Grace Sartwell Mason (October 31, 1876 – February 1, 1966) was an American journalist, critic, and writer of stories and novels.

Early life Grace Sartwell was born in Port Allegany, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Stephen C. and Rose F. Thompson Sartwell. Her parents kept an inn, Sartwell House. She had a twin brother, Stephen M. Sartwell.Michael A. Leeson, History of the Counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron and Potter, Pennsylvania (J. H. Beers 1890): 526. She studied music as a teen.Lillian G. Genn, "Party Flirtations Dangerous" Honolulu Advertiser (October 9, 1932): 31. via Newspapers.com

Career Mason published several novels and collections of short stories, including The Car and the Lady (1908, co-written with Percy F. Magargel), The Godparents (1910), Licky and his Gang (1912), The Bear's Claws (1913), The Golden Hope (1916),"Los Angeles as the Villain" California Outlook (September 1916): 137. His Wife's Job (1919), The Shadow of Rosalie Byrnes (1919) and Women Are Queer (1932).Online Books by Grace Sartwell Mason, The Online Books Page. She is sometimes considered an early woman author in science fiction, based on Bear's Claws (a "lost world" story)."Grace Sartwell Mason", The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (May 12, 2017).

Mason's stories appeared in national publications, including Harper's,Grace Sartwell Mason, author index, Harper's Magazine. Scribner's,Grace Sartwell Mason, "His Job" Scribner's Magazine (April 1920): 470–480. Munsey's,Grace Sartwell Mason, "The Wedding Gift" Munsey's (November 1908): 220–225. American Magazine,Grace Sartwell Mason, "The Only Old Person Left in the World" American Magazine (February 1919): 29–31, 118. Appleton's,Grace Sartwell Mason, "The Prodigies" Appleton's (August 1907): 217–224. and Everybody's.Grace Sartwell Mason, "The Lady with the Comic Sense" Everybody's (May 1916): 618–633.

She moved to Northern California in 1912. On her relocation to California, she stated: "For a writer who needs the out-of-doors and plenty of elbow room – big spaces, the mountains, the sound of the surf, the wind in the pines – California is the place."Russell E. Smith, "The Literary Inspiration of California" Book News Monthly (November 1915): 22. She was associated with the artists' colony at Carmel, California."Actors of Carmel Hold a Frolic at Theater in Woods" San Francisco Chronicle (June 9, 1912): 23. via Newspapers.com

Mason was an officer of the Pen and Brush, a New York club for women writers and artists, while Ida Tarbell was the club's president."Women Artists and Writers Buy $52,000 Tenth St. Home" New York Times (June 3, 1923): E1. She was also a member of the Authors' Guild."Authors At Tea in Store" New York Times (October 7, 1927): 19. She spent the summer of 1927 at an island retreat in Maine with three other women writers, including Pulitzer-prize winner Margaret Widdemer.Untitled society news item, The Times (November 15, 1927): 6. via Newspapers.com In 1935 she was on the panel of judges for a literary contest sponsored by the Bronxville Women's Club."Winners Announced in Literary Contest" New York Times (November 3, 1935): 2.

Films based on works by Grace Sartwell Mason include Waifs (1918), The Shadow of Rosalie Byrne (1920), Speed (1925), Man Crazy (1927), and Honeymoon in Bali (1939). A 1926 story by Mason was also the basis of This Way to Heaven (September 18, 1956), an episode of the television anthology series The Jane Wyman Show.

Personal life Grace M. Sartwell married James Redfern Mason, a music critic, in 1902.John William Leonard, ed., Woman's Who's Who of America (American Commonwealth Company 1914): 542. They divorced.Nina Baym, Women Writers of the American West (University of Illinois Press 2011): 290. In 1930 she married architect Ralph Holt Howes."Sues to Force Howes to Quit Second Wife" New York Times (January 4, 1930): 4. "Poetess Propitiated" Brooklyn Daily Eagle (May 8, 1930): 3. via Newspapers.com She died in 1966.

References

Further reading Diane Wellins Moul, "'A certain something': Reclaiming Grace Sartwell Mason" (PhD dissertation, University of Rhode Island 1998). Diane Wellins Moul, "A Boys' Town: Grace Sartwell Mason's Licky and His Gang" in Roxanne Harde, ed., Narratives of Community: Women's Short Story Sequences (Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2009): 389–410. Grace Sartwell Mason, "The Lotus Eater" in Maureen Honey, ed., Breaking the Ties That Bind: Popular Stories of the New Woman, 1915–1930 (University of Oklahoma Press 1998): 94–112.

External links

Grace Howes's gravesite on Find a Grave.