Albert Mackey

Albert Gallatin Mackey (1807-1881) was born in Charleston, South Carolina, son of John Mackey, a doctor, journalist, and educator. After completing his primary studies, Albert Mackey taught at school for some time to earn money and be able to study medicine, graduating from the University of South Carolina in 1832. In 1838, he was appointed professor of anatomy at that institution, but in 1844 he left the practice of medicine. For the rest of his life, he wrote on various subjects, specializing in the study of several languages, the Middle Ages, and Freemasonry. After working with various Charleston magazines, in 1849 he founded the weekly magazine The Southern and Western Masonic Miscellany, which he maintained almost entirely by himself for three years. From 1858 to 1860, he directed a quarterly publication on the same interests. Subsequently, he dedicated himself exclusively to the research of symbolism and Kabbalistic and Talmudic traditions. For years he worked as a lecturer and was Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of South Carolina, as well as General Secretary of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States. He was a delegate and president of the South Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1868. He ran for the United States Senate in South Carolina in 1868, but was defeated by the Republican Frederick A. Sawyer. Mackey moved to Washington, D.C. in 1870. He died at Fortress Monroe, Virginia in 1881.

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