Marion Francis Mason born November 11, 1883 in Salem, Missouri to Sylvanis and Frances Ann (Shuck) Mason. Marion was only two years old when his mother died. He married Lennie Gertrude Wolford July 7, 1906 in Carter, Oklahoma. Lennie was 18 years old and Marion 22.
They had four children... Elmer, Lennie, Francis and Enoch.
Records of the 1910 census show they lived in Cobb, Oklahoma and Marion was 26 years old. They had been married 4 years. Census shows farm labor and Marion could read and write. (Interesting the information they ask for on these census!) They lived with a family on a farm… The Ussery family.
The 1920 census shows that they lived in Rush Springs, Oklahoma and Marion is 35 years old living on their own but renting a place. By now Lemmie was 12, Elmer 10, Francis 7 and Enoch just born.
The 1930 census shows the family living on a farm they rented. It also says Marion did not attend school but could read and write… Would be interesting to know the story on that. At this point Lemmie is 22 and Herschel is 6. We know that Enoch had passed away by then and Francis must have been out on her own.
The 1940 census has been released but I could not locate our Marion in it....perhaps another time. Did you know there is a “72 year rule” for a census to be released? Can you imagine 72 years from now the 2020 census being released? What will our descendants learn about us?
We see that Marion had to sign off as a person to contact for his son, Lemmie, WW11 Draft Registration Card (Lemmie was 33). In the end he never served but all men had to register.
Marion passed away April 26, 1942 in El Campo, Texas but is buried in Vamoosa, Oklahoma. He was 58 years old. His death certificate shows he died from a cerebral hemorage and had had hypertention.
What memories do you have? What could be added to this?
I know through family stories that Pa (as he was referred to) was an Assembly of God pastor. His death certificate stated his profession as Minister of the Gospel. His wife, Gertrude, lived 34 years after him and she continued in his steps and preached. Oh how I would love to know how he went from farmer to preacher. What led to that moment? Sadly unless my relatives can relay that information it is out of reach. Surely someone will chime in!?!
Now my father, Benny Marion Mason, was born in 1935 and Pa passed on in 1942 so dad was only 7 when he died. The only memory my dad had of Pa was that one time my dad had done something wrong (he was rowdy boy) and Pa was after him so my dad climbed under the bed to get away from him. What a memory...right!?!
LEMMIE SYLVANIS MASON
Lemmie Sylvanis Mason was born September 11, 1907 in Rush Springs, Oklahoma
to Lennie Gertrude Wolford (her older brother's name was Lemmie) and Marion Francis Mason (his father's name was Sylvanis). Lemmie had three brothers....Elmer, Enock and Marion Hershel and a sister Frances. Lemmie's father, Marion, was a pastor. When Lemmie was two his family moved to Pea Ridge, Oklahoma. It shows on the 1910 census the family is in Cobb, Oklahoma then in 1920 back in Rush Springs and 1930 again in Rush Springs, Oklahoma.
In 1928, at the age of 21, Lemmie began his oilfield career Roughnecking in the Cox Coly Fields. He spent the next 17 years in Seminole, Oklahoma, East Texas and the Permian Basin, pursuing the oil industry. According to a magazine article from the Reading and Bates
Drilling Lemmie went to work for Reading and Bates in 1938 at Penwell, Texas as a roughneck and from that time on there was a Mason working in the oil field for Reading and Bates. He started Drilling in 1944 and was a Toolpusher by 1949. He Pushed Tools in Texas,
Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and Mississippi, even going to Venezuela. Lemmie was a part of the biggest booms of the 1920s and knew by the time he joined Reading and Bates it was going to be “kinda my way of life”, he stated. So for 31 years, until he retired in 1969 he worked for Reading and Bates.
Lemmie married Clara Zadie McKay (we can track the McKays back to Clara's great grandfather from Ireland) on May 16, 1932 in Duncan, Oklahoma. He was 25 years old. They had four children.....Clifton (born 1934), Benny (born 1935), Barbara (born 1936) and Jodie (born 1941). The family was on the move with the oilfield life.
Upon retirement in 1969 (age 62) after a hurricane destroyed their home in South Louisiana Lemmie and Clara settled in Konawa, Oklahoma near their daughter Barbara Bowles. Lemmie spent his years raising a garden (5 gardens his grandson, Terry, said) and helping with cattle. Many wonderful memories are had by the grandchildren of domino and card
games around the table. The food and fun was plenty at Nanny and Papa's home. Wow, the Mason laugh is full and some of the best!!
Lemmie's father died in 1942 when Lemmie was only 34. His mother, Lennie, died in 1976 when Lemmie was 68. He lost his wife, Clara, of 48 years when he was 72 in 1980. Nearly 5 years later he eloped to Las Vegas and married someone he had dated in high school, Ethyl Dorman, of Rush Springs, Oklahoma. Unfortunately the marriage only lasted 5 months as
Lemmie Mason passed away October 8, 1985 in Rush Springs, Oklahoma. He was walking down the sidewalk to the house and fell over with a heart attack. He was 78. He was buried with Clara in the Vamoosa Cemetery. He left this earth leaving behind 4 children, 11
grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
At Papa's funeral they read a poem he particularly loved:
SERMONS WE SEE
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day,
I'd rather one should walk with me than merely show the way.
The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear;
Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear;
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds,
For to see the good in action is what everybody needs.
I can soon learn how to do it if you'll let me see it done.
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run.
And the lectures you deliver may be very wise and true;
But I'd rather get my lesson by observing what you do.
For I may misunderstand you and the high advice you give.
But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.
by Edgar A. Guest
Taken from an article in the Reading and Bates RB World Magazine in 1980:
When still a young man, Lemmie Sylvanus Mason was nicknamed "Pappy".Now, as the eldest member of a world-wide clan of oil patch people, he has earned the title. Since 1938, when Pappy began roughnecking for George Reading and Jack Bates Sr., there has always been a Mason on the RB payroll. Sometimes there have been as many as five at one time. Never, since 1946, have there been fewer than two. Before continuing, you will need a scorecard. It should read like this: Three brothers: Pappy, Elmer and Hershel, Pappy's sons: Benny M., Jody Don and Clifton. Elmer's son Ronnie. Hershel's sons: Bearl, Troy and David. And now, representing the third generation, Benny M's son, Benny W. Okay? And a few more things you need to know: All of them have, at one time or another, worked for Reading & Bates. Presently on the payroll are Hershel, Benny W., Bearl and David. This said, we can now get down to some details. Elmer, two years Pappy's junior, was the first Mason with RB but he remained only on a part-time basis, preferring the pulpit to petroleum. Pappy, who had already been a part of some of the biggest booms of the 1920's knew by the time he joined the company that the oil fields were "kinda my way of life". So he stayed and for the next 31 years, until he retired in 1969, he helped build both the present Reading & Bates and its predecessor. In doing so, he drilled holes and pushed tools through Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and even Venezuela, on one of the earliest foreign land assignments of today's Reading & Bates. In 1946, Pappy was joined
in the company by the "baby" of the three brothers: Hershel. Just out of the Navy, Hershel began by working for Pappy and for a time the three brothers were all on the same rig near
Levelland, Texas. While this was going on, another generation of Mason males were rowing up. They were being groomed, some in strange ways, to take their places one day in the oil patch. The Mason boys found working for a father - if his name was Mason - meant working
for a tough, fair, boss. Pappy worked on land rigs throughout the U.S. and Venezuela. The preceding lists only the direct line of Mason men who have worked for Reading & Bates. It does not include M. F. Mason, the father of Pappy, Elmer and Hershel. Although a preacher
and farmer, he also worked in the oil fields, as did three of his wife's six brothers. The list does not include the husbands of the Mason women. The three Mason brothers have a total of six daughters. Why so many of one family should go into the oil business is something the Masons have not thought much about. But when the question is put to them, they come up with some interesting theories: "Oil is all the Mason family knows." "The oil field is like the weather: It's always interesting. It's always changing. There's always a new challenge." And what does it mean to have the name "Mason"? "When you have relations in a company, I think people expect more of you than they do other people." "We have an unwritten law among the Mason family that if you work for another Mason, you do more work than the rest of the crew or you're fired." "You always have to prove yourself, no matter what your name is. Your name is only as good as you, as an individual, make it."
1997 finds the following Mason men still working in the oil business: Benny Marion (consultant), Benny Wayne (well control instructor for R&B), Clifton Michael (engineer), Troy (engineer), David (works on rig for R&B) Mason and Terry Lee Bowles-son of Barbara Mason (daughter of Pappy Mason) works on rigs. Pappy, Hershel, Clifton Wyndel, Jody Don, and Bearl have gone on to be with the Lord but are probably talking drilling in heaven right now.
Memories:
The Masons to me have always been larger than life. When I would visit them there was more often than not lots of hugs and laughter. They always made you feel loved and at home. I have wonderful memories of the adults laughing and often playing dominoes laughing and carrying on. From my perspective Lemmie Mason, my Papa, was the perfect
grandfather. I don't ever remember him correcting me but I remember lots of hugs and pounding on the back. He often pounded me on the back when my children were babies and would say over and over “that little bitty mama with those great big babies”. My mom told the story of when my brother and I were young Papa showed up at the house wanting to take us out. Mom said let me clean them up but he said we were fine. When we returned a couple of hours later he had taken us and bought us new clothes and had my brother's hair cut (his first haircut). Papa had each of us an ice cream cone and it was all over our new clothes ….oh and he had taken us for a boat ride. We had a picture and I guess that spurred her memory.
My dad told the story with lots of laughter that one time Papa had a cow he wanted to load and take to the butcher. Let's just say that cow gave him a lot of problems getting it loaded. By the time Papa got it loaded and to the butcher he told the guy “give that cow a slow
death” and he meant it. Ha!
I can't remember ever going to church with Nanny or Papa but I knew without a doubt they loved the Lord. Nanny loved to sing “One Day At A Time Sweet Jesus” as she worked around the house. She was such a great cook! My cousins Sandra and Terry Lee remember going to church with them. Sandra even sang a special “One Day At A Time Sweet Jesus” at their church because Nanny asked her to.
From BW Mason
Papa and I got into an argument one morning over his dad gum chewing tobacco all over the floor and Nanny ran us both out of the house. Papa told me that’s what he had put up with his whole life, but lunch that day was right on time and she made his favorite. Best
family ever!!
From Troy Mason:
Lemmie's mother was reading something and it had the name of someone else's new born in it, and she made a comment out loud about what a terrible name for a child. Her son, Lemmie, turned red, and said sternly, "Mother, anyone who would name a baby Lemuel Sylvanis does not have the right to criticize". (His actual name was Lemmie Sylvanus after her brother and his paternal grandfather.)
From Troy Mason:
(A story about Lemmie and his second wife). Not long before he died I saw him for the last time. I’ve forgotten the circumstances but I called him and got the OK to come by. Pappy and I were in the kitchen playing dominoes and Pat and Ethyl were in the other room. She told Pat that when I called she just knew I wanted to get something from Pappy. She said just listen to them in there! Pappy is screaming and hollering and Troy is laughing his head off. Now I know what he wanted to come get, and he’s getting it.
From Mike Mason
When Benny, Pappy and Cliff Mason went to Venezuela in 1959 (we all went with them) and they were some of the first - if not the first to develop Lake Maracaibo on the far western side of Venezuela - bordering Colombia.
From Mike Mason
Pappy Mason (Lemmie Sylvanus) was the 7th employee of Reading and Bates Drilling company out of Tulsa Oklahoma.
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