William Ernest MASON, Congress, IL (1850-1921)

MASON, William Ernest, (father of Winnifred Sprague Mason Huck), a Representative and a Senator from Illinois; born in Franklinville, Cattaragus County, N.Y., July 7, 1850; moved with his parents to Bentonsport, Van Buren County, Iowa, in 1858; attended the Bentonsport Academy and Birmingham College 1863-1865; taught school in Bentonsport 1866-1868, and in Des Moines, Iowa, 1868-1870; studied law; moved to Chicago, Ill., in 1872; admitted to the bar and commenced practice; member, State house of representatives 1879; member, State senate 1882-1885; elected as a Republican to the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congresses (March 4, 1887-March 3, 1891); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1890 to the Fifty-second Congress; resumed the practice of law in Chicago; elected to the United States Senate as a Republican and served from March 4, 1897, to March 3, 1903; chairman, Committee on Manufactures (Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses), Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Fifty-seventh Congress); again resumed the practice of law in Chicago; elected to the Sixty-fifth, Sixty-sixth, and Sixty-seventh Congresses and served from March 4, 1917, until his death in Washington, D.C., on June 16, 1921; interment in Oakwood Cemetery, Waukegan, Ill.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Mason, William Ernest. John, The Unafraid. 5th ed. Chicago: A.C. McClurg and Co., 1913; U.S. Congress. House. Memorial Addresses. 67th Cong., 2nd sess., 1921-1922. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1924.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present