Benjamin Franklin Mastin

ID: I93378

Name: Benjamin Franklin MASTIN

Given Name: Benjamin Franklin

Surname: Mastin

Sex: M

_UID: 005F286A352BD611921A44455354000115ED

Note:

Benjamin Franklin Mastin was born in Mclean county Illinois November 23, 1875. Much confusion has surrounded his exact date of birth but the date listed here is accurate. Note the date of 1886 is frequently mentioned but this date is sim ply impossible. His first child Lourena was born in 1900 and twins the followin g year. He would have been fourteen years old if this date were correct. It is known from records obtained in McLean county Illinois and from the family bibl e that the Nov. 23, 1875 date is correct. He was born in Belleflower, McLean Co . Illinois

"Grandpa Ben" farmed in Lost Springs Kansas where he met and marri ed Ada Melissa Smith. There they had Children Lourena, named after his mother, Mary and John (twins) Wilton, Francis, Nathan, and then moved to Jefferson Okla homa. More children, Alice, William, Myrtle, Ray Benjamin (the grandfather of t he recorder of this information) Ralph and Clifford. while it is unclear exactl y why Ben moved to Oklahoma when he had a successful and thriving farm, it is c ertain that the move was not a profitable one. All attemps at farming were unsu ccessful and the once thriving family fell into poverty. The growing number of children and lack of favorible farming coupled with the dust bowl conditions fo rced Ben and Ada to move away from Oklahoma. His oldest son Reverend John Henry Mastin had a congregation in Eau Claire Wisconsin and so the couple moved ther e. Already Ray, Ralph, Clifford, Nathan and Francis were living there as there were jobs to be had. Eventually Reverend John moved to Fairchild Wisconsin and Ben and Ada followed. Ada died in 1943 of a stroke and Ben continued on until 1 964. What was Ben like? It depends on who you ask. The recorder of this informa tion knows the older boys in the family think he was very different than the de scription the younger boys portray. It is known he was a heavy drinker in his l ater years in Oklahoma and was very harsh in his treatment of the younger boys. All of the boys agree he was unyieldingly stubborn, and unreasonable. The oth er thing all the boys agree on is that there simply was not much to say about h im. He finally died in Fairchild in 1964 at the age of 89.

Birth: 23 NOV 1875 in McLean County, IL

Death: 8 DEC 1964 in Fairchild, _____, WI

Burial: Chippewa Falls, _____, WI

Reference Number: 003-94371N

Event: Grave Prairie View Cemetery

Father: Elijah Emberry MASTIN b: 22 JAN 1836 in Mason County, KY

Mother: Lourena Elizabeth DYE b: 10 NOV 1839 in Mason County, KY

Marriage 1 Ada Melissa SMITH b: 4 NOV 1874 in Paris, _____, TN

Married: 13 NOV 1898 in Marion County, KS

Children

Ray Benjamin MASTIN b: 16 FEB 1913 in Jefferson, _____, OK

John MASTIN b: 25 AUG 1901 in Lost Springs, _____, KS
Mary MASTIN b: 25 AUG 1901 in Lost Springs, _____, KS
Wilton MASTIN b: 15 APR 1903 in Lost Springs, _____, KS
Nathan MASTIN b: 28 SEP 1905 in Lost Springs, _____, KS
Francis MASTIN b: 7 OCT 1904 in Lost Springs, _____, KS
William Howard MASTIN b: 25 NOV 1909 in Jefferson, _____, OK
Alice MASTIN b: 26 MAR 1907 in Jefferson, _____, OK
Living MASTIN
Ralph Le Roy MASTIN b: 19 APR 1915 in Jefferson, _____, OK
Clifford MASTIN b: 1918 in Jefferson, _____, OK
Lourena MASTIN b: 31 JAN 1900 in Lost Springs, _____, KS