Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/303

 MASON

MASON

in the Continental army, 1775. Amos Lawrence Mason was prepared for college at Dix well's school in Boston and was graduated at Harvard, A.B., 1863, M.D., 1873. He also studied medicine in Berlin, Vienna and Paris. He was house physician, Massachusetts general hospital, 1871- 73; physician to the Boston dispensary and the Carney hospital, 1873-76, and the Boston city hospital after 1876. He was married, Sept. 30, 1874, to Louisa Blake, daughter of Rear- Admiral Charles Steedman, U.S.N. He was connected w^ith the Harvard Medical school as instructor in auscultation, 1878-83, instructor in clinical medi- cine, 1887-90, assistant professor, 1890-93, and as- sociate professor, 1893-99. He became a member of the Massachusetts Medical society in 1873, councillor in 1885; was secretary of the Suffolk District Medical society, 1876-78, and president, 1894; was elected a member of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, 1875, and president in 1897 and 1898, and a member of the Association of American Physicians in 1891. He is the author of articles on medical subjects published in the Proceedings of the societies of which he was a member.

MASON, Armistead Thomson, senator, was born in Loudoun county, Va., in 1787; son of Stevens Thomson Mason. He was graduated at the College of William and Mary in 1807, and w^as colonel of cavalry in the war of 1813, and subsequently brigadier-general in the state mili- tia. He was a representative in the Virginia legislature, and on March 3, 1815, was elected to complete the unexpired term of Senator William B. Giles, resigned, which expired March 3, 1817. He was a candidate in 1818 for representative in the 16th congress, 1819-31, but was defeated in the election by Charles F. Mercer. The political feeling engendered by the canvass was very bitter and led to a duel between Senator Mason and his brother-in-law John M. McCarty, in which Mason was killed, at Bladensburg, D.C., Feb. 6, 1819.

MASON, Caroline Atwater, author, was born in Providence, R.I., July 10, 1853; daughter of Stephen and Mary (Weaver) Atwater, grand- daughter of Mead and Huldah (Hoag) Atwater, and of Zebulon and Eunice (Miner) Weaver, and a descendant of David Atwater, one of the founders of New Haven colony, 1636; of Thomas Miner, who came to Salem, Mass., in the Arabella in 1630, and of Theophilus Eaton, first governor of Connecticut. Her parents were members of the Society of Friends and she was educated in the Friends' school, Providence, and studied in Ger- many. She was married. May 39, 1877, to the Rev. John H. Mason, a Baptist minister of Bata- via, N.Y. Her literary work of a serious nature was begun about 1889. She is the author of: A Titled Maiden (1889); A Minister of the World

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(1895); The Quiet King (1897); The Minister of Cartilage (tS99;; A Wind Flower (1899); A Woman of Yesterday (1900); A Lily of France (1901) and contributions to magazines.

MASON, Charles, jurist, was born in Pompey, N.Y., Oct. 34, 1804; son of Chauncey and Esther (Dodge) Mason; grandson of Jonathan Mason, and a descendant of Capt. John Mason, 1635. He was graduated first of his clatis at the U.S. Mili> tary academy and brevetted 3d lieuten- ant of the corps of engineers, July 1, 1839. He served at the Military academy as principal assistant professor of engineer- ing, 1839-31, and re- signed from the army, Dec. 31, 1831. He studied law in New York city and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He prac- tised law at New- burgh, N.Y., 1833-34, and in New York city, 1834-36, and was acting editor of the New York Evening Post, 1835-86. He spent the winter of 1836-37 at Belmont, Wis. Ter., and in February, 1837, took up his residence at Burlington, which was included in Iowa Ter- ritory in 1838. He was married, Aug. 1, 1837, to Angelica, daughter of Hezekiah Gear of Pittsfield, Mass. He served as district-attorney of Dea Moines county. Wis. Ter., and as one of Governor Dodge's aides, 1837-38; and was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Iowa Territory by President Van Buren, July 4, 1838, retiring May 16, 1847. He was appointed attorney for the state of Iowa by Governor Hempstead in 1847, to bring suit against the state of Missouri in the U.S. supreme court to define the boundary line be- tween the two states. He prosecuted this to a final determination in 1850 and obtained a decree in favor of Iowa. He was one of the three com- missioners selected by the state legislature to draft an entire code of laws for the state, which was adopted in 1851. He was judge of Des Moines county court, Iowa, 1851-53: U.S. comniis- sioner of patents by ap)x>intment from President Pierce, 1853-57; and a commissioner to adjust the extent of Des Moines river land grant, 1858-59. He resumed practice at Burlington, Iowa, in 18.58; was a member of the board of education of the state of Iowa, 1858-59, and in 1860 removed to Washington, D.C., where he was a member of the firm of Mason, Fenwick & Lawrence, patent attorneys, 1861-81. He was nominated for gov- ernor of Iowa by the Democratic party in 1861,