Tom Platt visited her, because, he said, the dead man was his brother as a Freemason.
He lived for many years on Brighton Street, and was a Freemason.
"But he must be a Freemason," said he, referring to the abbe whom he had met that evening.
He had never, so far as came to my knowledge, been a Freemason.
My aunt was surprised and hoped it was not some Freemason affair.
The question has been raised whether Wren was a Freemason or not.
Webster said that he did not, and asked Littlefield whether he were a Freemason.
For instance—I am a Freemason: have I ever divulged the secrets of the order?
Outside of a Freemason's Lodge I have never seen such gatherings.
He's a Freemason; he won't have his children baptised, or be married in church.
late 14c., originally a traveling guild of masons with a secret code; in the early 17c. they began accepting honorary members and teaching them the secrets and lore, which by 1717 had developed into the fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons.
The exact origin of the free- is a subject of dispute. Some [e.g. Klein] see a corruption of French frère "brother," from frèremaçon "brother mason;" others say it was because the masons worked on "free-standing" stones; still others see them as "free" from the control of local guilds or lords [OED].
