William Mason by W. D. Ritter

A respected Greene county citizen and business man, who was financially ruined in the building of the Bloomfield, Bedford & Switz City Railway, was he whose biography follows.

William Mason was born in Guilford county, North Carolina, August 11, 1912, and died November 29, 1894. He came to Greene county, Indiana, with his father’s family November 16, 1821, with whom he lived to manhood very near the place where he died, this being the year Greene county was organized. He had a scholarly inclination; was clerk of JOHN INMAN and school teacher in his early majority. The history of the county for 1842 says this of him, in regard to his first appointment as treasurer: "They selected a young man who had acquired a fair education and gave evident indication of good business qualifications. This young man was WILLIAM MASON, who accepted the appointment and was afterwards re-elected several times and made one of the most efficient officers we ever had."

In 1842 he was married to MARY RITTER, who died in 1843. Shortly after this he became part owner and clerk of the steamboat "Richland", the other owners being ANDREW DOWNING, and Captain M. H. SHYRER. For ANDREW DOWNING, Mr. Mason did business in the "flatboating" way to New Orleans a good many years.

In partnership with his brother Henry, and with JOHN B. STROPES, other trips were made on the Mississippi. In all business relations – the finances of the steamboat and flatboats, his seven years as treasurer of the county – the more he was tried the more it was seen that he was eminently capable, honest and efficient. In the forties he was married to MALINDA SHAW, who bore him three sons – JOHN C., HENRY and EDWARD. She died in 1864. Within these years he had become an extensive landowner and stock raiser, especially of fine cattle. In the building of the narrow-gauge railway he was so important a factor that it could hardly have been built without him. In this enterprise his large property was last. Since that time he has lived with his son JOHN C. MASON, in Illinois and Indiana, and also with his brother Henry, just across Richland creek in Taylor township this county.

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Biographical Memoirs of Greene County, Ind. With Reminiscences of Pioneer Days, Illustrated (1908, B. F. Bowen & Co. Indianapolis, Indiana) Vol.1 Pg. 107-8