The Emperor Norton Trust

TO HONOR THE LIFE + ADVANCE THE LEGACY OF JOSHUA ABRAHAM NORTON

RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY

Filtering by Tag: Thomas Starr King

Joshua Norton Posthumously Reinstated as a Mason After 166 Years

On 21 August 1854, Joshua Norton was inducted as a member of Occidental Lodge No. 22 of Free and Accepted Masons.

Sometime between May 1858 and May 1859, Joshua was "suspended for non-payment of dues" from Occidental 22. 

Sometime in the early to mid twentieth century, Occidental 22 sought to merge with the San Francisco-based California Lodge No. 1 of F. & A.M. — the oldest Masonic lodge in California — after which Occidental 22 ceased to exist as a separate lodge.

In June 2024, The Emperor Norton Trust suggested to California 1 that it explore the possibility of posthumously reinstating Joshua Norton and forgiving his unpaid dues. 

A year later, on 3 June 2025, California 1 did just that. 

Of course, there were a few more twists and turns.

This is the story of a homecoming.

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The Emperor Norton National Fame Accelerator of 1875

Although national awareness of Emperor Norton did increase during the 20-year period of his reign — especially after 1870 — it remains the case the virtually all of the press mentions of the Emperor between his self-declaration in September 1859 and his death in January 1880 are from newspapers in California and Nevada.

It appears that fewer than 100 mentions of Emperor Norton during this 20-year period were published in papers outside these two states.

But, within this “national” group of papers outside California and Nevada…

Some 20–25% of the newspaper coverage of the Emperor can be attributed to reprints of an excerpt from a single article in 1875.

The article — written by a New York transplant and veteran editorial staffer of the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin who had arrived in San Francisco 10 years earlier — was published by New York-based Scribner’s Monthly.

The excerpt reached readers in 10 states.

Details and documentation inside.



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