In the book's own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From History of Ray County, Mo. (1881)
ROBERT W. MASON.
This gentleman is a Missourian. He was born in Lafayette county, on the 12th day of June, 185T, and was educated there and in Ray county. His parents removed with him to the latter county in 1865, where he has ever since been engaged in his favorite occupation, farming. He was married on the 18th day of November, 1879, to Miss Lillie J. Slusher, daughter of a prominent farmer of Lafayette county, Missouri. R. W. Mason is the eldest son of Mr. Samuel O. Mason, a native of Kentucky. Mr. Mason owns an excellent farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres in Richmond township, in an unsurpassed condition in point of productiveness, a fine, commodious residence, and other improvements and conveniences of modern kind. He is an industrious, progressive, and successful young farmer, and is universally liked for his good-natured hospitality, so freely dispensed to friend or stranger. He county his friends by the score. With the advantages he now possesses, and his well-established habits of industry and economy, Mr. Mason cannot fail of attaining great wealth long before he is an old man.
As printed in History of Ray County, Mo. (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
The printed record stops around 1881. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.