On the 4th of January, 1879, Past Grand Master, Reubin H. Robertson, after an illness of only three days, was summoned to a seat in the Supreme Grand Lodge above. His Brethren buried him in Mount Olivet Cemetery, January 7th. On February 9th a Lodge of Sorrow was held by the Grand Lodge of Utah to his memory.

Brother Robertson was born in Burlington, Iowa, September 30th, 1836. He was made a Mason in Bellair Lodge, No. 133, Numa, Appanoose County, Iowa, in 1858. He dimitted from the Lodge in 1860, and went to Arkansas to practice law. In 1963 he emigrated to Montana to seek his fortune in mining, but not meeting with satisfactory success, opened a law office in the town of Nevada, where his fellow citizens shortly after elected him county Judge of Madison County. In January, 1866, he assisted in the formation of Nevada Lodge No. 4, Montana, and was its first Master. In June, 1866, he came to Salt Lake City to reside and practice his profession, taking front rank at the bar. He helped to organize Wasatch Lodge, the first chartered Lodge in this Grand Jurisdiction, and was its Master from November 30th, 1866, until December 10th, 1869. In December, 1870, he was again elected Master.

At the organization of this Grand Lodge in January, 1872, he took an active part, and was appointed Grand Lecturer. At the first Annual Communication, in October, 1872, he was elected Grand Master.

On leaving the Grand East, in November, 1873, he was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Jurisprudence, which position he held until his death, and by his zeal and wise counsel did much to uphold and give standing to Masonry in Utah, and to the Grand Lodge among our Sister Grand Lodges throughout the world.

By the death of our M∴W∴ Brother Robertson the Craft in Utah has lost one of its strongest pillars, and Masonry one of its most brilliant lights. The following extract from an oration delivered by him at the closing of the Grand Lodge after its organization, will give the key to his character as a man, a citizen and a Mason.

“The circumstances which surround our early history were complicated and peculiar, queer and unprecedented. We grappled with them a best we could. The few Brothers that rallied about our alter were faithful to their vows, true to their trust, and stood to the ancient landmarks of our Order with unerring fidelity. They guarded well the `inner door` and the `magic power of the mystic brotherhood` increased in this polygamic community, while none who held his country’s authority in defiance or trod its laws beneath his feet, entered the portals of our Lodges.

Now, Sir, we launch our little craft upon the great Masonic sea. We doubt not but in the future, as in the past, storms will arise; the wind will howl and whistle above, and the troubled waters roll beneath us; but with a steady hand at the helm, with the Bible as our Polar Star, the Compasses as our guide, and `Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth` as our motto, we can wrestle with the contending waves and ride upon their billows. We need never cast anchor for repairs.”

Electronically Transcribed without corrections to grammar or spelling,
by W∴B∴ Aaron E. Saathoff, January, 2005.