The first petition to form a lodge in Erie County, was dated December 10, 1807. It was properly drawn up and forwarded to the Grand Lodge of the State of New York, requesting a warrant to establish a Lodge in the Village of New Amsterdam. (Buffalo from 1801 to about 1812 was known as New Amsterdam.)
The following names were attached to the petition:
Brothers: Zenas Barker, proposed as Worshipful Master; Cyrenius Chapin, Senior Warden; Frederick Miller, Junior Warden; Philo Andrews, Apollos Hitchcock, Erastus Granger, Joseph Landon, Benjamin Caryl, Edmund Raymond, Rowland Cotton and Benjamin Hodge.
WESTERN STAR LODGE was the name chosen by the Brethren, and they would hold their meetings in the home of Brother Zenas Barker, located in the Town of Clarence. The reason and the location for the new lodge was entered on the petition, and stated that it was extremely difficult for them to attend lodge meetings, as the nearest lodge was sixty miles away.
In September of 1808, their petition was endorsed by Genesee Lodge No. 130, which was located in the Town of Hartford, Ontario County, at the time.
No action was ever taken upon their first petition, so finally about four years later, a second petition, dated, January 6, 1812, was drawn up. WESTERN STAR LODGE was again chosen for the name of their Lodge, but their meeting place was changed to the home of Brother Joseph Landon, which was located in the Village of New Amsterdam, in the Township of Buffalo. This time the petitioners claimed that there was no Masonic Lodge within forty miles of their homes.
The second petition bears the endorsement of Olive Branch Lodge No. 215, located at that time in Batavia. The document was dated January 16, 1812, and was signed by their Worshipful Master, W∴ Richard Smith, and Brother Isaiah Babcock, Secretary of the Lodge.
M∴W∴ DeWitt Clinton, Grand Master of the State of New York, granted a dispensation to their Lodge on January 31, 1812, for a period of two years. The Grand Secretary, R∴W∴ John Wells, issued their Dispensation on February 6, 1812, and on March 10, 1812, WESTERN STAR LODGE U.D. was instituted by Brother Heman B. Potter.
The Officers installed were:
Brothers, Zenas Barker, Worshipful Master; Cyrenius Chapin, Senior Warden; Frederick Miller, Junior Warden; Abel M. Grosvenor, Treasurer; Judge Charles Townsend, Secretary; Nehemiah Seelye and Daniel Bristol, Deacons; Ralph M. Pomeroy and Raphael Cook, Stewards; and Rowland Cotton, Tiler.
About a year later a petition was forwarded to the Grand Lodge for a Charter, dated June 15, 1813, in the Village of Buffalo. It stated therein that several of the petitioners had previously applied for a Dispensation to establish a lodge in the Village, and that they had enclosed the usual fee, but unfortunately the letter and the money were lost. A second petition for a Warrant was sent to Grand Lodge about four years later, and a Dispensation to establish a lodge was then granted by the Grand Master, on February 16, 1812. Since that time, they had assembled and conducted the business of Freemasons and conferred the three degrees of Masonry, according to the best of their abilities, and that they now wished to obtain a Charter.
The following names were attached to the petition:
Brothers, Benjamin Caryl, proposed as Worshipful Master; Heman B. Potter, Senior Warden; Oliver Forward, Junior Warden; Frederick Miller, Joshua Lovejoy, Thomas Atkins, Joseph Hershey, Sylvester Clark, Asa P. Harris, Nehemiah Seelye, Benjamin Hodge, Joseph Sill, Judge Charles Townsend, Jonas Harrison, Joseph Trowbridge, Benjamin Enos, Ralph M. Pomeroy, Cornelius Davenport, Zenas W. Barker, Joseph Landon, Willard Smith and Asa Coltrin.
The petition for their Charter was laid before the Grand Lodge, on December 7, 1814, by Grand Master M∴W∴ DeWitt Clinton. He informed the Grand Lodge that the Brethren had applied for a Dispensation on two separate occasions. The first was received on March 1, 1809 and the second on March 4, 1812. They now pray that their Charter is granted and that their dues under Dispensation, which they have been working under, might be relinquished in consequence of the great losses the members had sustained by the destruction of the Village of Buffalo when it was burned by the British and Indians on December 30, 1813, upon which it was unanimous: “Resolved, that a Warrant be issued to the said Brethren and that all dues Under Dispensation are relinquished.”
The Lodge received its Charter, dated December 24, 1814, and was assigned the number “239” on the Grand Lodge Register; therefore the first Masonic Lodge in Buffalo and the County of Erie was WESTERN STAR LODGE No. 239.