Formation
Grand Encampment was established by delegates from the Grand Commanderies of New York and of Massachusetts & Rhode Island. These two Grand Commanderies gave allegiance to this new supreme governing body. Since its formation in 1816, fifty-nine additional Grand Commanderies have been organized, making a total of sixty one. Of these, sixty are still in existence, one in each state, one in Massachusetts & Rhode Island, and one in the District of Columbia. Ten have been chartered outside of the United States. The Grand Commandery of Indian Territory was consolidated with the Grand Commandery of Oklahoma, following the formation of the State of Oklahoma.
Full formation details are available, here.
PRECEDENCE OF GRAND COMMANDERIES BASED UPON THE DATES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE ORGANIZATIONS
- Massachusetts and Rhode Island – May 6, 1805
- New York – June 18, 1814
- Virginia – November 27, 1823
- Vermont – June 27, 1824
- New Hampshire – June 13, 1826.
- Connecticut – September 13, 1827
- Ohio – October 24, 1843.
- Kentucky – October 15, 1847
- Maine – May 5, 1852
- Pennsylvania – April 12, 1854
- Indiana – May 16, 1854
- Texas – January 18, 1855
- Mississippi – January 21, 1857
- Michigan – April 7, 1857
- Illinois – October 27, 1857
- California – August 10, 1858
- Tennessee – October 12, 1859
- Wisconsin – October 20, 1859
- New Jersey – February 14, 1860
- Georgia – April 25, 1860
- Missouri – May 22, 1860
- Alabama – December 1, 1860
- Louisiana – February 12, 1864
- Iowa – June 6, 1864
- Minnesota – October 23, 1865
- Kansas – December 29, 1868
- Maryland – January 23, 1871
- Nebraska – December 27, 1871
- Arkansas – March 25, 1872
- West Virginia – February 25, 1874
- Colorado – March 14, 1876
- North Carolina – May 10, 1881
- South Dakota – May 14, 1884
- Oregon – April 13, 1887
- Washington – June 2, 1887
- Wyoming – March 7, 1888
- Montana – May 14, 1888
- North Dakota – June 16, 1890
- Arizona – November 16, 1893
- Florida – August 15, 1895
- *Indian Territory – December 27, 1895
- District of Columbia – January 14, 1896
- *Oklahoma – February 10, 1896
- New Mexico – August 21, 1901
- Idaho – August 31, 1904
- South Carolina – March 25, 1907
- Utah – April 20, 1910
- Nevada – April 15, 1918
- Philippines – December 31, 1963
- Delaware – August 20, 1991
- Italy – August 20, 1991
- Alaska – August 18, 2003
- Portugal – August 18, 2003
- +Mexico – August 15, 2006
- Romania – August 18, 2009
- Togo – August 19, 2009
- Croatia – August 14, 2012
- Hawaii – August 14, 2012
- Panama – August 14, 2012
- Austria – August 12, 2015
- Brazil – August 12, 2015
* Indian Territory Consolidated October 6, 1911 as The Grand Commandery of Oklahoma
+ Charter Suspended: August 14, 2012 | Restored: August 2018
OUTSIDE USA PRECEDENCE OF SUBORDINATE COMMANDERIES BASED UPON DATES OF THEIR RESPECTIVE CHARTERS
(UPDATED September 2019)
- Porto Rico No. 1, San Juan, Puerto Rico – June 24, 1916
- Tampico No. 1, Tampico, Mexico – April 22, 1922
- Tokyo No. 1, Tokyo, Japan – December 29, 1958
- Bavaria No. 3, Munich, Germany – December 29, 1958
- Heidelberg No. 2, Mannheim, Germany – December 19, 1961
- Hermann von Salza, No. 1, Frankfort, Germany – December 29, 1961
- *Guatemala No. 1, Guatemala City, Guatemala – March 20, 1972
- Harry J. Miller No. 5, Kaiserslautern, Germany – August 14, 1979
- Simon von Utrecht No. 6, Hamburg, Germany – August 14, 1979
- Carabobo No. 2, Valencia, Venezuela – August 20, 1991
- Solo di Aruba No. 1, Christiansted, Aruba – August 20, 1991
- Canaan No. 1, Fredericksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands – August 20, 1991
- Taipei No. 1, Taipei City, Taiwan, Republic of China – August 14, 2000
- El Salvador No. 1, San Salvador – August 10, 2015
- Mariscal Francisco Solano Lopez No. 1, Asuncion, Paraguay – August 10, 2015
- Peru No. 1, Lima, Peru – August 10, 2015
- Quito Commandery U.D. Ecuador – August 31, 2017
- Ali Bongo Ondimba U.S. (Gabon) – September 12, 2019
* Charter Suspended: 06/22/1991 | Restored: 08/13/2012
REFERENCES:
Scanned from Knight Templar Magazines and converted to word.doc, then to html and .pdf, hence possible spelling errors due to OCR.
1986 (pages 28 & 29, Sep, Oct, Nov & Dec)
1987 (pages 28 & 29, Jan, Feb, Mar, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov)
1988 (page 328, Jan)
2015 & 2018 Triennial Proceedings plus Info Sep 2019
