Pleasant Grove Lodge No. 138 Pleasant Grove Lodge No. 138 Photo by Brent Michael Year Founded 1848 Jurisdiction Grand Lodge of Tennessee Location Maury County, TN Status: Active Charter Date: October 5th, 1848



Pleasant Grove Lodge No. 138 is a Craft Lodge in Culleoka, Tennessee under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee.

History and Founding

Pleasant Grove Lodge No. 138 at Maury County Tennessee was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Tennessee on October 5th, 1848. MW Bro Hardy Murfree Burton and the Grand Secretary John L. Dashiell signed The Charter. The charter stationed officers were WM Isaac Newton Bills, SW Dr. Andrew. T. Boyd, and JW William K. Leetch. [1] The lodge had 28 members at the time of its charter. The lodge’s first meeting place was originally the second story over the Pleasant Grove Male Academy; that the lodge paid for and had built. The Academy’s location was on land on what is now known as Scott Hollow Rd; which is about two miles west of the lodge’s present location. The lodge did not hold meetings during the Civil War owing to constant military operations taking place in the vicinity due to both sides desire to control the railroad network in the area. [2]

In 1868, the lodge paid $3,000.00 to erect its new building; built by John Williams of Pulaski it still meets in the building to this day. Wor. Bro. Rev. William Harris Wilkes deeded the land to the lodge on September 2nd , 1869. There is no known evidence of a Masonic corner stone ceremony having taken place for the building. However, the lodge was dedicated on December 27th, 1869, Saint John’s Day, the lodge was opened with much pomp and ceremony. In the 1920’s the Culleoka Lions Club met in the Lodge. Throughout the years, the Lodge also hosted the Culleoka Country Christmas Event, The Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. The lodge is listed as one of the oldest buildings in Culleoka in the book A Century of Culleoka Memories. [3] 1910 to 1920 the lodge saw its smallest membership. In 1914, the lodge had a membership of only seventeen men.

Charter Brothers

Isaac Newton Bills: Charter Wor. Master of the lodge. Not much information is available, however two Isaac Newton Bills were buried in the “Bills” cemetery, dates 1773-1821, 1812-1854, the latter dated burial is believed to be the resting place of Wor. Bro. Bills.

Bills Cemetery was originally located in Glendale, Maury County, Tennessee. The grave markers were moved from the Bills Cemetery to their current location in the Rose Hill Cemetery when the property was sold around 1995, and the new owners did not want them there.

Dr. Andrew T. Boyd: Charter Senior Warden of the lodge. Dr. Boyd was a son of James Boyd, whose father was a soldier under Generals George Washington and Nathaniel Greene during the Revolutionary War and was in the battles of Monmouth and King’s Mountain and served through the war. James Boyd was born in Davidson County, Tenn., and there married Elizabeth Henderson, a native of North Carolina. The father was a tiller of the soil and departed this life in 1825. The mother was a member of the Presbyterian Church and died in 1860. Andrew T. Boyd began studying medicine and took a course of lectures at Lexington, Ky.[4] “He afterward attended the University of Philadelphia, Penn. He practiced his profession successfully for about twenty years, and then retired from active duties. In 1879 he married Miss L. Curthirell. In the late war he was surgeon in the Forty-eighth Tennessee Regiment for one year. He is now a Democrat, though formerly a Whig, and belongs to the Masonic fraternity, Royal Arch Degree.”[5]

Rev. William Harris Wilkes: Born on 7 May 1821 in Culleoka, Tennessee to Richard Ambrose Lipscomb Wilkes and Judith Harris, natives of Virginia who emigrated to the Maury County, Tennessee area in about 1806. He died on October-15-1895. He was the charter secretary of the lodge in 1848. He served as Worshipful Master in 1858-88, 89,90. Wilkes was known as both "W. H." and "Billy" to his friends and family. W. H. was educated at the Triune and Pleasant Grove schools in Maury County. In 1839, at the age of 18, he entered into the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Over the years he was appointed to preach in various towns in Tennessee, including Springfield, Wartrace, Mt. Pleasant, Spring Hill, Pulaski, Franklin, Nashville, and Columbia. On 6 Jun 1848, he took his first wife, Mary Kennedy Amis, daughter of Thomas Amis and Hannah Gordon Kennedy. They were blessed with the birth of four children, In Dec 1855, just six months after the loss of his son, Thomas, his wife, Mary, passed away. On 1 Jan 1857, he took his second wife, Zurilda Amis, the younger sister of his first wife, Mary. He and Zurilda were blessed with the birth of one daughter.

In about 1854, Wilkes made his mark on the history of Maury County, Tennessee. He platted the town of Culleoka and will ever be remembered as "the father of Culleoka". In 1860, his wife, Zurilda, died of consumption. Wilkes. later took a third wife, Elizabeth Jane Martin Johnson. On 15 Oct 1895, in front of the Masonic Lodge in Culleoka, Wilkes was struck by a train and killed. He had become hard of hearing and did not hear the train coming and stepped into its path. He was laid to rest at the Wilkes-Campground Cemetery in Culleoka, near both Mary and Zurilda and his son, Thomas Paul. His 3rd wife was later buried next to him when she passed away in 1902. [6]

Washington Lafayette Jefferson Wilkes: Born September 28th, 1824, died June 18th, 1887. Washington was a charter member of the lodge in 1848. Served as Worshipful Master in 1866, 71, 73, 83. Washington Lafayette Jefferson Wilkes was born just one month after Major General and Masonic Brother, Marquis de Lafayette arrived in New York harbor to embark on his “Grand Tour” on the nation’s 50th anniversary. Given how revered Lafayette was by our nation’s citizenry at that time (Over 600 American villages, cities, counties, mountains, lakes, rivers, educational institutions and other landmarks would bear his name.) it is likely that the naming of this particular Brother was further proof of how Lafayette’s visit “touched the lives” of so many Americans.

Brothers of Note

Cpt. Merritt Booker Tomlinson: Due to his incredible longevity of life and the amount of time he devoted to working in the Masonic “quarries” of the Lodge, Bro. Tomlinson stands out as the Lodge’s “patron saint”. WM. Tomlinson born August 10th, 1840, lived until the age of 99 when on March 5th, 1939 he was called upon by the Grand Architect of the Universe to “lay down his working tools and travel to that celestial lodge above.” Tomlinson served in the 48th Tennessee Infantry as a quartermaster officer during the Civil War. Since the lodge went “dark” during the war; the first time Tomlinson appears in lodge records is when he is reported having affiliated with Pleasant Grove Lodge # 138 on August 12th, 1865. It is believed that he was raised a Master Mason in 1862, most likely, in one of the many “travelling military lodges” that existed during the war. In 1866, Tomlinson served as Junior Warden and embarked on his long career serving the lodge as an officer until 1921, a total of 55 years. He served as Worshipful Master for the first time in 1869; an office he would serve in for a total of 10 times, 1897 being the last time he was Worshipful Master of the lodge. Worshipful Brother Tomlinson served in every office of the lodge except Chaplain and Tyler. In 1921 he had served as Treasurer of the lodge for the 3 preceding years. It is assumed that 1921 probably marked the last time he attended lodge which was most likely due to his advanced years and his not being able to climb the stairs to the lodge room.

“During the Civil War he served as a Captain in Co. F, 48th Tenn. Inf.; and as Provost Marshal in Walthal's Division of the C.S.A. On 12 Sep. 1866 he married Miss Mildred Dillard and she bore his four sons and five daughters. He was the last of almost 3,500 Confederate veterans of Maury County to die and had the distinction of being the only surviving officer of the Confederacy in the entire country at the time of his death."[7]

Worshipful Brother Tomlinson’s longevity started to bring him notoriety in several newspaper articles in his last years of life. The first one appeared in “Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro” dated April 6th, 1937. It describes him as a ninety-six-year-old veteran observing a parade in Columbia. An example quote from the article reads:

“Capt. Tomlinson, the oldest of the three surviving veterans in Maury County, is a lover of horses and an accomplished rider. He still rides horseback frequently and shows remarkable horsemanship for one of his years.”[8]

The second article in “The Tennessean,” dated August 10th, 1938 is about Tomlinson observing his 98th birthday. The article describes him as a past commander of the Tennessee division of United Confederate Veterans. He entered the war at the age of twenty-one as a 1st Lieutenant, mustered out in April 1865 in Greenville, NC as a provost marshal with the rank of captain. He went blind the previous year. Tomlinson was known as “a great student of history and an authority on Civil War questions.”[9]

The last article before Tomlinson’s death was dated January 8th, 1939. It describes a remarkable achievement for its day.

“Probability that Capt. Merritt B. Tomlinson, Maury County’s only surviving veteran, has been a Mason longer than any other person in the United States was expressed here this week following receipt of a letter from a Minnesota Masonic Lodge.”[10]

The article further explains that a man in Minnesota had been a Mason for seventy-five years and Tomlinson at the time had been a member for seventy-seven years according to Grand Lodge records. He passed away two months after the publication of the article.

Franklin Lafayette Winn: Born on May 20th, 1831 died 1894. He affiliated with the lodge on August 13th, 1856. He was expelled from Freemasonry 1857, reason given was as follows: “LIVING IN UNLAWFUL INTIMACY WITH HIS BROTHER'S WIDOW, HE AND HIS BROTHER BOTH BEING MASTER MASONS AND HE HIMSELF BEING A MASON NOW.” (From Lodge annual return).