Henry Fowle wrote this late in life at the behest of a young friend and Masonic lodge brother during the height of the Anti-Masonic furor in New York and New England, completing it in 1833. The original manuscript is no longer in existence, but Mr. Kilmer, Henry Fowle's great-great-great-grandson, used a diary of Henry Fowle's he inherited and issues of the Freemason's Monthly Magazine, which published the manuscript in 1865, to produce this work. Mr. Fowle was a mainly self-educated man who worked all his life at a mechanic's trade but he managed to become acquainted with some of the most famous people of his time, including De Witt Clinton, Benjamin Russell, and Isaiah Thomas. His Masonic pursuits took him to New York City and Philadelphia in 1816, this journey being the subject of his diary, which constitutes about one-third of his autobiography. He was an acute observer with a special talent for humorous anecdote. Mr. Fowle's writing describes his personal life and his Masonic career, the latter being his sole claim to fame in life. Appendices concern Mr. Fowle's mother's and father's families, the families of his wives (he had three), and the lives of his children (he fathered 18). Mr. Kilmer was aided in his work by family letters and memorabilia, and he examined as much primary source material as he could find. A bibliography of sources is included, and the book is illustrated with photographs, sketches and maps.
David H. Kilmer
1991, 5½x8½, paper, index, 248 pp.
ISBN: 9781556134821
101-K0482
