History of Freemasonry
Written By: RW Michael Neuberger, 2017 Grand Historian.

What is the History of Freemasonry? What are our origins? Does it matter? The beginnings of our ancient fraternity are shrouded in mystery. Myths abound but hard facts are few and far between.

Facts
We do know that on June 24, 1717, the Grand Lodge of England, the first Grand Lodge was formed, when four existing London Lodges met at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern in St. Paul’s Churchyard, and elected Anthony Sayer as Grand Master. Soon thereafter, The Grand Lodge of Ireland is believed to have been formed in June 1725 and The Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1736.
Elias Ashmole recorded “October 16, 1646 at 4:30pm, I was made a Freemason at Warrington in Lancaster with Colonel Henry Mainwaring. The names of those that were then at the Lodge, Mr Richard Penket Worden, Mr James Collier, Mr Richard Sankey, Henry Little, John Ellam, Richard Ellam, and Hugh Brewer.”

The oldest known minutes of a Lodge (and yes, I’m sure they were read at the next meeting) are of The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel) No 1 under the grand jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, dated July 1599.
The Halliwell Manuscript or Regius Poem, dated 1425, describes how masonry began in Ancient Egypt and was ultimately brought to England during the reign of King Athelstan in 926.

https://newjerseygrandlodge.org/history/