Simon (Sim) Mason (1846-1931) was born on a farm in Dodge County, Wisconsin, and came to Dakota Territory in 1879. He found work as a carpenter for B. W. Benson and helped to build the Walter Coop house which was at that time the largest and finest house in Valley City. In 1879 he had filed on a preemption and tree claim while working at the carpenter trade. In 1882 he was married to Annie Simons, daughter of Simon and Olive (Liene) Lea and the sister of John Simons, second Sheriff of Barnes County. They moved to his farm in Anderson Township. Three children were born to the Sim Masons: Albert Everett 1883; George Walter (1891); Blanche Geneva (1894) - Mrs. C. M. Strawman. Mrs. Mason died in 1906 and in 1908 he married Clara Benson (1867-1940) who was born at Rushford, Minnesota, the daughter of Andrew and Agneta Benson. She came with her parents to Dakota Territory in 1880. She attended school in the log house used as the first school in (Worthington) Valley City and later she attended Daily School # 1. Clara Benson Mason had two brothers - Thomas, who married Winifred Whitman and John Benson of Klamath Falls, Oregon; two sisters -Josephine and Laura who lived in the Mason home after the family moved into Valley City. Mrs. Mason was active in her church and P.E.O. During Mr. Mason's long illness she was faithfully assisted by her two sisters. Her step-son, George W. Mason was President of the Nash-Kelvinator Co., and played an important part in the development of electrical refrigeration and air-conditioning. At his death, Our Savior's Lutheran Church of Valley City received a gift of farm land and he also willed the State of Michigan 1500 acres of untouched woodland containing fourteen miles of frontage on the Au Sable River. The State of Michigan added 2,900 acres and designated the area as a permanent game reserve. The George W. Mason chapel on the south branch of the AuSable-River was built by the Mason estate. Mr. Mason, a leader in the automobile industry, was head of American Motors Corporation at the time of his death in 1954.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 153