The mother of his children was Elizabeth Hall, who he married in 1814 in Remsen, Oneida County, New York. She was known as “Betsy”. She was born on June 10, 1799 in Rome, Oneida County, New York.
Not only was my 3rd great grandfather’s surname, “Mason,” he learned the trade of a stone mason as a boy. After serving in the War of 1812, he met Elizabeth when he went to Oneida County while working his trade building boulder walls. He had come to Oneida County from Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts where he was born on January 6, 1789.
In 1834, they moved to Ohio, following their son, Henry Franklin who had gone there in 1833. Franklin was Jarvis and Elizabeth’s second child and oldest son. He was a blacksmith and set up the first anvil used in Allen County, Ohio, but soon abandoned his trade to take up the more lucrative work of teaming, making trips to Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and other points. Once, as a teamster, he hauled a cannon from Columbus to Lima. The trip took six weeks one way. Sadly, Franklin died at the young age of 22 years.
Six of Jarvis and Elizabeth’s children came to Ohio with them, including their oldest child, Eliza who was an adult, born in 1816, and a married woman. Eliza had married Almond Sumner Harrington in 1831 in Oneida County, New York. They had no children yet when they made the move to Ohio. The other Mason children were Laura Mariah, Jeannette, Jane C., George Alden, and newborn, Sumner F. Two children, Julia S. and Eugenia, had died in 1830 prior to the move.
Six more children were born in Allen County, Ohio. These children were Elizabeth Sophia, Zalmon Root, Marquis D., Sarah H., who died in 1843 at the age of 13 months, Nancy Autenia, and my 2nd great grandmother, Sarah Helen, who was known as “Helen”.
The Mason family arrived in Bath Township, Allen County, Ohio in 1834 and homesteaded the northwest quarter of Section 16, which is now the southeast corner of Bluelick and Stewart Roads. They cleared 160 acres of school land which they rented several years before they could purchase it. Their home, in 1834, was one of the first log homes in Allen County.
Jarvis was a Methodist and a Democrat. He served as supervisor of Bath Township for several years.
Jarvis made an affidavit and witnessed for his mother to receive a widow's pension for his father's Revolutionary War service. He was also a witness for his father-in-law, Enoch Hall when Enoch applied for a Revolutionary War pension. Jarvis, himself, was also a veteran of the War of 1812.
In 1854, Jarvis visited his home state, Massachusetts and contracted a fatal bout of cholera on his way home. Shortly after his return, he passed away at his home.
Jarvis Mason was born January 6, 1789 in Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts. He was the 5th son of Elisha Mason and Sarah Horton’s eleven children. He died July 21, 1854 in Bath Township, Allen County, Ohio.
Father of fifteen, grandfather of many, still today, he has many descendants in Allen County and some in other states. For Jarvis, every day was Father’s Day.