GOLDSBORO #139 DATE OF INSTITUTION: MAY 8, 1890 DATE OF CHARTER: JULY 9, 1890 DEFUNCT 1891 REORGANIZED IN 1902 -- DATE OF CHARTER AUGUST 14, 1902 FIRST EXALTED RULER: E.G. PORTER ADDITIONAL HISTORY: THE GOLDSBORO LODGE #139 OF BPOE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, WAS INSTITUTED ON MAY 8, 1902, HAVING AS ONE OF ITS CHARTER MEMBERS, E. G. PORTER, WHO BELONGED TO THE FORMER ELKS LODGE IN GOLDSBORO WHICH HAD GIVEN UP ITS CHARTER. (BROTHER PORTER'S SON AND GRANDSON ARE MEMBERS OF OUR LODGE NOW.) WE WERE GIVEN THE OLD #139 BACK WHEN THIS NEW LODGE WAS INSTITUTED. THE CHARTER MEMBERS OF THE NEW LODGE CAME MOSTLY FROM THE OLYMPIA CLUB MEMBERS, A SOCIAL CLUB WHICH CAME OUT OF THE OLD FIREMAN'S CLUB. SO THE GOLDSBORO LODGE HAD AN AUSPICIOUS BEGINNING WITH 27 CHARTER MEMBERS--ALL JOLLY GOOD FELLOWS AND LOYAL ELKS. THE CHARTER MEMBERS CONSISTED OF THE FOLLOWING NAMES, NAMED IN THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY SIGNED THE REGISTER ON INITIATION DAY: WM SPICER A.A. JOSEPH JOHN SPICER MURRAY BORDEN W.H. MCKEE LIONEL WEIL W.A. WOOTEN' H.G. GRIFFIN A.H. EDGARTON MYER STRAUSS B.H. GRIFFIN W.S. MOYE W.H. FONVILLE F.K. BROADHURST E.B. BORDEN LESLIE WEIL E.G. PORTER J.W. LAMB W.E. STROUD J.W. AYCOCK W.J. JONES, JR JAS. S. CRAWFORD WALTER E. BORDEN ADOLPH OETTINGER H. WEIL K.J. DAVIS A.N. HUMMEL THE FIRST MEETING WAS HELD ON THE AFTERNOON OF MAY 8, 1902 IN WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS THE EPSTEIN BLD. IN THE ODD FELLOWS HALL.(NOW MEANS MAY 13, 1919). HENRY GHERKIN OF WILMINGTON, DISTRICT DEPUTY, TOGETHER WITH JAMES F. JORDAN, SECRETARY, AND MEMBERS FROM WILMINGTON AND RALEIGH LODGES, CONDUCTED THE INITIATION CEREMONIES AND WHILE THIS GROUP AND THE NEWLY INSTALLED MEMBERS WERE ACCORDED THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY, THE PROCEEDINGS BECAME SO BOISTEROUS AND NOISY AND THE DEVICES AND EXPLOSIVE SPANKERS WERE USED TO SUCH A HIGH TENSION, THAT THE POLICE WERE LISTENING AND WAITING. E.G. PORTER WAS ELECTED EXALTED RULER; A.A. JOSEPH, ESTEEMED LOYAL KNIGHT: MURRAY BORDEN, ESTEEMED LECTURING KNIGHT; J.W. AYCOCK, SECRETARY; A.H. EDGERTON, TREASURER; W.A. WOOTEN, TILER, WILLIAM SPICER, ESQUIRE; H.S. GRIFFIN, CHAPLAIN; AND HERMAN WEIL, INNER GUARD. THE NEWLY INITIATED MEMBERS, AFTER THEIR LABORS OF THE AFTERNOON CALLED IT A DAY, ALTHOUGH A FORMAL BANQUET WAS HELD THAT NIGHT AT THE HOTEL KENNON. THIS WAS NO ORDINARY OCCASION AS WINE AND CHAMPAGNE FLOWED TO THE ACCOMPANIMENT OF AN ELABORATE REPAST, AFTER WHICH THERE WAS THE USUAL FORMAL SPEECH MAKING. A.A. JOSEPH WAS TOASTMASTER OF THE OCCASION AND THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME WAS MADE IN HIS USUAL INIMITABLE STYLE BY COL. JOS. E. ROBINSON. THE SUBJECT OF "OUR DISTRICT" WAS HANDLED BY HENRY J. CHERKIN, DISTRICT DEPUTY. W.B. _SNOW OF THE RALEIGH LODGE SPOKE ON OUR SISTER LODGES AND DR. W.J. JONES ON THE CITY'S POSSIBILITIES. .SO IN THIS WAY THE GOLDSBORO LODGE #139 WAS STARTED ON ITS CAREER OF USEFULNESS, WHICH HAS PROVEN A POTENT INFLUENCE FOR NOT ONLY GOOD FELLOWSHIP BUT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF BENEVOLENCE AND COMMUNITY SPIRIT. (WRITTEN BY OUR LATE BROTHER LIONEL WEIL ON MAY 13, 1919) EVEN THOUGH GOLDSBORO LODGE WAS AWAY FROM ELKDOM FOR ELEVEN YEARS, THE LODGE WAS THE FIRST LODGE INSTITUTED IN THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA IN 1890, THUS THE REASON FOR THEIR CLAIM TO THE TITLE "MOTHER LODGE OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA." GOLDSBORO LODGE #139 HOSTED THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE FALL CONVENTION IN 1990, CELEBRATING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF ELKDOM IN THE STATE. DISTRICT DEPUTIES STATE PRESIDENTS: 1960--1961 E.A. WILLIAMS 1 91 4--1 91 5 1 921 --1 922 1926--1927 1930--1932 1936--1937 1940--1 941 1948--1949 1953--1.954 1965--1966 1985--1 986 R. JACK SMITH ROBERT E. STEVANS J.J. HATCH ROBERT E. STEVANS L.P. GARDNER R.D. PARROTT J.D. COOKE E.A. WILLIAMS ALBERT D. PARROTT HUGH PATE E.R.A. PRESIDENT