James Mason

	Mason

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Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler in Isabella County in 1860. The first documentation of an African-American settler in Mecosta County Michigan was James Guy. His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln. He obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861. Lloyd & Margaret Guy were the first Black settlers in Montcalm County in 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler 160 acres in Michigan. By 1873 African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta and Montcalm. In the 1860's most of the land in Remus was owned by the Old Settlers.

Mason

Pictures Courtesy of Robert Williams &

Teresa O’Riley-McCrosky

4 Masons

DeMont "Mont" Mason & Family

Parents: Mont Mason & Wife Alfa (Green) Mason

Son - Foy Mason & Daughter Veta Mason

DeMont "Mont" Mason and Son Foy Mason

Date Unknown

Sewell & Marcella Mason - Brother and Sister

Children of DeMont "Mont" Mason

Ethel Mason with her two children Juanita &

Kenneth Floyd Mason. Their father and Ethel's

husband was Frank Mason.

Kenneth Mason

Son of Frank and Ethel Mason

Angelina Mason

Juanita Louise Mason

L - R: Maude E. Hill-Williams-Dennis

Frank Mason,

Paul Anthony Dennis, (Husband of Maude)

The picture was taken by Robert-Hill Williams.

Location on Frank Mason's farm in Sodus, MI

Kenneth Floyd Mason

Frank & Mary Mason

Juanita Mason

Emmet Lorett Mason

Sophia Mason

Mittie Mason

Marinda Lett, daughter of Oathias B. Lett & Sophia (Stevens) Lett, married James Mason, son of Jonathan Mason. Marinda Lett & James Mason were the parents of Frank, Emmet, & DeMont "Mont" Mason. Marinda was a sister to Esther M. (Lett) Cummins, who married Joseph Cummins. Mont Mason married more than once. Alfa (shown above) was his first wife. In the photograph posted above of siblings Sewell & Marcella Mason, were from Mont's second wife. They had three children--Sewell, Marcella, and Betty.

Lola Mason-Simcox died in January 1931 from TB. Lola and Lloyd Simcox had two other children, Darlene and Warren. Both died of TB. Lola had a brother named Eugene. They were both children of Claude Mason and Mabel (Myers) Claude's parents were Jonnathan Mason and Russell (Newman). Jonnathan's brother was James Mason who married Marinda. Jonnathan and James' father was John Mason.


	Mason

There are "Old Settlers" who came from Canada via "The Underground Railroad." It was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States that began in the Colonial Era and reached its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada; many others escaped to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.