Ballington Booth

During the Christmas Season, we notice the Salvation Army “Kettles” most everywhere and we are reminded that this religious and charitable organization was founded in London in 1865 by William Booth, when on the curbstone of a gin-smelling street in London’s East End, amid jeers and stones he began to pray for the rough men and women gathered about him. There he and his wife and a few followers went day after day to meetings which they held. Gen. William Booth headed this Army until 1912 when his command was relinquished by death.

The Salvation Army became international in 1880 when it established a branch office in New York City. Shortly after its organization in America, the son of William Booth became its commander. This man, Ballington Booth, who headed the Army in Australia for two years before coming to America was its commander from 1887 to 1896. At that time, he had a disagreement with his father and he organized a similar group called the “Volunteers of America.” His wife was later a founder of the Parent Teachers Association.

Bro. Ballington Booth was a member of Montclair Lodge No. 144, NJ about 1899 and later joined Charter Oak Lodge No. 249, New York City. He served as a Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of New York and was a member of the York and Scottish Rites as well as Kismet Temple, AAONMS. His son Charles, head of the VOA after 1948, was also raised in Montclair Lodge No. 144 and later demitted to Morton Lodge No. 63, Hempstead, NY.

Henry A. Dries

Brig. Henry A. Dries, a native of Plymouth, MA became interested in “the Army” at the age of 16. He and his wife were assigned to various locations in New Jersey and then Pittsburgh, PA where he also served as Chaplain to the fire department. He is shown on a stamp issued by Zaire in March 1980 holding a boy who had just been carried out of a burning building – a photograph which has been used widely in Salvation Army literature. He retired to a Salvation Army Home in Asbury Park, NJ in 1968.

Bro. Dries was raised Nov. 30, 1932, in Raritan Lodge No. 61 in Perth Amboy, NJ. He served there as Chaplain from 1935 until he was transferred to Pittsburgh in 1962. He became a Scottish Rite Mason and affiliated with Syria Shrine Temple.

(Source: Emmasay Notes Jan. 2006, The Philatelic Freemason, Nov/Dec 2005)