A Masonic Funeral at Port Townsend
After the death of Captain Thomas Stratton, the community rallied to ensure a proper burial in Port Townsend with full Masonic honors.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Captain Thomas Stratton, assistant light keeper at Port Angeles, died of heart disease Sunday afternoon. As he belonged to the Masonic order, word was sent to his lodge in Port Townsend. On the arrival of the Dispatch, Judge Swan, Frank Bowers, and William McCurdy landed with the necessary material for burial. Continuous communication was kept by telegraph with the lodge at Port Townsend, who requested Mrs. Stratton to allow the body to be taken there for burial with all Masonic honors. Towards evening she consented, and arrangements were made to that effect. Captain Mears of the revenue cutter Oliver Wolcott tendered the services of his vessel to take the remains to Port Townsend, together with his family and friends. On her arrival at the street wharf, the body will be met by all the members of the lodge, who will escort the body to Good Templars' hall, where it will remain overnight, the funeral taking place the next day.
“The cutter will arrive here at noon, and on her arrival at the street wharf at Port Townsend... she will be met by all the members of the lodge.”
In the 1880s, fraternal organizations like the Masons were the primary social safety nets for maritime workers and their families in Washington. Today, these civic rituals have largely faded, but the role of Port Townsend as a community hub for the Olympic Peninsula remains a point of pride.
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