3 Ontario Masons: "happy to meet, sorry to part, happy to meet again".

On 19 August 2007, "Loyalist Trails" UELAC Newsletter 2007-32 announced:

Loyalist descendants elected to important Masonic positions.

Grand Lodge (for Ontario) took place in July, and two Loyalist descendants have been elected to important positions in their respective Districts and are now becoming quite busy with the duties which come with the new jobs. Congratulations to Bob McBride UE and Harry Danford UE who are now District Deputy Grand Masters.

--Peter W. Johnson. President, UELAC

On 19 July 2007, at the 152nd Annual Communication of The Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, R.W. Bro. Harry Danford was Invested as the Prince Edward District Deputy Grand Master 2007-2008 and R.W. Bro. Robert Collins McBride was Invested as the Peterborough District Deputy Grand Master 2007-2008. Each of the D.D.G.M.s in Ontario represents the Grand Master, M.W. Bro. Allan J. Petrisor, at the various Masonic functions in his respective District.

At his first Official Visit, on 3 October 2007 at Percy Lodge No. 161 in Warkworth, Ontario, R.W. Bro. McBride was very pleased to be joined by R.W. Bro. Danford and W. Bro. Peter Johnson.

R.W. Bro. Harry Danford, Prince Edward District Deputy Grand Master, is well known in the United Empire Loyalists' Association. As MPP for Hastings-Peterborough Riding in 1997, he introduced a private member's bill in parliament that designated June 14th as United Empire Loyalists' Day in Ontario. On this day, celebrations are held in front of the parliament buildings in Toronto as well as at various City Halls throughout the province. R.W. Bro. Danford directly descends from the Kemp Loyalist family.

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W. Bro. Peter Johnson is currently a member of Franck Lodge No. 127, Prince Edward District, in Frankford, Ontario, and is a Past Master of Acacia Lodge No. 430, Toronto District East. One of his Loyalist ancestors, Lieutenant William Marsh UE, was the Junior Warden of the first Masonic Lodge in Kingston, St. James' Lodge No. 14, warranted in 1781 at the petition of eight Masons five of whom were Loyalists, including W. Bro. William Marsh. The first meetings of this Lodge were held in the barracks at Kingston.

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Family tradition indicates that one of the seven Loyalists of R.W. Bro. Robert C. McBride, Adam Young UE, a member of Butler's Rangers stationed at Fort Niagara during the Revolution, was a Freemason in Lt.-Col. John Butler's Lodge at Fort Niagara in 1780.

For more information on this topic, please see "An Exploration of the Relationship Between The United Empire Loyalists And Freemasonry in Upper Canada, now Ontario" by R.W. Bro. Robert (Bob) Collins McBride UE, B.Sc., M.Ed., The Loyalist Gazette, Volume XLV, No. 2, Fall 2007, pp. 28-34.