Thomas Mason | |
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Member of the House of Burgesses for Norfolk County | |
In office 1696-1697 | |
Preceded by | William Crafford |
Succeeded by | Malachi Thruston |
Personal details | |
Born | Lower Norfolk County,Colony of Virginia |
Died | Colony of Virginia |
Resting place | unknown |
Spouse | Elizabeth |
Thomas Mason (died 1711) was an American colonial politician who represented Norfolk County in the House of Burgesses in 1696-1697,although his father Colonel Lemuel Mason had served multiple terms representing that county and nearby Lower Norfolk County. [1]
Mason was born to the former Anne Seawell,daughter of burgess Henry Seawell and her husband,Colonel (and often burgess) Lemuel Mason. He had brothers Lemuel Mason Jr. (possibly a Norfolk merchant who died in 1711) as well as George (who died in 1710),and several sisters,including Anne,who married burgess William Kendall,Frances who married burgess George Newton and after his death Major Francis Sayre,Abigail who married burgess George Crafford,Alice who married three times,Elizabeth who married at least twice,Dinah who married Robert Thorogood Jr. and Margaret who moved to England and probably did not marry. [2]
Like his father,Mason long served as one of the justices of the peace for Lower Norfolk County,where he had inherited land from his father. [1] He characterized himself as "gentleman and planter of Tanner's Creek". [3] The tidal estuary once known as Tanner's Creek empties into the Elizabeth River just south of Sewell's Point,named after his maternal grandfather. It is unclear whether he or another man of the same name received 1000 acres in what was then Upper Nansemond County in 1666 for transporting 20 persons to the Virginia Colony. By 1704,six years before he wrote his last will and testament,this Thomas Mason was responsible for quitrents on 653 acres in Norfolk County. [4]
Although his father had served multiple terms in the House of Burgesses representing Lower Norfolk County and later Norfolk County,Norfolk voters elected this man as one of their two representatives only once,and he served in the assembly of 1696-1697 alongside Thomas Hodges (who had served in the 1693 session alongside this man's father,and would again serve in 1703 and with this man's brother). [5] [6]
Thomas married Elizabeth and together they had four children: [1]
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Thomas Mason's will was admitted to probate in 1711. His widow remarried,to Richard Sanderson of North Carolina,who sold this wife's interest in Norfolk County property to George Newton of Norfolk County. [7]
William Randolph I was an English-born planter,merchant and politician in colonial Virginia who played an important role in the development of the colony. Born in Moreton Morrell,Warwickshire,Randolph moved to the colony of Virginia sometime between 1669 and 1673,and married Mary Isham a few years later. His descendants include many prominent individuals including Thomas Jefferson,John Marshall,Paschal Beverly Randolph,Robert E. Lee,Peyton Randolph,Edmund Randolph,John Randolph of Roanoke,George W. Randolph,and Edmund Ruffin. Due to his and Mary's many progeny and marital alliances,they have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia".
Colonel Robert Carter I was a planter,merchant,and government official and administrator who served as Acting Governor of Virginia,Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses,and President of the Virginia Governor’s Council. An agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary,Carter emerged as the wealthiest Virginia colonist and received the sobriquet “King”from his contemporaries connoting his autocratic approach and political influence. Involved in the founding of the College of William and Mary,he acquired at least 300,000 acres and engaged one thousand enslaved laborers on fifty plantations.
Adam Thoroughgood [Thorowgood] (1604–1640) was a colonist and community leader in the Virginia Colony who helped settle the Virginia counties of Elizabeth City,Lower Norfolk and Princess Anne,the latter,known today as the independent city of Virginia Beach.
Col. Isaac Allerton Jr. was planter,military officer,politician and merchant in colonial America. Like his father,he first traded in New England,and after his father's death,in Virginia. There,he served on the Governor's Council (1687-1691) and for many years in the House of Burgesses,representing Northumberland County and later Westmoreland County.
George Mason I was the American progenitor of the prominent American landholding and political Mason family. Mason was the great-grandfather of George Mason IV,a Founding Father of the United States.
George Mason II (1660–1716) was an early American planter and officeholder who,although his father's only child,had many children and thus can be said to have established the Mason family as one of the First Families of Virginia. His grandson George Mason IV became the most distinguished member of the family,a Founding Father of the United States.
Thomas Mason was an American businessman,planter and politician. As a son of George Mason,a Founding Father of the United States,Mason was a scion of the prominent Mason political family.
Colonel William Digges was a prominent planter,soldier and politician in the Colony of Virginia and Province of Maryland. The eldest son of Edward Digges (1620-1674/5),who sat on the Virginia Governor's Council for two decades but died shortly before Bacon's Rebellion,Digges fled to Maryland where he married Lord Calvert's stepdaughter and served on the Maryland Proprietary Council until losing his office in 1689 during the Protestant Revolution,when a Puritan revolt upset the Calvert Proprietorship. His eldest son Edward sold his primary Virginia plantation to his uncle Dudley Digges. It is now within Naval Station Yorktown. His former Maryland estate,Warburton Manor,is now within Fort Washington Park. Two additional related men with the same name served in the Virginia General Assembly,both descended from this man's uncle and his grandson Cole Digges (burgess):William Digges (burgess) and his nephew and son-in-law William Digges Jr. both represented now-defunct Warwick County,Virginia.
The Burwells were among the First Families of Virginia in the Colony of Virginia. John Quincy Adams once described the Burwells as typical Virginia aristocrats of their period:forthright,bland,somewhat imperious and politically simplistic by Adams' standards. In 1713,so many Burwells had intermarried with the Virginia political elite that Governor Spotswood complained that " the greater part of the present Council are related to the Family of Burwells...there will be no less than seven so near related that they will go off the Bench whenever a Cause of the Burwells come to be tried."
William Crawford was an American soldier,politician,and founder of Portsmouth,Virginia. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses for over thirty years.
Colonel Lemuel Mason was an early Virginia planter,politician,justice of the peace,and militia colonel,who represented Lower Norfolk County in the House of Burgesses intermittently over three decades.
William Kendall Jr. (II) (1659–1696) was a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia who twice represented Northampton County in the House of Burgesses as had his father
Henry Seawell was a British merchant who became a landowner and politician in the Colony of Virginia and thrice serve in the House of Burgesses.
Elizabeth Bray Allen also known as Elizabeth Bray Allen Smith Stith operated a large plantation after the death of her first husband,Arthur Allen. After the death of her second husband,she operated both the Allen and Smith estates. She provided the direction and funds to establish a free school for poor boys and girls in Smithfield,Virginia.
Charles Carter was a Virginia planter,politician and slave owner,one of four men of the same name who served in the Virginia General Assembly during the late 18th and early 19th century. One historian has distinguished him as "of Cleve",the name of the plantation he developed in King George County,Virginia,which he represented in the House of Burgesses for nearly three decades,from 1736 until his death in 1764. As discussed below,he may also be noteworthy as an early Virginia winemaker. His son,also Charles Carter,but known for much of his lifetime as Charles Carter Jr.,served alongside his father in the House of Burgesses representing King George County,and continued to serve until financially embarrassed following the death of their political ally,powerful speaker John Robinson. However,the younger man survived the resulting scandal concerning loans made from currency scheduled to be burned,having bought property in Stafford County and represented that county for many years,despite the American Revolutionary War and ongoing financial problems.
David Mason was a Virginia planter and politician in Sussex County who represented the county for more than two decades in the House of Burgesses,then became a prominent patriot during the American Revolutionary War,serving in all five Revolutionary Conventions as well as Colonel of the 15th Virginia Regiment of the Virginia Line of the Continental Army,and later briefly served in the Virginia Senate and Virginia House of Delegates.
Malachi Thruston was the clerk of court for Norfolk County who invested in escheated real estate in nearby counties,and briefly represented Lower Norfolk County in the House of Burgesses during Bacon's Rebellion,as well as Princess Anne County upon its creation in 1692 and finally Norfolk County in the year he died.
George Mason was an American colonial politician who represented Norfolk County in the House of Burgesses in 1705–1706,although his father Colonel Lemuel Mason had served multiple terms representing that county and nearby Lower Norfolk County.
James Mason was a Virginia planter,real estate investor and politician who represented Surry County in the House of Burgesses in 1654–55,although his half-brother Colonel Lemuel Mason would serve multiple terms representing Lower Norfolk County and later Norfolk County.
Gerrard Foulke or Fowke(1626-October 15,1669) was an English merchant who became a planter,military officer and politician in the Colony of Virginia,then the Maryland Colony. He succeeded his brother and business partner Thomas Fowke and represented Westmoreland County in the House of Burgesses,before marrying a widow,moving to Port Tobacco and representing Charles County in the Maryland Assembly.