Mason Court

Crawford Mason & Helga Severson - courtesy of McLennanG - Ancestry

Crawford Mason was the son of James McGregor Mason & Catherine Anne MacDonald and he married Helga 'Hilda' Severson.

Crawford's dad left the Maritimes and somehow landed in Colorado where he married another Maritimer named Catherine MacDonald in 1880.  They remained in the States to have a few children, then head back to Nova Scotia for a number of years where they had a handful more children.  

By 1916, James the farmer had relocated his family to the prairies of Alberta yet it wasn't until I discovered this article written by Martin Wissmath in the Hinton Parklander, 2 Oct 2012 that I came to appreciate the true intrepid nature of this particular group of Masons.

New ‘Mason Court’ named for Hinton pioneer family

Martin Wissmath

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 10:31:17 MDT AM

Crawford Mason at his hunting post.  The Masons moved to the Hinton area in the 1920s and homesteaded in the neigbourhood of Eaton Drive.  There are no Msaons listed as residents of Hinton currently.

The local pioneering Mason family will be getting a street named after them.

Hinton Town Council voted to approve the name of Mason Court for the new street, which will be located just south of Muldoon Crescent off Eaton Drive. The Mason family no longer lives in Hinton but were early settlers here in the 1920s. The street is one of a pair that will be named after pioneers; the other is Berry Place named for Preston Berry.

Town Council voted unanimously Sept. 18 to approve the naming of the new streets in the new subdivision currently under construction. Mason Court will be an east-west cul-de-sac and connect to Eaton Drive near Thompson Lake. Berry Place will be a north-south cul-de-sac adjoining the centre of Mason Court.

Crawford Mason and his brother Cyrus filed for land in Hinton in 1928 as the coal industry began booming. They lived in the Eaton Drive area, named for the family that bought the homestead from the Mason’s before the pulp mill was built in the 1950s.

Not much has been set down in the history books about Crawford and Cyrus, except for a short excerpt from Peter Krytor, another early Hintonite. He recalled how Crawford would play the fiddle and mouth organ at Thompson Lake while locals skated in the evenings and square danced.

The new development is being constructed by Tredwin Developments Inc. The town received an application from Neil Tredwin to have one of the new streets named after his family, which has been in Hinton since 1956. His application was passed over in favour of the earlier settlers Mason and Berry.

The town’s Naming Policy — set in 2009 — allows for streets in town to be named after early settlers and pioneers in the area. By using historical names the administration’s intent is to foster a sense of local heritage and encourage greater community pride.

The Naming Policy also outlines criteria for choosing a street designation such as “Court,” “Place,” “Bay,” or “Cove,” for neighbourhood developments.

Crawford and Hilda retired to British Columbia and are buried at the Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby.