Albert Gallatin Mackey

Albert Gallatin Mackey (1807–1881) was an American physician and the leading Masonic writer of the nineteenth century. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he practiced medicine there until 1854 and then devoted himself to Freemasonry, holding high offices in the Grand Lodge of South Carolina and the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite. His Lexicon of Freemasonry (1845), The Symbolism of Freemasonry (1869) and the Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (1874) became standard references for Masons across the English-speaking world, and he edited several Masonic periodicals. After the Civil War he served as collector of the port of Charleston and moved later to Washington, where he died.