A descendant of Revolutionary George Mason; prominent Fredericksburg, Va. citizen.
Son of Wiley Roy Mason, Sr. and Susan Taylor Smith.
Brother of: Monimia Fairfax Mason, Anna Augusta Mason, Margaret Boyd Mason, Susan Augusta Mason, Julien Jaquelin Mason, Octavia Mason, Enoch Wellford Mason, Eugene Mason, Henry Alan Mason, and Ellen Mason.
Married 1st wife Susan Gibbon Thornton on June 3, 1855 in Stafford County, Va.; father of Margaret Boyd Mason, Charlotte Thorton Mason, Wiley Roy Mason III, William Thornton Mason, Charles Field Mason, George Hamilton Mason, Susan Taylor Mason, Julien Jaquelin Mason II, Monimia Mason, Pinckney Boteler Mason, and Maria Page Mason.

Residence Fredericksburg, Va.
Appointed 4/12/1862 as Lieutenant, Aide-de-Camp to his brother-in-law, General Field.
Attached 1863 to Conscript Bureau.
Re-appointed 1864 as Lieutenant, Aide-de-Camp to General Field.
Commissioned as Captain, Gen & Staff of C.S.A. General Jubal Early.
Promoted to Major (date unknown).
Wounded 1864 slightly twice at Cold Harbor, Va.
Wounded 1864 in the liver, POW, Fussell's Mill, Va.; exchanged 10/3/1864.

In Fredericksburg, Va., he lived at 133 Caroline Street; salesman, grocer. His home was known as "The Sentry Box".

After the 1st Battle of Fredericksburg, then-Captain Mason returned to his home, to find a dead Union soldier on one of his beds and another on the floor of the parlor. The latter's "entire form left its imprint in blood on the floor."
In his bedroom he found yet another Union soldier, this time a Lieutenant Colonel, sitting in an "old fashioned easy chair."
Captain Mason "supposed him to be alive, as the back of his head was toward me. Much startled, I approached him, to find that he had been shot through the neck, and, probably, placed in that upright position that he might better breathe. He was quite dead. I had all these bodies, and five or six others found in my yard, buried in one grave on the wharf."

MAJOR W.R. MASON DEAD -
Funeral and Interment Here Monday.
Major Wily Roy Mason died at his home, 10 South 1st St., Richmond, Saturday night, of general debility, aged 77 years.
The deceased was a son of the late W. Roy Mason, of "Ceveland", King George County, and was a member of the Mason family which has been prominent In national and State affairs since the days of 1776.
He was educated at William and Mary College and later located In Fredericksburg where he engaged in the dry goods business and married Miss Thornton, granddaughter of Capt. Hamilton, of Hamilton's Crossing.
He entered the army at the firing of the first gun and served with distinction and great gallantry on the staff of Gen. C.W. Field, rising to rank of Major, and was wounded three times.
He returned to this city after the war and engaged in business with Gen. Walker, under firm style of Mason & Walker. Later he formed the firm of W.R. Mason & Co., and while a member of the firm was elected Mayor of Fredericksburg, which office he declined. Afterwards, he was a salesman for the Pace Tobacco Co., of Richmond, and was for a time very successful.
His wife died and after several years he married Miss Elisabeth Backus, of Columbus, Ga., who survives him.
He was generous to a fault and a man of fine impulses.
In the past ten years he has been gradually failing in health and has lived In Richmond.
He is survived by six children: three sons and three daughters -- Mr. W. Roy Mason, of New York; Col. Charles F. Mason, U.S.A. and stationed at Panama; Julien J. Mason, of New York; Mrs. F.L. Poindexter and Mrs. Monimia Wood, of Warrenton, Va.; and Mrs. E.A. Russell, Fairmount, W. Va.
His remains were brought here Monday and funeral took place from St. George's Church, conducted by Rev. Dr. R.J. McBryde, and interment in family lot in City Cemetery.
The pallbearers were: Messrs. C.R. Howard, C.H. Hurkamp, John M. Griffin, R.H. Carmichael, M.M. Lewis and C. Wistar Braxton. The Daily Star - Oct 25, 1909.