1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



475 



A B. MASON. 



BIOGKAPHICAL SKKTCH. FUItNlSHED By THE 

 DOCTOR'S GOOD WIFE. 



fHE subject ol' this sketch was born 25 miles 

 southeast ot Buffalo, in the town of Wales, 

 Erie Co., N. Y., Nov. 18, 18;W. His father was 

 born in Massachusetts, and was of English, 

 Scotch, and Irish descent; was a soldier in the 

 war of 1812, and assisted in the capture of Fort Erie. 

 His maternal grandfather was killed by the Indian 

 allies of Great Britain, in the same war. His pa- 

 ternal grandmother was of the old Knickerbocker, 

 or Dutch ancestry. 



Mr. Mason had si.x brothers older than himself, 

 two younger, and two sisters. All were raised on a 

 farm, and the brothers are all farmers. The only 

 living sister is the wife of a farmer, and lives at 

 Emporia, Kansas. His mother and grand p i rents 

 all died in their 83d year, and his father was about 

 90 at his death. 



DR. A. B. MASON, PRESIDENT OF THE NOIiTH AMEK- 

 ICAN BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



In De Kalb Co., 111., when about 17 years old. Dr. 

 Mason taught his first school, for $14 per month, and 

 "boarded round." In relating some of the incidents 

 in connection with that school, he says: "The three 

 last teachers preceding me were turnedout by the 

 " big boys," the last being thrown through the win- 

 dow with the window shut. Of this I knew nothing 

 till the morning I went to begin school. I made up 

 my mind to teach that school or somebody would 

 get hurt, and so I told the director. I was hired for 

 three months, but taught four, and was offered $40 

 per month to teach the same school the next winter. 

 A majority of the scholars were older than I was." 



At the close of this school, young Mason went to 



Beloit College, Wisconsin, and attended two terms, 

 his chum and friend lieing the now well-known (ion. 

 Warner, of Warner "Silver Bill" notoriety. With 

 the e.vception of the above, and a few terms attend- 

 ance at an academy in Wyoming, N. Y., when he was 

 either at or near the head in all his classes except 

 grammar, his school education was obtained in the 

 common district school. 



In his 19th year Mr. Mason joined the Baptist 

 church of his native town, and has ever since been 

 proud to be known as a Christian and a Baptist. Just 

 previous to his22d birthday, at the earnest solicita- 

 tion of his parents, he commenced the study of 

 medicine with the family physician, working, as op- 

 portunity offered, to earn money to help pay ex- 

 penses. 



During the winter of 1857 Dr. Mason attended 

 medical lectures at the University of Michigan, at 

 Ann Arbor. At the close of the lecture course he 

 went to Illinois to spend the summer, and to com- 

 plete his medical studies. The following autumn 

 he returned to the old home in New York, and on his 

 25th birthday was married to a Miss Clark. In the 

 springof 18.59, in company with several families from 

 New York and Illinois, the newly married couple 

 went west and located at Irvington, Kossuth Co., 

 Iowa, 40 miles west of the present home of Mr. 

 Eugene Secor. The colony with which they went 

 having broken up, in 1863 they moved to Waterloo, 

 Iowa. Here Mr. Mason commenced the practice of 

 dentistry, which he has followed to the present 

 time. He was secretary and treasurer of the Iowa 

 State Dental Society, and president of the Northern 

 Iowa Dental Association for two years. For four 

 terms he was secretary and a member of the school 

 board of the city in which he lived, and was one of 

 the originators of the city library, and librarian for 

 several years. 



For years Dr. Mason was an active, if not the 

 most active member of the church to which he be- 

 longed, being at one time superintendent of the 

 Sabt)ath-school, church clerk, a trustee, and clerk of 

 the board of trustees. He was a leader in Sabliath- 

 school work at home and in adjoining counties. 

 One year he was secretary of eight ditferentorgani- 

 zations, four of them religious. 



Dr. Mason has always been known as an earnest 

 temperance worker, and has had his life thi-eatened 

 twice by saloon-keepers. He still delights in being 

 a thorn to them. 



His youngest child is a daughter 16 years old, and 

 the oldest is 27. His children, like himself, use no 

 tea, coffee, tobacco, or liquor in any form. 



In 1869, a brother, in moving, left two colonies of 

 bees with him till a more favorable time for moving 

 them. He soon became interested in them, and, 

 seeing an article in a newspaper that year about 

 Mrs. Tupper's success with bees, wrote to her, mak- 

 ing some inquiries, which were kindly answered. 

 He at once became a subscriber to the Atncrican 

 Bee Journal, which he has taken till the present time. 



The same year, Mr. Mason became a member of 

 the Central Iowa Bee-keepers' Association, and the 

 next year was elected secretary, which position he 

 held until he left the State. 



In 187;i. owing to freijuent attacks of rheumatism, 

 and an increasing desire to make bee-keeping more 

 of a specialty. Dr. Mason quit the office practice of 

 dentistry, and the proceeds of the apiary have ma- 

 terially aided in furnishing "bread and butter" for 

 the wife and children. 



