John W. Mason (1842-1917) Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
West Virginia and Regional History Center
West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Restrictions:

No special access restriction applies.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

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.

Summary

Extent:
13 Linear Feet Summary: 13 ft. (29 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 index card box, 11 in.); (1 oversize folder, 2 items)
Creator:
Mason, John W., 1842-1917
Abstract:
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 1870-1916; Monongalia Academy; industrial development; 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 Arthur I. Boreman, A.W. Campbell, Stephen B. Elkins, Benjamin Harrison, Francis H. Pierpont, and others.
Language:
English .
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.

Background

Scope and content:

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), miscellaneous printed material, 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).

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.

Physical location:
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard