DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Brahan Lodge Number Two Twenty-Six. Now, before a lodge can call itself a lodge, it starts as what the Masons call an Undiminished Dispensation — working on faith, working on promise. Brahan Lodge set to work exactly that way, under dispensation, on June the twenty-third, eighteen fifty-eight.
They hadn't even got a charter yet. Just men with a purpose and a date on the calendar. The charter came the following year, June the sixteenth, eighteen fifty-nine, and from that moment Brahan Lodge Number Two Twenty-Six was a thing with a name — named for Dr.
Robert W. Brahan himself. First worshipful master was John Rhodes King, and if that name sounds like a man cut out for leading something, well, keep it in mind, because it turns up again before this story's done.
Now think about who these early members were. Veterans of the Texas War for Independence. Men who had ridden out on the Mier Expedition.
Men who had served in the Mexican War and the Indian campaigns. This was not a room full of soft hands. These were men who had already been tested, more than once, before they ever set foot in a lodge hall.
And speaking of that hall — they built it themselves. Quarried the stone. Loaded it onto ox-carts and hauled it to the site.
By eighteen seventy-one, the hall was complete. Once it stood, it did more than house a lodge. Churches met inside those walls.
Children were educated there. That building was carrying a whole community on its stone shoulders. But then came the war that asks the most of any marker like this one — the Civil War.
Members of Brahan Lodge served across the whole terrible breadth of it. Hood's Texas Brigade. Terry's Texas Rangers.
Parsons' Texas Cavalry. The Cibolo Guards. The Mustang Grays.
From Chickamauga to Atlanta, from Mansfield to Appomattox — they were there. And the marker doesn't let those men go nameless. It dedicates itself to them, every one, and it reads their names aloud the way a muster roll does — like a calling of the roll that expects an answer.
Robert Adams. Irvin H. Armstrong.
Thomas H. Barry, James Edwin Beck, Haywood Brahan, General Robert W. Brahan himself, Emery C.
Barker, M.A. Broach, Sanford Brown. Stephen T.
Cook, R.B. Curry. H.
Fournah, T.B. Fowler, Ed Frances. W.F.
Gardner. Bennett Henderson, Connally F. Henderson, S.L.
Herron, David H. Houston, Ross Houston, Russell Houston, J. Humphries.
T.D. James, J.T. Johnson — and there's John Rhodes King again, the first worshipful master, answering a different kind of call now — W.A.
King, Felix A. Knox, V.R. Knox.
R.N. Leigh, Robert Lenox. Levi Maddox, J.G.
Maddox, Emil Morosa, Sam H. Milam, William Morris, J.M. Morrison, R.G.
Murray, Charles A. McAlister, Sam W. McClain, Richard D.
McGee, G.M. McKay. J.K.
New, D.C. Newton, James Newton, N.M. Newton, William Northcraft.
C.R. Patton. T.J.C.
Reese. James D. Sanders, William D.
Scull, J.A. Sharpless, Robert Sharpless. J.W.
Thompson, Eli Toole, James M. Trainer. L.J.
Vivian. J.E. Watkins, R.B.
Watkins, John A. Wells, L.S. White, Hugh W.
Wiseman, William R. Wiseman. Henry Yelvington.
Fifty-some names. Men who hauled stone by ox-cart and then went and fought from one end of the Confederacy to the other. The marker was made for them.
And now, out here on a Texas road with nothing but miles ahead of you, so was this telling.
What the marker says
Set to work U.D. June 23, 1858. Chartered June 16, 1859. Named for Dr. Robt. W. Brahan. John Rhodes King, first worshipful master. Members included veterans of Texas War for Independence, Mier Expedition, Mexican War, Indian campaigns. They quarried stone, hauled it to site by ox-cart, completed hall 1871. In it churches met; children were educated. Members served in every American war; in Civil War were in Hood's Texas Brigade, Terry's Texas Rangers, Parsons' Texas Cavalry, Cibolo Guards, Mustang Grays -- from Chickamauga to Atlanta to Mansfield to Appomatox. To Brahan Lodge veterans of that war this marker is dedicated: Robert Adams, Irvin H. Armstrong; Thos. H. Barry, James Edwin Beck, Haywood Brahan, Gen. Robt. W. Brahan, Emery C. Barker, M.A. Broach, Sanford Brown; Stephen T. Cook, R.B. Curry, H. Fournah, T.B. Fowler, Ed Frances; W.F. Gardner; Bennett Henderson, Connally F. Henderson, S.L. Herron, David H. Houston, Ross Houston, Russell Houston, J. Humphries; T.D. James, J.T. Johnson, John Rhodes King, W.A. King, Felix A. Knox, V.R. Knox; R.N. Leigh, Robt. Lenox; Levi Maddox, J.G. Maddox, Emil Morosa, Sam H. Milam, Wm. Morris, J.M. Morrison, R.G. Murray, Chas. A. McAlister, Sam W. McClain, Richard D. McGee, G.M. McKay; J.K. New, D.C. Newton, Jas. Newton, N.M. Newton, Wm. Northcraft; C.R. Patton; T.J.C. Reese; Jas. D. Sanders, Wm. D. Scull, J.A. Sharpless, Robt. Sharpless; J.W. Thompson, Eli Toole, Jas. M. Trainer; L.J. Vivian; J.E. Watkins, R.B. Watkins, John A. Wells, L.S. White, Hugh W. Wiseman, Wm. R. Wiseman; Henry Yelvington. (1965)