Paul Revere

Paul Revere, painted by John Singleton Copley around 1768. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Paul Revere (1734–1818) was a Boston silversmith, engraver and participant in the American Revolution. He joined the Lodge of St Andrew in 1760 and later held office in both St Andrew's and Rising States lodges.^[1] He served as Grand Master of Massachusetts from 1794 to 1797.^[2]

Work and public life

Revere learned metalworking in his father's workshop. His business produced domestic silver, while his engraving work included book illustrations, commercial stationery and political prints. He became involved in Boston's resistance to British policy and acted as a courier for colonial committees. On the night of 18 April 1775 he rode towards Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the British advance. After the Revolution he developed a foundry and, in 1801, a copper-rolling mill.^[1]

Lodge membership and engraving

St Andrew's Lodge, which Revere joined in 1760, had received its charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1756.^[3]

A surviving summons dated 10 February 1768 records two kinds of work that Revere undertook for the lodge. He engraved the printed notice and signed it as secretary. The document is held by the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, whose catalogue identifies both his craftsmanship and his administrative role.^[4]

Silver jewels for lodges

Revere's lodge commissions included officers' jewels as well as engraved paper notices. In 1796 Washington Lodge at Roxbury ordered a set of silver jewels from him. Twelve pieces were later preserved together, but the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library cautions that the original set probably contained nine or ten. The lodge had nine officers when it placed the order, and some offices represented in the surviving group were added later.^[5]

A separate commission is recorded in 1797, when Seth Smith Jr., a founding member and first Master of Bristol Lodge at Norton, paid Paul Revere and Son twelve pounds for a set of silver Masonic jewels. The museum has exhibited surviving pieces on loan from Bristol Lodge. These commissions belong to Revere's commercial metalworking practice during his years of Masonic leadership.^[6]

Grand Master of Massachusetts

Revere became Grand Master in December 1794. During his three years in office, the Grand Lodge chartered 23 new lodges. His handwritten farewell address of 1797 survives in the museum's archival collections.^[2]^[7]

In 1795 Revere also took part, with Governor Samuel Adams and Colonel William Scollay, in placing a commemorative deposit beneath the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House. The deposit was reopened in 1855, when further material was added, and was examined again by Museum of Fine Arts conservators in 2015.^[8]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Paul Revere Memorial Association, Paul Revere Biography, Paul Revere House. Accessed 30 September 2026.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Paul Revere, The Masonic Hall of Fame. Accessed 30 September 2026.
↑ Grand Lodge of Ohio, Most Worshipful Brother Paul Revere, 20 April 2023. Accessed 30 September 2026.
↑ Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Masonic Summons to the Lodge of St. Andrew, 1768 February 10, collection A2002-043-001. Accessed 30 September 2026.
↑ Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Officers' Jewels, online exhibition record, EL76.004a–m, dated 1796–1820.
↑ Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library Adds New Inductees to the Masonic Hall of Fame, section on Paul Revere and Bristol Lodge jewels, EL.2022.002.
↑ Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library, Archives, description of the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts collection. Accessed 30 September 2026.
↑ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Time Capsule and Time Capsule Unveiling at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accessed 30 September 2026.