- Dr. Edward Beecher Mason, formerly pastor of the First Parish church, died on Tuesday morning at his home on College street in this town, after a long illness. His death was due to a disease of the larynx from which he had suffered for about five years. His voice was impaired to such an extent that he gave up his pastorate and preaching in 1902. During the past year his general health became seriously affected, and last spring he submitted to a surgical operation. This gave him little relief but served to prolong his life through the summer. For many weeks he knew that his life was nearing its end, and although voiceless and weakened by his illness he was sustained by a wonderful courage even to the end.
Few men have ever lived in Brunswick who were more beloved than Dr. Mason.
The funeral was held yesterday afternoon, brief services at the home at 2:30 o'clock and another service at the First Parish church at 3:00 o'clock, both being conducted by the pastor, Rev. Herbert A. Jump. During the half hour from 2:30 to 3:00 the church bell was tolled 69 strokes, one for each year of his age.
In the church, the pastor read portions of Scripture and a part of Browning's poem, Abt Vogler. Miss Mary Ward at the organ played selections which had been favorites of Dr. Mason, the Pastoral Interlude and Come Unto Me, from Handel's Messiah, and a Chorale from Bach. The bearers were Prof. William A. Houghton, Prof. Henry Johnson, Prof. George T. Little and Prof. F.E. Woodruff. Ushers were chosen from the deacons of the church.
Brief services were held at the grave. Interment was in a portion of what has been known as the Abbott lot in Pine Grove cemetery.
Dr. Mason was born in Cincinnati on March 7, 1838. His father, Timothy B. Mason, was a life-long friend of Dr. Lyman Beecher, having charge of his choir when he lived in Boston and in 1835 accompanied this noted preacher to Cincinnati where Dr. Beecher was president of Lane Seminary. [His mother was Abigail (Hall) Mason.]
The Mason family, descendants of Robert Mason, a member of John Winthrop's company who settled the town of Roxbury, Mass., in 1630, is one of the most distinguished in New England.
Dr. Lowell Mason, whose fame as a composer is widely known, was Dr. Mason's uncle, and William Mason, the eminent New York pianist, is his cousin. Members of the same family were pioneers in the manufacture of pianos and organ in New England. [Ashby's History of the First Parish Church mentions that Mason and his family had a gift for music: "They had the knack of playing almost every musical instrument. They were particularly interested in singing..."(360) Dr. Mason himself was very interested in hymns, and one of his first projects upon arriving at First Parish Church was to choose and purchase a new hymnal (Ashby, 374-375).]
Although born in Ohio Dr. Mason was virtually a New Englander. His father and four generations before him were born in the town of Medfield, Mass., and the family still holds property there. A previous ancestor was one of the original landholders in Dedham.
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1838 - 1907 (69 years)
