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"Tell me thy company, and I’ll tell thee what thou art."
Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), Spanish writer.

The Basics:

This site does NOT have a full and complete list of all "famous Masons" of all countries of all times. There is no such list. This site is one of the VERY few that has paid particular attention to ensuring that those listed are, in fact, Masons. There are a LOT of "famous" people who are ASSUMED to be Freemasons but who are not. (See the link to Famous Non-Masons on the left where you'll find more information.)

Many viewers of this page want to find out if their local politician or some other person is a Freemason. Sometimes this is not for positive purposes and it's done to in some way smear or diminish. Those who do that should be ashamed: isn't it better to build up than to tear down?

While you may have arrived on this particular page seeking "Famous Freemasons", you should be aware that the central focus of our site is Anti-Masonry and those who disdain or demean the Masonic organization. Here, we list just an extremely small number of the famous and good people who were Masons or members of the Masonic 'family'. This listing, compared with our list of anti-Masons shows a stark comparison. In fact, anti-Masons who've achieved positions of greatness and recognition can be counted pretty much on one hand - and then, only as a result of their bad acts in most cases. The "Famous" listed here would eschew that designation but their lives are in stark contrast with those who've opposed Freemasonry. We hope as you peruse our list, you'll realize that if Masonry was evil, occult, conspiratorial or bad, these men - and the many millions more whose names are not recorded here - would not have voluntarily choose to affiliate with it over the past three hundred years!

UNITED STATES 2008 ELECTIONS

As seems to happen every time there's a US presidential election, our site is regularly searched to find out if the candidates are Freemasons. OK. For the record:

John McCain is NOT a Mason. His father, Admiral John Sidney McCain, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet during the Vietnam War and who died in 1981, was.

Bush is NOT a Mason - Sorry!Barack Obama is NOT a Mason.

Hillary Clinton is NOT a Mason. Her husband (former President Bill Clinton) was a member of a Masonic-sponsored youth organization. You can read more about that here.

Ron Paul is not a Mason although his father is.

George Bush is not a Mason. His father (former President George Bush) is not a Mason. And the Skull and Bones fraternity at Yale University has NO connection to Freemasonry whatsoever, despite what the person with the tin-foil hat wants you to believe!

So whatever the motive for your curiosity, the answer is - NO! OK? And despite the frenzied rants that have appeared on some websites, there's NO SUCH THING in the United States as being a 'secret Mason' or hiding one's membership. They'll usually tell you it's because the person is a 33rd Degree that makes it a secret which is total crap: see our page on 33rds RULE! for more information. The simple facts are that when a man becomes a Freemason, he doesn't hide his identity. (There are a couple of bogus groups - primarily internet fantasies - that aren't at all part of Freemasonry despite their ridiculous attempts at pretending to be. At least one of those phony groups has listed a large number of far-right Republicans as members in their group, surely none of whom are the least interested in being part of the creator's fantasies.) The fact is, though, that when one joins Freemasonry in the United States, it's done openly and without secrets. Thus, if a website tries to convince you that any of the above are actually Masons but that it's somehow a secret, ask them how they know. You'll get a LOT of double-talk and obfuscation which, in the final analysis, will be nothing more than plain and simple manure!

Find a Grave: Many Masons and members of the Masonic 'family' proudly display their affiliation with the fraternity at their final resting place. If you see this image gravestone.gif (67 bytes) , you can click on the Mason's name and be transported to the "Find A Grave" web site to see an actual picture of their grave located on the web. (There may be more than just those we've got noted here; gravestone pictures at that web site are being updated  constantly.) You might also find our page about Masonic gravestones of interest....

This list is not the 'standard' one seen on other Masonic websites. It is greatly augmented by additional material on the lives of these distinguished persons as well as by the listing of many Masons whose membership has been verified through news stories, personal knowledge, etc. Many of these names have been provided by others and we've set up a special page here to say "thanks" for their contributions. We also note an exceptionally well-designed site which shows many of the individual Masons we've named in 'categories'. There was also a New Jersey Masons website that had an excellent presentation but sadly, the site now appears to have been closed.

Due to the HUGE size of this page and the frequency of visitors to it, we have divided it into sections. You can find our list alphabetically A-L here and M-Z here

Masonic Webmasters: If linking to this portion of our site, please be sure to link to this page and not the individual 'child' pages of this section as they may be subsequently changed with even further division as time passes with more names being added. This page will provide the continuity to those other pages.

Listings of those who are (or were during their lifetime) Masons serves to remind us of the many notables who - of their own free will - chose to associate with this noble institution. Those who preach anti-Masonic hate must ultimately wonder how it is that so many have been (supposedly) deceived - while they have found the 'truth'.... And while some will argue that these men have been deceived; others contend they are/were part of a New World Order conspiracy. What is not arguable is that they represent all walks of life and that they were - in their respective ways - LEADERS!
 
Throughout the 300 years of Freemasonry in its current form, there have been a precious few who have not behaved in a way that reflects positively upon the organization. We talk about them on this page.

Important Note:
This listing is not all-inclusive nor is it an 'official' list of any sort. Information is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Any errors are solely the fault of the compiler!

Names for this site have come from many sources. Please take a moment to see the list of contributors here. Please note, though, that we do not have unlimited space nor do we have unlimited time. We'd love to keep adding to this section but have found far too many submissions sent as: "I think X is a Brother." or "A fellow mentioned in Lodge the other night that X is a Mason.". That simply isn't sufficient for our purposes. Accordingly, we're now curtailing efforts on these pages considerably and returning our focus to anti-Masonry. We believe that the many Masons shown clearly acknowledge that Freemasonry attracts members of the highest standing. And far beyond these few pages are the millions upon millions of those who joined and enjoyed the lessons they've learned from the friendship and fellowship of Freemasonry.

You may also be interested in our comments about a number of Masonic Authors and perhaps you would be interested in a couple of books by a Mason who's 'put the meat' behind the names, providing biographical information on Famous American Freemasons that's sure to be enjoyed. Click the link on your right for more information about this. And you shouldn't overlook the book American Freemasons. Our book review on that excellent work are here.

Thanks too to those who've written to point out additional information and/or discrepancies.

This list is also frequently STOLEN by unscrupulous individuals to use as material for their CDs for sale or their websites. Often, it is taken by "fake" groups pretending to be Masons in order to provide them with some credibility to the uninformed. Please be advised that we do strictly hold copyright on all material on this site and particularly emphasize that the selection, compilation and description of the Famous Freemasons is OUR work. Should you copy our work, we will we will notify your internet service provider and use a take-down order if necessary to have it removed (this results in your website being shut down). In addition, we will file with various search engines so that your site listing is removed from their finding mechanisms should you choose to STEAL our work! Hereto, fail not....

See our "Copyright Hall of Shame" for the most egregious examples of copyright theft of this material!

Prince, the Search DogJust click on "Prince, the Search Dog" to find things on our site. He's on every page and he'll take you directly to our search form where you can see if we've written about whatever it is you're interested in. Prince has a great memory; he always remembers where things are!

This site and its contents are © (copyright) 1998-2014 by Edward L. King (Ed King). All rights reserved. All comments and opinions are mine personally.

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