HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes, Lewis
Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, 
Vol. III, pp. 1300-02-03.  [Montgomery County]

JOHN HENRY MASON is a man held in high respect and consideration in this
part of Kentucky, the worthy son of a father whose name stood for
citizenship of the highest character.  At present one of the foremost
agriculturists and cattle raisers of Montgomery county, he has in the past
been identified with many important enterprises, among these being the
founding of that well-known sheet, the Mt. Sterling Advocate.  Mr. Mason
was born in the county which still claims his residence, the date of his
nativity having been September 2, 1843.  He was the son of Captain John
Mason, whose career will be briefly sketched in ensuing paragraphs, and
his wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Henry.
     Mr. Mason's father was summoned to the life eternal when he was a lad
but twelve years of age and he was reared by his guardian, William Scott.
He received his education in the private school of I. W. Fox, and his
youth, like that of the other young men of the day, was marred by the
bitter strife and dissension which preceded the Civil war, when about
every fireside in the land, in the conversation of friends and neighbors,
and deeper still, in the secret of millions of human hearts, the battle
of opinion was waging.  When the first guns were fired at Fort Sumter Mr.
Mason twice tried to enlist, and failing, returned home.
     He was married very early, before he became eighteen years of age,
Margaret C. Nelson becoming his bride on March 13, 1862.  Mrs. Mason was
born at Grassy Lick and is the daughter of William and Ann (Smith) Nelson.
     Compared to the usual young couple Mr. and Mrs. Mason were very well
equipped when they cast their barque upon the seas of matrimony, having
about three thousand dollars in capital, and before Mr. Mason had reached
his twentieth year he also owned about two hundred acres of land.  Their
home place was that of Mrs. Mason's father and she had twenty-five acres
in her own right.  There the subject began his agricultural endeavors and
by the exercise of hard work and thrift he came to own seven hundred
acres of fine land.
     In 1885 Mr. Mason removed to Louisville to educate his children, but
found the step to have been inexpedient in some respects, for he was too
far away from his farm to be able to give it sufficient oversight.
Consequently in 1886 he brought his goods and chattels to Mt. Sterling,
where for two years he dealt in tobacco. It was in 1890 that he and Dr.
C.W. Harris organized and founded the Mt. Sterling Advocate, which was
speedily recognized as a live and progressive publication, and they
successfully presided over its destinies until the year 1893, when they
sold it.
     Some one had defined success as accepting the worst that fate can deal
and winning courage from it and not despair, and by this test Mr. Mason has
been the most successful of men.  His career had previously been plain
sailing, but now through a disastrous investment in mining stock he lost at
one time fifteen thousand dollars, having sold his farm in the meantime.
The hard times of 1893 he had sufficiently recovered from his losses to
purchase two hundred and seventy-five acres of his old farm, and upon that
tract he and his family took up their residence.  This he has improved to
the highest point and it is considered to be one of the best kept and
cleanest farms in the county.  For some years before he left his farm Mr.
Mason was engaged in the Short Horn cattle business, and his particular
pride at the present is his corn, which has taken several premiums.  He
engages for the most part in general farming.
     Mr. and Mrs. Mason have given twelve good citizens to the United
States, two of them being deceased.  The following is an enumeration:
Nelson, a citizen of Bourbon county; Dr. C. L., who is deceased: James
F., who lives in DeSoto, Kansas; Anna, wife of J. C. Ramsey, a resident of
Winchester, Kentucky; Elizabeth, wife of W. H. Ramsey, of Montgomery
county, Kentucky; Robert A., of Grassy Lick, Kentucky; Fannie J., deceased,
Talitha Cuma, wife of C. D. Powell, of Florida; Mary P., wife of Oliver
Howell, of Mt. Sterling, Kentucky; Luther, of Montgomery county; Allie F.,
wife of Herbert Coppage, of Chicago, Illinois; and W. A., of Montgomery
county.  Mr. and Mrs. Mason are members of the Grassy Lick Methodist
Episcopal church, South, and are generous supporters of its many good
causes.  He is part and parcel of the so-called "Solid South," having ever
given allegiance to the Democratic party.
     Captain John Mason, father of John Henry Mason, was a native of
Virginia, having been born in Spottsylvania [sic] county, Virginia,
February 29, 1776, shortly after the shot was fired "which echoed round
the world."  His parents were John and Anna Shirley, the father being a
Revolutionary soldier, who at the close of the war emigrated to Kentucky,
probably setting stake in the Blue Grass state about the year 1785.  With
his family this pioneer settled in Fayette county, but the son who was also
his namesake settled in Montgomery county when young and there followed
building and contracting.  By the exercise of infinite energy, thrift and
industry he accumulated money enough to purchase a farm two miles northwest
of Mt. Sterling, and upon this homestead he kept "bachelor's hall" for many
years and dispensed a most generous hospitality.  He was a man of business
acumen and far sighted in his farming, and he was convinced of the
advisability of keeping the best breed of horses, cattle, sheep and jacks.
It was one of his keenest interests and at one time he paid the
unprecedented price of five hundred dollars for an imported Merino ram,
while it was likewise his distinction to introduce the breeding and rearing
of jack and jennet stock in Montgomery county.
     He was a loyal patriotic American, of the sort the nation likes to
call typical, and his patriotism was by no means of the merely rhetorical
order.  In 1813, at the time of the war with Great Britain, he raised a
volunteer company of which he was made lieutenant.  He accumulated property
and at one time was the owner of more horses and lots in Mt. Sterling than
any other one man, and many of these at his death passed as a heritage to
his children.
     In 1824, through the failure of Colonel Thomas Dye Owings, to whom he
was largely bound as surety, he became involved in financial troubles from
which his sound practical sense and unconquerable will rescued him without
serious loss.  Colonel Owings' failure was for sixty thousand dollars.
     The distinguishing traits of Captain Mason's character were his
indomitable courage, his love of truth, his freedom from guile and his
devotion to his friends--truly an equipment difficult to surpass in
nobility.  If his friends had faults Captain Mason was the last to see
them and he never deserted them in their hour of need, and although he
may have been implacable toward his enemies, he was never unjust to them.
Politically he was a Democrat of the straightest type, a state's rights
man of the Jeffersonian school.  His stability and worth were recognized
and he was elected and served Montgomery county in the lower branch of
the legislature.  Many years before his death this estimable gentleman
joined the Christian church, and he died a consistent member of its
communion on August 25, 1855.
     Captain Mason married late in life, the noble woman who became his
wife and the mother of his children being Elizabeth, the daughter of
Captain John and Rebecca Henry.  The marriage of Captain and Mrs. Henry was
celebrated September 22, 1836, and six children were born to them. Anna
became the wife of James W. Cluke, of Caldwell county, Kentucky, and
survives him.  Emily married J. D. Hazelrigg and lives in Mt. Sterling.
Elizabeth, widow of H. G. Hurt, resides in Montgomery county.  John H. was
the fourth in order of birth.  Andrew J. died in 1854.  James W. resides in
Montgomery county.  Mrs. Mason married again, her second husband being
William M. Patton and the date of their union May 14, 1857.  To this union
was born one son, now deceased.
     Captain Mason received his education in the old Transylvania College
at Lexington, from which famous institution he was graduated.  He was a
contractor at one time, working in Frankfort, Kentucky. In addition to his
service in the war of 1812 he also served in the Mexican war, as a member
of the Twenty-eighth Kentucky Regiment, and he later served as captain
under Andrew Jackson.

Mason Henry Nelson Smith Ramsey Powell Howell Coppage Cluke Owings
Hazelrigg Hurt Patton Scott
=
Louisville-Jefferson-KY Bourbon-KY Winchester-Clark-KY Caldwell-KY
Fayette-KY FL IL VA KS

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/montgomery/mason.jh.txt