Singleton and Related Genealogy Pages
A history of many families.
1830 - Abt 1888 (58 years)| Name | Charles Thomas MASON [3, 4] | |
| Suffix | Sr. | |
| Birth | 1829/30 | Darlington District, South Carolina  [5, 6, 7] |
| Baptism | 7 Oct 1866 | First Baptist Church, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina [8] |
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| Gender | Male | |
| Christening | 5 May 1872 [9] | |
| HIST | Baptist Courier, 29 March 1888- Mr. C. T. Mason, Sr., one of Sumter’s old and esteemed citizens, died Tuesday evening at his residence on Sumter Street. He was buried at the cemetery this morning. Mr. Mason leaves a large family of children, all grown. He was the father of Mr. C. T. Mason, Jr., the inventor of the cotton harvester. Mr. Mason had been a resident of Sumter for about forty years. He was born in Darlington sixty-four years ago, from which place he moved to Camden, where he was raised, coming to Sumter in 1850. He was educated as a jeweler.... In late years he devoted much of his time to the study of electricity... His father was the Rev. Thomas Mason, of the Baptist Church. Mr. Mason was married twice. Date Published: July 27, 2008 Mason should be recognized at transportation center Sumter native son and 6th District Congressman Jim Clyburn can be rightly proud of the $10 million James E. Clyburn Intermodal Transportation Center on South Harvin Street that celebrated its grand opening Saturday. It will house the Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority (SWRTA), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary of providing public transportation in this region that includes Sumter, Clarendon, Lee and Kershaw counties, plus Lower Richland. In addition to SWRTA, the 40,000-square-foot building will also house a Southeastern Stages (Greyhound) Intercity Bus ticket and information office, replacing the old bus station on the Florence highway. Clyburn was instrumental in securing initial congressional earmark funding of $5 million in 2003, state funding of $4 million followed, and final funding of $1.8 million came from Sumter County Council in the form of a $1.8 million bond issue. The center will not only have a positive impact on public transportation for our region but also on the southern portion of downtown Sumter. The building is a shining example of historic preservation, and all who were involved in the 10-year effort to make it a reality deserve our thanks. Also deserving recognition is the man who constructed this building at the turn of the 20th century: Charles T. Mason Jr. In later years the building became commonly known as the Moise Mini-Warehouse, but in its beginnings and in later years it housed The Sumter Telephone Manufacturing Co., known as “the telephone company” or “magneto plant” building to long-time Sumterites. Who was Charles Mason? Merely one of the foremost inventors of his era, ranking right up there with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Luther Burbank and the Wright brothers. In fact, Mason was a friend of both Burbank and Edison, who reportedly once visited Mason at his home in Sumter. He was born in Sumter in 1855 and died in 1928. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Charles T. Mason Sr., who was also an inventor while operating a jewelry store and watch repair business in Sumter for over 40 years. The elder Mason invented an electric fan, a burglar alarm system and a method of demagnetizing watches which he later sold to the Waltham Watch Co. The younger Mason lost a leg while engaged in a logging and sawmilling business, so he invented an artificial leg using cork in its construction, patented it and produced it on a small scale before selling his interest in it to another company. Funds from that invention gave him the capital to pursue other ventures, such as the creation of a mechanical cotton harvester, which was ahead of its time in the 1880s because of its expense, the abundance of cheap labor and the lack of sufficient power to drive or pull the machine. Had the internal combustion engine been available at the time instead of the mule or human labor, his cotton harvester would have revolutionized the cotton industry in the South. Ever resourceful, Mason went on to begin manufacturing telephones on a small scale in the 1890s, which grew into a major local industry by 1899, and thus was created the Sumter Telephone Manufacturing Co., whose stockholders were prominent Sumter men, such as C.G. Rowland, founder of the National Bank of South Carolina. The building he constructed on South Harvin at its height employed 400 workers who manufactured the telephones — beautifully constructed of locally harvested oak, walnut and sweetgum— that were shipped throughout the United States and around the world. The employees were comprised of blacks and whites who worked side by side and received equal wages, unusual for the Jim Crow era in the South, while female workers were situated in a separate part of the factory. He was an equal opportunity employer at a time when those words didn’t exist. The company also built magnetos used in internal combustion engines for boats and aircraft. He was instrumental in bringing the electric light to Sumter, serving as consulting engineer for the Sumter Electric Light Co. and providing technical knowledge to perfect the system. He invented an electric refrigeration system that he sold for $30,000. At the time of his death, Mason was a member of the prestigious Franklin Institute of Philadelphia and the Royal Society of Arts of London. He held more than 100 patents on items that continue to play a role in our daily lives such as the telephone, airplane, ignition systems and refrigeration. We cite the historical accomplishments of Charles T. Mason Jr. as a reminder of his illustrious life and the contributions he made through his inventions and to the economic progress of Sumter as the founder of the Sumter Telephone Manufacturing Co. The building today no longer bears that name, but it was the result of his vision and enterprise. He deserves recognition and memorialization somewhere in the confines of the now-restored building that houses the transportation center. It would be appropriate and fitting for SWRTA to do so in the museum or historical section of the center set aside for that purpose. Mr. Mason was a revered, productive Sumter citizen and a creative genius. He should be honored as such so that he will never be forgotten. EDITOR’S NOTE: Historical documentation on Mr. Mason contained in this editorial was compiled by Dr. Gene Dickerson of Sumter and first appeared in a Fortnightly Club paper. Reflections by Sammy Way: Sumter inventors were creative and numerous Sumter's most successful inventor, C. T. Mason Jr., second from left, stands with U.S. Army aviators during World War I when Mason's magnetos were widely used on military aircraft. Mason inherited his father's inventive genius and, unlike his father, was able to enjoy greater recognition and monetary rewards from his talents. SUMTER ITEM FILE PHOTO Posted Saturday, June 14, 2025 6:00 am By SAMMY WAY Sumter Item archivist and historian Reflections revisits several of Sumter's inventors and their impact on the growth of our nation. The data and photos were taken from The Item archives. The writings of Dr. Anne King Gregorie and Cassie Nicholes were also consulted. An article written for The Item in 1950 stated, "A bicycle coaster brake, a jet pilot's 'G' suit, a typewriter's automatic shift, vacuum-packed fruits and vegetables and demagnetized watches all have the following in common: they were all invented or developed by Sumterites." Sumter has had several inventors, starting with the son of man the county is named after. Thomas Sumter Jr. invented a "writing press" in 1809 and was also working on a cotton press. His wife wrote to a friend, "Mr. Sumter will make a fortune with all his machines," a prophecy which never came to pass. Jeptha Dyson invented a device in 1848 which was helpful to the cotton industry, a device designed for cleaning the teeth of the main card cylinder. Before Dyson's invention was patented, the cylinder had to be stopped at least four times daily for cleaning. Unfortunately for Dyson, who was the operator of a cotton factory in Fulton, English manufacturers pirated the design, and he never received any profit for his invention. Maj. Joseph S. Bossard produced a machine that is to agriculture what the Swiss army knife is to cutlery. In 1853, he developed a machine that could gin cotton, grind corn and pound the husks from rice. It could be powered by animal, steam or water. One horsepower was needed to conduct one of the processes; all three at once required five horsepower. More careful than Dyson, Maj. Bossard made sure to get English as well as American patents. Sumter inventors included Harmon Moise, a man with the unlikely professional combination of being both a lawyer and a surveyor. He was also a tinkerer, and he produced one of those little devices that are invaluable yet seldomly considered. Moise invented the bicycle coaster brake; he sold the invention for $500. Later, Moise developed an automatic shift for typewriters. Herbert Bell, a Sumter native, developed the clothing that jet pilots wear to protect them from the increased force of gravity experienced at high speeds. His most successful invention was a valveless, automatic vacuum sewer-flushing tank, which he experimented with in Sumter and sold to the city. By far, the most notable among Sumter inventors were a father-and-son duo, the Masons. Charles T. Mason moved to Sumter in 1850 from Darlington District when he was 21 years old. He opened a jewelry store and lit it with a gaslight system he and his neighbor A. Hauser invented. The gas was generated from any kind of grease by a "gasometer" for which Mason and Hauser obtained a patent. Incidentally, Hauser, working by himself, also developed a vacuum process for taking the air out of cans, revolutionizing the preservation of fruits and vegetables. During the 1860s, Mason was superintendent of the Confederate Telegraph Service and manufactured all new equipment for the Confederacy from his shops in Sumter. In 1869, Mason patented an electric alarm for banks and later developed an electric motor. He also discovered a way to demagnetize watches; he later sold the process to Waltham Watch Co. of Massachusetts. His son, who inherited the Mason innovation bug, became more famous than his father and made more money, also. Charles T. Mason Jr. first gained recognition for his mechanical ability when he was 14 years old; he built a complete working model of a locomotive-type steam engine. He received the silver medal at the 1869 Fair of the Agricultural and Mechanical Society of South Carolina. After an apprenticeship in the North, Mason returned to Sumter to put together what was considered to be the finest machine shop south of Philadelphia. With the funds from his invention of a prosthesis, he constructed a building in which he perfected and produced an invention known as a magneto for use in gasoline engines. Mason proved himself ahead of his time by inventing a cotton-picking machine which would, he said, harvest 4,000 bales of cotton a day. At the time, however, a surplus of labor for picking cotton existed in the South; with no viable market, Mason abandoned the idea to manufacture the machine which operated on the same plan as modern cotton harvesters. Subsequently, Mason began manufacturing telephones and founded the Sumter Telephone Manufacturing Co. which established a worldwide trade. The plant employed over 400 male and female employees. He hired both Black and white men, to whom he paid the same salary. [2, 3, 10] | |
| Occupation | silversmith [7] | |
| Religion | dismissed by letter 28 Jun 1883 [8] | |
| _UID | 7A011A1865974BE4A269B7DBB2F3FD031A9C | |
| Death | Abt 29 Mar 1888 [5, 8, 10] | |
| Person ID | I340 | Singleton and Related Families |
| Last Modified | 17 Jun 2025 | |
| Father | Reverend Thomas MASON, b. 1777/90 d. 1867 (Age 77 years) | |
| Mother | Mary M. WILLIAMS, b. 28 Mar 1798 d. 21 Jan 1852 (Age 53 years) | |
| Marriage | 23 Jun 1824 | Darlington District, South Carolina [7] |
| _UID | 31A12C4345504AADB0CDBCA03219634FA3BE | |
| _UID | 31A12C4345504AADB0CDBCA03219634FA3BE | |
| Family ID | F930 | Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 1 | Judith Grier BRITTON, b. 12 Aug 1828 d. 16 Apr 1870 (Age 41 years) | |||||||
| _UID | 3DC9FB19865A431C8F17F8310D3AFB2E983A | |||||||
| _UID | 3DC9FB19865A431C8F17F8310D3AFB2E983A | |||||||
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| Family ID | F931 | Group Sheet | Family Chart | ||||||
| Last Modified | 23 Mar 2026 | |||||||
| Family 2 | Jessie Rosalie SINGLETON, b. 31 Jul 1842, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina d. 10 Feb 1901, Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina (Age 58 years) | |||||||||
| Marriage | 29 Feb 1872 | Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina |
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| _UID | 0BB74D4EB75347A5AA29C896EBF31BFC7911 | |||||||||
| _UID | 0BB74D4EB75347A5AA29C896EBF31BFC7911 | |||||||||
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| Family ID | F126 | Group Sheet | Family Chart | ||||||||
| Last Modified | 4 Feb 2007 | |||||||||
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