Part 4, Note 30

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Colorado County Deed Records, Book G, p. 518, Book H, p. 633, Book K, pp. 302, 332; Colorado County Bond and Mortgage Records, Book D, p. 518. The records of the Caledonia Lodge #68 are closed to the public; therefore the date of their organization cannot be confirmed. However, in 1951, they published a small booklet in commemoration of their one-hundredth anniversary. They date their chapter's history from February 4, 1850, when, they report, permission to organize it was given by the Grand Lodge of Texas. Apparently, Augustus Jones was the prime mover behind the creation of the lodge and was responsible for naming it, after his birthplace, Caledonia, Missouri. The local masons go on to state that, curiously, Jones was not present at the organizational meeting on February 18, 1850, nor was he a member when the lodge was formally chartered, on January 24, 1851. Those present at the organizational meeting include Edward J. Bonzano, James M. Daniels, Thomas W. Harris, Archibald McNeill, John F. Miller, George Obrecht, Robert Robson, Robert Hardin Tobin, Asa Townsend, and Joseph Worthington Elliott Wallace. When the charter was approved, William Alley, Samuel Crabtree, Caleb Claiborne Herbert, John Mackey, Daniel Miller, William B. Perry, John H. Robson, E. F. Strippleman, Hugh Wilson, and Cleveland Windrow had joined them (see Centennial Celebration Commemorating the One Hundredth Anniversaries of the Charter Dates of Hubert Lodge No. 67, A. F. & A. M. of Chapel Hill, Texas and Caledonia Lodge No. 68, A. F. & A. M. of Columbus, Texas).