Sullivan-Bradford County PA Archives Biographies.....Mason, William Alvah 1818 - 1892 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 31, 2008, 9:55 pm Author: Thomas J. Ingham (1899) WILLIAM ALVAH MASON, son of Eliphalet and Roxey (Fowler) Mason, was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania, on September 29, 1818.His parents were of sturdy New England stock, the ancestral line reaching back through prominent generations to the early days of colonial occupancy. Eliphalet Mason, himself a native of Ashford, Connecticut, born on June 23, 1780, was a man far in advance of his day. Educated for the Presbyterian ministry, in early manhood he came to the new settlements of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and became a surveyor, making his residence first at Orwell (Warren), but soon at Towanda. He constructed a surveyor's compass and for many years was largely engaged in laying out lands, road, etc. He possessed a taste for science, wrote numerous articles for various journals and other publications, and was a practical worker in electricity, having quite a store of electrical machines and apparatus. In 1814 he was elected auditor of the county, the first Democrat elected to any office in the county. In 1821 he purchased a mill property and lands in Monroe, where he made his home, erected saw and grist mills, and developed the little village of Masontown, which yet retains his name. He was a Freemason for many years, standing high in the fraternity. He held numerous and important offices, fully set forth in an extended biography in Craft's History of Bradford County. He died in Towanda, on March 11, 1853, aged seventy years. He was twice married - first in 1802 to Zilpah Coburn, who died on 1803, and secondly to Roxey Fowler, on October 22, 1804, who died February 15, 1851, at the Monroeton homestead, aged sixty-five years. Of their nine children, eight attained mature life and all are now deceased. They were Zilpah, Mrs. Isaac Rogers; Roxey, Mrs. Charles Burch; Gordon F., long an attorney and prominent citizen of Bradford county; Rufus H.; Eliphalet Hastings, a leading physician and prominent man in county affairs; William A.; Lemuel A.; and Sarah, Mrs. Jacob Vealie. Judge William A. Mason, after a course of instruction at Towanda Academy, became a surveyor and civil engineer, acquiring practical skill under the tutelage of his brother Gordon. His first surveying and engineering was done in 1840 on the preliminary survey of the Barclay Railroad. From that time until his death he was largely engaged in these vocations. In 1847 he was employed in running lines and surveying in Clinton county, and the same year was one of the commissioners appointed to define and set off the new county of Sullivan. He surveyed extensively in Susquehanna, Lycoming, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Columbia, Wyoming, Bradford, Wayne, Pike, Monroe, Schuylkill, Tioga and other counties in a period embracing many years. He was especially noted for his skill in tracing old lines and ascertaining the exact original location of tracts of land. Much of his work was expert work on difficult and contested lines, and his great skill and acknowledged integrity made him a most valuable witness in litigated cases. In 1848 he made his permanent home in Laporte, the incipient county-seat of Sullivan county, where his residence was the second framed house erected, and here his widow and children now reside. In 1847 Mr. Mason surveyed the site of Laporte, and broke the first brush in the virgin forest now occupied by the county-seat. During the construction of the State Line & Sullivan Railroad Mr. Mason was its resident engineer. He was the chief engineer of the Muncy Creek Railroad, which he built from Halls to Hughesville, and when this road was reorganized as the Williamsport & North Branch Railroad, he became its chief engineer, and held the position until his death. He located the extension from Hughesville to Dome Summit (Satterfield), and under his administration the road was built from Hughesville to Nordmont. Originally a Democrat, Mr. Mason became a Republican soon after the organization of that party. He was the first postmaster of Laporte and its first justice of the peace, was county surveyor for several terms, and in 1856 was elected an associate judge of the county, which office he held five years. In 1881 he was elected county treasurer and served as such for three years. In all his official positions integrity, accuracy and promptness were his leading characteristics, and such was the purity of his life and motives that never a word was uttered in disparagement of either. His character was above reproach and his word was as good as a bond. In social and family relations Judge Mason was an exemplar of the moral and domestic virtues, an unwavering friend, a devoted husband and an affectionate parent.He had a winning personal magnetism that attracted individuals and made them friends. His nature was constructed on broad and liberal lines, his religion in early and mature life being Universalism. In later life both himself and family gave their adherence to the great truths of Spiritualism, which to them became eternal verities, not mere questions of belief subject to doubt. Judge Mason was long a Freemason, and held his membership in the chapter at Towanda. In a very wide range of acquaintance, acquired during years of active life, he was unusually popular, and when called to the higher life, on January 7, 1892, a wide circle acknowledged a personal loss. On September 23, 1841, Judge Mason was married to Mary Angeline Cheney, a daughter of Abel and Priscilla (Washburn) Cheney, who was born in Cortland, Cortland county, New York, on October 28, 1820.Her ancestry reaches back through historic New England families to prominent English and Scotch progenitors. The six children of Judge and Mrs. Mason are Ethlin M., born November 17, 1842, long a successful teacher in Sullivan county schools, and twice postmaster of Laporte; Ida A., who was born July 11, 1845, married Warren T. Watrous, and died September 26, 1891; Mary E., who was born November 22, 1847, died January 16, 1874; William E., who was born May 18, 1850, and died June 27, 1852; William Clayton, born July 11, 1853; and Gordon H., who was born June 22, 1861, died July 28, 1863. William Clayton Mason, son of Judge William A. and Mary A. (Cheney) Mason, received a common-school education, supplemented by attendance at the excellent private school of Rev. Hallock Armstrong, at Monroeton, Mansfield's Normal School and at Oberlin (Ohio) Commercial College. Under the supervision of his father he became skilled in surveying and civil engineering, in actual service in the field and in the surveys and locating of the Muncy Creek and Williamsport & North Branch Railroads, and also on the State Line & Sullivan Railroad. Later he was a transit man in the location of the Pennsylvania Midland road, now part of the Wilkesbarre & Eastern Railroad. From there he went to northern New York as a transit man on the Adirondack & St. Lawrence Railroad. Serving here with ability in a higher position than his ostensible station indicated, he returned to Sullivan county, and has since been identified with railroad work. He located and had full charge of the construction of the Eagle's Mere Narrow gauge Railroad running from Sonestown to Eaglesmere, and is still the chief engineer of the road. He then became the resident engineer of the Williamsport & North Branch Railroad during its extension to Satterfield, and in 1897 became the chief engineer of that road and now holds the position. He has been justice of the peace for fifteen years, is a Republican in politics, and has served acceptably as chairman of the Republican county committee. He was married on December 28, 1881, to Eliza S. Stormont, daughter of Scotch parents, Robert and Elizabeth (Lindsey) Stormont and a native of Canada. She died in La Porte on October 13, 1895, aged thirty-five years. Their children are Mary Irene, born December 2, 1882; William Robert, August 24, 1885; Ethlin Ione, January 9, 1889; and Marjorie Ida, August 14, 1894. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Sullivan County Pennsylvania by Thomas J. Ingham Compendium of Biography The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago: 1899 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 8.7 Kb