List of Tennessee Freemasons

This is a list of notable Tennessee Freemasons. It includes Freemasons who were at some point members under the jurisdiction the Grand Lodge of Tennessee.

Politicians

  • Joseph Anderson - U.S. Senator (1799-1815); first Comptroller of U.S. Treasury.[1]: 292 
  • John Bell - U.S. Senator (1847-1859); U.S. Secretary of War; Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Member of King Solomon Lodge #6.[1]: 292 
  • George W. Campbell - U.S. Minister to Russia; U.S. Senator (1811-1819); Secretary of the Treasury. Member of Tennessee Lodge #2.[1]: 279 
  • Edward W. Carmack - U.S. Senator (1901-1907); U.S. Representative (1897-1901). Member of Memphis Lodge #118.[1]: 292 
  • Henry Cooper - U.S. Senator (1871-1877); Tennessee Representative. Member of Shelbyville Lodge #122.[1]: 292 *
  • Jenkin Whiteside - U.S. Senator (1809-1813). Member of Greeneville Lodge #3.[1]: 279 
  • Ephraim H. Foster - U.S. Senator (1838-1839, 1843–1845); Tennessee Representative. Member of Nashville Lodge #37.[1]: 292 
  • Albert Gore Sr. - U.S. Senator (1953-1971); U.S. Representative (1939-1953). Member of Carthage Benevolent Lodge #14.[1]: 292 
  • Felix Grundy - U.S. Attorney General (1838-1839); U.S. Senator (1839-1840); U.S. Representative; Chief Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Member of Hiram Lodge #7.[1]: 292 
  • Estes Kefauver - U.S. Senator (1949-1963); U.S. Representative (1939-1949). Member of Chattanooga Lodge #199.[1]: 292 
  • Kenneth McKellar - U.S. Senator (1917-1953), U.S. Representative (1911-1917). Member of Leila Scott Lodge #289.[1]: 292 
  • Alfred O. P. Nicholson - U.S. Senator (1840-1842); Tennessee Senator; Tennessee Representative. Member of Columbia Lodge #31.[1]: 292 
  • James D. Richardson - U.S. Representative (1885-1905); House Minority Leader (1899-1903). Initiated in Mt. Moriah Lodge #18; Holy Royal Arch Degrees Pythagoras Chapter #23; Grand High Priest (Holy Royal Arch) in 1873; Grand Master of Tennessee in 1883; Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction 1900–1914.[1]: 279 
  • John K. Shields - U.S. Senator (1913-1925). Member of Rising Star Lodge #44.[1]: 292 
  • Tom Stewart - U.S. Senator (1938-1949). Member of Winchester Lodge #158.[1]: 292 
  • Hopkins L. Turney - U.S. Senator (1845-1851); U.S. Representative; Tennessee Representative. Member of Olive Branch Lodge #53.[1]: 292 
  • Lawrence Tyson - U.S. Senator (1925-1929); Tennessee Representative (1903-1905). Member of Knoxville Lodge #718.[1]: 292 
  • Washington C. Whitthorne - U.S. Senator (1886-1887); U.S. Representative; Tennessee Representative; Tennessee Senator. Member of Columbia Lodge #31.[1]: 292 
  • John Williams - U.S. Senator (1815-1823). Member of Overton Lodge #5.[1]: 279 
  • Jo Byrns - Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1935). Past Master of West Nashville Phoenix Lodge #131 (1906, 1907).[2]

United States Presidents

Andrew Johnson wearing the uniform of a Knight Templar.

Governors

  • William B. Bate - 23rd Governor of Tennessee. Member of King Solomon Lodge #94.[1]: 291 
  • Ray Blanton - 44th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Adamsville Lodge #338.[1]: 291 
  • Aaron V. Brown - 11th Governor of Tennessee. Member of LaFayette Lodge #51.[1]: 291 
  • John C. Brown - 19th Governor of Tennessee. Grand Master of Tennessee in 1870; member of Pulaski Lodge #101.[1]: 291 
  • Gordon Browning - 38th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Huntington Lodge #106.[1]: 291 
  • John P. Buchanan - 25th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Mt. Moriah Lodge #18.[1]: 291 
  • William B. Campbell - 14th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Lebanon Lodge #98.[1]: 291 
  • Newton Cannon - 8th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Hiram Lodge #7.[1]: 291 
  • Frank Clement - 41st Governor of Tennessee. Member of Dickson Lodge #468.[1]: 291 
  • Winfield Dunn - 43rd Governor of Tennessee. Member of Corinthian Lodge #414.[1]: 291 
  • John Eaton - 1st Governor of Florida Territory; U.S. Minister to Spain; Secretary of War; U.S. Senator. Member of Cumberland Lodge #8.[1]: 292 
  • Buford Ellington - 42nd Governor of Tennessee. Member of Dillahunty Lodge #112.[1]: 291 
  • James B. Frazier - 28th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Chattanooga Lodge #199.[1]: 291 
  • William Hall - 7th Governor of Tennessee. Member of King Solomon Lodge #6.[1]: 291 
  • Isham G. Harris - 16th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Paris Lodge #108; elected Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge in 1851 (but was unable to serve that term) and 1868.[1]: 290 
  • Sam Houston - 6th Governor of Tennessee; 1st and 3rd President of the Republic of Texas; 7th Governor of Texas. Initiated in 1817 in Cumberland Lodge # 8 in Nashville. Knighted in Washington Commandery #1 in Washington, D.C., on February 3, 1853.[1]: 109 
  • Jim Nance McCord - 40th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Dillahunty Lodge #112.[1]: 291 
  • Ned McWherter - 46th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Dresden Lodge #90.[1]: 291 
  • James D. Porter - 20th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Paris Lodge #108.[1]: 291 
  • Archibald Roane - 2nd Governor of Tennessee. Member of Tennessee Lodge #2.[1]: 302 
  • Albert H. Roberts - 33rd Governor of Tennessee. Member of Livingston Lodge #259.[1]: 291 
  • Dewitt Clinton Senter - 18th Governor of Tennessee. Lodge membership unknown.[1]: 291 
  • John Sevier - 1st Governor of Tennessee. First Worshipful Master of Tennessee Lodge #2 in Knoxville.[1]: 297 
  • Alfred A. Taylor - 34th Governor of Tennessee; U.S. Representative. Member of Johnson City Lodge #486.[1]: 291 
  • Robert Love Taylor - 24th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Dashiell Lodge #238 at Elizabethton, Tennessee.[1]: 291 
  • Peter Turney - 26th Governor of Tennessee. Member of Winchester Lodge #158.[1]: 291 
  • Archibald Yell - 2nd Governor of Arkansas. Likely initiated in Warren Lodge #19 in Fayetteville, Tennessee; Worshipful Master of Shelbyville Lodge #49 in 1824; received Holy Royal Arch Degrees in Cumberland Chapter #1 in 1824; Grand Master of Tennessee in 1832; founded first Masonic lodge in Arkansas in 1837.[1]: 107–108 

Jurists

Frontiersmen

  • John Sevier - The founding father of Tennessee, frontiersmen and Governor of the first State of Franklin (Watagua County)
  • Davy Crockett - Frontiersmen and folk hero; U.S. Representative (1827-1831; 1833–1835).[3][1]: 293 
  • James Robertson - Explorer. May have been initiated in 1787 in North Carolina; member of St. Tammany Lodge #1.[1]: 294 

Military

  • Nathan Bedford Forrest - Confederate Army General. Initiated in Angenora Lodge #168, but never advanced past the Entered Apprentice degree.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba Snodgrass, Charles A.; Demott, Bobby J. (1994). The History of Freemasonry in Tennessee. Knoxville, TN: Tennessee Valley Publishing. ISBN 1882194128. OCLC 32626841.
  2. ^ "Jo Byrns". West Nashville Phoenix Freemasons' Lodge. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  3. ^ a b Denslow, William R. (1957). 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Columbia, Missouri, USA: Missouri Lodge of Research. (digital document by phoenixmasonry: vol. 1, 2, 3, 4)