The North Carolina Mason

By omas Pope Stedman #730 Freemasonry in North Carolina dates back to the Grand Lodge's charter in 1787. But some of those brothers from more than 230 years ago — men whose records were documented with ink and quill — have just gone digital. e CardTurk program, which the Grand Lodge launched seven or eight years ago, is nearing comple- tion. Grand Secretary Walt Clapp, who oversees the program in which the oldest membership cards are transcribed by hand into a digital format, says nearly 300 brothers across the state have taken part in the process. Some have gone above and beyond the call of duty: almost three dozen N.C. Masons digitized the details of some 1,000 brothers each. When the project is completed, "a lodge secretary will be able to know everybody who's ever been a member of his lodge" via the MORI lodge software, Clapp said. e concept of getting every North Carolina Mason possible into a database has taken multiple steps. Based on the suggestion of Enable Labs, which developed the MORI software, a specific type of scanner was purchased. e scanner was able to scan 50 to 55 cards — cards similar to those found in a Rolodex — per minute, front and back, and create a file for each brother. Once the cards had been scanned, the files were sent to MORI and CardTurk was launched. Between 3,000 and 4,000 cards were illegible, Clapp said, including those that had been created using a blue typewriter ribbon. Further complicating the process was the fact that not all of the membership cards were identical, Clapp said. "e guys back then would say, 'We're going to order 10,000 cards,' and then when they'd run out of those, they'd order another 10,000 — but those might have extra lines on them for additional information, so not all of the cards were alike," he said. Also, in the early days of N.C. Masonry, a brother might take a degree at one lodge, then show up as a member of a different lodge for another degree as lodges became inactive. All of the early member- ship cards were based on the names of members found in each lodge's annual return to the Grand Lodge. "We'd lose a brother from a lodge over here," Clapp said, "en he'd show up over there on another lodge's returns." After those types of hurdles were crossed, then it was time actu- ally create the database that will eventually be accessible via MORI. at required the help of brethren (and some Grand Lodge staff ) who volunteered to help glean the information from the 250,000-plus image files of the cards. Enable Labs' John Fitzpatrick pointed out that each brother's card was actually input twice for a purpose. "A card is accepted as transcribed when two separate member transac- tions agreed exactly," Fitzpatrick said. "is protected the process from typos and other transcription errors. Members had the option to skip cards they didn't understand or mark illegible cards they couldn't read." Clapp had to regularly put out requests for help to complete the project. "I was hoping it would go much quicker than it did," he said, "and it developed a little bit of steam right there at the finish line." Page 8 The North Carolina Mason September/October 2019 Masonic records go digital with CardTurk Army of volunteers uncovers clues to the past By omas Pope Stedman #730 For those who participated in the CardTurk project, the journey was akin to time-traveling. "You're looking at the history of Masonry in North Carolina. It was fascinating," said Darrin Helton of Marion, a member of three lodges who topped all volunteers with 76,619 cards transcribed. e project gave Helton, a registered nurse with Hospice of McDowell County, something to do in his free time. Helton and Jack Wood, a fellow member of Mystic Tie #237, combined to produce more than 104,000 cards. "Jack and I said, 'Hey, let's do this,' and there we went," Helton said. "I tend to get a little OCD on stuff when I get started on something, and I'll go with it 'til it's done. If it's not done, it's driving me crazy." It didn't take long for many of those involved to become intrigued by the story the cards revealed. "If a brother died on a particular date, you knew where they probably were," Grand Secre- tary Walt Clapp said. "If they died July 1-3, 1863, they were probably killed at Gettysburg. June 6, 1944, probably D-Day." "at's the kind of thing that made you want to see the next card," Helton added. "I had to keep telling myself, 'Slow down and look at this, this is neat.'" Paul Marshburn Jr., a retired banker from Wilmington and a member of St. John's #1, input 11,342 cards. He said he enjoyed coming across the occasional card of an acquaintance. "I would see people that had been in St. John's years and years ago that I might've remembered because I've been here all my life," he said. "And it was interesting to see some of the occupations." Masons in North Carolina have covered virtu- ally every job one could imagine -- and some that one couldn't, such as: neon sign fabricator; tourist court owner; professional square dance caller; picture show manager; salesman of macaroni products; farmer and U.S. Lighthouse Service; producer and shipper of sand; and even Marine Corps cryptographer. ey were born in no less than 13 foreign ■ see CARDTURK, page 9

• Cover