Maine Memory Network

Maine Freemasonry played a significant role both locally and nationally during the war years.

Numerous local men joined the fraternity while in service. Many likely joined due to the potential benefits Freemasonry offered on and off the battlefield.

The Square and Compass is most common of Masonic symbols and is indicative of young Masons.

This image is from a headstone at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.

Benjamin C. Pennell, a 20-year-old blacksmith in Portland, was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in Co. B of the 17th Maine Infantry on August 18, 1862.

Pennell was promoted to 1st lieutenant in December 1862 and to captain in August 1863.

Pennell was killed at the Battle of Petersburg on June 17, 1864, by a stray bullet while spotting targets.

He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland.

The embellishment on his stone includes a flying flag, reference to service, heroic verse and the Masonic motif.

Josiah Hayden Drummond was an important figure in local and national Freemasonry.

As Grand Master of Maine lodges, he opened membership to many local soldiers.

Josiah Hayden Drummond (1827-1902) practiced law in Waterville after his graduation from Waterville College (now Colby College) in 1846. He moved to Portland in 1860.

He served in the Maine Legislature, where he was speaker of the House of Representatives in 1858 and 1869. He served in the Maine Senate in 1859 and was the state's attorney general from 1860-1864.

Drummond was author of several Masonic texts, as well as a member of the board of trustees of Waterville College.

From 1865 to his unexpected death in 1902, Drummond was a director of the Maine Central Railroad and of the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Local Masons provided this elaborate monument to honor the influential Drummond. The three steps and Hebrew lettering are rich in Masonic symbolism.

Charles Porter Mattocks served in the 17th Maine Infantry during the Civil War. Mattocks was 21 when he enlisted on Feb. 8, 1862 as a first lieutenant.

He was promoted to full captain in December 1862 and to full major in December 1863. He was breveted as a brigadier general in March 1865 and promoted to full colonel on May 15, 1865.

His war diaries include descriptions of his experience as a young Mason in southern prisons.

Via Masonic connections, Mattocks was able to effect the relief of a number of prisoners, both Confederate and Union.

Often men were members of more than one fraternal organization. This stone reflects membership in both the Masons and the Odd Fellows.

The links indicate the Odd Fellow motto of "Friendship, Love and Truth."

Woodbury K. Dana (1840-1924), a prominent Westbrook businessman, was born in Portland on June 7, 1840. He served in the 29th Maine volunteers during the Civil War as a hospital steward.

After returning from the war, he established the Dana Warp Mill, a textile mill in 1866. It was the second largest employer in Westbrook in the late 1800s.

He married Mary Little Hale Pickard in 1869, and had 5 daughters and 2 sons.

Woodbury Dana was an active member of the community, involved in local government. He was a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War veteran's organization; and was a Mason.

Dana died on May 18, 1924 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Westbrook.

He enlisted in the 29th Maine Volunteers, in Co. K on Nov. 13, 1863, and served as a hospital steward during the war. He mustered out Aug. 22, 1965.

The Westbrook Board of Trade honored Dana on June 7, 1916, on the occasion of his 76th birthday and the nearby 50th anniversary of the founding of the Dana Warp mill.

More than 500 school children marched from Bridge Street to Dana's home on Mechanic Street, where Fred Smith presented him with a bouquet of 76 "Pinks."

A large military and civic parade followed, as well as a reception at the Girl's Social Club.

The highlight of the celebration was a gala event held that evening at the Star Theatre, which featured an orchestra, singing, slide shows and movie reel of scenes of Westbrook and many tributes to Dana.

As a textile manufacturer Dana had a keen interest in machinery and was always looking for ways to improve upon his equipment and encouraged his employees to do so as well.

He saw the possibilities of picking cotton in the fields by machine and set out to invent a harvester, which he did.

For over 25 years he worked on this. He produced and patented a harvester that was able to do the work of several men.

He sent the harvesters south on trials in the fields and returned home to improve them. He always felt he could make a more perfect machine that would serve as a model for a large scale manufacturing of the machine.