The Masonic apron and sash of Zebulon Baird Vance,
Confederate Governor of North Carolina, traveledaround the country
before finding a home inthe Greensboro Masonic Museum.

Zebulon Baird Vance was buried three times in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, North Carolina. That gave rise to the remark that this most famous Mason in North Carolina history was a traveling man in death as in life! His elusive Masonic apron (he rose to the rank of Junior Deacon of Mount Hermon Lodge No. 118 in 1858 in Asheville) has also done some traveling. Governor, Colonel, and Senator Vance wore it off and on for thirty-six years as he traveled North Carolina from Asheville to Charlotte to Washington to Statesville to Black Mountain to Brecksville to Greensboro. That doesn’t include his visits to countless lodges and nationwide speaking engagements during his career.

If you look closely at his apron, you will behold a precious, hand-painted textile artifact. You will note restrained pastel colors, painstakingly applied to this one-of-a-kind garment. In design and technique, it bears artistic resemblance to other aprons in the Masonic Museum of Greensboro, N.C., where it was recently rediscovered.

It is possible the Vance apron was part of Zeb’s estate, sold after his 1894 death along with his mule ($5), desk ($2), and rocking chair (35¢). There is no indication his brother Bob, a North Carolina Grand Master, made any offer to buy the apron and sash. So the following account is the likely story of Zeb’s apron.

James E. Marquette was a corporal in the Federal Army during the Civil War. He was one of 200 Union soldiers sent to conduct Zebulon B. Vance from his Statesville, N.C., home to Old Capital Prison in the District of Columbia as a prize prisoner. Vance had been a Confederate officer who saw action against the Union, and more importantly, he had been the wartime Governor of North Carolina. He and other Confederate governors were captured and imprisoned after the war.

The story goes that in spite of representing different sides of the dispute, Vance and Marquette became close. On his arrival at the prison, Zeb told the Yankee corporal that the only earthly possessions which he had left were his Masonic apron and sash, and a silk parasol. Vance, like most Tar Heels, was indeed penniless at the war’s end. But why did he take his Masonic apron and sash—and parasol!—to prison when he could have left them at home with his family?

The Vance Apron and Sash were recently displayed at a meeting of the Greensboro Scottish Rite bodies. Shown from left to right are Bros. Doug Wright, 32°, volunteer curator of the Greensboro Masonic Museum, Ray Hall, KCCH, member of the Museum Board of Directors, and Ill. E. John Elmore, 33°, Secretary of the Greensboro bodies.

In token of appreciation for kindnesses shown him by Marquette, Vance gave these things to his new friend. When doing so, he is said to have instructed Marquette to give the parasol to his wife. Even without hard proof of Marquette being a Mason, it seems evident that Zeb made a gift of his last and dearest Masonic possessions to a Masonic Brother.

Leon Godown, editor of The Orphan Friend & Masonic Journal of North Carolina, wrote what happened next in an article in the June 1, 1962, issue of that journal. The Vance apron and sash safely remained in Corporal Marquette’s family for almost a century. His daughter Jessie had married Frederick W. Green, an eminent Cleveland, Ohio, attorney. They placed the apron and sash on loan to the Brecksville Historical Museum in Brecksville, Ohio, where they lived.

When the Greens died, responsibility for the Vance items went to Mrs. Ernest C. Keglen, Jessie Green’s daughter. Then a call went out from Brother Earley W. Bridges, 33°, who had established the Masonic Museum and Library in Greensboro, N.C., in 1932, under authority of Greensboro Lodge No. 76. He asked Mrs. Kegley for the indefinite loan of the apron and sash for display in the new Greensboro facility. Her husband, Ernest, a Mason, wrote Bridges that his wife was agreeable to the transfer and “in no immediate hurry for its return. Whenever we feel we would like it back, you’ll hear from us.” That was many years ago, and the Kegleys apparently died in Brecksville in 1989.

The Vance apron is still housed in the Greensboro Masonic Museum, which was Earley Bridges’ passion. He traveled the nation and the world assembling thousands of artifacts, including jewelry, documents, clothing, awards, and even wooden nickels. Today it is a noble representation of the worldwide Masonic experience, and Zeb’s apron is one of its crown jewels.

Nothing on the garment identifies it as belonging to Governor Zebulon Baird Vance or as having been worn at meetings of Mount Hermon Lodge No. 118, still a thriving lodge whose records are replete with the names of many Vances and Bairds and eight Grand Masters. However, no one doubts that the apron and sash are genuinely Vance’s. Tradition keeps the story of this special apron strong and powerful in North Carolina Masonic history.

When visitors to the museum come to the displayed apron, a respectful silence settles in. It is a rare moment.