 The theme of a young woman hiding in a lodge room had become a standard formula for this type of report, which was uncritically echoed and embellished as it spread from newspaper to newspaper.Anderson herself denied that it was possible for a woman to be made a mason, but remained non-committal or downright enigmatic when questioned as to the origin of her extensive knowledge of Freemasonry.Born in Alsace in 1818, she was raised in Paris after her parents died by her uncle, a "prominent mason".