The Lafaytte Grand Master Jewel

     The Lafayette Jewel was originally the Grand Master’s Jewel of the Grand Lodge of French Masons. 

General Marquis De Lafayette, a Frenchman, Major General Baron DeKalb, of German birth, and ten others came to this country in 1777 to assist in the cause or freedom.  Major General Baron DeKalb was wounded, pierced by eleven bullets, in the Battle of Camden, South Carolina, August 16,1780.  He died two days later, and was buried in Camden, with Masonic Honors, August 19, 1780.  

General Lafayette visited America in 1824-25 as a guest of the nation and while here in America on this occasion, he was invited by the City of Camden to participate in laying the cornerstone of a monument designed by the famous architect, Robert Mills, to Baron DeKalb.  He was touched by and accepted this invitation and arrived in Camden August 8, 1825.  On the following day he performed the duties in accordance with the Dispensation from Brother John Geddes, Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in S.C., dated February 28, 1825.  General Lafayette used a silver trowel made of Mexican coins, by Alexander Young for this special occasion, which has ever since been known as the Lafayette Trowel, and is now the property of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina.

 The afternoon before the cornerstone ceremony, Kershaw Lodge No. 29 convened at four o'clock to officially receive General Lafayette.  On being presented in the lodge he was welcomed by Bro. Abraham DeLeon, Worshipful Master of Kershaw Lodge No. 29.  Bro. DeLeon, also French, addressed and welcomed General Lafayette in their mother tongue.  Bro. Lafayette being overjoyed at this reception removed his Grand Masters Jewel of France, approached Bro. DeLeon and placed it around his neck as a personal gift and souvenir of the occasion.  It has ever since been known as the Lafayette Jewel. Bro. DeLeon, a physician, came to Camden from Charleston, to which he later returned and affiliated with Friendship Lodge NO. 9.  After his death his family presented the Lafayette Jewel to Friendship Lodge No. 9 to be preserved for posterity.   

No one had worn this jewel in or out of Lodge, other than Worshipful Brother DeLeon, prior to the placing of the cornerstone of the Greater Citadel erected in Hampton park Thanksgiving Day, November 30, 1920 by the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free Masons of South Carolina. The distinguished honor of being the first wear it fell upon Most Worshipful Brother Samuel T. Lanham, the Grand Master at that time.  

The jewel traveled to Alexandria, Virginia, in December of 1923, where Most Worshipful Brother J. Campbell Bissel Grand Master of Masons in South Carolina wore it at the laying of the cornerstone of the George Washington Memorial Temple.  

The jewel was worn at a special communication of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina held May 3, 1934 at the Masonic Temple in Charleston, where General Charles P. Summerall, (retired) President of the Citadel Military College of South Carolina was made a Mason at sight.

 In November 1944 Friendship Lodge presented to Kershaw Lodge No. 29 an exact replica of the Lafayette Jewel due to the special relationship that existed between the two lodges.

 On November 16, 1957, Most Worshipful Brother, Dr. L. Wade Temple, Jr. wore the jewel, at the re-laying of the cornerstone of St. John’s Episcopal Church Sunday School Room, in the wall of the New St. John’s Episcopal Church, West of the Ashley in Charleston. 

The Jewel had not been used in public since 1957, when it was worn by General George M. Seignious at the dedication of the Lafayette Stamp issued by the U.S. Post Office in June of 1977.  Following this date the jewel was not displayed or used in public but was displayed at each annual communication and installation of the officers of Friendship Lodge, in front of the podium in the east, for all to see as an incentive to emulate the honor that its history eloquently teaches, and at the same time to perpetuate the memory of our illustrious Brother Marquis de Lafayette, Major General U.S. Army. 

In the year 2000 five lodges merged into one, to reinstitute Mariner Lodge No. 2. Friendship Lodge was one of five lodges. Most Worshipful Brother Gilbert L. Martin, Grand Master of Masons in South Carolina, a member of one of the five Lodges wore the Jewel, on December 28, 2000, to install Worshipful Brother Wallace H. Kuhner and his officers. To commemorate the occasion, he then placed the jewel around Worshipful Brother Kuhner’s neck.  

The Jewel will now remain in the possession of Mariner Lodge No. 2.