Name/Title
Apron, BridwellEntry/Object ID
2025.008.02 (A-B)Description
Masonic apron, c. 1750; American; Black printed silk with silver-metallic thread fringe; printed with Masonic symbols; believed to have been worn during George Washington's initiation in 1752 by a member of the Bridwell family.
(A) Apron
(B) Display Frame with Brass Plaque
Reads,
"During the year 1913. Robert Washington Bridwell was raised to the sublime Degree of Master Mason by ___, Illinois Lodge No. 161 AF & AM. At that time his father, George Belmont Bridwell, gave him this apron, a family heirloom. It has been handed down by Archibald Birdwell, father of George Gilmore Bridwell. The apron was worn by the great grandfather of Archibald Bridwell, at the Fredericksburg, Virginia Masonic Lodge meeting when General George Washington was raised to the sublime Degree of Master Mason by that Masonic Body.
The apron was donated by Elizabeth Bridwell, wife of Robert Washington Bridwell and is being presented to the Lodge by Worshipful Master, Earl ___ ___. November 3 ___"
