E-MAIL EXCHANGES WITH PGM's G. R. HARVEY’S GRANDDAUGHTER

On April 24, as the brethren of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines were starting to converge at Subic for the 2002 ANCOM, a guestbook entry was posted at the Grand Lodge of the Philippines Website by a lady who claims she is a descendant of MW George R. Harvey, Grand Master of Masons of the Grand Lodge of the Philippines in 1912. The Contributing Editor, unable to attend the ANCOM for financial considerations, tasked himself at answering to the needs of the lady; and the series of exchanges shown below, all done while the 2002 ANCOM was in full swing, best show that ANCOM or no ANCOM, masonic labors can still be performed heartily.

These exchanges of e-mails are posted to convey that the lapse of time cannot erase indelible Masonic labors like the one done by MW George R. Harvey, and also to illustrate the wonderful and forceful powers of this technological communications tool we all call the Internet, for as can be gleamed, the exchange of communications was completed in a matter of only four days.

Happy reading!

Bro. Jun Galarosa

GUESTBOOK ENTRY MADE BY MRS. JULIA HARVEY ANDERSON

April 24

My grandfather, George Rogers Harvey, was a member of the Far Eastern Freemasons, and was honored by having achieved the rank of 33degree designation before his death on April 27, 1952. He had been a Mason for 56 years, in the United States and Manila for many years. In Manila, he was a member of the newly organized Corregidor Lodge No. 386, in Manila, Philippine Islands (1907). He was elected and served as Senior Warden in 1908. He served as Venerable Master of Mt. Arrayat Lodge of Prefection and Master of Xadosh Gautama Consistory and other offices of the Manila Bodies of the Scottish Rite. In 1923, he was reccomended by the Deputy for the Philippines Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for investiture as Knight Commander of the court of Honor, and he was elected by the Supreme Council to recieve that honor. He recieved the 33rd degree of Freemasonry in 1923. For many years he had been the editor of the Far Eastern Freemason, the official organ of the Scottish Rite Bodies of the Valley of Manila. He was in the United states visiting, when the war broke out in Manila in December of 1941, He remained in the United States from that time, until his death in 1952. I have my Grandfather's 33rd Degree Mason pin, and a copy of the June 1952 issue of the Far Eastern Freemason Quarterly, Vol. 33, No.2, which following his death, honors his accomplishments. The front of this publication has Manila-Iloilo, San Pablo, Zambanga (on the top left) and Bacolod - Cebu, Cagayan-Davao, Cabanatuan (top right). My grandfather's picture is on the cover of this publication. I would like to know, if it would be possible to obtain my grandfather's Masonic records, and how would I go about it doing it. I am doing genealogy of my Harvey family, and would like to have it for my children and grandchildren.


Sign Time: April 24


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(Reply by Bro. Galarosa)

April 25

Dear Ms Anderson.


Your grandfather is indeed one Mason who has carved himself indelibly in the annals of Philippine Masonry. Among the second wave of Masons (the first being the Freemasons who introduced Freemasonry in the Philippines from Spain at the end of the nineteenth century) he has distinguished himself both in the Scottish Rite and in Blue Masonry, the latter being the mainstream of Masonry in the entire world. Here is what three books on Philippine Masonry say of him:

The History of the Supreme Council of the Philippines


Scottish Rite Lyceum

On December 29, 1907, within a few days of Lobingier’s return, a meeting of the Scottish Rite brethren was held in the Masonic Temple of Manila. A committee on organization was appointed and after a month devoted to preliminary work, they formally organized the Scottish Rite Lyceum of the Philippines on January 29, 1908. The Lyceum has 24 charter members. Only two were Knights Commander of the Court of Honor, 19 were 32 MRS, and one had the 30° , one of the 18° and one of the 14° .. Fifteen were under the Southern Jurisdiction, seven belonged to the Northern Jurisdiction, and two were with the Supreme Council of Scotland. It was, nonetheless a prestigious group. Included among them were Newton W. Gilbert, a member of the Philippine Commission and soon to be the Acting Governor General of the Philippines, General Harry H. Bandholtz, 32° Chief of the Philippine Constabulary, Charles M. Cotterman, 32° , founder and first Director of the Bureau of Posts, two future Grand Masters, George Harvey and H. Eugene Stafford, and one Filipino, Francisco Aguado y Reyes of the Supreme Council of Scotland.

The Constitution of the Lyceum provided for three principal officers- a Preceptor, a Prior and a Recorder. Elected to those positions were Charles S. Lobingier, 32° KCCH as Preceptor, George R. Harvey, 32° MRS, Prior, and Amos B. Bellis, 32° , Recorder.

Votaries of Honor

In the monumental book called Votaries of Honor, a book that chronicled the golden years of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Philippines, he is listed as the third Grand Master to occupy the coveted Grand Oriental Chair. A very brief biographical sketch below his picture reads:

MW G. R. Harvey (1915)

A lawyer, served as Solicitor General (1908-1914); Judge of the Court of First Instance; then went into law partnership with MW Sheldon W. O’Brien (PGM 1929)

Kinship to Greatness

But it is in the book titled Kinship to Greatness where more than three pages are spent for his biography. This book is already posted in the Grand Lodge of the Philippines Website and therefore will no longer be reprinted in detail. All you need to do is open the said Website, click the Cable of Contents, click the page "Past Grand Masters" and look for the name of your grandfather as listed under the letter "H". It may, however, take you a little of your computer time doing this as the biography of your grandfather is somewhere at the middle of the postings.

I trust the foregoing information is helpful in your search for the footsteps of your illustrious forebear.

Very truly yours,

GEMINIANO V. GALAROSA, JR.
Contributing Editor, Philippines


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(Mrs. Anderson’s follow-up e-mail)

April 25

DEAR GEMINIANO V. GALAROSA, JR.,

Thank you so much for responding to my inquiry about my Grandfather, George Rogers Harvey. Would it be possible to have photocopies of the pages of the books where my Grandfather was mentioned? If so, I would also like a copy of the Title Page, and Author/Publisher pages as well. I would be happy to pay for the expense, including postage, and for the time you spent to do this. What would be the best way to send payment? Credit card, or personal check in U.S. Dollars, or what?

My mailing address is as follows:

Julia Harvey Anderson
1338 Equestrian Ave,
Thousand Oaks, CA. 91360-5106
USA

Thank you so much for your help.

Julia Harvey Anderson


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April 26

Dear Mrs. Anderson:

With reference to your request, herewith in three e-mails (one e-mail can only accommodate 3 attachments) are the data that you needed. The following explanations may be in order.

Votaries of Honor was written by MW Reynold S. Fajardo, PGM, the country’s foremost Masonic historian. This book was published in 1992. There are two applicable pages that were scanned; one involving the cover page and the other pertains to the brief biographical sketch of your grandfather. This book consists of about 230 pages with the data of the past Grand Masters no longer numbered. This explains why VH2 does not contain a number page. The publisher is not mentioned but it is safe to say that it was published by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the Philippines. Size is 8" x 11" hardbound.
The Golden Years of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite was published in year 2000 and was written by several writers but largely by MW Reynold S. Fajardo. It consist of 246 pages. It is so called Golden Year because it counted only the official existence of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Republic of the Philippines. Its history, of course, traces further back to the time of your ancestor. The attachment likewise include the cover page and two pages that partly details the data that I earlier sent you. The publisher is likewise not mentioned but as I had a hand in having this project completed, I can say confidently that it was published by the Supreme Council of 33rd and Last Degree Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasonry of the Republic of the Philippines. Size is 9" x 12" hardbound.,
Kinship to Greatness was published in 1984. The biographical sketches of the various Grand Masters were written by several writers of the Masonic Fraternity. This book contains 354 pages There are four pages involved that I am sending; the cover page, the pencil portrait of your grandfather and two pages (actually four book page) for the biographical sketch. Publisher is MW Rosendo C. Herrera, then Grand Master of Masons of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Philippines. Size is 6" x 8" hard carton..
I trust the foregoing data will be of use to you.

Kindest fraternal regards!

Bro. Geminiano V. Galarosa, Jr.

(Note: The said attachments were no longer included as the data sent were the sources from where the previous e-mail were copied)
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April 26

Dear Bro. Geminiano V. Galarosa, Jr.,

What a nice surprise to find that you had e-mailed the information about my grandfather that I wanted. Thank you so much!

So you have a scanner to do neat things like that. I do not have one, nor do I know how to use one. I just do simple, basic things on my computer, and use plain, and simple E-mail. I really appreciate the effort you put forth to send the information. On a few pages, some of the printing was cut off when I printed them, as they were too big to fit on my screen (I had to scroll to the right to read it, but it only printed a portion of these. I would be so grateful if you could scan the single, printed pages of the following, and re-send them, single paged instead of double paged. You would not need to write any message, unless you wanted to say something.

E-mail #2: (Kinship To Greatness), Pages 62 and 63 ( the sides of these pages were cut off).

E-mail #3: ( Kinship To Greatness), Pages 64 & 65 (the sides & bottom was cut off of both pages).

Again, thank you so much for your kindness.............

Julia Harvey Anderson


----------------------------------------------------April 26

Mrs. Anderson:

Quite frankly, I don't have a scanner myself. I had it scanned at the University of the Philippines which is about ten kilometers away from home.

I do not know how to solve the problem on the pages contained in the Kinship to Greatness that you posed. My youngest son who usually helps me on this thing is still in his office and won't be back till this afternoon. Perhaps he may be able to help when he returns home.

Another way of knowing the details of your grandfather's biography is simply opening the Grand Lodge of the Philippines Website, open the Table of Contents and click the Past Grand Masters Page. I recall having told you this in my earlier e-mail. A more readable biography of your grandfather is contained in that site.

If you need further assistance, please let me know.

Regards!

Bro. Jun

(follow-up e-mail by Bro. Galarosa)

April 26

Dear Mrs. Anderson:

My son just arrived from his office and has made a PowerPoint presentation of the pages which you claimed you cannot read to enable you to read the contents which is attached. He is confident you can open the file and read your grandfather’s biography if you know how to operate Powerpoint, otherwise we may have a problem here.

He says that all you do is just slide show button once you have already opened the file to enlarge the characters..

I trust this can help

Regards!

Bro. Jun

(Again, the attachment is no longer affixed


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April 27

Dear Bro. Jun,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

The powerpoint thing worked just fine. I guess my computer has it, as went right into the program when I clicked on the attachment link. When I read your message, I did not know if I had the program or not, so just tried it, and it worked.

Thank your son for me too. These younger adults seem to be able to work miracles with these computers, but it is too hard for me and many of us more "mature" adults to master all of this new technology! Our oldest son is the one who set up our computer, but he lives too far away to be of much help with the learning process, or to be of help with problems. He is only able to come to our house a couple of times a year, and that is always for a family function.

Again, many, many thanks.........

Julia Anderson


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April 27

Dear Julia:

A saying says that if one wants to be remembered, he must either: plant a tree, sire a son, write a book.

That is what our sons are for. And helping you get what you needed to remember your grandfather, MW George R. Harvey, PGM in the book was my pleasure.

My kindest regards!

Bro. Jun Galarosa



- posted by Kherwal @ 8:39 AM