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No special access restriction applies.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], John W. Mason (1842-1917) Papers, A&M 1888, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

John W. Mason (1842-1917) was a prominent lawyer and Republican party member in the northern part of West Virginia from the early 1870s until his death. He had been a soldier in the Union army and after the war attended Monongalia Academy. He read law under Judge Marshall Hagans of Morgantown and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He practiced law in Grafton from 1867 to 1889. During this time he was made Chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee and served four years until 1876. He ran for the House of Representatives in 1882 and was defeated by William L. Wilson by ten votes. He tried for Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia six years after but lost. The highlight of his life was his appointment as Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service by President Benjamin Harrison. At the end of his term of office, he returned to West Virginia and moved to Fairmont. He continued to practice law until he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court of Monongalia, Harrison, and Marion Counties in 1900. After he left Washington, he repeatedly attempted to secure another appointment in Washington but was unsuccessful. He retired from the bench in 1912 and was appointed Chairman of the West Virginia Debt Commission the following year. He served until the fall of 1915 when he was appointed to a vacant seat in the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia. He stepped down in January of 1917 and died later that spring.

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, legal papers, photographs, and printed materials of John W. Mason (1842-1917). Mason was a circuit court and state Supreme Court judge, member of the Virginia State Debt Commission, and commissioner of Internal Revenue. The general correspondence contains personal and business letters, as well as manuscript speeches, notebooks, and reports. The period while Mason was circuit judge is particularly sparse. Also includes Internal Revenue correspondence consisting of about 8,500 pages in letter press copy books. Roughly half of the collection is devoted to his legal papers and printed materials concerning law in general.

Subjects include early development of the Republican Party in West Virginia; political campaigns in West Virginia from 1870 to 1916; Monongalia Academy; industrial development in West Virginia; Internal Revenue Service (1889-1893); the Virginia Debt question; early banking development in Grafton; and the development of coal companies, particularly around Fairmont.

Correspondents include George W. Atkinson; James G. Blaine; Arthur I. Boreman; A.W. Campbell; W.E. Chandler; William M.O. Dawson; A.G. Dayton; Marmaduke H. Dent; Stephen B. Elkins; D.D. Farnsworth; W.E. Glasscock; Nathan Goff, Jr.; J.M. Hagans; Benjamin Harrison; H.D. Hatfield; J.J. Jacob; J.C. McGrew; William McKinley; J.M. Mason; Francis H. Pierpont; Nathan B. Scott; W.E. Stevenson; G.C. Sturgiss; and A.B. White.

For item level description, see control folder.

Series include:

Series 1. Personal Papers; 1831-1928, undated; 11 boxes. This series includes general correspondence (letters, manuscript speeches, diaries, and extensively annotated printed materials), newspapers, school records from Mason's early life, photographs, printed material, and papers of Robert C. Mason and John W. Mason, Jr.

Series 2. Internal Revenue Service Papers; 1889-1893; 5 boxes. This series consists of 18 volumes of letter press copy books (roughly 8500 pages). Unbound letters relating to the IRS will be found in Series 1, boxes 1-6, General Correspondence.

Series 3. Business Papers; 1854-1917, undated; 13 boxes. This series includes legal papers, material relating to the Virginia-West Virginia debt controversy, financial papers, minute books of coal companies, and other printed material.

Series 4. Oversize; 1884, 1915; 1 folder. This series includes a certificate of incorporation of the Grafton, Buckhannon, and Charleston Railroad Company (1884); and John W. Mason's certificate of membership to the Virginia State Debt Commission (1915).

Related Material

37, 1888, 3820

Separated Material

Issue of West Virginia Citizen separated to A&M 3890.

Instrument for measuring alcoholic content of beverages removed to memorabilia collection.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Academies
• Atkinson, Geo. W. (George Wesley), 1845-1925
• Banks and banking
• Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893
• Boreman, Arthur Inghram, 1823-1896
• Campbell, Archibald W., 1833-1899.
• Chandler, W.E.
• Coal industry.
• Coal mines and mining
• Consolidation Coal Company
• Dawson, William M.O.
• Dayton, Alston Gordon
• Dent, Marmaduke Herbert.
• Elections
• Elkins, Stephen B. (Stephen Benton), 1841-1911
• Farnsworth, D.D.T.
• Goff, Nathan, 1843-1920
• Grafton.
• Hagans, John Marshall, 1838-1900
• Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901
• Hatfield, Henry Drury, 1875-1962
• Jacob, J.J.
• Marion County (W. Va.)
• Mason, James M.
• Mason, John W., 1842-1917
• McGrew, J.C.
• McKinley, William, 1843-1901
• Monongalia Academy (Morgantown, W. Va.)
• Morgantown (W. Va.)
• Pierpont, Francis Harrison, 1814-1899
• Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
• Schools
• Scott, Nathan Bay, 1842-1924
• Spanish-American War, 1898
• Stevenson, W. E. (William Erskine), 1820-1883
• Sturgiss, George C.
• United States. Internal Revenue Service
• Virginia - Debt Commission.
• Virginia-West Virginia debt controversy.
• White, A.B.