General Information

Widows Sons Chronological History 1998 -2014

....From the Widows Sons Archives

Founded: February 18,1998 at the Mirage Restaurant in Schiller Park, Illinois by Carl Davenport. Originally just called “The Widows Sons” the first chapter and its members were all members of El Jaala Grotto and the El Jaala Motor Patrol. Here are the Widows Sons White Papers written one month after the founding of the Widows Sons, and the founding minutes of the meeting that started it all.

In 1998 Brother Davenport had been working on a site “MasonicBiker.com” and then the "Mastermason.com/widows sons" website to reach out on the Internet to see if others might be interested in forming chapters of the Widows Sons in their area.

The second chapter of Widows Sons was formed in the Netherlands, in June of 1998. Minutes of the meeting approving the second chapter of Widows Sons.

1999-2000: Connecticut, and Florida formed chapters a couple weeks apart, and many new potential members who were waiting to start chapters began discussions about the Widows Sons being organized internationally. Some of these brethren were involved with the efforts of transforming the Widows Sons into an International Association were: Nico Lulofs of the Netherlands, Bill Zimmerman of Connecticut, Rich Greenberg of California, Anthony Harper of Georgia/Florida, Jeffrey Rosenberg of Boston, Gerard Cannoo of Capetown South Africa, Richard Prina of Arizona and Armando Nunez of Florida, It should be noted that not all of those mentioned above were successful in creating chapters but were making an active effort to do so. Three other chapters were chartered in 1998, but dropped out a month or so later, Illinois and the Netherlands are the only chapters and some remain today as a founding state/country of the association. Original chapters that remain today that were chartered in 1998. The first four chapters that are still standing today are located in: Illinois Feb 1998, Netherlands June 1998, Connecticut in Dec 1999 and Florida in Jan 2000.The Netherlands were the second, making the Widows Sons an international organization in June of 1998, and about two years later Connecticut, and then a week later, Florida.

2000: When Florida was chartered, with four chapters now chartered, a need for a logo became necessary. So the "Widows patch" was designed, and sent to Florida to be made. They were made in Florida and hand delivered to Chicago.

2002: The domain, " WidowsSons.com" was purchased on January 18, 2002 and a website was revised and uploaded to the domain. Requests started flowing in. Several interested brethren responded and work began on forming an association.

2004: A significant year: In February 2004 shortly after Brother Davenport was forced into a hiatus due to a serious illness, Armando Nunez was serving as an organizer for the association and due to Brother Carl’s unavailability, crafted a plan to “administratively” divide the Widows Sons into 2 jurisdictions, the Northern & Southern Jurisdiction. Each jurisdiction would be charged with geographical assignments giving them the duty of chartering new chapters in their respective states and countries. Brother Fred Broecker, the secretary of the Illinois Grand Chapter, was appointed as the head of the Northern Jurisdiction and Brother Armando appointed as the head of the Southern Jurisdiction. This was announced to the membership in February 2004, and a month later by mutual agreement of Brother’s Broecker & Nunez, the New England Jurisdiction was formed, putting Brother Bill Zimmerman as its head. The Widows Sons operated under 3 National Jurisdictions from 2004 through September of 2008 when the jurisdictions were combined back into one in order to offset perceptions of disunity or separate organizations.

In May of 2004 the alternate/modern logo (winged logo) was introduced in order to appease concerns regarding the ‘Masonic relevance” of the original Widows logo. The modern logo was first regarded as the Northern Jurisdiction logo but was later adopted by some states in the Southern Jurisdiction (Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky).

The UK Chapter of the Widows Sons introduced their own alternative logo, and separated themselves from the Masonic Riders Association by calling themselves the Masonic Bikers Association. The original Widows logo was copyrighted in 2003 and the winged logo was copyrighted in 2004. The UK logo was never copyrighted because it was not an original design and it did not promote the exclusive identity of the Widows Sons.

2005: Brother Armando Nunez resigned from his position as a national organizer and active member of the Widows Sons in 2005. His chosen replacement was Brother Karl Seigal of the Knights of the East chapter of Florida.

2006: Brother Bill Zimmerman left the Widows Sons and his replacement for the director of the New England Jurisdiction was Brother Frank DeFeo who was appointed by Brother Broecker in 2006. In 2006 Brother Seigal resigned as a national organizer due to the death of his father and Scott Frum was appointed as his replacement by the Florida State Board.

2007: The state of Alabama adopted the winged logo.

The first Widows Sons Degree and “Branding” was held at the Hawg Valley Bike Rally in Madisonville Kentucky in 2007. The degree was written by Brother’s Jeff Wilson, Robert Lee Curtis, and Ken Sarver of the Traveling Gavel Grand Chapter of Kentucky. Brothers in attendance were from the states of Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia. Brother Mark Sawyer the Grand Chapter President of Virginia came up with the idea of branding our vests and the practice was incorporated as a traditional part of the degree.

The first Grand Gathering was held in 2007 in Newport Beach Virginia. The 2nd Grand Gathering was held in 2009 in Kentucky, the 3rd Grand Gathering was held in 2011 in Ontario Canada, and the 4th Grand Gathering was held in Maine.

In 2007 the Widows Sons of Texas applied for recognition as a Masonic organization during their Grand Lodge Communication. The ballot was passed in their favor but a motion was placed on the floor for more discussion and a re-vote. During the subsequent re-vote, acceptance was denied by a failing vote in favor of their application. In 2008 the new Grand Master of Texas issued an edict banning all Texas Masons from being members of the WSMRA. The edict affected over 300 brethren in the state of Texas.

2008: The first Regional Gathering was held in Bentonville Arkansas in 2008, the 2nd Regional was held in Indianapolis Indiana in 2010, and the 3rd Regional was held in Connecticut in 2012.

In September of 2008 Brother Broecker resigned as a national organizer for the Northern Jurisdiction and conducted an election at a regional gathering to select Brother David Adams as his replacement. This occurred at the Regional Rally in Arkansas and during a meeting of Brother Broecker, Armando Nunez, Lynn Graham of Texas, Scott Frum of Florida, and David Adams, it was decided to eliminate the jurisdictions and have the 3 coordinators/organizers (Brothers DeFeo, Frum, and Adams) share chartering responsibilities without geographical assignments.

In 2009, a clandestine website named widowssonsinternational.com was uploaded by Big John of Virginia, keeping the owners identity a secret, and a forum was added. They claim to this day that it is owned by the members, which is not true. They named the forum, the "SCUM" forum.

2010: In September of 2010 the 3 brothers serving as coordinators or organizers were retired from those positions by Brother Davenport. Chartering was now to be done by sponsoring Grand Chapters in the Association. The first state to charter a new Grand Chapter was Montana which had chartered the state of Wyoming. Wyoming subsequently chartered the Grand Chapter of Mexico. Later in 2012 the state of Kentucky sponsored and chartered the Grand Chapter of West Virginia.

Upon the retiring of the Coordinators, the clandestine forum at widowssonsinternational.com website became a vocal point for restoring the coordinators. They named themselves the SCUM forum. This forum was used by former Coordinators Scott Frum, David Adams, and James Mowel of CT, Mike Wade of Alabama, Alan "Habbie" Patterson of Scotland, and Big John of Virginia to create confusion among the craft in their agenda of if they can't have Coordinators, they would destroy the Widows Sons from within. They began using the forum to cause disharmony and a split within the Widows Sons by attacking the founder's reputation, and the brothers who helped build the Widows Sons from the beginning.

2011: Brother Davenport married and moved to England. He immediately asked the President and Vice President of the Northumberland chapter to aid and assist widows and orphans first before any other charity, and to change their name and logos back to match the rest of the organization. They refused.

2012: Brother Davenport asked the Northumberland PGB President to drop the national governing board , to aid and assist widows and orphans first before any other charity, and to change their name and logos back to match the rest of the organization. They again refused.

On July 10, 2012, Brother Fred Broecker the logo copyright holder received an unusual request from the Presidents board in Illinois. It was a request that he turn over his rights to the copyright of the Widows Sons Logo to the Presidents board. This same board held a meeting a few weeks later to remove the founder and Fred from the Illinois Widows Sons. It later became known this board was elected and acted illegally and all their damages were restored. Here's the letter.

2013: A new 15th Anniversary patch was introduced for the 15th year of the Widows Sons. Several other anniversary items such as two different anniversary coins, wood carvings, a Widows Sons Clock and a few other items.