The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 303

GEORGE W. MASON.

George W. Mason, who for many years was a respected and valued resident of
Yakima county, was born in Pennsylvania, December 25, 1837, a son of Jacob and
Amanda (Harroun) Mason. The father was also a native of the Keystone state,
.while the mother was born in Vermont in 1806. They became pioneer residents of
Minnesota and it was in that state that George W. Mason acquired a public school
education. He was reared to farm life and continued to assist his father in the
further cultivation and development of the home property until he reached the
age of about twenty-six years. He then enlisted for service in the Civil war,
becoming a member of Company B, Tenth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, with which
command he was connected from the 14th of August, 1862, until the 224 of May,
1805, being on active service throughout that entire period. Prior to 1862 he
was in active service against the Sioux Indians in Minnesota and Dakota. After
the war he engaged in farming in Minnesota for ten years and in 1875 removed to
Linn county, Oregon, devoting his attention to farming near Harrisburg for three
years. In 1879 he took up his abode in Goldendale. Washington, where he devoted
ten years to farming and carpenter work, and in 1890 he came to Yakima, where he
opened a hotel and also continued carpentering. In 1892 he bought forty acres
south of Zillah, all covered with sagebrush, and at once began the arduous task
of developing the property, which is today a well improved place. At the end of
two years he sold twenty acres of this tract. He built a good house and
substantial barns, planted a fine orchard and otherwise increased the value of
his property, which is today one of the fine ranches of the district. It was Mr.
Mason who erected the first building in Prosser, Washington, hauling the lumber
a distance of fifty miles.

In 1869 Mr. Mason was married to Miss Malinda Twitchell, who was born in Maine,
August 18, 1844, a daughter of Hiram and Maria (Dodge) Twitchell, who were also
natives of the Pine Tree state and have now passed away. To Mr. and Mrs. Mason
were born six children: Mrs. Lettie Faulkner, a resident of Bickleton,
Washington; Mrs. Clara B. Sprague, of Bickleton, Washington; Artemus, who is
engaged in ranching near Bickleton; Ralph, a sketch of whom appears on another
page of this work; Albert, who is operating the home farm; and Ethel, who became
the wife of Napoleon Dooley, a resident of Yakima, and died June 5, 1911,
leaving three children. Edwin, a son of Mrs. Mason's sister, Mrs. Effie Hackley,
was three months old when he became a member of their household and has now
reached the age of fifteen.

The death of the husband and father occurred March 17, 1916. He was most widely
and favorably known, having been for many years a representative and honored
resident of the district. While in Minnesota he served on the board of county
supervisors and as township treasurer but after coming to Washington did not
take an active part in public affairs as an office seeker. He possessed many
sterling traits of character that made him greatly beloved by all who knew him
and most of all by the members of his own household.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.