Phoenix Lodge No. 8's Recipients of the Joseph Montfort Medal for Distinguished Service to Freemasonry

Colonel Joseph Montfort: Treasurer of the Province of North Carolina, Colonel of Colonial troops, patriot and Freemason; born in England in 1724; died in North Carolina, March 25, 1776. He was a member of Royal White Hart Lodge at Halifax, NC.

On January 14, 1771 he was commissioned Provincial Grand Master of and for America, which authority he and his Deputy, Cornelius Harnett, exercised until the death of Montfort in 1776. His Grace, Henry Somersest, the fifth Duke of Beaufort, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of England, made this commission. During his tenure as Provincial Grand Master and prior to his death, Joseph Montfort chartered a number of the early lodges in North Carolina. Some of these lodges included; St. John’s Lodge No. 3 at New Bern, Royal Edwin Lodge No. 5 at Windsor, Royal William Lodge No. 6 at Winton and Unanimity Lodge No. 7 at Edenton. The chartering of these lodges as well as a few others not chartered by Montfort occurred prior to the official formation of the Grand Lodge of North Carolina established in 1787.

Upon the recommendation of the Committee on Masonic Jurisprudence this special recognition was officially established on April 17, 1940 with the passing of a new proposed Code Regulation number 278. This new regulation read as follows:

The Grand Lodge hereby establishes a medal or emblem to be known as the “Joseph Montfort Medal”, to be presented by the Grand Master to any Master Mason in good standing and recognized by this Grand Lodge who in the opinion of the Grand Master is deserving thereof because of distinguished service or achievement. Not more than three Joseph Montfort Medals shall be presented in any one term of a Grand Master. The cost of said medal shall be borne by the Grand Lodge