865, after filling the several stations in the Grand
Council, he was elected Grand Master of the Grand Council of Royal and Select
Masters in 1865.
Brother
Davies also served in the several stations of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch
Masons, and was elected Grand High Priest in 1873. He was also interested and
active in the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of
California, having been created a Knight of that illustrious Order in
California Commandery in 1866, and, after service in
different stations, was elected Grand Commander in 1874.
He
was one of those who organized the Grand Consistory of the Scottish Rite in 1870, and was elected Grand Commander-in-Chief in
1879, serving his term of three years, at the expiration of which he was
elected by the Supreme Council to receive the Thirty-third Degree, who ordered
it conferred as an honoarium.
Brother
Davies has also served as President of the Convention of High Priests for this jurisdiction,
and is its present President.
He
has had the honor of being placed at the head as the chief executive officer of
every Masonic organization in California.
He
was born in Utica, N. Y., in 1828, being now in his sixty-first year. He was
married in 1849. His wife joined him in California in 1853, and to them were
born four children, the eldest, Wm. S., being a graduate of West Point of the
class of 1874. Mrs. Davies died in Stockton in 1875, and the youngest daughter,
Mrs. Laura H. Graham in this city in October, 1887. The remaining children,
Mrs. Kate McKune, and Thos. A. Davies, the youngest
son, live with their father with two grandchildren. Thos. A. is a Mason; the
Third Degree was conferred upon him by his father, and he is now a member of Mission
Lodge, No. 169, and Golden Gate Chapter, O. E. S.
Brother
Davies is a man of temperate habits, high character, modest, unassuming and very
popular. This was shown in a marked degree by being elected to the position of
County Clerk of the city and county of San Francisco (which position he now
fills) by a large majority, while his own party was in the minority. Although
he has led an active life, he is well preserved and has a vim
in his eye and an elasticity in his step that presages many years of usefulness
to his fellow-men and acceptable labor among our craft. Our engraving is a good
likeness of a representative Mason which will be recognized by many as a fit
tribute to one who has given thirty-seven years of continuous official labor in
California to Masonry.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Illustrated Fraternal Directory Including
Educational Institutions on the Pacific Coast, Pages 128-129, Publ.
Bancroft Co., San Francisco. Cal. 1889.
© 2012 Cecelia
M. Setty.
San Francisco County Biographies