The Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Representative Men of Chicago, Milwaukee and the World's Columbian Exposition

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BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY AND PORTRAIT GALLERY.
Dr. DeWolf is an eminent authority on sanitary matters is further shown in the fact that he was appointed one of the sanitary commission to examine the site for the World's Columbian Ex¬ position. His associates in this work were Dr. H. A. Johnson and Dr. Fernand Henrotin. This commission will continue its sanitary supervision till the close of the Exposition.
Dr. DeWolf is a member of the Grand Army of the°Republic, and was made an honorary member of the French Society of Hygiene. He is also a member of the British Association for the Ad¬ vancement of Science. These honors were con¬ ferred upon   him in recognition   of  his  eminent
services in the health department of the city of Chicago. He is a member of all the prominent medical societies, also a member of the Illinois Club, and a man of high social standing and an extensive acquaintance. Dr. DeWolf is professor of State medicine and public hygiene in the Chi¬ cago Medical College, a position he has occupied with distinction for many years. He holds his religious affiliations with the Third Presbyterian Church. Always a Republican, yet he numbers among his intimate friends many who differ from him in his political belief.
He was married December, 1872, to Harriet T. Lyman, of Northampton, Mass.
HON.  WILLIAM   ERNEST  MASON,
CHICAGO,  ILL.
AMONG the representative men of Chicago, whose position is due solely to their own efforts, none deserves more honorable mention than William E. Mason. He was born m the village of Franklinville, Cattaraugus county. New York, on the 7th day of July, 1850. His parents were Lewis J. and Nancy (Winslow) Mason, his father being, at the time of William's birth, en¬ gaged in mercantile pursuits. He was a man of high character, and very active in politics, and in his early manhood was identified with the Abo¬ litionists. Upon the organization of the Repub¬ lican party, he became an enthusiastic member of that body, and was an ardent supporter of John C. Fremont for the presidency, in 1856.
In 1858 the family removed to Bentonsport, Iowa, and lived there until the death of the father, in 1865. William was thus, at the tender age of fifteen, practically thrown upon his own resources and left to battle with the world. He had re¬ ceived the rudiments of his education in the public schools of Franklinville, and later at Ben¬ tonsport. He had also studied two years at Birmingham College, and was making fair pro¬ gress in the way of a liberal education, when called upon to make his own way in the world.
This shouldering of the responsibilities of life developed in the boy a self-reliance and strength of purpose which have been distinguishing charac¬ teristics of the man.    He began teaching school.
and devoted himself alternately to teaching and studying until 1868. During the next two years, he taught in the public schools of Des Moines, Iowa. He then began the study of law in the office of Hon. Thomas F. Withrow, an eminent corporation lawyer, who was, soon after this time, appointed General Solicitor of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company, and re¬ moved to Chicago. Our subject accompanied him, and remained in his office one year, and then became a student in the office of Hon. John N. Jewett, where he finished his preparation for admission to the bar.
For several years he remained in the office of his distinguished preceptor, leaving it to form a partnership with Judge M. R. M. Wallace, in 1877. ^^ soon became known as a good lawyer and safe counselor, and especially as an able and eloquent advocate. Upon separating from Judge Wallace, he became the senior member of the firm of Mason, Ennis and Bates, with which he is still identified.
Mr. Mason has always been a staunch Republi¬ can, and, as his record will show, an enthusiastic and effective worker in the interests of that party. Before he was thirty years of age, he was a mem¬ ber of the General Assembly of Illinois, and m 1882 was sent to the State Senate from the Ninth Senatorial District of Illinois. In both the lower house and the senate, he was conspicuous for his