The Men of 92
In 1950, the male choir of St. John’s Methodist Church in Waco was led by Waco 92’s Brother Lewis Holze in singing an ode to the membership of our lodge:
“The eyes of Texas are upon you
Men of Ninety-Two.
And now on this your anniversary
We wish to honor you.
May your standards be the highest,
And God your leader firm and true —
Remember, Brothers, to be worthy
of Waco Ninety-Two!”
The men of 92 consist of the most outstanding citizens. One cannot enter a lodge as historic as ours without being keenly aware of having stepped into the company of greatness. Our members left their marks on the annals of history in many ways. Three were Grand Masters of Texas Masons and three were Governors of Texas.
There have been prominent doctors, lawyers, businessmen, educators, religious leaders, athletes, and soldiers. In regards to soldiers, our numbers are extraordinary and I cannot possibly list all of them so I have reduced them to soldiers of higher rank or those with particularly interesting stories. The blue names can be clicked for further information. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out the other historic members found on our Past Masters page and our Charter Members page. Also, at least sixteen Texas towns were named after our members. Here’s the list.
- John Fry Abernathy
- (owned Waco’s first butcher shop on the Square in the 1860s)
- Edwin Adams
- (pastor at Cumberland Presbyterian Church and inventor of electric railway switch improvement)
- Sylvester C. Alstott
- (well-known railway mailclerk who died while swimming in the Bosque River near China Spring on June 27, 1897)
- John Bashara
- (Syrian immigrant and early 1900s Waco businessman; several of his descendants have also been members of Waco Lodge)
- Gaylord Bebout
- Walter Bidelspach
- Riley Biggs
- (New York Giant football player and 1927 NFL champion, later career as a lawyer and judge)
- Fred Boschen
- William “Buck” Buchanan
- Rufus Burleson
- Ole Canuteson
- Albert Chalmers
- (veteran of Texas Revolution, Mexican-American War, and Civil War… worked as courier for Republic in 1830s, early McLennan County Clerk… Brother George Erath married Chalmers’ sister, Lucinda)
- Benjamin J. French
- early Jewish pioneer in central Texas and medical doctor, High Priest of Waco Chapter 45 and early resident of Hillsboro
- Josiah Frost
- Fred Gildersleeve
- Hiram Granbury
- Davis R. Gurley
- Benjamin Haber
- (early German Jewish immigrant who came to Waco in 1876 and owned a fine clothing store for many years)
- Joe Haber
- (accomplished hat salesman and expert who achieved national notoriety as the hat manager for the Sanger Brothers and later for Goldstein-Migel)
- William Hancock
- Thomas Harrison
- Lewis Holze
- local musician and music store owner
- Marcus Herring
- Walter Edward Howard
- (lifelong police officer; jailkeeper at time of death in 1944)
- James Hutto
- Gilbert Jackson
- Joe Lee Jameson
- Thomas Edwin Johnston
- (died while serving in France during WWI in 1919)
- Fountain Jones
- (first homeopathic surgeon in Waco, buried at First Street Cemetery)
- Wiley Jones
- Eugene Kellner
- (owned an early Waco print shop in 1800s)
- Thomas Smith Kellum
- (early Waco businessman murdered in cold blood in 1872 along White Rock Creek in an ambush by a man named Christian Hunsen)
- Samuel King
- Grant Kinlock
- (long-time Katy Railroad switchman)
- Thomas A. Kirkland
- T.W. Kirkland
- 1900 Coryell County Tax Assessor Collector, Past Master of Gatesville Lodge
- James A. Kirkpatrick
- (President of Lumbermen’s Association of Texas, executive at William Cameron & Co.)
- William D. Lacy
- Silas Landrum
- (wounded in Civil War, professor at Waco Female College, buried in Texas State Cemetery)
- W.A. Lanning
- (pioneer Mexia merchant)
- William W. Lastinger
- (owned one of Waco’s first printing companies in th 1800s)
- Horace Latimer
- (Prominent accountant, board member at First Methodist Church)
- William Tell League
- (pioneer of Lampasas, lawyer and judge, executive @ William Cameron & Co.)
- Brooks Lee
- John M. Lefevers
- (owned Provident Drug Store in 1920s)
- Elias Linkenhoger
- (pioneer Wacoan)
- Samuel Littlepage
- (First Methodist pastor, Army chaplain, Guatemala missionary 1869-1873)
- Jacob Long
- (early judge, Waco mayor 1872-1874, Waco 92 secretary 1863-1866)
- Ted Lyons
- (Hall of Famer baseball pitcher)
- J. W. Mann
- E.P. Massey
- James Richard Meers
- Peter McClelland
- John W. McCown
- Judge John W. McDonald
- (1849 California goldminer, Mexican American War veteran, longtime Waco judge, active Republican)
- C.C. McCulloch
- Jesse McLendon
- William H. McKinney
- (Baylor football player Class of 1916, principal of Rosebud ISD)
- Jesse Milam
- Seth P. Mills
- Horace Minier
- (executive with Amicable Life Insurance and first treasurer for the ALICO building)
- S.D. Moore
- (first teacher in Robinson hired by Levi Robinson as a live-in tutor for the Robinson children and other kids in the community in 1860; Junior Warden of Waco 92, 1877)
- Thomas Moore
- Reverend John Robert Morris
- Dr. George A. Muller
- (early Waco pharmacist)
- Dave Murphree
- Anton Navratil
- (Czech immigrant, accomplished violinst, professor of music at Baylor during early 20th century. He performed at Waco 92’s Diamond Jubilee in 1927)
- Pat M. Neff
- Governor of Texas, Grand Master of Texas Masons, President of Baylor
- (see also: Baylor’s Neff memories. The Grand Lodge of Texas article)
- Governor of Texas, Grand Master of Texas Masons, President of Baylor
- Charles Leslie Nelson
- (WWI veteran and Purple Heart recipient)
- William E. Oakes
- William Oglesby
- John Kinney O’Heeron
- (Military Chaplain WWI, pastor at Central Christian Church of Waco)
- Frank Oldham
- Sid Olive
- Fred Nash Oliver
- (WWI hero and Purple Heart recipient, successful attorney and businessman, donated the Casavant Freres organ at Austin Avenue Methodist Church)
- J.C. Pendleton
- (Waco pioneer, came to Texas from West Virginia in 1830s, fought under Sam Houston for Texas Independence, Mexican-American War and Civil War veteran)
- James Pettigrew
- John Hogue Pierson
- William Pipkin
- P.H. Pogue
- (Tax Assessor of Mclennan County 1890)
- Eddie Pohl
- (WWI Veteran and long-time journalist at Waco News-Tribune)
- Silas Polk
- (POW during Civil War, afterwards a farmer in San Augustine where he is buried)
- Leander Ponder
- (WWI Hero who served in France but died young due to a tooth infection in 1925)
- George Washington Prather
- Layton Coke Puckett
- Layton Ferrell Puckett
- Dr. John Napier
- Robert O. Nugent
- (Civil War veteran and early Baylor professor)
- George Henry Randle
- Theodore Robinson
- (well-known Galveston judge for whom the west end of the Galveston Sea Wall is named)
- Sul Ross
- Shapley Ross
- Lehman Sanger
- Milton Scott
- John Sears
- James Merritt Sedberry
- (Bosqueville pioneer, died there 1858 after leaving community he built called Sedberry Bend(now Roberts Bend) in Tennessee. His wife was granddaughter of Founding Father Benjamin Rush.)
- John F. Sedwick
- Tom Selman
- William Winthrop Seley
- George W. Sheek
- (pioneer of Weatherford, gravestone includes unique masonic tribute)
- Dr. A. Schuler
- Past Grand Chaplain of Texas Royal Arch Masons
- Albert C. Smith
- (Oklahoma and Baylor professor of journalism, pioneer in the field of news photography, drowned tragically with his wife in a devastating Lubbock storm on June 3, 1967)
- Dr. Frank G. Sory
- (one of the first dentists in Waco)
- John T. Sprague
- Thomas Stanford (pioneer Arkansas and Texas Methodist minister, leader in Waco community, Lorena’s Stanford Chapel Cemetery is named after him and so was its church)
- Josephus Murray Steiner
- J.C. Stephenson
- William A. Stoller
-
(Russian immigrant and dual member of Perfect Union #10 in San Antonio)
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- Chester A. Stone
-
(owner at Beard and Stone, a major firm in Waco for many years)
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- John Kern Strecker
- John Kennedy Street
- Herbert H. Sullivan
- John S. Tanner
- J.W. Taylor
-
(early Wacoan, graduate of Washington and Lee, elected county attorney, law partner of Marshall Surratt, son of Reverend H.L. Taylor and grandson of D.R. Gurley, buried at First Street Cemetery)
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- Ed Toby
- James H. Torbett
- William B. Trice
-
(brother of Sion Trice, walked to Waco from Tennessee in 1853, elected Constable 1855, president of Waco National Bank, Treasurer of Waco 92 1860-1863, Junior Warden 1864-65)
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- William H. Turner
-
(Civil War veteran, joined Waco 92 in 1868, worked in Waco’s booming cotton industry, served on Waco ISD school board for six years, Waco 92’s Junior Deacon 1873)
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- Paul Leighton Tyson
- Wiliam H. Vaughan
-
(1st Administrator of Methodist Children’s Home, 1891-1908)
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- D.R. Wallace
- James D. Wallace
-
(county treasurer 1878-1880, Junior Warden of Waco 92 in 1863, Treasurer 1869-1874 and again 1885-1897, Senior Deacon 1860-1862, buried at First Street)
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- John Camden West
- O. Wheat
-
(early realtor and notary public, Waco 92’s Senior Deacon 1882, buried at First Street)
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- William H. Wilkes
- Dr. James Madison Willis
- (founding member of Waco Medical Association, father of Past Master Joel Willis, congressman in Georgia before coming to Texas, Civil War surgeon)
- Judge Frank M. Wilson
- Robert B. Wilson
-
(Waco pioneer, Waco 92’s Junior Deacon 1864-65, buried at First Street Cemetery)
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- John A. Winn
- Dr. Wallis S. Witte
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(early surgeon at Providence Hospital in Waco)
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- John Flemming Wright