Jonathan Mason (politician)

Early life

Mason was born in Boston in the Province of Massachusetts Bay on September 12, 1756. He was a son of Jonathan Mason (1725–1798) and Miriam ( Clarke) Mason (1724–1794).

He attended Boston Latin School the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), graduating in 1774. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in 1779.

Career

In 1780, Mason delivered the annual address marking the Boston Massacre.

Starting in 1795, Mason was a partner in the Mount Vernon Proprietors, a developer of real estate in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood. Around 1800 he built a mansion for himself on Mt. Vernon Street, in which he lived through the end of his life. Around 1804 he hired architect Charles Bulfinch to design 4 houses, also on Mt. Vernon Street, for each of his daughters; the 4 houses still stand today.

Mason was also a member of the South Boston Association, which developed real estate in Dorchester.

Political career

He was a Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1786 to 1796.

From 1797 to 1798, he served with the Massachusetts Governor's Council and was elected for the following two years, and was in the Massachusetts Senate from 1799 to 1800. Following the resignation of Senator Benjamin Goodhue, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from November 14, 1800, to March 3, 1803. He then resumed his law practice and served again in the Massachusetts Senate from 1803 to 1804 and the Massachusetts House from 1805 to 1808.

He served again in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1817, to May 15, 1820, whereupon he resigned to pursue his law practice.

Personal life

On April 13, 1779, Mason married Susannah Powell (1760–1836). Together, they were the parents of five daughters and two sons:

• Susan Powell Mason (1783–1841), who married Dr. John Collins Warren, son of Dr. John Warren, founder of Harvard Medical School.
• Elizabeth Mason (1784–1826), who married attorney Samuel Dunn Parker, son of Samuel Parker, Bishop of Massachusetts.
• Anna Powell Mason (1789–1861), who married Scottish widower Patrick Grant in 1807.
• Miriam Clarke Mason (1790–1861), who married businessman David Sears.
• William Powell Mason (1791–1867), who married Hannah Rogers, a descendant of Harvard president John Rogers and of Thomas Dudley, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• Mary Bromfield Mason (1793–1874), who married Samuel Henry Parkman.
• Jonathan Mason (1795–1884), who married Isabella Weyman.

Between 1804 and 1805, Gilbert Stuart painted his portrait and that of his wife Susannah and daughter Anna.

Mason died in Boston, at age 75. He is interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Descendants

Through his son William he was a grandfather of Elizabeth Rogers Mason Cabot, the wife of Walter Channing Cabot (son of Samuel Cabot Jr.). Elizabeth was involved in running the Home for Aged Colored Women in Boston, as well as the Children's Aid Society and the Woman's Education Association.

References

References

1. (1898). "Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston". Rockwell and Churchill.
2. "MASON, Jonathan 1756 – 1831". [[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]].
3. (1853). "The Hundred Boston Orators Appointed by the Municipal Authorities and Other Public Bodies, from 1770 to 1852: Comprising Historical Gleanings Illustrating the Principles and Progress of Our Republican Institutions". J. P. Jewett.
4. Dictionary of American biography.
5. (13 April 2018). "Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston". [[MIT Press]].
6. (1902). "A History and Genealogy of the Warren Family in Normandy, Great Britain and Ireland, France, Holland, Tuscany, United States of America, Etc. (A.D. 912-1902): With Numerous Pedigrees". Richard Clay & Sons.
7. (1898). "Lineage Book of the Charter Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution". [[Daughters of the American Revolution]].
8. (1874). "The New England Historical and Genealogical Register". [[New England Historic Genealogical Society]].
9. (5 March 2014). "Reared in a Greenhouse: The Stories and Story of Dorothy Winthrop Bradford". Routledge.
10. (1862). "The Annals of the thirteen towns of Barnstable County". Freeman.
11. "Collection: Diaries of Elizabeth Rogers Mason Cabot, 1859-1906 {{!}} HOLLIS for".
12. (15 August 2023). "The History of the Descendants of John Dwight: Vol. II". BoD – Books on Demand.
13. "Court of Appeals: On Appeal from the Genera Term of the Supreme Court for the first department".
14. (19 September 2011). "First of Hearts: Selected Letters of Mrs. Henry Adams". AuthorHouse.
15. George Mason. Life and works of Gilbert Stuart.
16. Biographical dictionary of America.
17. [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/mason.html Political Graveyard].
18. {{CongBio. M000221. Jonathan Mason
19. (2014). "Rogers-Mason-Cabot Family Papers".