Excerpt from Cryptic Rite: Its Origin and Introduction on This Continent; History of the Degrees of Royal, Select, and Super-Excellent Master; The Work of the Rite in Canada, With a History of the Various Grand Councils That Have Existed From the Inception of the Rite in Canada Til A book without a preface would, in the estimation of many, be incomplete, and yet I think that the average reader would feel better if he were at once to plunge into the meat and marrow, without waiting for the apologies that authors and compilers have to offer. I make no claim to originality in this compilation. The history of the Rite and its degrees is compiled from various sources, Mackey, Chase, McClenachan, and other Masonic authors. The history of the Cryptic Grand Councils in the United States is from the pen of my esteemed friend Brother and Companion, Josiah H. Drummmond, of Maine, while the Canadian branch of the history I have gathered from documents in my possession as Grand Recorder, and from official sources of information, that make it the first written and authentic history of the Rite in Canada. My original intention was to confine, the work to the Rite in my own country, but at the suggestion of Companions I have enlarged its scope so as to give, in one volume, what I believe has never been given before, a complete history of the degrees of Royal, Select and Super-Excellent Master, from their origin to the present time. I trust that this compilation may be received with favor by my Companions of the Secret Vault, and that the work of a few leisure hours may add to the interest that in so universally taken in the ceremonies and history of the Cryptic Rite. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

A man of two cultures in an era where his only choices were to be a trailblazer or get left by the wayside Dr. Oronhyatekha (“Burning Sky”), born in the Mohawk nation on the Six Nations of the Grand River territory in 1841, led an extraordinary life, rising to prominence in medicine, sports, politics, fraternalism, and business. He was one of the first Indigenous physicians in Canada, the first to attend Oxford University, a Grand River representative to the Prince of Wales during the 1860 royal tour, a Wimbledon rifle champion, the chairman of the Grand General Indian Council of Ontario, and Grand Templar of the International Order of Good Templars. He counted among his friends some of the most powerful people of the day, including John A. Macdonald and Theodore Roosevelt. He successfully challenged the racial criteria of the Independent Order of Foresters to become its first non-white member and ultimately its supreme chief ranger. At a time when First Nations peoples struggled under assimilative government policy and society’s racial assumptions, his achievements were remarkable. Oronhyatekha was raised among a people who espoused security, justice, and equality as their creed. He was also raised in a Victorian society guided by God, honour, and duty. He successfully interwove these messages throughout his life, and lived as a man of significant accomplishments in both worlds.