Butte County
Biographies
SAMUEL T. MASON
S. T. MASON.—The
popular postmaster of Durham, Butte County, and also the proprietor of the
largest general merchandise store in that thriving little city,
S. T. Mason is prominent in both the business and social life of the
community and a factor for progress in the affairs of the county. A native of
Louisiana, he was born, May 23, 1880, in the town of Mason, named for
his father, J. F. Mason, a pioneer of that state and a most highly
respected man whose integrity and character well justified the imprint of his
name upon that community. Here he and his worthy wife, Mary D. (Duff)
Mason, reared a family of nine children, three boys and six girls, to honorable
manhood and womanhood, most of whom still reside in their native state;
S. T., the third eldest, being the only one of the family in California.
The father, now deceased, was a cotton-planter, owning a two-thousand-acre
plantation, which is still in the form of an undivided estate, at present
operated by two of the sons, and is the home of the mother and the Mason family.
Always an active and progressive spirit,
S. T. Mason, while a boy, made himself
useful on his father’s great plantation, learning every step of the
cotton-raising industry from the plowing and planting to the ginning and
marketing. He received his schooling in the public schools of the vicinity and
later took a commercial course in Lexington Business College at Lexington, Ky.
His marriage, which occurred in 1903, united him with Miss Mary E. Wheat, also
a native of Louisiana and, like himself, of a distinguished Southern family,
her father being Captain Wheat, of Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, and her
mother, Elizabeth (Welsh) Wheat, a daughter of former Judge Welsh of Baton
Rouge, that state.
After a short business experience in New
York City, Mr. and Mrs. Mason came to California, arriving in San Francisco in
1910, where Mr. Mason engaged as salesman for Corchran
and Valentine, manufacturers of ink, brushes, etc. In 1911 the young couple
came to Durham, and after a clerkship of six months, and a careful survey of
the locality, Mr. Mason bought out the pioneer merchant of the town,
E. A. Epperson, in the spring of 1913. The following spring
Mr. Mason was appointed postmaster at Durham, and has since served the
public most capably, both as a merchant and in his official capacity;
Miss Saxton, as deputy postmaster, is his assistant in the office, and in
the store he has the valuable assistance of his wife, Mrs. Mason having
charge of the dry-goods department, and her taste and ability as a buyer are no
small factor in the success of the establishment. Durham is the center of one
of the greatest grain, fruit, and almond sections of Butte County, and despite
the fact that it is but eight miles south of Chico, and the close competitor of
the larger city, with direct communication both by steam and electric railway
and with the highway open for auto travel, Mr. and Mrs. Mason have a
successful and growing business. They carry an up-to-date stock with all of the
necessaries and some of the luxuries for the rapidly advancing community. As an
example of the district’s prosperity, during six weeks of the fall of 1917, the
several large warehouses at Durham took in grain at the rate of $30,000 worth
per day.
Despite their many business
responsibilities, Mr. and Mrs. Mason have found time to devote to the social
life of the town. Mr. Mason is a member of Durham Lodge, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, and has passed through the chairs of the local lodge. He is a
member and past officer of the Encampment, and belongs to the Canton.
Mrs. Mason is a member of the Rebekahs, as is
also Mr. Mason. Democratic in political belief, they both stand firmly for the
present administration and its aims and ideals.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
13 October 2009.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1251-1252, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's
Butte County Biographies