Masters was born in New York and moved to Cleveland with his first wife, Naomi, in 1851.
Masters defeated his successor, Edward S. Flint, because of his Republican views during the Civil War.
[1] He subsequently sold his part of Peck & Masters shipbuilding company.
After resigning from the Cleveland City Council in May 1864, Masters moved to New England and then Nova Scotia to regain his health.
His illness worsening, he moved to Pine Island, Minnesota, where he died a few days before November 14, 1865.