Biography - Charles L. McMasters
Chas.
L. McMasters, dealer in grain, coal and seeds, and a popular young man of
Tuscola, was born on a farm three miles northwest of Tuscola, in Tuscola
township, March 26, 1867, and is a son of S. L. and Hannah (Maris)
McMasters, who were natives of Parke county, Indiana. In 1869 his father
sold his farm and removed to Sand Springs, Kansas, where he followed farming
and stock raising until his death in May, 1870, after which his mother, with
three children, two sons and one daughter — Charles being the younger —
removed to Winfield, Cowley county, Kansas, where she resided until the
spring of 1877, thence moving to Joplin, Jasper county, Missouri, where she
died October 3, of the same year. In March, 1878, Charles, being only in his
eleventh year, returned to Tuscola to live with his uncle, James Davis. Here
he went to school until February, 1886, when he became a clerk for Davis &
Finney, in the grain business, and remained their bookkeeper and
confidential clerk up to 1888, when Mr. Davis died. The firm was then
succeeded by Finney & McMasters, which business continued up to 1891, when
Mr. McMasters bought the interest of his partner and since then has been
alone. He is now in the midst of what promises to be a most successful
business career. He buys and sells about two hundred and fifty thousand
bushels of grain annually, and also deals in coal for the local trade.
Mr. McMasters has thrice been elected to the office of city treasurer, belongs to the Masonic and Red Men fraternities and is deservedly popular in business and social circles.
Extracted 12 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from the Historical and Biographical Record of Douglas County, Illinois, published in 1900, pages 126-127.
