Onlv Woman Master Mason
Site was .Mrs. Katherine Sweet llabing'ton.
As a young girl, slie secreted herself in the
lodge room, learned the secrets of the oriler
and was administered the obligations.
Along will» many oilier "firsts."
North Carolina has ihc right
ю
claim
I he first (anti only) woman Master
Mason in the history of the Masonic-
order — from the building of King
Solomon's temple down to the present
day.
Her name was Mrs. Katherine Sweet
Babington. She was born in Decem¬
ber 1815. near Siler City in Chatham
County, which was then called Gee's
Crossroads. Her father died when she
was an infant and she was reared by
her grandfather and six uncles, all of
whom were active Master Masons.
It so happened that the Masonic-
hall. a large room over the local
schoolroom, was near her grand¬
father's farm and her uncles kept the
place in order.
During all of her childhood she was
surrounded by the atmosphere and
traditions of Masonry. She would hear
in the parlor or at the table who was
to
1ч-
admitted into the lodge and what
degrees were to be conferred.
One day, when she was about six¬
teen. while playing about the school-
house, she discovered that it was pos¬
sible to crawl between the ceiling of
the schoolroom and the floor of the
lodge room and that, by crawling un¬
der the altar, she could get up inside
it and, through a crack, see and hear
all that took place. For a while she
was in some doubt about employing
her spy-hole, but finally womanly
curiosity triumphed. The next time an
initiation was mentioned she resolved
to sec the candidate put through his
paces.
Leaving the house before her uncles,
she took a roundabout path and ar¬
rived before any of the lodge mem¬
bers. She gained her vantage point
and. when the lodge was opened and
the initiation started she saw and heard
everything. The first meeting she thus
secretly attended revealed to her the
degree of Entered Apprentice. When
the same initiate was later passed to
Fcllowcraft and raised to Master
Mason, she was upon both occasions
hidden inside the altar.
12
Her attendance in this manner con¬
tinued for more than a year and it
was only by accident that she was
finally caught. One evening one of her
uncles left something in the lodge room
and returned for it just in time to
catch young Katherine emerging from
her hiding place. When he realized
what had happened, he ordered her to
return home immediately.
When they arrived he summoned
her other five uncles and grandfather
and they held a council as to what
to do about the matter.
She freely admitted that she had at¬
tended every meeting for over a year.
Upon Masonic examination it was
found that she was as well versed in
Masonry, the signs, symbols, words and
secrets of the order, as any of them.
A hurried meeting of the lodge was
called and prominent Masons from
nearby lodges were asked to attend
and give their advice as to the proper
thing to do.
After a month of deliberation, it
was decided that, although the "candi¬
date” was a woman and not yet twenty-
one years of age, the only means of
rectifying the situation was to adminis¬
ter to her the three degrees of Masonry
with their attendant obligations. This
was done at once and Katherine Sweet
became the one and only woman Mas¬
ter Mason in history.
Later, in 1834. Katherine married
В.
B. Babington and traveled with him
over much of the Eastern United
States. When they were married Mr.
Babington was not a Mason, but lie
later joined the order and. after they
had returned to their farm near Siler
City, he became a master of the local
lodge.
For many years when Katherine
said that she was a Master Mason her
husband would not believe her and
treated her statement as a joke.
But one day he was shocked to dis¬
cover that what she had said was true.
They were silting upon their front
porch when Mr. William Murdoch of
Salisbury, a Masonic lecturer, ap¬
proached. As he came up the drive¬
way. Mrs. Babington gave him the
Masonic signs of the three degrees.
Mr. Murdoch was astounded and
asked Mr. Babington what he should
infer from her evident knowledge. Her
husband, as much surprised as Mr.
Murdoch, requested both to go into
the parlor and there, behind locked
doors, she told them the circumstances
surrounding her joining the order and
convinced them that she was in truth
a Master Mason.
Mr. Murdoch later asserted that she
was one of the best informed persons
in Masonry that he had ever seen in
all his experiences as a Masonic
lecturer.
During her married life, while travel¬
ing extensively with her husband. Mrs.
Babington had several occasions to
use the Masonic signs. She invariably
found that Masons responded but one
and all were astonished at her use and
knowledge of the signs, words and
grips.
Mrs. Babington died in Shelby. N. G,
June 28, 1886. In her obituary notice
in the Shelby Aurora it was stated:
"She was the only female Mason in
the United States.”
Only one other woman ever took
Masonic degrees. This was the Hon.
Elizabeth Aldworth. nee St. Ledger,
daughter of Sir Arthur St. Ledger, first
Baron Kilmaydcn, of Doncraile House, I
Cork. Ireland.
Lady Aldworth went to sleep in a
room adjoining the lodge room in her
father's castle. Being awakened by the
administration of the Fcllowcraft de¬
gree in the adjacent lodge room, she
curiously listened until the meeting was
over and then made her presence
known.
In order to meet the situation the
lodge administered to her the Entered
Apprentice and Fcllowcraft degrees,
but she was never made a Master
Mason. This was in 1712.
It was reserved for a North Caro¬
lina woman to have that unique dis¬
tinction. — W. E. Hennessbe.
THE STATE. NOVEMBER IS.
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