Henry Leonard Stillson

1842–1913

Henry Leonard Stillson was an American journalist and historian of fraternal organisations. As editor-in-chief of History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders, he coordinated contributions from Masonic writers on both sides of the Atlantic and compiled its section on early documentary evidence. The volume combines institutional history, manuscript research and the fraternity’s account of its own traditions.

A working life in Vermont

Stillson was born in Middle Granville, New York, in 1842. He attended schools in New York and Vermont, including the Troy Conference Academy, and graduated from Eastman National Business College. After teaching, he entered the Rutland Herald office in 1862. He later published the Poultney Bulletin and became associated with the Bennington Banner, where he worked for much of his career.

A contemporary Vermont biography records his marriage to Josephine Sophia Woodruff in 1868 and, following her death, to Helen Kenyon in 1881. It also describes his service as a Bennington health officer. His historical work extended beyond fraternal societies: he helped prepare the record of Vermont’s admission-centennial celebration and the dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument.

Organising a collaborative history

The held 1895 title page names Stillson as editor-in-chief, William James Hughan as European editor and a board of contributors. Its publishers are the Fraternity Publishing Company in Boston and New York and George Kenning in London. Stillson coordinated the project and compiled its early documentary history; the separately credited sections remain the work of their contributors.

The preface proposes a substantial but accessible history in a single volume. Its writers wanted to replace unsupported traditions with research while making the results available to ordinary members of the fraternity. They also described their subject in strongly affirmative language. The book’s historical ambition and its commitment to Freemasonry are both visible in that introduction.

Books and contributions

1 work in the current library

History of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders

Henry Leonard Stillson; William James Hughan

History, Travel & Cultures

Sources and further reading

A contemporary notice, preserved by the National Library of New Zealand, identifies Stillson as the originator of the enterprise and describes the work of twenty-two specialists. Published in September 1891, the notice also establishes that the history was circulating before the date on the held copy. The 1895 title page identifies this printing, not the beginning of the project.

Documents, traditions and historical limits

Stillson’s own documentary section opens by asking what evidence can support an account of the fraternity’s early history. He distinguishes written records from legends and labels the supposed York assembly of 926 as mythical. That treatment matters because the history reproduces traditional narratives without necessarily accepting their events as established fact.

The section gathers the Old Charges and considers how surviving manuscripts may be related through copying. Quoting Gould’s discussion of manuscript families, it explains why several copies descended from one document cannot count as independent witnesses. Stillson acknowledges help from Hughan and draws on Gould, George William Speth and the Quatuor Coronati lodge, arranging their scholarship for a broader readership.

The volume extends from early manuscripts to regional Grand Lodges, Masonic law, Royal Arch and Cryptic degrees, Templar systems and the Scottish Rite. Separate contributors also discuss the Eastern Star and Rosicrucian Society. The contents bring these institutions together for reference without giving them a single documented origin.

Other histories and the surviving record

Stillson also edited The Official History of Odd Fellowship: The Three-Link Fraternity. A digitised 1899 edition records another large compilation, covering jurisdictions, degrees and the organisation’s development. His work across these publications shows a sustained interest in assembling the records of fraternal institutions.

Stillson died on 15 April 1913, a date recorded in the Sons of the American Revolution’s contemporary bulletin.