Frank S.

Land
Frank Sherman Land was born, raised and buried in Kansas City, Missouri. He led a great and interesting life, from his
days as the 10 year old "Little Minister" in his basement on Sunday evenings, to the head of an international
organization that has fostered the likes of Walt Disney, John Steinbeck and numerous other exemplary men. We as
DeMolays will not really be DeMolays without knowing who our founder was.

Dad Land came from an unlikely family. His mother, Elizabeth Sampson, married a struggling lumberyard employee,
William Land, when she was 15 and gave birth to Dad Land a year later. Elizabeth Land outlived her son and died at
the ripe old age of 93, she traced her heritage all the way back to a granddaughter of Daniel Boone who was
coincidentally a mason. Dad Land dropped out of school to support his family and in spite of all this he still grew up
to be an outstanding individual. At the wee age of 10 Dad Frank S. Land was the "Little Minister" of the Euclid Avenue
Congregational School. In his basement, he was giving little 10 minute Vesper services to a crowd of mostly children
with a few adults, the entire thing was run by boys his age, which no doubt influenced his ideas about DeMolay later,
knowing the value he received from the experience of running it. His little Sunday school even made headlines in the
local paper.
Dad Land grew up in a time of constant turmoil with economic recessions and depressions. It put stress on his father
because of the constant fluctuations at the lumberyard, and he relieved his stress at the local tavern which soon led to
a separation. Dad Land then moved in with his grandmother on his mother's side when he was 12, along with his
mother and 7 year old sister: Sissy. Dad Land enrolled in the Longfellow School. He was very timid and shy, and spent
most of the day in the youth books of the time. Dad Land wanted to be a fireman. He befriended some firemen and
got to go on rides in the engines a few times, which were drawn by horses at the time.

In 1905 Dad Land graduated from the Longfellow School and soon enrolled in Manual High School. 2 years in, his
grandmother wanted to make sure that he got a college education so she had a plan where Dad Land could be a
businessman and run a restaurant. He ran it after school and during the summer. It gave him the life experience of
how to organize. His family did the cooking and he ran everything else himself, serving and tending the customers,
accounting, advertising and other things associated with running a business. It seemed simple, but it was very long
hours and greatly tiring to Dad Land. He realized that there was no way he could run the kitchen and go to school at
the same time. He tried taking 2 classes and was still unable to fulfill the requirements.
In the spring of 1908 Dad Land went to art school and some years later became an ad illustrator for the Kansas City
Star. While in the art school he met his soon to be wife, Nell Swiezewski, whose parents moved here from Poland
shortly before she was born. They met over his canvas. The rest of the class was drawing a Navajo design and he was
drawing a heraldic shield. Dad Land was very successful with the kitchen and was able to sell it for a profit of $8,000
which was a much larger amount of money back then (considering that a car cost $300).

On his 21st birthday his grandmother wanted him to join Freemasonry because his grandfather was a mason. She
gave him the membership fee, and he soon seeked out a petition. He spoke with one of his customers who was a
mason, and he soon got a petition to join the Scottish Rite. He joined the Scottish Rite, then the York Rite, the Shrine,
Royal Arch Masons, Knights Commandery, Order of the Red Cross, Order of the Temple and Order of the Knights of
Malta. He greatly enjoyed his activities and involvement in Masonry. He excelled to high positions in nearly every
order he joined, rose to prominence among all Masonic circles, and befriended many great people.
Dad Land was very active in his Masonic activities, he become a full time administrator and secretary in a Scottish Rite
temple for the Masonic Relief and Employment Bureau of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. In September of 1913 Dad
Land married Nell Swiezewski, whom he had been courting for over 4 years. Dad Land and his new wife moved into
an apartment shortly after. He and Nell raised 4 kids with each other. Little did he know of the coming of World War I,
which was to change the face of an America unprepared for a war. All the countries resources went into the war and
left America dry. The brothers, husbands and sons of America were sent to a far off place; many not to be seen again.

Dad Land wanted to reach out to those young boys who had lost their fathers and brothers in the war and was
growing interested in the Big Brother program, which didn't strike him as what he believed was best for boys. He said
that what was best for boys is association with other boys. One day in January of 1919 Dad Land got a call about a
fellow mason who had died and he left behind a son, Louis Lower, who had no father and Sam Freet, the man who
called, was wondering if Dad Land could get him a job and act as a mentor to him and Dad Land happily agreed. He
met and spoke with Louis Lower and was very impressed by the quality of his character. Dad Land soon asked Louis
Lower to invite some friends over, one thing led to another and they were trying to think up a name for their club in a
Scottish Rite Temple soon to become DeMolay. If it wasn't for Dad Land's willingness to help this boy he never met,
DeMolay would not be here today.
Louis Lower was the first DeMolay along with 8 other boys. It started out as a baseball team, that's why there are 9
essential positions needed for running a meeting. There were 9 original members. Those 9 members and the first
advisor, Dad Land, are represented as the jewels that the shield of our order bears, which Dad Land designed. He
soon called up Frank Marshall to write a ritual. He gave a detailed description of what he wanted. Marshall said "no,"
then called Dad Land later that night, and said he couldn't sleep. He had to write it and he did that night.

Out of Dad Land's efforts on March 18, 1919, DeMolay was officially founded by Dad Land at the age of 28, in
commemoration of the day Jacques de Molay died in 1314. Dad Land believed that the members should run the
organization. Dad Land always sat in the far west corner of the lodge room and only spoke once in a DeMolay
meeting during his decades as an advisor. The only time he spoke was during a motion to limit membership. He
pointed out how selfish they were and that they should share this organization with others. They definitely shared. As
DeMolay grew so did Dad Land's commitment, he became fully involved in his once little club which was sweeping
across the nation by the thousands. 5 years after DeMolay started there were 1,171 active chapters with 114,798
members. Dad Land was commited to DeMolay until the end of his days. Dad Land called to his wife one night feeling
nausaeous after 3 months of sickness and on November 8, 1959 spoke his final words "It is the beginning."
DeMolays throughout the world commemorate this day. All chevaliers are to meet with at least one other chevalier, or
a young man of DeMolay age on that day, and all DeMolay chapters have a Dad Land Day, where we celebrate our
founder's life in some way