"In front of house on MD Mason farm" back (l-r): Don, Harry, Sarah?2 Charles, Amy; front: Marquis D., Amy Louisa.2a Image in possession of Shirley Everett-Clark
Stories told by Amy Mason Everett (1890-1968) as told to her children Wilbur M. Everett and Shirley Everett Clark1 and one from Dan Roeder
"In front of house on MD Mason farm" back (l-r): Don, Harry,
Sarah?2 Charles, Amy; front: Marquis D., Amy Louisa.2a Image in possession
of Shirley Everett-Clark
Because we were born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, away from Allen County and the relatives there, my brothers and I were fascinated by our mother's stories of her family and childhood growing up on the farm in Bath Township as the youngest child of Amy Louisa (Edgecomb/Snyder) and Marquis D. Mason. At various times, we heard about a superstition, a fatal accident, murder, pranks by siblings, and even a snake bite.
Marquis D. and Amy (Snyder) Mason
One evening in 1895, a family was visiting the Mason home in Bath Township. The children, playing in a separate room, heard a loud moaning cry coming from the darkness outside the window. Someone thought it was a banshee, the Irish superstition forecasting a death. Probably, it was some of the older Mason boys trying to scare the younger kids. But, coincidentally, the next day my mother's brother, FRANK MASON, was driving a steam-driven tractor belonging to his uncle when the bridge he was crossing caved in. The wrecked tractor's steering wheel crushed his chest and arm. My mother said, "they had to amputate his arm there in our downstairs room. He begged them not to do it. You could hear his screams. I was five years old. He called me Kitten. He died the next day."
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Mason farm, Bath Twp., Allen Co., Ohio
One year on Halloween, Mom's brothers, Don, Charles, and Harry Mason, took their Uncle Phil Roush's buggy apart and hauled it up to the roof of his barn and reassembled it. Harry was the ring-leader. Uncle Phil was furious, which added to the boys' great glee!
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In 1904, the dead bodies of ELMER MASON, 36, the son of Marquis and Amy Louisa (Snyder) Mason, and his friend Rolla McDorman, age 27, were found at 8 A.M. by the railroad tracks 4 miles from the Mason farm. The men had last been seen about 2:30 A.M. on their way home from Lima and quite sober. The sheriff theorized that they had fallen asleep sitting on the railroad tracks and were hit by a train. Both had broken necks and identical fractured skulls. Although Elmer was in the habit of carrying a considerable amount of money, the men had 42 cents between them. My mother, Elmer's sister, said the family discovered the leather layers in the heels of both men were separated by fine pieces of sand and gravel embedded between them. It was apparent both had been dragged for some distance. The Mason family, angry with the poor policework, strongly suspected an advance man of the coming circus, a mean and low character. Nothing was ever found or proven. Read the newspaper article about this incident.
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Five daughters of Amy Louisa (Snyder) and Marquis D. Mason.
Front row (l-r): Nellie, Clara, Jennie; back row: Talma, Amy
It is interesting how family stories are passed down through the generations - for instance, Clarinda Edgecomb Snyder and the snake bite. As our mother, Amy Mason Everett, related how her mother (Amy Louisa Mason) explained the incident: "Mom said that her mother (Clarinda Edgecomb Snyder) was milking near the barn and she was bitten on her foot by a rattle snake. The boys were told to run to the spring house and bring down buckets of milk. Her foot was plunged into a bucket and the milk drew out the poison, causing the milk to curdle. This was repeated over and over again. It saved her life." 3
Wilbur L. and Amy (Mason) Everett, April 19143a
On August 21, 1950, our mother, Amy Mason Everett, with her brother, Donald and his wife, Margaret, visited the farm site in Shawnee Township4 where Peter and Clarinda Snyder lived 1856-1862. On one of two pictures taken that day, she wrote:
"Little stream here where my grandmother got rattle snake bite. Same barn. Breese Farm - Shawnee Township." On the second picture she wrote:
"Old milk house on Mom's home farm. The milk house as it was when she lived here." In as much as Peter and Clarinda Snyder sold out the farm in Shawnee Township in 1862 and moved back to Bath Township, Clarinda's snake bite happened between 1856 and 1862. It was not fatal5; Clarinda died 19 December 1866.
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Image of M.D. Mason in Civil War Uniform from Dan Roeder
Link to hires version of
image
This picture "is the one of Marquis Mason in his Union uniform. It is from a
tin type photo given to my Aunt Earlene when my grandfather died. You can see
his sniper rifle in the photo but the background is probably fake. He is
sitting on a milk crate. We are not sure when or where this photo was taken.
Notice there are no markings on his uniform to identify his rank or unit. This
was common for snipers because if they were caught by the enemy, they would not
be able to tell what division they were from and rank.
My grandfather [Franklin Earl "Skeet" Roeder] used to tell us stories that M.D. Mason used to tell him as a kid when they sat on the porch swing at the family farm. M.D. Mason was a sniper in the 81st division Ohio Union Infantry from August 30, 1861 to September 26, 1864. One story I remember is that he was in the battle above the clouds otherwise known as the battle of Chattanooga. Confederates were raining artillery down on the Union positions in the valley. His assignment was to go up into the hills and take out any artillery leaders he could find. The idea being that there was usually one leader and the rest of the artillery unit were kids. When you killed the leader, the kids would run. He never told us if he was successful in getting any leaders that day.
Another story he told us was about when M.D. Mason caught camp fever and was hospitalized in Corinth Mississippi during Sherman’s march to the sea. He was extremely ill and camp fever supposedly killed as many troops as combat. Camp fever was a disease similar to scurvy. In order to save his life, his buddies set off one night to try and find a live cow in order to get fresh cow’s milk. Fresh cow’s milk was the only cure they knew for camp fever. There were few livestock alive because the Confederates had killed most of them as they retreated in order to keep the Union soldiers from getting them. His buddies set off one night against orders and were successful in finding a cow and bringing it back to milk it, probably saving his life. This story may seem insignificant to some but when you consider the fact that the entire family tree you documented might have never existed, we have some very brave young soldiers to thank for an act of courage that was performed against orders."6
Notes:
1. Written in the fall of 2007.
2. By comparison with the photo of daughters, this looks like Talma, although it could also be Nellie.
2a. See the family Bible of Marquis D. and Amy Mason for names and dates for this family.
3. For more information about rattlesnakes in Allen County, see the account of Peter and Clarinda Snyder.
3a. Wedding picture of Wilbur L. Everett and Amy Mason, 12 Apr 1914. Another picture, Easter Sunday - 12 Apr 1914
4. See "Tour of Bassett-Edgecomb-Snyder historical places and cemeteries" for a map showing the location of this farm.
5. In the version of this story told by Calvin Snyder (son of Jasper and grandson of Clarinda), she was bitten on the toe and died. However, her death from the snakebite was not likely due to the reasons given above.
6. Email from Dan Roeder, 14 June 2008
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