JAMES A. MASON

MASON

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/20/2020 at 17:00:10

JAMES A. MASON, a farmer of section 5, Nodaway township, was born May 11, 1842, in Venango county, Pennsylvania, in which county his father, William Mason, was one of the first settlers. He was a tailor by trade but resorted to farming as soon as his sons were old enough to assist[.] He was a descendant of that intelligent and sturdy race, the Scotch-Irish. Several of the ancestors of our subject served in the wars of the Revolution and 1812. James' mother's name before marriage was Juliette Webber. She was born in Center county, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Andrew Webber, of German descent. Mr. William Mason, on his first settlement in Pennsylvania, had to carry flour for his family on his back for seventy-five miles. He had six sons and six daughters, of whom eleven are still living. In 1856 he moved to Dubuque, Iowa, where he for a time engaged in lead mining. He died at the age of seventy-three years, and his surviving wife resides at Fontanelle, Adair county, Iowa. Two of his sons were in the army: Joseph A., in the Eighth Iowa Cavalry, and John S., in the Twelfth Iowa Infantry.

The subject of this sketch was reared to farm work, and in 1871 he came to Adams county, locating upon a tract of wild land. He has now a fine farm of 140 acres, well improved, a good one-and-a-half story house, twenty-eight feet square, an orchard of 500 trees, a vineyard, a plat of small fruits, fifteen stands of bees, etc. Although forty-nine years of age, Mr. Mason looks ten years younger, is an affable, jovial gentleman and highly respected. His first presidential vote he cast for Abraham Lincoln.

He was married, in Dubuque, Iowa, at the age of twenty-six years, to Miss Mary I. Elwell, who was born in 1849, the daughter of Joseph Elwell, one of the oldest settlers of this State, coming here in April, 1834. Mr. Mason was acquainted with, and often talked with him after the war. He was born in Warren county.