PHINEAS DODGE BALLOU, 33°. As Active Member of the Supreme Council, and Deputy for the District of Vermont, I present as a report on the death of Ill.. PHINEAS DODGE BALLOU, 33°, the accompanying eulogy, presented by the Committee appointed for that purpose, at the last Annual Meeting of the Council of Deliberation, held in the Valley of Burlington, on the 17th day of the Hebrew month Shebat, A... M... 5637, answering to January 31st, 1877, V... E.. Respectfully submitted, GEO. O. TYLER, 330, Committee. In the death of Illustrious Brother BALLOU, a void, not easy to be filled, is left in the circle of his many friends, and the members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite in this Jurisdiction. The deceased was born in the town of Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont, March 3d, 1823, but spent his early days in Burlington. Before reaching manhood he lived for some years in the cities of Albany and Troy, N. Y. In 1849 he returned to Burlington and became one of the pioneers who emigrated from Vermont to California, where he resided nearly four years, with pecuniary profit to himself. While in San Francisco, he was a member of the famous Vigilance Committee, and was active in maintaining law and order during the infancy of that most cosmopolitan of American cities. Soon after his return to his home in Burlington, May 24th, 1853, he was raised in Washington Lodge. He received the capitular degrees in Burlington Chapter, the cryptic in Burlington Council, and was created a Knight Templar in Burlington Commandery. He served in nearly every office in the gift of these Bodies; was wonderfully familiar with the Ritual, and throughout his life profoundly interested in the welfare of these organizations. He early took an interest in the Scottish Rite, and it was mainly through his influence that nine Master Masons in this jurisdiction made a pilgrimage to Boston, January 17th, 1868, for the purpose of receiving the degrees of that Rite, and from which event grew the introduction of the Rite into Vermont. He was a Charter Member of Haswell Lodge of Perfection, Joseph W. Roby Council of Jerusalem, Delta Chapter of Rose Croix and Vermont Consistory. He was honored by his Illustrious Brethren by being made the first T.. P... G.. Master of Haswell Lodge of Perfection, and the first Commander-in-Chief of Vermont Consistory. In June, 1870, he received at Cincinnati, Ohio, the 33d and last degree of Masonry, and was at once appointed Deputy for Vermont, which position he filled until his removal to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1873. He was a most ardent and devoted worker in all the branches of this Rite, and his faithfulness, zeal and untiring services in behalf of the order he loved so well, will not soon be forgotten. Most of the life of our deceased Brother was spent in Burlington, where he was much esteemed for his democratic manners and unquestioned honesty. He was twice married, and three children survive him. Brother BALLOU was long a member of the well-known mercantile firm of D. A. Van Namee & Co., of Burlington. His active temperament made him prominent in city affairs. He was an Alderman in 1866-7, President of the Board of Aldermen in 1867-8, Mayor in 1869-70, Representative in the Legislature in 1872, and he faithfully discharged the duties of all these positions. He was one of the most energetic and genial of men, generous even to a fault, and hence enjoyed a wide personal popularity. Reverse of business fortunes led him to seek the far West in 1873, and so he located in Omaha, hoping to again secure worldly riches, but the times were unpropitious, and in the fall of 1876 he sought the newly opened region of the Black Hills, where he engaged in what promised to be a lucrative busiHere, when hardly beyond the prime of life, buoyant in spirits, full of hope and pecuniary success, he was suddenly stricken down. The circumstances of his death are as follows: ness. He had been to Gayville, a location about six miles from Deadwood City, to look up a mining claim, and on the evening of January 16th, 1877, put up at a stage station to await the arrival of the stage which came along about mid-night. During the night he went out to obey a call of nature, and mistaking in the darkness an out building, over a mining shaft, for a privy, entered it and was precipitated 35 feet upon the rocks below. His moans soon attracted the attention of persons about the station, and he was taken out of the pit, but was so severely injured that he died the next morning about 8 o'clock. Several members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, who were sojourning at Deadwood City, having ascertained by the ring worn by Illustrious Brother BALLOU, that he was a Mason of the highest grade, gave his young son all the aid possible in caring for his remains and forwarding them to Sidney, the nearest point on the Union Pacific Railroad. In this brotherly work Ill.. Bro.. H. H. Falk, 32°, was especially prominent, and his kind services will always be thankfully appreciated by the Brethren of this Jurisdiction. R... W.. Wm. R. Bowen, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska, at the request of the Brethren of both the York and Scottish Rite of Burlington generously arranged for the transportation of our departed Brother from Sidney to Omaha, and there had them properly prepared for their final destination at Troy, N. Y., where his funeral was attended on the afternoon of Fri day, February 2d, 1877. After brief and appropriate services at the residence of Mr. Edgar Ballou, (brother of the deceased), conducted by Rev. A. N. Remick, of the Ninth Presbyterian Church, the body was then taken in charge by Apollo Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and conveyed to Oakwood Cemetery, where it was interred in the family lot. Here the beautiful Masonic burial service was impressively read by the W.. M.. of Apollo Lodge, Ransom H. Noble, assisted by the chaplain, Rev. J. Bradford Cleaver, the eloquent pastor of the Free Will Baptist Church at Troy. The pall bearers were all Masons from this jurisdiction, representing the various bodies to which Bro. Ballou belonged, viz: Ill.. Geo. O. Tyler, 33°, representing Vermont Consistory; Ill.. Robt. J. Wright, 32°, M.·. W... and P.. M.. of Delta Chapter of Rose Croix; Ill.·. Geo. H. Bigelow, 32°, S. ·. P. ·. G.. M.., Joseph W. Roby, Council of Princes of Jerusalem; Ill.. Homer M. Phelps, 18°, T. ·. P. ·. G. . M.., Haswell Lodge of Perfection; H.. P.., of Burlington Chapter and W... M.. of Burlington Lodge; Sir Kt.. Generalissimo A. C. Tuttle; Ill.. and Sir Kt.. Capt.-General Geo. J. Stannard, 32°; Ill.. Sir Kt.. Wm. Brinsmaid, 32°, and Sir Kt.. Oscar B. Ferguson, representing Burlington Commandery; C. W. Wingate, W... M.., of Washington Lodge; Sir Kt.. Wm. C. Bradbury, of Vergennes, of Mt. Cavalry Commandery. The members of Apollo Lodge, as well as others of the Craft in Troy, evinced a special interest in the funeral of the deceased, and paid the delegation from Burlington every attention. We have extended this sketch of the life and death of our Illustrious Brother, perhaps beyond the accustomed limit of such obituaries; but such was his prominence as a member of our Rite, and so conscientious was he in his devotion to it, that we believed him worthy of a more than ordinary mention. His public career likewise was so successful that it reflected honor on the order and thus claimed a brief recital in these pages. His was a vexed life, full of trials, endured with fortitude, and yet he was ever constant in his endeavors to practice just relations with the community in which he lived. May his virtues receive an eternal reward. Fraternally submitted, GEO. H. BIGELOW, 32°, |