When Willis Dessie Masterson was born on 4 June 1890, his father, Sylvester Preston Masterson, was 47 and his mother, Nancy Jane Stephens, was 32. He married Lillie Mae Higgins on 5 January 1908, in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 7 daughters. He lived in Police Jury Ward 2, Tensas, Louisiana, United States in 1930. He died on 24 May 1954, at the age of 63, and was buried in Akins, Sequoyah, Oklahoma, United States.