Source:
Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield Co., Ohio.
by C. M. L. Wiseman
Publ. F. J. Heer Printing Co., Columbus, O.  1901

Transcribed by Sharon Wick

THE MEASON, CHERRY AND BEAR FAMILIES
pgs. 304 - 307

     Thomas Meason, Sr., of Berkeley County, Virginia, was born Feb. 22, 1707.  Elizabeth, his wife, was born Apr. 2, 1721.  They moved to Fayette county, Pennsylvania.  Their children, twelve in number, were:  Hannah, born May 3, 1737; Samuel, born Nov. 8, 1739; Isaac, born Aug. 15, 1743; George, born  Feb. 6, 1746; Rachel, born Nov. 6, 17949; Sarah, Feb. 15, 1751; John, Feb. 22, 1753; Thomas, July 17, 1755; Joseph, July 7, 1759; Anne, Jan. 27, 1761; Mary, Jan. 22, 1763, Elizabeth, May 11, 1765.
     Colonel John Meason, seventh son of Thomas, was born Feb. 22, 1753, in Berkeley County, Va.  He married Hannah Frost, who was born Dec. 23, 1751.  They moved to Fayette County, Pa.  They were the parents of ten children - Isaac was born Nov. 20, 1773, and died Feb. 26, 1845; Elizabeth, born Apr. 2, 1776; Martha was born May 20, 1779; Hannah was born June 1, 1782; John was born Sept. 7, 1784; Nancy was born May 4, 1787; Mary was born May 9, 1789.  Thomas was born June

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18, 1791; Francis, Jan. 20, 1794; and George, Jan. 12, 1798.
     Isaac Meason, son of Thomas Meason, was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Nov. 20, 1773.  He married Rachel Cherry, daughter of Ralph Cherry and Annie Meek, his wife.  She was born June 17, 1774.  Ralph Cherry died Apr. 25, 1836.
     Isaac Meason and wife came to Fairfield County, Ohio, in 1799, and settled near the present Summit church in Greenfield, where the Masons still own the land.  They were both buried in the Wells graveyard near Hooker.
     They were the parents of nine children: John Meason, son of Isaac was born Mar. 26, 1795; Ralph Meason, was born Sept. 29, 1797, and died Nov. 15, 1799; Hiram Meason was born May 10, 1799, and died June 3, 1802; Jeremiah was born Aug. 1, 1801, and died May 18, 1825, and was buried in the Wells graveyard.  Elijah was born Mar. 20, 1804, and died Jan. 31, 1823; Enoch was born Aug. 24, 1806, and died July 28, 1822; Isaac Whatcoat was born Feb. 21, 1809, and died Apr. 25, 1852, and was buried in Wells graveyard.  Nancy Miranda was born Oct. 14, 181; she married Mr. Baxter, moved to Lima, and died there, and died Jan. 16, 1847.
     John Meason, son of Isaac and Rachel, was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, five miles northeast of Uniontown.  Anna, his first wife, was born in May, 1798, and died Jan. 11, 1830, aged thirty-one years.  She was a daughter of John and Elizabeth Bear.  The second wife of John Meason was a Miss Elizabeth Haver, sister of Peter Haver of Walnut township. 

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John Meason lived a long and honorable life near the summit in Greenfield and died in 1876, aged 84 years.  He was the father of seven children.
     Rachel was born Dec. 10, 1817.  She married Solomon Clippinger and moved to Iowa.
     Mary  was born Oct. 17, 1819.  She married John Neel, and moved to Lima, O.  Nancy was born Jan. 22, 1821.  She married Isaac Claypool.  Her sons, Jacob and James Claypool, are prosperous farmers and reputable citizens of Greenfield.  Elijah E. was born Jan. 26, 1823.  He lived for years on the George Meason farm at the Summit.  Isaac Jerome was born Sept. 30, 1825; he died young.  Sallie Elizabeth was born Nov. 10, 1827; she married Elijah Winters.  Their son, John M. Winters, is now postmaster of Carroll, Ohio.  Anna Miranda was born Jan. 3, 1830.  She was the second wife of Samuel Baxter, late of Lima, Ohio.
     Isaac Meason was one of the most noted of the pioneers for strength and activity.  Few men, if any, among the pioneers could throw him in a wrestling match and only Walter McFarland, his friend and neighbor, could life a heavier load.
     He once met a famous athletic Indian in a wrestling bout.  His friends feared that he had found his match, but he threw him three times in succession.  At the raising of Hooker's barn, Walter McFarland carried one of the square plates a few steps, that required six men to lift it and place it upon his shoulders.  Such were the amusements of the pioneers.  Every neighborhood had its champion.
     John Meeks, Dorsey Meason, the Cherry brothers and the Bears were neighbors and relatives of Isaac

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Meason.  The old people were buried at the Wells graveyard.
     Nathaniel Cherry, Ralph Cherry, Thomas Cherry and William Cherry, late of Walnut township, were sons of Thomas Cherry, a relative of the Greenfield Cherrys.  They are all dead and but few of their descendants remain in the county.  Mrs. Wm. Murphey and her children, of Millersport; Frank Cherry and sisters, of Lancaster; Mrs. Samuel Wiseman and Brook Cherry, of New Salem; Mrs. Lightnecher, of Thurston, are about all that remain in the county.
     Dr. Leonidas Meason, son of Dorsey Meason, lives in Bluffton, Indiana.
     George A. Meason, son of Dorsey, is another, and lives in Montpelier, Indiana.
     Francis Meason, daughter of Col. John Meason, married Judge William Salter in Fayette County, Pa.  They moved west and were early settlers in Portsmouth, Ohio, where Judge Salter was a leading citizen and one of the pioneers in the manufacture of pig-iron.
     Samuel Baxter, whose two wives were both Measons, was for many years a business man of Lancaster.  He studied law with Governor Medill and located in Lima, O., where he was a successful man and acquired property.  Dr. Samuel Baxter, son of his first wife, is a prominent business man of Lima.
     Henry and Alfred Neel, sons of John Neel, located in Toledo, O.  They are prominent and very successful business men of that city.
     Dr. George F. Meason, son of Elijah E. Meason, lives in the city of Milwaukee, John in Columbus.
     Felix N. Meason, son of Isaac Whatcoat Meason, lives in Carroll, O.  A daughter of George W. Meason, married John Stanbery of Greenfield.