author
William Morgan
b. 1774
A shadowy figure in early American history, this bricklayer-turned-writer is remembered less for fame than for the explosive book he planned to publish. His disappearance in 1826 helped spark the Anti-Masonic movement in the United States.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in 1774, William Morgan was an American resident of Batavia, New York, often described as a bricklayer or stonecutter. He is linked to one main work, Illustrations of Masonry, a book that exposed Masonic rituals and was published in 1826.
Morgan became famous after he announced plans to reveal the secrets of Freemasonry. Soon afterward, he was arrested on minor charges and then disappeared under suspicious circumstances in western New York. His fate was never clearly established, and the case quickly became a national sensation.
That disappearance made Morgan a lasting figure in American political and cultural history. Public anger over the affair helped fuel the Anti-Masonic movement, one of the earliest third-party movements in the United States, giving his name an importance far beyond his single known book.