When this Lodge moved to New York shortly after it was chartered, the Brethren obtained from Dr. Peter Middleton, Grand Master of the Province of New York, permission to meet on April 23, 1776. In that same month he granted them a new Warrant under the name of Military Union Lodge No. 1. The Brethren, however, referred to the Lodge as American Union Lodge.
On June 28, 1790, Brother Jonathan Heart and a number of Marietta Masons opened American Union Lodge in that community, and thus it was that Freemasonry formally appeared in what is now Ohio.
A few years later the Charter of American Union Lodge was destroyed by fire. The Brethren applied to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for a Charter but were refused. They then asked Massachusetts to renew their Warrant and were granted permission to work under their old Charter until such time as a Grand Lodge was formed having jurisdiction over the territory in which they were located.
On January 4, 1808, American Union Lodge No. 1 met with representatives of Cincinnati Lodge No. 13, Erie Lodge No. 47, Scioto Lodge No. 2, and Amity Lodge No. 105 to establish a Grand Lodge of Ohio. After four days they adopted a resolution to form such a Grand Lodge, electing Brother Rufus Putman as Grand Master, and setting the first Monday in January, 1809 (January 2), as the date for the first Communication, which was to be in Chillicothe, Ohio, the state capital.
When they convened on this date, American Union Lodge was not represented. Since it seemed advisable, or at least desirable, to the other representatives to have delegates present from all Lodges which participated in the formation of the Grand Lodge the preceding year, they waited for three days for the arrival of a representative from American Union Lodge. Finally, deciding that none was coming, on January 5, 1809, they adopted the same Constitution as that of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, and installed their officers.
Brother Rufus Putman having declined because of age and ill health to accept the position of Grand Master, they elected Brother Samuel Huntington, governor of Ohio, Grand Master of Masons for 1809. Thus, it was that The Grand Lodge of F. & A. M. of Ohio came into being.
Note: You can read the biography of Wor. Bro. Allen E. Roberts, the Author of many books on Freemasonry including “Frontier Cornerstone,” the History of the Grand Lodge of Ohio.
Two other books you may find of interest are “Freemasons for Dummies” by Christopher Hodapp and “Born In Blood” by John J. Robinson