Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/307

 MASON

MASON

the unexpired term of I. S. Penny backer, deceased, 1847-51, and for the two succeeding terms, but he did not complete the second term, which would expire March 3, 1863. by reason of the secession of his state in IHOl. and he was suc- ceeded by W. T. Wil- ley. He was chair- man of the committee on foreign rel a ti o n 8 for ten

U.S SENATE CHAMBER. yeai*8, and

was the author of the '* fugitive slave law" of 1850. He was appointed, with John Slidell, Con- federate commissioner to Great Britain and France. He sailed from Charleston, S.C., to Havana, Cuba, and thence took passage on the British mail-steamer Trent for England. The commissioners were captured by Capt. Charles Wilkes, commanding the U.S. steamer San Ja- cinto, Nov. 8, 1861, and with their secretaries re- moved to that vessel and taken to Fort Warren, Boston harbor. On the demand of the British gov- ernment Secretary Seward gave up the prisoners, claiming that as Captain Wilkes had not brought the Trent into port as a prize, on the claim of carry- ing passengers and papers, contraband of war, the government did not wish to sanction ** right of search," which had always been denied, and he therefore released the prisoners. On their re- lease, Jan. 2, 1862, they proceeded to London and remained there representing the Confederate government until its end in April, 1865. Mr. Mason then went to Canada, and returned to Virginia in 1868. He was married to Eliza Mar- garett-a, daughter of Benjamin and Katharine (Banning) Chew of Philadelphia. He died near Alexandria, Va., April 28, 1871.

MASON, Jeremiah, senator, was born in Lebanon, Conn., April 27, 1768 ; son of Col. Jere- miah (1730-1813) and Elizabeth (Fitch) (1732- 1809) Mason ; grandson of Jeremiah Mason (1705- 99), and fifth in descent through Daniel and Daniel' (1676) from John Mason, the hero of the Pequot war. He was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1788, A.M., 1796 ; studied law, and removed to Vermont, where he was admitted to the bar in 1791. He then went to New Hampshire and prac- tised in Westmoreland, 1791-94, Walpole, 1794-97, and Portsmouth, 1798-1832, where he became the friend of Daniel Webster and his opponent in many important trials, 1807-38. He was ap- pointed attorney-general of the state in 1802 ; was elected U.S. senator in 1813 and resigned his seat in 1817 in order to devote himself to the practise of his profession. He subsequently served

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for several terms in the New Hampshire leg- islature and as president of the Portsmouth branch of tlie Bank of the United States, 1825-29, his reappointment by President Jackson in 1829 causing the vote which led to the repeal of the charter of the Bank of the United States. He removed to Boston, Mass., in 1832, and left the bar in 1838, but continued as chamber counsel up to the time of his death. He was married, Nov. 9, 1799, to Mary, daughter of Col. Robert and Mary Means of Amlierst, N.H., and their sons were: George Means (1800-65), Dr. Alfred (1804-28), James Jeremiah (1806-35), Robert Means, and the Rev. Charles (1812-62). Senator Mason received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Bowdoin in 1815, Harvard in 1817 and Dartmouth in 1823. He died in Boston, Maas., Oct. 14, 1848.

MASON, John, soldier, was born in the north of England in 1601. The first record of him is as a lieutenant under SirThonxas Fairfax, serving in the Low Countries from April to July, 1630. He appeared in Dor- chester before December, 1632, to serve as magis- trate of Massa- chusetts Bay colony in search- ing for a pirate named Bull. In 1634 he was one of a committee to plan the for- tifications of Boston harbor and erect a battery on Castle island. In March, 1635,

he was elected _

to represent Dorchester in the general court, and was given permission by that body to accompany a small band of the pioneers who opened the way for settlers desiring to found new homes on the banks of the Connecticut river. These pioneers were followed in June by a consider- able body under Hooker and Stone, and they made settlements at Windsor, where Cap- tain Mason was magistrate, and also at Hartford and Wethersfield, and in 1636 they numbered 800, 250 of whom were capable of bearing arms. When 30 of the settlers had fallen victims to the 400 savages who surrounded them, the general court of Connecticut asked aid of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies, and they agreed to furnish 40 and 160 men respec- tively to help suppress the Indians. Connecticut raised 90 men, under command of Captain Ma.son, and on May 1, 1636, war was declared against the Pequot tribe. Ou May 10 Mason