Hiram A. Mason Biography


	This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated
 	compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography,
	including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and 
	representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & 
	Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 1057-1058

	Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. 

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HIRAM A. MASON, proprietor of one of the largest general merchandise 
stores in South Dakota, is one of the substantial men of Bowdle, 
Edmunds county. He was born in Pulaski, New York, in 1851. 

Our subject's paternal ancestors came to America in the "Mayflower," 
and on the mother's side they were of Holland Dutch descent. His great-
grandfather Bowmen settled in the Mohawk valley, and the grandfather of 
our subject was a foundryman in New York. The father of our subject, 
Hiram Mason, was a native of New York, and engaged in the weaving 
business, and later kept a hotel in that state, where his death 
occurred in 1853. 

Until eleven years of age our subject remained in his native state, and 
the family moved to Illinois in 1862, and settled in Batavia, King 
county, where our subject's stepfather, Jacob Weaver, engaged in 
farming. At the age of sixteen Mr. Mason left home, and for one year 
sold goods in northern Illinois. He entered a hardware store at 
Reedsburg, Wisconsin, in 1868, and learned the tinner's trade, after 
which he worked at his trade in Chicago, Lake Forest, Illinois, and 
Rochester, Minnesota, and then worked four years in a general store in 
Wabasha, then went to Zumbrota, where he and his brother, B. F. Mason, 
established a hardware business, under the firm name of Mason Brothers, 
in 1879, and five years later went to Le Beau, Walworth county, South 
Dakota, where he and his brother established a hardware store in 1883, 
and they also established a branch store at Pierre, South Dakota, which 
they sold out after nine months. Our subject purchased his brother's 
interests in 1884 and conducted the store in Le Beau three years. He 
moved the stock to Bowdle, South Dakota, in 1887, and established his 
business at the present location. He dealt in hardware exclusively at 
first, but has gradually added other lines, and now carries a complete 
stock of general merchandise, and his building, which is two stories in 
height, covers two lots, and is the largest store of its kind in the 
state. The town hall of Bowdle is owned by a stock company, and our 
subject is president and manager of the board of directors of the same. 

Mr. Mason was married, in 1880, to Sarah J. Darknell, a native of 
Watertown, Wisconsin. Mrs. Mason's parents were born in England and her 
father, Samuel Darknell, was a farmer near Zumbrota. Her mother came to 
America when a young girl. Mrs. Mason taught school when but fourteen 
years of age. She died in 1889, leaving one child, Bert, now eighteen 
years of age, who is employed in a wholesale furniture supply store in 
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Mason has since remarried. He is a man who 
is always interested in the welfare of his community, and has held 
office almost continuously since taking up his residence in Dakota. He 
was one of the first justices elected in Walworth county, and took part 
in the organization of the county and served two years as county 
commissioner. He is now president of the town board of Bowdle. 
Politically he is a Republican, and is at present on the state central 
committee, and is generally an attendant at county and state 
conventions. He holds membership in the Masonic fraternity.