"Freemasonry exists because of the inherent social instinct of man. The urge to fraternize, the desire to be social, the feeling of charity towards one's fellows, the desire to lean on God; all these and many more have caused associations to spring up in various parts of the world." - Alphonse Cerza
Abbreviated History of the Valley of Boston
(The following information was taken from the 1918 publication "50 Years of the Supreme Council, A.A.S.R., NMJ" (Volume 1) compiled by James H. Codding, 33º and Robinson Locke, 33º.)
In April of 1864, the apartments of the second Masonic Building in Boston were destroyed by fire, and "with them all the precious relics, manuscripts and correspondence... of [the] Rite since the advent of Masonry in this country" (90). All documents that could shed light on the early history of the Rite were lost.
On May 17, 1867, the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction was united and Josiah H. Drummond, of Maine, was elected to serve as the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the new Supreme Council. This date marks the unification of several previous governing bodies, which were all officially merged in order to form the new Supreme Council when John L. Lewis, the last Grand Commander of the United Bodies, resigned his authority as commander. The intent of the Union of the Bodies was to officially bury all preceding conflicts of authority that had existed at the time.
This union, it should be noted, was "more than a mere merger of conflicting Bodies of the same Rite... it was a merging of the philosophic, materialistic, ... ritualistic Body of a Masonry from a Latin civilization, with the sentimental... Masonry of a Puritan New England" (98-99).
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The Bodies of the Scottish Rite, sitting in the Valley of Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acknowledge and yield allegiance to the Supreme Council, 33°, of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America, whose Grand East is in Lexington, Massachusetts.