I’m glad to tell you that Famous American Freemasons: Volume II is right on schedule for release this summer.  Even as I finish Famous American Freemasons: Volume II, it never ceases to amaze me the ways in which Masons have changed the world.  Our fraternity, from its very beginning, has been populated with men that were thinkers and doers—men that see no limits to what can be accomplished through focused effort, hard work, and determination.  These are men that think for themselves, view the world from their own unique perspective, and almost without exception, they see any obstacle in their way as a challenge to be overcome, rather than a barrier.

You’ll find famous Masons everywhere in United States history—you’ll find them fighting in the Revolutionary War, at the Alamo, the Battle of Gettysburg, flying over Tokyo during World War II, in the Oval Office, and you might even find them orbiting the Earth and the Moon.

But you won’t just find Freemasons in America.  Famous Freemasons can be found all over the world—the United States isn’t unique there.  We may have Freemasons who became great leaders, like Franklin D. Roosevelt, but there were Freemasons like British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who were great leaders too (Hilter didn’t have much of a chance with those two Freemasons working together).  We may have Freemasons who became writers, like Mark Twain, but Scotland has Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who created Sherlock Holmes.  America has great Freemason musicians like John Philip Sousa and Irving Berlin, but European Freemasons have Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. America had great military minds like John Paul Jones, but Britain had Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson.  We had great minds like Ben Franklin—France had Voltaire. 

Freemasonry is international, and like the accomplishments of many of its members, it knows few boundaries.  Without question, the world is a better place because of men like these.  And those contributions continue to this day—Masonry is alive and well, and continues to create the kinds of men that help to make the world a better place. 

I was glad to see one of my favorite country music stars, Brad Paisley, do so well at the Academy of Country Music Awards recently.  Brad seems to have a growing collection of awards, including Grammy’s and gold records.  And the ACM recognized his accomplishments as well, awarding him Male Vocalist of the year, Video of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year for 2009.  And what you may not know, is that Brad Paisley is a Freemason. 

Masonry is alive and well, and as much as I enjoy relating to you stories about men from America’s past, don’t think for one minute, that a whole new generation of Freemasons isn’t coming up in the world right behind them.  It is the goal of Freemasonry, after all, to make good men better. 

Sincerely,

Todd E. Creason