Any Masons out there?

[diggummup]

Any Mason's out there?

I found (at an estate sale) a few items from a master mason and one of them was a big brass alligator with a small plaque on the bottom of it. The plaque is inscribed with the persons name and the letters DGM (District Grand Master?) afterwards. Below that are the words Swamp Degree and then a date beneath that. My question is what does "Swamp Degree" mean, I can find nothing?

 

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[ctalmadg]

This is related to "The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry" or sometimes called "The Grange" I think.

I found this in a 1935 North Carolina Newspaper.

" Philadelphus Grange met Tuesday night at the grange house. Raft Swamp Degree team conferred(or comfirmed-hard to read) the 1st and 2nd degrees in a very commendable manner. Several members of the Raft Swamp Grange, besides the degree team were present."

I also found that there is a BUll Swamp Lodge #312 in Carolina.

Hope this helps.

 

[Gunrunner61]

As a 3rd master mason, From Dalton, Ga. I have never heard of this degree, it may be a local (to that lodge) joke or something along that line.

 

[diggummup]

Thanks for the reply. I'm starting to think that the Alligator may have been a gift given to him by another member maybe, and the "Swamp degree" may have been that persons attempt a humor, referring to the Florida Everglades maybe. I know a little of his history and he was a Florida native with no connection to the Carolinas. He spent all his life down here shprt of his war service and was the Grand Master of the Hurricane Lodge no.401 in 1988. I don't know.