Matthew Alexander Henson (August 8, 1866 – March 9, 1955)

I think I'm the first man to sit on top of the world.
Matthew Henson

Matthew Alexander Henson (August 8, 1866 – March 9, 1955) was an African American explorer and associate of Robert Peary on various expeditions, the most famous being a 1909 expedition during which he may have been the first person to reach the Geographic North Pole.
(Prince Hall Celestial Lodge 3, New York, NY)

Great Freemasons: James Bruce (1730 - 1794)

James Bruce was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia, where he traced the origins of the Blue Nile.

Bruce also brought back to Europe a select collection of Ethiopian manuscripts. "They opened up entirely new vistas for the study of Ethiopian languages and placed this branch of Oriental scholarship on a much more secure basis," writes Ullendorff. "It is not known how many MSS. reached Europe through his endeavours, but the present writer is aware of at least twenty-seven, all of which are exquisite examples of Ethiopian manuscript art. Bruce presented a fine and specially prepared copy of the Book of Enoch to Louis XV in Paris." While most of these manuscripts are in Ge'ez, one notable exception is a version of the Song of Songs written in Gafat, a language which Ullendorff states "is known to us only from this manuscript."

Great Freemasons: Evelyn Briggs Baldwin (1862 - 1933)

Evelyn B. Baldwin (1862 - 1933) Arctic Explorer. b. July 22, 1862 at Spirngfield, Mo. Graduated Northwestern College, Naperville. Ill. in 1885. Accompanied Robert E, Peary on North Greenland Expedition 1893-94 as meteorologist and was meteo...rologist and 2nd in command of Walter Wellman';s Polar expedition to Franz-Josef Land 1898-99. Built and named Fort McKInley, discovered and explored Graham Bell Land.1889.
Organized and commanded Baldwin-Ziegler polar expedition 1901-02. Baldwin reportedly carried Masonic flags with him on his expeditions. d. Oct 25, 1933


(Adams Lodge Number 63, Oswego, Kansas)

-10,000 Famous Freemasons by William Denslow and Harry S. Truman