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
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 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Language
English
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.
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.
Conditions Governing Access
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.
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.
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).
General Correspondence (includes all letters, manuscript speeches, diaries, and extensively annotated printed materials)
1867-1886
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 2
General Correspondence (cont.)
1887-1895
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 3
General Correspondence (cont.)
1896-1898
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 4
General Correspondence (cont.)
1899-1904
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 5
General Correspondence (cont.)
1905-1914
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 6
General Correspondence (cont.; also includes undated and incomplete correspondence)
1915-1917, undated
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 7
Newspapers (includes references and clippings [1860-1916], The Veil is Rent [1889-1891], scrapbook [1889], and miscellaneous
periodicals)
1860-1916
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 8
Early Life (includes school papers [1854-1866] and Monongalia Academy material [1831-1867])
1831-1867
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 9
Miscellaneous (includes photographs, certificates, printed political campaign material, and printed speeches and booklets
by various state and national leaders)
undated
Mixed Materials Box: Series 1, B 10
Miscellaneous (includes printed material on political, literary, agricultural, and religious subjects)
Legal Papers (includes papers regarding the Grafton Building Association and the Working Men's B & L Association)
1854-1871
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 2
Legal Papers
1872-1875
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 3
Legal Papers
1876-1891
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 4
Legal Papers
1891-1899
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 5
Legal Papers
1900-1916
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 6
Miscellaneous Legal Papers (includes undated and incomplete legal papers, plats, and blank forms)
undated
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 7
Virginia Debt Papers (includes material relating to the development of West Virginia's case, resolutions, reports, and U.S.
Supreme Court briefs)
1913-1916
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 8
Virginia Debt Papers (includes Reports and Proceedings of the West Virginia Debt Commission, Reports and Opinions by Public
and Private Persons and Organizations on the Virginia Debt)
1913-1917
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 9
Financial Papers (includes receipts, bank statements, and check stubs)
1868-1917
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 10
Legal Records (includes account books and law dockets)
1867-1907
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 11
Minute Books (includes Worthington Coal and Coke Company; Hutchinson-Ellen Coal Company; and lists of the contents of Mason's
law library)
1893-1901
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 12
Printed Legal Material (includes briefs and opinions by Mason and others on West Virginia cases)
1872?-1916
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 13
Miscellaneous Printed Legal Material (includes West Virginia Bar Association material, and opinions and briefs from federal
courts)
1865-1917
Mixed Materials Box: Series 3, B 14
Artifact -- US Prohibition Era Hydrometer (for testing alcohol proof)