edmund mason

This gentleman is one of the more extensive farmers in Rutland township, where he settled, in 1869, on a portion of section 36. By careful management and close attention to business, he has, since that time, accumulated a large farm property, consisting of seven hundred and ninety acres, which he devotes, largely, to the raising of stock.

Devonshire, England, is the place of birth of Edmund Mason, the year being 1846. He was a son of Thomas and Johanna Mason. These parents passed their lives in the old country, never having removed to America. A brother of our subject, John Mason, came to this country in 1856. Edmund Mason remailed in England until 1867. Four years later, a younger brother, James, came over. These three brothers, with another, Henry, were the only members of the family who left England.

Reared to farm life, Mr. Mason found himself in possession of knowledge which has stood him in good stead in the country to which he emigrated. He came immediately to Montgomery County and settled on the quarter section where he now resides. He was the first settler in this part of the township, and now he is one of the largest land owners in the county. - History of Montgomery County, Kansas, 1903

Edmund Mason has long been believed to be the inspiration for the Little House on the Prairie character, Mr. Edwards. With the exception of various Osage Indians, Mr. Edwards, along with Mr. and Mrs. Scott and Dr. Tan, are the only non-family members in the book. Laura Ingalls Wilder describes Mr. Edwards as being "lean and tall and brown.... He told Laura he was a wildcat from Tennessee," (Chapter 5), but Edmund Mason had only recently arrived from England. Maybe Laura heard Devonshire and remembered Tennessee? It's always possible that Mr. Mason had come to Kansas via Tennessee.

That Laura was confused over the names of other squatters in Indian Territory is obvious. Maybe the Ingalls family talked about their stay there; maybe they didn't. At any rate, it's not like Laura could ask anyone anything while working on Pioneer Girl or her Indian juvenile. Ma, Pa, and Mary were dead. Carrie had been born in Kansas and was an infant when the family left.

Some of the stories connected to Mr. Edwards in Little House on the Prairie are attributed to other characters in Pioneer Girl or in one of the (at least) five complete manuscripts or fragments of LHOP, depending on how you arrange the surviving pages. In Pioneer Girl, it's Mr. Brown who brings the Christmas gifts; Pa goes to check on the Robertsons when he hears a scream in the night, and the doctor is not named. In one (1) of the manuscripts (told from Mary's point of view, not Laura's), both Mr. Thompson and a neighbor man help build the cabin.

In the second version (2), Mr. Thompson helps with the cabin. Mr. Edwards brings the Christmas presents. There are stories about John Turner and Jones, and two bachelors, Tom and Dick.

In the third version (3), Mr. and Mrs. Scott are present, and Mr. Edwards brings the Christmas presents. He also tells the family that there are two bachelors living nearby - John Turner and Jones - and mentions a Mr. Thompson. Pa tells another story about two men named Tom and Dick.

In the fourth version (4), Mr. Edwards helps with the cabin and Mr. and Mrs. Scott are the neighbors. As Mr. Scott helps Pa dig the well, he tells about Mr. and Mrs. Thompson's well, and their being helped by Mr. Stover. Mr. Thompson dies from the gas in the well. Carrie's birth is included, and Mrs. Scott helps during the birth. Mr. Edwards brings the Christmas presents, and there are stories about Sam Turner, Bill Jones, and Mrs. Thompson's house. Pa tells another story about Tom and John.

The fifth version (5) includes Mr. Edwards. Mr. Scott tells of another well-digging in which Edwards and Stover are digging and Mr. Edwards dies. In this version, the Ingalls family doesn't leave Indian Territory because of the possibility that soldiers will come remove them from the land, but because Pa receives a letter from Mr. Johnson, the man who bought the Big Woods cabin, asking Pa to return and take it over.

It's interesting to note that it was a Mr. Johnson who Charles Ingalls bought the Chariton County (Missouri) land from, and who bought it back from him. There are Scotts, Joneses, Thompsons, Turners, brothers and bachelors and men from Tennessee on the 1870 Montgomery County census. And on several censuses over the years, Edmund Mason is listed as... you guessed it: Edward.
- posted by pioneergirl at 10:30 PM