A letter dated December 5, 1847, to Mrs. Morris stated:

I preached my farewell sermon today to the students. Had a pretty large audience of the neighbors, also a most excellent meeting.  The goodbye to so many of those with whom I have spent two years was quite affecting and many cheeks were wet including my own. I feel much regret at leaving this place but believe it is necessary and if God will sustain me, I think I could do better in some other business than teaching.

            Dr. Morris was brought to Masonic light in Gathright Lodge No.33 in Oxford, Mississippi, on March 5, 1846. He at once became so intensely alive to the beauties of its symbolic teachings that his whole future life was given to the study of Masonry. After leaving Mt. Sylvan he traveled to many cities in Mississippi and Tennessee and lectured on Masonic history. He would stay away about three months, riding his favorite horse "Fanny" and carrying a trunk and his "belongings" with him. He would usually stay with the Cumberland Presbyterian minister in each town and would preach each Sunday in his host's church. Many of his poems, sermons and Masonic writings were composed while riding horseback.

            It was also during these travels that he became interested in the idea that the female relatives of Master Masons should share, in a measure, the benefit of knowledge in a great fraternal order .

            A letter written to Mrs. Morris from Trenton (Gibson Co.l, Tennessee and dated May 4, 1851, states:

When I get home I will confer on you the Eastern Star Degrees. I have given them to more than fifty ladies since I left home and everybody is pleased with them. They are in fact very beautiful and interesting. If you want to take them you must sit down and read the Eleventh Chapter of Judges, the Second Chapter of Ruth, the Fifth Chapter of Ester, the Eleventh Chapter of the Gospel of John, and the whole of the Second Epistle of John. By reading these you will be prepared to understand the degrees.

The degrees were written on cards and they were mostly conferred from memory. These cards were in great demand and Dr. Morris received many letters asking for the loan of them. Dr. Morris himself said, "If the order is worth anything, it will live. "

Dr. Morris and his family moved to anew residence in Lodgeton (Fulton Co.l, Kentucky in 1852. This house was built by Francis Mendenall, Mrs. Morris' brother with Dr. Morris furnishing all the materials. The labor cost for the complete home was $489.00. The house was built of hewn logs. On either side of a wide hall were large rooms both upstairs and down. A portico with large pillars enhanced the front while an ell added to the size and convenience of the rear. It stood on a knoll a short distance from the road, surrounded by oaks and cedars. To one side of the house stood the "office" where he transacted all business with his callers.

About a half mile away from Lodgeton stood Union Church, where Sunday after Sunday he preached to an admiring and devoted congregation. He was never regularly installed as pastor, but filled the pulpit at the request of his numerous friends of all denominations.

In the second story of this church, the Masonic Lodge, which he organized, and the Purity Chapter No.1, the first Eastern Star Chapter ever established, held their meetings. It was while returning from nearby Hickman to his home in Lodgeton that he sat down on a fallen tree and wrote his most famous Masonic poem, "The Level and the Square", on the back of an envelope.

It was from his home in Lodgeton that he edited "The Voice of Freemasonry". He traveled by riverboat to Louisville, Kentucky, staying months at a time. It was during this time that he wrote and published Mirrors of Masonry, The Kentucky Mason, Life in the Triangle, and wrote many articles for Masonic papers throughout the country.

Dr. Morris and his family moved near 17th and Chestnut Streets in Louisville in 1860 and stayed there only a few months. He was appointed Professor of Ancient and Modern History at the Masonic College in La Grange, Kentucky, in 1860. This college soon became the Masonic University and Dr. Morris became the president in 1862. It was his training as an educator and his association with the youth of the country that made him an outstanding president of the University.

In a report to the Grand Lodge, the Committee on Education stated:

The Masonic University is in a stage of successful operation far beyond what could have been expected.  The whole number of students in the classes is two hundred and three, representing nine different states.

Dr. Morris' first home in La Grange was burned, supposedly by guerrillas opposing his loyalty to the Union. Dr. Morris had never owned any slaves but was very close friends with many black families. Many of his valuable jewels, Masonic medals, awards and valuable books and writings were destroyed in this fire.

The Morris family moved to what is now the Rob Morris Shrine in 1862 and spent the remaining twenty-six years of his life there. The Shrine is presently owned and maintained by the Grand Chapter of Kentucky and its Subordinate Chapters. A Pilgrimage is held there annually on the third Sunday of August. Eastern Star members come from allover Kentucky and some surrounding states to pay tribute to the founder of our beautiful Order .

It was while Dr. Morris lived in La Grange that his one great desire in life was realized -that of visiting the land where Christ had lived. In February, 1868, he left for the Holy Land, returning in August after visiting Syria, Damascus, Joppa and Jerusalem. It was while sitting on the shores of Galilee that he wrote the song we love to hear, "Memories of Galilee" .As a result of this trip he wrote Freemasonry in the Holy Land. His second visit to the Holy Land was made in 1878 and as a result of this visit he gave the world the following books: Free Masons' Monitor, Eastern Star Manual, Rosary of the Eastern Star, Funeral Book of Freemasonry and Lights and Shadows of Freemasonry along with many others. The first ritual containing any Eastern Star Degrees under the authority of Rob Morris was published in 1855. It was called The Mosaic Book of the Americas.

Rob Morris was made a Master Mason in 1846 at Oxford, Mississippi, exalted to the degree of Royal Arch in Lexington, Mississippi, made a Knight Templar at Jackson, Mississippi, in 1850 and received his Scottish Rite 32° in 1854. He received the Rite of Memphis as far as the ninetieth degree in New York and the Encampment Order of English Templary in Canada in 1857. He also received three official orders of  Royal Arch Masonry, Past Eminent Commander, Past Grant Commander-in-chief 32° and Past Grand Master of Kentucky. His honorary degrees and complimentary memberships numbered more than one hundred and fifty. The honor of Past Deputy Grant Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada was highly prized by him.

At the time of his death Dr. Morris was an Elder of the Presbyterian Church and a member of Fortitude Lodge No.47 in La Grange, a member of the Royal Arch Chapter at Eminence, Kentucky, and a member of Louisville Commandary No.1 Knights Templar.

The crowning event in the career of this remarkable man was his laureation at the Masonic Temple in New York on December 17, 1884. It has been said, "Robert Burns was laureated by his Scottish brethen for one Masonic lyric; Rob Morris has written more than three hundred; Crown him; he has earned it." In the presence of many dignitaries, this honor was conferred for the second time in the history of the Craft.

When his death came on July 31, 1888, messages of condolence came from all parts of the world. The entire Masonic world grieved and Masonrys' loss was great, for there never before had been a man who devoted his entire life to the gospel of Masonry.

When a subscription was started for a monument to his memory, the first donation came from Royal Solomon Lodge No.1, which he organized in Jerusalem. There was erected in the Valley of Rest cemetery at La Grange a large marble shaft, bearing on one side the Square and Compass and on the others the Key- stone, the Knights Templar emblem and the Five Pointed Star.

After his Coronation as Poet Laureate in 1884, Rob Morris wrote "A Message from the Grave" and gave it to H. B. Grant, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, requesting that it be used at the first Masonic meeting after his death. The following lines were written:

They do not die who leave their thoughts

Imprinted on some deathless page;

They pass on, but the work they wrought

Lives on from age to age.

How true this is, although the earthly labors of Rob Morris were ended in 1888, the fruits of his labors are not all garnered in, for his writings will continue to bring forth an abundant harvest of good deeds, fidelity , constancy, loyalty , faith and love; a living monument to his memory.

Compiled by

Davis Morgan

P. P. Rob Morris Chapter No.114

Trustee and Member of the Board of Directors of

Rob Morris Memorial, La Grange, Kentucky

January 15, 1975