MASSON, WILLIAM (1826-1896)

MASSON, WILLIAM, retail merchant; b. Newcastle, Jan 1826, s/o William Masson Sr and Isabella Grant; m. 1st, 1853, Jessie McTavish, d/o William McTavish and Catherine McIntosh, and 2nd, 1860, Hannah Jane Witherall, d/o Daniel Witherall and h/w Sarah, of Newcastle; d. there, 2 Mar 1896.

William Masson's father came to the Miramichi in 1817 from Kincardineshire, Scotland, and was in partnership in Newcastle with Peter Mitchell Sr in doing shoemaking and carpentry work. For several years in the 1840s he owned a tavern, and he was sufficiently well-off to be able to lend money to the County for the conduct of the public business. John Hea referred to him as "the general" in charge of the Rankin-Street forces in the winter election of 1842-43 and accused him of speaking and conducting himself in a menacing manner. He died in 1877, at age eighty-six.

After studying at the Newcastle Grammar School under John H. Sivewright, William Masson Jr worked as a clerk in the store conducted by members of the Samuel family in Richibucto. He was later with Johnson & Mackie at Chatham. In 1853, he became associated with the lumbering, shipbuilding, and retailing firm of Haws & Mitchell, but he soon left to enter business on his own. In 1855 he had a dry-goods and grocery store in Newcastle, and although he was declared to be an "insolvent debtor" in 1859, he continued in the merchandising line for the rest of his life. In 1870, he was selling plaster, flour, corn meal, and other such products in bulk quantities, as well as farm machinery and equipment. In the 1870s he was a justice of the peace, and he served as acting magistrate of the police court for a time before John Niven was appointed police magistrate in 1877. Later he was the Newcastle parish court commissioner.

An officer in the militia, Masson was promoted to captain in the 2nd Battalion in 1867. In the same year, he was appointed a commissioner of the Seamen's Hospital. He was active in the Masonic order and was worshipful master of Northumberland Lodge in 1868. He was also a director of the Mechanics' Institute at this time and was a lifelong member of St James Presbyterian Church. He and his second wife, Hannah J. Witherall, raised a son, Frank Masson, who was a plumber and tinsmith in Newcastle.