The other night I was randomly walking by St. Mark’s church on 2nd Avenue and Stuyvesant Street after our normal Tuesday meeting at McSorley’s Old Ale House. I noticed that the park was still open and I was aware that Peter Stuyvesant was buried there. Peter Stuyvesant was a Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam and a very controversial figure. So I went in to check it out.
Upon walking about the very poorly kept grave yard and the tomb of Stuyvesant, I ran across the grave of Daniel Tompkins. It said that he was the 6th Vice President of the United States. All of this piqued my curiosity. There is a Tompkins Square Park just a few short blocks away. What was it about this man that was so celebrated at one time and why was he forgotten by us now? So I went home and did a simple online search into his history.
It turns out that not only was he the 6th Vice President of the United States, he was a Freemason as well. Not only that, the first Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council for the newly established Northern Masonic Jurisdiction for the Scottish Rite in the United States.
