George Mason V (April 30, 1753December 5, 1796) was an American planter, businessman, and
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
officer. Mason was the eldest son of United States
patriot
A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism.
Patriot may also refer to:
Political and military groups United States
* Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution
* Patriot m ...
, statesman, and delegate from
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
to the U.S. Constitutional Convention,
George Mason IV
George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including ...
and his wife Ann Eilbeck.
He received his early education from private tutors at
Gunston Hall
Gunston Hall is an 18th-century Georgian architecture, Georgian Plantation house in the Southern United States, mansion near the Potomac River in Mason Neck, Virginia, Mason Neck, Virginia, United States.
Built between 1755 and 1759 as the m ...
[ and was given Lexington plantation on Mason's Neck by his father in 1774.][ In 1775, he named his plantation to commemorate the ]Battle of Lexington
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...
in .[
Mason joined the Fairfax County Independent Militia in 1775 and was elected ]Ensign
An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...
.[ He developed a rheumatic disorder that plagued him for the remainder of his life.][ In 1776, he commanded a ]militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
company sent to Hampton, Virginia
Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...
to protect the coast from Lord Dunmore
Earl of Dunmore is a title in the Peerage of Scotland.
History
The title was created in 1686 for Lord Charles Murray, second son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl. He was made Lord Murray of Blair, Moulin and Tillimet (or Tullimet) and V ...
's assaults, but was forced to quit the military on account of his increasingly poor health.[ He travelled to France between 1779 and 1783 for business purposes and to improve his health.][ At his father's request, ]George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...
wrote Mason letters of introduction to the marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revoluti ...
and Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
in Paris.[ While in France, he settled in ]Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, where he became involved in the tobacco trade and occasionally arranged for shipments of goods to his father.[
Upon the death of his father in 1792, Mason inherited the entirety of Mason's Neck.] He died four years later at Lexington, on December 5, 1796, after suffering from chronic ill health for his entire adult life.[ He was interred in the Mason family graveyard at Gunston Hall. In 1803, his widow Betsey married ]George Graham
George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former Association football, football player and manager (association football), manager.
In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football ...
, a nephew of George Mason's second wife, Sarah Brent, who had lived at Gunston Hall and been educated with this Mason's two youngest brothers before completing his education at Columbia University and becoming a lawyer and government official as well as planter.[
His will divided Mason's Neck into two approximately equal tracts along a north–south axis from Causeway Point to Martin Cockburn's south boundary line.][ His eldest son George Mason VI received the eastern tract with the ownership privilege of either Lexington or Gunston Hall, of which he chose the latter.][ Another of his sons, William Eilbeck Mason, received the western half of the Neck.][
]
Family
Mason married Elizabeth "Betsey" Mary Ann Barnes Hooe, daughter of Gerard Hooe and Sarah Barnes of Barnesfield, King George County
King George County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 26,723. Its county seat is the town of King George.
The county's largest employer is the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center ...
, on April 22, 1784.[ They had six children:][
*Elizabeth Mary Ann Barnes Mason Hooe (March 9, 1785 – March 25, 1827)][
* George Mason VI (August 11, 1786 – August 21, 1834)][
*William Eilbeck Mason (February 3, 1788 – November 22, 1820)][
*Ann Eilbeck Mason Grymes (April 1, 1791 – November 5, 1864)][
*Sarah Barnes Hooe Mason Stith (May 27, 1794 – September 11, 1877)][
*]Richard Barnes Mason
Richard Barnes Mason (January 16, 1797July 25, 1850) was an American military officer who was a career officer in the United States Army and the fifth military governor of California before it became a state. He came from a politically prominen ...
(January 16, 1797 – July 26, 1850)[
He was a son of ]George Mason
George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including s ...
(1725–1792);[ nephew of ]Thomson Mason
Thomson Mason (14 August 173326 February 1785) was an American lawyer, planter and jurist. A younger brother of George Mason IV, United States patriot, statesman, and delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention, Thomson Mason wo ...
(1733–1785);[ first cousin of ]Stevens Thomson Mason
Stevens Thomson Mason (October 27, 1811 – January 4, 1843) was an American politician who served as the first governor of Michigan from 1835 to 1840. Coming to political prominence at an early age, Mason was appointed his territory's ...
(1760–1803), John Thomson Mason
John Thomson Mason (15 March 1765 – 10 December 1824) was an American lawyer and Attorney General of Maryland in 1806.
Early life
Mason was born on 15 March 1765 at Chopawamsic in Stafford County, Virginia. He was the third child and you ...
(1765–1824), and William Temple Thomson Mason (1782–1862);[ father of George Mason VI (1786–1834) and ]Richard Barnes Mason
Richard Barnes Mason (January 16, 1797July 25, 1850) was an American military officer who was a career officer in the United States Army and the fifth military governor of California before it became a state. He came from a politically prominen ...
(1797–1850);[ uncle of ]Thomson Francis Mason
Thomson Francis Mason (1785 – 21 December 1838) was an American lawyer, planter and politician who served as the mayor of Alexandria (then in the District of Columbia, but now Virginia) between 1827 and 1830, and as a justice of the peace for m ...
(1785–1838) and James Murray Mason
James Murray Mason (November 3, 1798April 28, 1871) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as senator from Virginia, having previously represented Frederick County, Virginia, in the Virginia House of Delegates.
A grandson of George Ma ...
(1798–1871);[ first cousin once removed of ]Armistead Thomson Mason
Armistead Thomson Mason (August 4, 1787February 6, 1819), the son of Stevens Thomson Mason, was a U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1816 to 1817. Mason was also the second-youngest person to ever serve in the US Senate, at the age of 28 and 5 month ...
(1787–1819), John Thomson Mason
John Thomson Mason (15 March 1765 – 10 December 1824) was an American lawyer and Attorney General of Maryland in 1806.
Early life
Mason was born on 15 March 1765 at Chopawamsic in Stafford County, Virginia. He was the third child and you ...
(1787–1850), and John Thomson Mason Jr.
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.
Early life and education
Born at the Montpelier estate near Hagerstown, Maryland, Mason was ed ...
(1815–1873);[ and first cousin twice removed of ]Stevens Thomson Mason
Stevens Thomson Mason (October 27, 1811 – January 4, 1843) was an American politician who served as the first governor of Michigan from 1835 to 1840. Coming to political prominence at an early age, Mason was appointed his territory's ...
(1811–1843).[
]
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, George 05
1753 births
1796 deaths
18th-century American Episcopalians
American people of English descent
American planters
American slave owners
British North American Anglicans
Burials at Gunston Hall
Businesspeople from Virginia
George Mason
Mason family
People from Fairfax County, Virginia
Virginia militiamen in the American Revolution