FRANCIS J. OLIVER

GRAND MASTER DECEMBER 27, 1816 TO DECEMBER 27, 1819.

The following biographical sketch of Past Grand Master Francis J. Oliver may be found in the eighteenth volume of Moore's Freemason Magazine, page 40, being written by Past Grand Master Winslow Lewis.

"Francis Johonnot Oliver, the great grandson of Antoine Oliver, an old Huguenot, who came to this country soon after the Revolution of the Edict of Nantes, was born in Boston, October 10, 1777. Antoine, who was the remotest ancestor in this country, was married in 1711, and had fifteen children, eight born in Boston, and seven in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, where the old gentleman died, and where his tombstone now stands. One of his daughters married a Mr. Johonnot, another Mr. Joseph Coolidge, the grandfather of the present Mr. Joseph Coolidge, of Boston.

Our Brother Oliver was fitted for college at the Boston Latin School, and entered Harvard College one of the youngest in his class, and graduated in 1795. He was one of the originators and the First Vice-president (Deputy Marshal they now call it) of the Porcellian Club. On leaving college he entered a counting-room, and seems ever to have been extremely systematic and methodical in whatever he was engaged. We accordingly find that his account books, mathematical lectures, French studies, etc., were all written out with the greatest, neatness and thoroughness, even when he was a mere lad. He early took a prominent position among the young men, and presided often at their

public meetings, several of which, among others, were held for the purpose of expressing their views about the French war and threatened invasion. When, by the advice of President Adams, the Boston Light Infantry was organized for service, as the French were expected, he was the first Ensign and afterwards Lieutenant, and was offered the Captaincy, which he was obliged to decline, as he was going abroad.

When he was of age, he went into the shipping and commission business with an elderly gentleman named Proctor, under the firm of Oliver and Proctor. The firm lasted for some years, but finally failed. He then chartered a small ship and went cruising about in search of profit and adventure. His first cargo was a party of French soldiers, to be returned to the French government. Having landed his passengers at Bordeaux, he went to Portugal, the West Indies, the Spanish Main, etc.,-was fired into by the fort. at Caracas, nearly shipwrecked in the Archipelago, and after various adventures, returned to Boston, with considerable experience, but little money. Having a good name, however, Mr. Cornelius Coolidge sought him in partnership, and they went into business together, making a great deal of money, till the war began in 1812, when they lost as fast. It was at this time that he and Mr. Coolidge each manned a boat with armed men, went down the harbor and recaptured a brig of theirs, which had been taken by a privateer, near the Light, because the brig had made use of an English license in Portugal; and, therefore, by law, was a fair prey to our privateers. Public opinion, however, was so strong

against the men who thus pounced on their own countrymen, just as they had escaped British cruisers and dangers of the seas, that he and Mr. Coolidge did not suffer for their rash act.

He was made a Mason in St. John's Lodge, of which he long continued an active member. He was Master of this Lodge, and presided over it with great dignity and excellence. Perhaps no one has ever exceeded him in these particulars. He was Junior Grand Warden in 1808; Senior Grand Warden in 1809, 1810, 1811; Deputy Grand Master in 1813, 1814, 1815, and Grand Master in 1816, 1817, 1818. Throughout his long and honorable life, he was a steadfast Mason-one ever ready to support the principles and practices of the Order, whether in its prosperity or adversity.

With Mr. Coolidge, he founded the American Insurance Company, and became its President, in which situation he remained for some eighteen years. He was a prominent member of the Humane Society, and was something of a politician in Boston-first as a Federalist, and then a Whig. He was President of the Common Council in 1824 and 1825; Representative, and held divers other municipal offices. He was also one of the original purchasers of Noddle's Island, and founders of East Boston-one of the originators of Mount Auburn Cemetery, and was ever among the foremost in starting and carrying out plans for the public. Somewhere about 1836, he resigned the Presidency of the American Insurance Company to become the Agent for the English Banking House of Morrison and Cryder, but the hard times coming on, and that house dissolving, he found