James Brown Mason (January 28, 1775August 31, 1819) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and legislator who served in the

Rhode Island House of Representatives The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the upper house being the Rhode Island Senate. It is composed of 75 members, elected ...

from 1804 to 1814, where he was

speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

from 1812 to 1814. Elected to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in November 1814, he represented one of Rhode Island's two at-large congressional districts from 1815 until 1819.

Early life

The Grosvenor Boys by James Sullivan Lincoln

Mason was born on January 28, 1775, in the small rural town of

Thompson Thompson may refer to: People * Thompson (surname) * Thompson M. Scoon (1888–1953), New York politician Places Australia *Thompson Beach, South Australia, a locality Bulgaria * Thompson, Bulgaria, a village in Sofia Province Canada * ...

in the Connecticut Colony. He was the son of John and Rose Anna ( née Brown) Mason. As a young man, James pursued classical studies and graduated from Rhode Island College (the future Brown University) in 1791. He studied medicine and was admitted to practice.

Career

Mason moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he practiced medicine from 1795 to 1798. While in South Carolina, he met and married his first wife. Upon her death in 1798, he returned to

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

. In Providence, Mason engaged in mercantile pursuits between 1798 and 1819. He served as a trustee of Brown University from 1804 to 1819.

Political career

He served as member of the

from 1804 to 1814 and served as Speaker of the House from February 1812 to May 1814. Mason was elected as a Federalist to the Fourteenth and

Fifteenth In music, a fifteenth or double octave, abbreviated ''15ma'', is the interval between one musical note and another with one-quarter the wavelength or quadruple the frequency. It has also been referred to as the bisdiapason. The fourth harmonic, ...

Congresses (March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1819). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1818 to the Sixteenth Congress.

Personal life

On July 16, 1800, Mason married Alice Brown (1777–1823), the youngest daughter of John Brown and Sarah (née Smith) Brown. Her father was a wealthy merchant,

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

r, and statesman from Providence, and a founder of Brown University. James and Alice's children were: * Abby Mason (1800–1822), who married

Nicholas Brown III Nicholas Brown III (October 2, 1792 – March 2, 1859) was the United States Consul to the Papal court from 1845 to 1853 and later was Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island from 1856 to 1857, serving under Governor W. W. Hoppin. Early life Nich ...

(1792–1859) in 1820 * Zerviah Mason (1801–1802), who died in infancy * Zerviah Mason (1803–1812), who died in childhood * Sarah Brown Mason (1804–1864), who married first George Benjamin Ruggles (1804–1833) in 1825. After his death, she married secondly to Levi Curtis Eaton (1812–1852) * Rosa Anna Mason (1817–1872), who married Dr. William Grosvenor (1810–1888) Six months after leaving Congress, Mason died in Providence at the age of 44 and was interred in

North Burial Ground The North Burial Ground is a cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island dating to 1700, the first public cemetery in Providence. It is located north of downtown Providence, bounded by North Main Street, Branch Avenue, the Moshassuck River, and Ceme ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, James Brown 1819 deaths Brown University alumni 1775 births Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island Burials at North Burying Ground (Providence) People of colonial Connecticut 18th-century American physicians People from Thompson, Connecticut