Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Mason, Truman A 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 7, 2007, 9:26 pm

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

TRUMAN A. MASON. The value in any community of a citizen is not marked merely 
by the success that has attended his efforts in business, but also by his 
character in private life, his progressive spirit as a citizen, and the 
interest he maintains in measures affecting the public welfare. Judged by 
these standards, Mr. Mason may be classed among the most valued citizens of 
Joliet. While various enterprises have felt the impetus of his aid, he is most 
widely known as president of the Joliet National Bank, which he organized 
March 2, 1891, and of which he has since been the head. This institution has 
enjoyed a remarkable growth. Within eight years after its organization its 
deposits had reached $750,000, and it ranks among the first in the state in 
the extent of its transactions and in reliability. The co-laborers of the 
president have remained unchanged from the first, and are as follows: R. T. 
Kelly, cashier; H. O. Williams, teller; and Charles G. Pierce, bookkeeper; nor 
has the board of directors been altered in any appreciable degree. 

Tracing the history of the Mason family, we find that the grandfather of our 
subject, Arnold Mason, was born in Cheshire, Mass., September 10, 1777, and 
died March 9, 1862. His marriage, December 29, 1796, united him with Mercy 
Coman, who was born October 20, 1776, and died November 9, 1850.  Her father, 
Daniel Coman, a native of Swansea, R. I., was a captain in the Revolutionary 
war, and married Hannah Angell, whose birth occurred in Barrington, R. I., 
December 14, 1750.  This entire Rhode Island colony came from Suffolk, 
England, and settled in Swansea and Rehoboth.  Hannah Angell was a daughter of 
Nedabiah Angell, who was born April 29, 1712, and died April 19,  1786; her 
mother, Mary Winsor, was born September 2, 1718, and died June 9, 1758.  
Nedabiah's father, Daniel Angell, was born May 2, 1680, and died June 16, 
1750; he married Hannah Winsor.  He was a son of John Angell, born in Rhode 
Island in 1643, and died July 27, 1720; he married Ruth Field, a daughter of 
William Field.

The first member of the Angell family in America was John's father, Thomas 
Angell, who was born in Suffolk County, England, in 1618, and died in 
September, 1694.  He came to America with Roger Williams in the ship "Lion," 
Capt. A. Pearce, in 1631.  His wife, Alice, died in Rhode Island in January, 
1695.  Mary Winsor, wife of Nedabiah Angell, was also his cousin, he being a 
son of Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Mercy (Williams) Winsor, the latter a 
daughter of the illustrious Roger Williams by his marriage to Mary Wanton.
 
After his marriage Arnold Mason removed to New Hartford, N. Y., where he was a 
large farmer and also for many years proprietor of Mason's inn, the old "half-
way" house on the Albany turnpike.  He was one of the contractors for the 
Harlem high bridge in New York City and for a majority of the high rocky cuts 
out of Jersey City and Bergen, N. J.; also had contracts on the Erie canal, 
being one of the largest contractors of his day.  During the war of 1812 he 
served as a captain and took part in the battle of Sackett's Harbor. When he 
settled in New Hartford he had only $100, but by his own energy and the aid of 
his wife he became very successful.  In religion he was an ardent Baptist.

Levi, father of Arnold Mason, was born in Swansea, R. I., October 15, 1752, 
and was accidentally killed August 20, 1844.  His wife, Amy Gilson, who was 
born June 30, 1751, died six days after her husband, her death being the 
result of grief over his loss.  He and six of his brothers were in the 
thickest of the fight at Bennington during the Revolutionary war.  For some 
years he lived in Cheshire, Mass., but his last days were spent with his son, 
Arnold, in New Hartford, N. Y.  His father, Nathan, was born May 10, 1705, and 
died in 1758; August 26, 1731, he married Lillis Hale, daughter of John and 
Hannah (Tillinghast) Hale.  It was Nathan Mason who established the family in 
Cheshire, Mass., removing there from Swansea.  He was a son of Isaac Mason, 
born July 15, 1667, and died January 25, 1742, who was a deacon in the Second 
Baptist Church in Swansea from its organization in 1693 until his death.  
Isaac was a son of Sampson Mason, who emigrated from Suffolk, England, and 
settled in Dorsetshire, Mass., in 1649, thence in 1657 removed to Rehoboth, R. 
I.  From all the best authorities the statement is made that he was a dragoon 
in Cromwell's army.  He married Mary Butterworth, a sister of Deacon John 
Butterworth, at whose home in Swansea the Baptist congregation of the town was 
organized in 1663.

The record of the son of Arnold and father of Truman A. Mason appears on 
another page of this volume.  Daniel C. Mason had two children: Mrs. Cornelia 
Sherwood and Truman A. Mason. The latter was born in New Hartford, N. Y., 
March 14, 1846, and was reared in Utica, attending public schools and 
Whitestown Academy. At nineteen years of age he rented his father's farm and 
for a year carried on a stock business. In the spring of 1866 he came to 
Illinois, thence went to Missouri, and returning to Chicago, became assistant 
pilot on the Chicago & Alton Railroad.  After eight months he accepted a 
position with a wholesale house in Utica, where he remained for six months as 
an employe.  He then became a member of the firm of Rawley Bros. & Co., which 
continued in business for some years.  In the fall of 1869 he sold out and 
settled in Joliet, where, in the spring of 1870, he engaged in the lumber 
business with H. W. and F. B. Plant, as Mason & Plant, this firm continuing to 
operate a planing mill and lumber yard until 1880, when the partnership was 
dissolved.  In 1880 he opened a wholesale and retail lumber yard on the 
Michigan Central Railroad, shipping lumber from the Michigan pine woods in 
large quantities; he was the first lumberman in Joliet who shipped exclusively 
by rail, which he found to be more rapid and satisfactory than by canal.  His 
health becoming impaired by the pressure of business, he deemed it advisable 
to sell out, which he did in 1887, and afterward recuperated until his 
strength was regained.

As a Republican Mr. Mason is interested in politics.  He served for one term 
each as alderman from the third ward and assistant supervisor. He is a member 
of the township board of education and one of the city school inspectors, 
being chairman of the committee on buildings, which work takes much of his 
time.  He is vice president of the State Bankers' Association and one of its 
leading members.  Socially he is connected with the Union Club.  In Masonry he 
is a member of Matteson Lodge No. 175, A. F. & A. M.; Joliet Chapter No. 27, 
R. A. M.; and Joliet Commandery No. 4, K. T.  His marriage, which took place 
in Joliet, united him with Anna E., daughter of W. P. Caton, who settled in 
Chicago during the '30s.  They are the parents of three children: Cornelia 
Louise, who graduated from Houghton Seminary in Clinton, N. Y., and is now the 
wife of John H. Garnsey, of Joliet; William C., of Mankato, Minn., who is a 
civil engineer with the Northwestern Railroad; and Elizabeth C.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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