E. D. Masterson
E.D. Masterson, the present popular steward of the Majestic, was born in Prescott, Ontario, October 25, 1850, and is a son of T. C. and Catherine (McGuire) Masterson, natives of Scotland and Ireland, respectively. In 1860 he removed with his parents to Cleveland, where he finished his education in the public schools, and in 1865 began his career on the lakes as waiter on the propeller Empire, of the Northern Transportation Company. Two years later he was on the propeller Wisconsin when she burned on Lake Ontario, May 23, 1867, seventy-two lives being lost. Mr. Masterson was at that time only a boy of seventeen years, and it is a remarkable fact that although is was his second season on the water he was not frightened to an extent which would cause him to give up marine life. He was picked up by a boat after twenty-one hours of exposure, and with the assistance of four other boys saved the lives of two ladies.
After this wreck, Mr. Masterson obtained a position as porter on the City of Concord, and was later steward on the Buckeye and the Oswegatchie, after which he was chief steward of the Northern Transportation line at Cleveland, Ohio, for two years. He next went on the steamer St. Paul as steward for three seasons, and since that time has served in the same capacity on the City of Fremont, and as chief steward of the Canadian Pacific steamships Alberta and Manitoba, serving in that position for nine seasons. He was then chief steward on the steamer City of Collingwood, running from Canada to the World's Fair, and since 1895 has served in the same capacity on the steamer City of Cleveland, of the Detroit and Cleveland line. For the season of 1898 he was steward of the steamship Majestic a first-class passenger steamer belonging to the Georgian Bay & Lake Superior steamship line.
On May 30, 1882, Mr. Masterson was married to Miss Margaret, daughter of John Weber, a large vessel owner, who also conducts a marine store and deals in marine supplies in Cleveland, where he now makes his home. Mr. and Mrs. Masterson have four interesting children, whose names and dates of birth are as follows: Edward, Jr., November 2, 1883; Corinne, June 25, 1887; Mildred, July 15, 1889; and Harry, April 8, 1896. With the exception of the youngest they are all attending school. The family have a pleasant home at 54 Hazard street, Cleveland. Mr. Masterson is one of the oldest passenger stewards in actual service on the Great Lakes at the present time, having filled that position for thirty years, and by all who know him he is held in high regard.
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Volume I
This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.
Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.
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