MASONIC BIOGRAPHIES ELI HARRISON, SENIOR FAMOUS FREEMASONS GRAND MASTERS IN MEMORIAM MEMOIRS

Eli Harrison, Jr. GRAND SECRETARY, 1877-1878 1852 - February 7, 1930 Eli Harrison, "Junior", as he was fondly called-by his associates, was probably the youngest man ever to be made a freemason in the jurisdiction of British Columbia. In March 1870, then 18 years of age, he applied for membership in British Columbia Lodge No. 1187 ER, of which his father was then Master, and after a ruling by RW Brother Robert Burnaby that "it was in order provided that the father was made a party to his (the son's) obligation bond," the application was received by the Lodge and after considerable bickering the application was rejected, although the Minute Book of the Lodge indicates that the "rejection" was later expunged from the Minutes. Following the "March Convention" under date of April 4, 1871, Quadra Lodge, UD SR, wrote to British Columbia Lodge asking if there was any objection to their entertaining an application for membership by the Degrees from the son, and there being none, Quadra Lodge at their next meeting elected Eli Harrison, Junior, to membership in his 19th year, and he was made a MM on September 15, 1871. In 1911 the MW Bro. Francis J. Bird called upon him as "a Jurist of ability and experience both at the Bar and on the Bench, to compile an annotated digest of all the Constitutions, laws, edicts and decisions of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia from its origination." This work was completed jn 1912, and in 1913 "by Order of Grand Lodge" the "Harrison Code", as it is generally called, was distributed to the members of the Craft —it forms the basis of the present Constitutions of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia. He had been called to the Bar in 1871; became Clerk of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly and Law Clerk for the same; acted as Registrar of Titles; became a Bencher of the British Columbia Law Society; and a County Court Judge for the Province before he died on February 7, 1930. Initiated : September 15, 1871 Worshipful Master : 1876 Quadra Lodge UD Grand Marshall : 1876 Grand Secretary : 1877-78 Junior Grand Warden : 1879, 1880, 1881 Grand Lodge History. pp. 133-34

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