John Thomson Mason
Attorney General of Maryland
In office
1806–1806
GovernorRobert Bowie
Preceded byWilliam Pinkney
Succeeded byJohn Johnson Sr.
Personal details
Born(1765-03-15)15 March 1765
Chopawamsic, Stafford County, Colony of Virginia
Died10 December 1824(1824-12-10) (aged 59)
SpouseElizabeth Beltzhoover
Children7, including John Thomson Mason Jr.
Residence(s)Montpelier, Clear Spring, Maryland
ProfessionAttorney

John Thomson Mason (15 March 1765 – 10 December 1824)[1][2] was an American lawyer and Attorney General of Maryland in 1806.[2]

Early life

Mason was born on 15 March 1765 at Chopawamsic in Stafford County, Virginia.[1][2] He was the third child and youngest son of Thomson Mason and his wife Mary King Barnes.[1]

Education

Early career

Mason operated a plantation in what was then Washington County, Maryland near Elizabethtown (now Hagerstown using enslaved labor.[3]

Admitted to the Maryland bar, he attained high rank,[4] but twice declined the office of United States Attorney General when it was offered by Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.[4] Mason ran for one of Maryland's seats in the United States Senate, but lost.[4] He then served as Attorney General of Maryland in 1806.[2] He was also one of six judges appointed to a newly restructured court of appeals by Governor Robert Bowie on 19 January 1806, but declined the appointment.[5]

Marriages and children

Elizabeth Beltzhoover Mason, painted by Gilbert Stuart

Mason married Elizabeth Beltzhoover in 1797.[1][2] He and Elizabeth had seven children:[1][2]

  • Mary Barnes Mason Winter (c. 1800–11 May 1844)[1]
  • Elizabeth Ann Armistead Thomson Mason Wharton (4 April 1803–20 January 1857)[1]
  • Abram Barnes Mason Barnes (21 October 1807–10 April 1863)[1]
  • Melchior Beltzhoover Mason (born 3 October 1812)[1]
  • John Thomson Mason, Jr. (9 May 1815–28 March 1873)[1]
  • Thomson Mason (15 July 1818–1848)[1]
  • Virginia Wallace Mason (16 April 1820–6 October 1858)[1]

Later life

Mason died on 10 December 1824 at the age of 59.[1] Mason was interred at his Montpelier estate in Clear Spring, Maryland.[6]

Relations

John Thomson Mason was a nephew of George Mason (1725–1792);[1] son of Thomson Mason (1733–1785);[1] brother of Stevens Thomson Mason (1760–1803);[1] half-brother of William Temple Thomson Mason (1782–1862);[1] first cousin of George Mason V (1753–1796);[1] first cousin once removed of Thomson Francis Mason (1785–1838), George Mason VI (1786–1834), Richard Barnes Mason (1797–1850), and James Murray Mason (1798–1871);[1] uncle of Armistead Thomson Mason (1787–1819) and John Thomson Mason (1787–1850);[1] father of John Thomson Mason Jr. (1815–1873);[1] and great uncle of Stevens Thomson Mason (1811–1843).[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Gunston Hall. "John Thomson Mason". Gunston Hall. Archived from the original on 11 February 2008. Retrieved 15 February 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Political Graveyard (16 June 2008). "Mason family of Virginia". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  3. ↑ The Library of Virginia has a slave importation certificate recorded in Frederick County, Maryland on 3 March 1794 https://lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990005037370205756&context=L&vid=01LVA_INST:01LVA&lang=en&search_scope=MyInstitution_noAER&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=LibraryCatalog&query=any,contains,mason,%20thomson&offset=0
  4. 1 2 3 The Colonial Dames of America (1910). Ancestral Records and Portraits: A Compilation from the Archives of Chapter I, the Colonial Dames of America. Boston, Massachusetts: Grafton Press. p. 808.
  5. ↑ John Thomas Scharf, "Judges of the Court of Appeals", History of Maryland from the Earliest Period to the Present Day (1879), p. 773.
  6. ↑ Federal Writers' Project (1976). Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State. US History Publishers. ISBN 1-60354-019-9.
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