My Freemason Talk

My Freemason Talk

Twicw, in 2018, I spoke to groups of Freemasons in their hall. This was my first exposure to a Masonic hall and it was virtually the same as what I’d seen on the few TV shows that presented the inner workings of Masonic Lodges. It was a large room with reasonably plush seating in the order of a theater, yet only a few tiers high surrounding an empty floorspace, with a speaker's platform, on one side.

I was met at the door and escorted into the hall. I was placed before a podium, with a small side table for my miscellaneous items. I was asked to speak not so much on Oak Island as on the connections of the Knights Templar to Freemasonry, through Nova Scotia.

As I prepared my paperwork, I was assured by a very mature Freemason that he had studied this issue for a very long time, and had never found a concrete connection between the two organizations. After all the time I’ve spent on this subject I was very secure in what I was about to present, including showing off the signatures of the first recorded non-operative Freemasons, the story of which appears in another section of this website.

What I hadn’t noticed until making my preparations for this speech, was that, in the same book where I found the signatures and the notice of the initiation of the first three non-operative Freemasons (these being William Alexander Jr., leader of the Scots in Nova Scotia, his brother Alexander, Master of Works for Scotland, and Alexander Strachan, Baronet of Nova Scotia), there was also the first record of the word Freemason, however, it was spelled “frie mesones.” This was written in the same book that talked about the Alexander brothers, and was written just two years after their initiation.

This volume is very rare and was scanned by Cornell University. It contains the minutes of Edinburgh Lodge #1 and some commentary on them.

And so I presented this group with copies of the actual handwritten record of the first initiated non-operative Freemasons ever recorded, along with the quote including this early version of the word, something they had never seen before.

I also isolated each of the first three non-operative Freemasons' signatures and their Mason's Marks. They were thrilled to receive these.

As I spoke, I recounted how the Baronets of Nova Scotia had provided the first seven non-operative Freemasons recorded in history, as well as two of the more famous early Freemasons, Sir Robert Moray and Sir George Mackenzie, co-founders of the Royal Society.

Moray grew up in the heart of Templar territory in Scotland, and his father and grandfather were Baronets of Nova Scotia. Mackenzie actually was a Baronet of Nova Scotia, as was his father, and his son, grandson, etc.

Above is the type set copy, taken from the actual minutes of the Edinburgh Lodge #1, of the oldest known use of the term Freemason in Scottish history, from December 1636.

Here was also the proof that the first seven non-operative Freemasons, as well as two of the most famous early non-operative Freemasons were all tied to the Baronets of Nova Scotia settlement at Port Royal, NS, from 1629-1632.

I presented evidence of many more similar Scottish clans having connections both to the Templars and to the Freemasons, as laid out in my book “Oak Island 1632.”

There was nearly complete silence as I presented my evidence of a connection of the Knights Templar to the Freemasons by way of the Baronets of Nova Scotia.

I wasn’t trying to prove that the Freemasons evolved from Templarism, just that there was, in fact, this previously undiscovered connection, which I have made over the last year.

In all that I’ve read on the subject, it was by complete happenstance that I made the discovery that the same people involved in this early settlement of Nova Scotia by Scots had connections backward in time to the Knights Templar, and forward in time to the Freemasons.

This is a rather groundbreaking discovery, as people have been trying to make a clear connection between the two organizations for a very long time.

As I closed out the limited scope of my talk, being the connection of Templars to Freemason through Nova Scotia, the subject turned to Oak Island, and many questions were asked, more than doubling the time I spoke to the group.

My half hour planned talk extended to an hour and a half. Questions were asked about the nature of the treasure, and a few jaws dropped when they heard the news that a good share of Oak Island digs have been led by Freemasons, and even included Franklin Roosevelt, at one point.

I explained how Roosevelt stayed interested even into WWII, and how Gilbert Hedden had sent him a letter stating that he felt the Money Pit was created sometime between 1635 and 1645. Of course my own theory is that it all began in 1632, just three years before Hedden's earlier estimate.

As I finished, and members came to the podium to purchase copies of my books, in the background was the wise old Freemason who had earlier told me he had never been able to find the Templar/Masonic link.

As the crowd disperse, he said to me, “I think you've found the missing link I've been looking for all these years. I’ve always been trying to connect the Templars with the Freemasons through some type of intermediate organization, and all this time I should have been looking at the individual clans of Scotland and how they were the actual connection.”

It should have been a humbling experience for me, but I was so sure of my research, and had been encouraged by the likes of Kelly Hancock, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Nova Scotia, and Ron Henderson, member of the Knights Templar organization within Scotland, that I was fairly confident in what I was saying.

I do have to admit to feeling a bit of a rush, standing in a glorious Masonic Hall being told by an aged Freemason that I had given him the key he’d been looking for to connect the Templars to the Freemasons – that key being the Baronets of Nova Scotia.

The night ended with me being asked to come back to speak to the Knights Templar group within this Masonic Lodge, which happened in June. They were equally open and accepting of my theories.

I have also spoken to several historical groups, in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and have been giving courses at centers of higher education in three different cities.

I was at Oak Island in both 2017 and 2018, and hope to return again someday.

Meanwhile, I have received a complimentary copy of Cort Lindhal’s massive book on his Oak Island theories. Though his are very expansive and often esoteric theories, they do coincide with my own historical connections from my two books regarding the Baronets of Nova Scotia, in a variety of areas,

This is true for the works of Mark Finnan, as well.

I have been in communication with Cort, with Nova Scotia’s Grand Masonic Historian Kel Hancock, with Mark Finnan, Rick Lagina, Charles Barkhouse, and of course Doug Crowell, along with a few others, in an attempt to pull resources, get opinions, decide on possibilities, and post my findings on this website.

There is a lot more to read in my Oak Island books that will never make it here. I’ve published 516 pages of fresh ideas in these books, just publishing my third books.

Of course, I’d love for the reader to pick up a copy of Oak Island Missing Links, Oak Island 1632, or my latest, Oak Island Knights, from amazon.com, not only to help support my work, but also so that they can learn so much more about this mystery.