Stevens Thomson Mason was a member of one of the most distinguished of Colonial families. His original American ancestor, George Mason, emigrated to Virginia in the seventeenth century. The family established itself in the Northern Neck, acquired considerable property, and named the county of Stafford in memory of the English shire of its origin. Stevens Thomson Mason was a lineal descendant of this emigrant. The son of Thomson Mason and his first wife, Mary King Barnes, he was born on December 29, 1760 at "Chippawamsic, " Stafford County.
Education
Stevens Thomson Mason was educated at the College of William and Mary, and prepared himself in Virginia for the practice of law.
Career
His first real contact with life came when his father, who had reared him with strictness, sent him, during the Yorktown campaign, to General Washington with a tender of his services. He was now little more than twenty years of age, but the General made him an aide on his staff. Returning home after this experience, the young man began to take an active interest in politics, and in 1783 served his first term in the House of Delegates, sitting with his father, who was serving his last. After this service in the lower house of the Assembly, he was, in 1787, elected to the state Senate. In 1788 he was a member of the Virginia ratification convention and there sided with his more famous uncle against the adoption of the Constitution. Later in the Assembly he opposed the amendments proposed by Congress on the ground that they were inadequate. In 1794 he was elected to the United States Senate to succeed James Monroe, and at the commencement of his career in that body achieved notoriety by publishing an abstract of the articles of Jay's treaty when its fate was still in the balance. The rules of the Senate forbade such a violation of its secrecy, and the proponents of the treaty were loud in condemnation. Its opponents applauded, as did the Virginia Assembly. There can be no doubt but that Mason's motives were honorable. The strength of his partisan feeling was manifest by the aid and comfort he gave to Thomas Cooper, James Thomson Callender, and Matthew Lyon when they were prosecuted under the Sedition Act. From this beginning he became a consistent opponent of Federalism and a steady friend of Jefferson and his cause.
Achievements
Stevens Thomson Mason was a Colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, a member of the Virginia state legislature and a Republican U. S. Senator from Virginia (1794–1803).
Membership
Member of the Virginia Senate, Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
Personality
Mason was an able jurist, and his last speech in the Senate, delivered in support of the bill to repeal the Judiciary Act of 1801, shows that he was a debater of no mean powers. His two sons, Armistead Thomson and John Thomson, won distinction in public life, the former becoming a United States senator, and the latter secretary of Michigan Territory. His grandson, Stevens Thomson Mason, was the first governor of the state of Michigan. Mason died in Philadelphia while still a member of the Senate. There is an account of his funeral in that city in the Aurora for May 14, 1803. His remains were later reinterred at "Raspberry Plain. "
Connections
He married Mary Elizabeth Armistead of Louisa County and lived at "Raspberry Plain, " the country seat in Loudoun County which had been left him by his father. The couple had six children.
Father:
Thomson Mason
14 August 1733 - 26 February 1785
Was a prominent Virginia lawyer, jurist, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Mother:
Mary King Barnes Mason
_____ - 21 Oct 1771
Halfbrother:
William Temple Thomson Mason
July 24, 1782–1862
Was a prominent Virginia farmer and businessman.
Brother:
John Thomson Mason
15 March 1765 – 10 December 1824
Was an American jurist and Attorney General of Maryland in 1806.
Uncle:
George Mason
December 11, 1725 – October 7, 1792
Was a Virginia planter and politician, and a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of three delegates, together with fellow Virginian Edmund Randolph and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, who refused to sign the constitution.
Grandson:
Stevens Thomson Mason
October 27, 1811 – January 4, 1843
Was an American politician who served as the 1st Governor of Michigan from 1835 to 1840.
Wife:
Mary Elizabeth Armistead
Daughter:
Emily Rutger Mason
1793–1837
Daughter:
Mary Thomson Mason
1791–1813
Daughter:
Catherine Mason
1795 - ____
Son:
Stevens Thomson Mason
1789 – 17 November 1815
Son:
Armistead Thomson Mason
August 4, 1787 – February 6, 1819
Was a U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1816 to 1817.
Son:
John Thomson Mason
January 8, 1787 – April 17, 1850
Was an American lawyer, United States marshal, Secretary of Michigan Territory from 1830 through 1831, land agent, and an important figure in the Texas Revolution.
nephew:
John Thomson Mason Jr.
May 9, 1815 – March 28, 1873
Was a U.S. Congressman from Maryland, representing the sixth district from 1841 to 1843.
Cousin:
George Mason V of Lexington
30 April 1753 – 5 December 1796
Was a planter, businessman, and militia leader.
Cousin:
Richard Barnes Mason
January 16, 1797 – July 25, 1850
Was a career officer in the United States Army and the fourth military governor of California before it became a U.S. state.
Cousin:
George Mason VI
August 11, 1786 - August 21, 1834
Was a prominent Virginia planter.
Cousin:
Thomson Francis Mason
1785 – 21 December 1838
Was a prominent jurist, lawyer, planter, councilman, judge, and the mayor of Alexandria, District of Columbia (now Virginia) between 1827 and 1830.
Cousin:
James Murray Mason
November 3, 1798 – April 28, 1871
Was a US Representative and US Senator from Virginia.
