A Brief History of Old Dominion Commandery No. 11

The eighteenth triennial session of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States assembled at the Masonic Temple in the city of Baltimore, Maryland in September of 1871. Out of the 5,000 Knights in attendance and 76 Commanderies represented, Columbia Commandery No. 2 of the District of Columbia had the largest pilgrimage at this momentous event, totaling 200 Knights and 40 of their ladies. Among their ranks was Sir Knight Francis Avery Reed who, inspired by the proceeding at Baltimore, met with nine Knights of Alexandria, Virginia in the Lodge room of Andrew Jackson No. 120 to “consider the propriety of petitioning the Grand Commander of Virginia for a dispensation to open a Commandery of Knights Templar in this City.” Of the 10 Knights that met on this 30th day of March in 1872, eight held memberships in Columbia Commandery No. 2, one from Washington No. 1 of D.C. and one from Richmond No. 2. Their names are as follows:

1. E. Alexander, A. S. Dunn, S. N. Garwood, W. A. Moore, F. A. Reed, G. R. Shinn, Henry Wingate, Matt Kersey, and Wm. H. Lambert.

The brief minutes of that tell us that W. H. Lambert was called upon to chair the meeting and F. A. Reed was appointed Secretary. That same evening the Knights decided to invite the following friends, residing at Alexandria, to join with them in petitioning the Grand Commander:

Meeting once again on the third of April, the name Old Dominion Commandery was chosen, and on the 23rd of the same month They elected F. A. Reed, Commander; W. H. Lambert, Generalissimo; G. R. Shinn, Captain General; W. A. Moore, Treasurer; and J. E. Alexander, Recorder.

On the 3rd of May 1872, Sir Knight W. L. Pettit, Special Deputy of the Grand Commander of Virginia opened the Commandery add read a dispensation from John Dove, Grand Recorder, authorizing the new Commandery to assemble and work as a regular commander; to confer order; and appointing the selected Knights as officers of the commandery.

With Sir Knight Reed leading the Charge, Old Dominion conferred its first Order of the Red Cross on the 13th of November on 11 Sir Knights, who later participated in the Order of Malta on the 4th of December. The Fees for the Order in 1872 was $40 which with inflation would equal $920 in 2022. The Commandery received its charter on the 20th of December 1872 by Sir Knight W. B. J. Isaacs, Grand Commander, and one year later Old Dominion Commandery had knighted over thirty new Fraters.

Reed would serve Old Dominion as Eminent Commander for a collective nine years and become the 12th Grand Commander of Virginia in 1884, serving two terms in that capacity. Since then, ten other Sir Knights from Old Dominion have been honored as Grand Commander of Virginia:

Emanuel E. Downham (20th 1893-94) James E. Alexander (22nd 1900-01) 

James J. Green (44th 1917-1918) Claude W. Fletcher (59th 1932-33) 

Richard S. Luckett (67th 1940-41) David E. Bayliss Jr. (76th 1949-40)

Walter H. Stanford (91st 1964-65) Robert D. McMarlin (104th 1977-78) 

Mark W. Underwood (136th 2009-10)

Old Dominion would continue to assist in the expansion of Chivalric Masonry in Virginia. Most notably in 1875 when the 12 founders of Fredericksburg Commandery no. 1 were knighted by the Commandery, and in 1949 when thirteen of Old Dominion’s members founded Arlington Commandery No. 29.

In 2022, during the Bicentennial of the Grand Commandery of Virginia, Old Dominion No. 11 celebrated its Sesquicentennial

By Sir Knight Michael Thomas Huff, Knight Commander of the Temple