28 July of each year is Founder’s Day for St. Andrew’s Lodge, marking the anniversary of the death on 28 July 1872 of our first Worshipful Master, Joseph Cornick.

Joseph was born in Canterbury, Kent, England in 1788 and joined the British Army in 1804 at the age of sixteen, enlisting in the 13th Regiment of Foot (later the Somerset Light Infantry). In 1813, the regiment was posted to Lower Canada where it was involved in operations at Lake Champlain and along the Richelieu River, including the Battle of LaColle Mills, where a company of the regiment staved off an American invasion.  After the war, the regiment was posted on garrison duty in the Channel Islands and in 1818, Joseph’s first son, Samuel was born on the island of Jersey. We do not know but may speculate that Joseph became a Mason through one of the Regimental Lodges in the British Army.  Irish Constitution Lodges No. 637 and 661 operated in his regiment while he was serving.

Joseph was discharged from the army in 1820 and we meet him again in 1844 where he is shown as a trustee of the York Methodist Church. The next year, when St. John’s Lodge No. 35 held its first investiture in York before its later move to Cayuga, Joseph Cornick was its first Master.

Joseph moved to Caledonia in 1854 where he established a grocer’s shop and then was involved in a stable and and leather business with his son, making saddles, harnesses and shoes.

The next year, he was one of the charter members of St. Andrew’s No. 62 and its first Master.

Joseph died in Dunnville in 1872 and was buried in the Anglican Church cemetery of St. John’s in York where he lies next to his wife Hannah. The York Cemetery can be accessed from Nelles Street East and Shannon Street in York.

Our Lodge Hall backs onto the churchyard of St. Paul’s Anglican Church and with some searching, one will find a marker for Jane (Lawrence) Cornick, died 1851, who was Joseph’s daughter-in-law.