Full Name Thomson Mason Role Lawyer Nationality British, American Parents George Mason III | Ethnicity European American Siblings George Mason Name Thomson Mason Grandparents George Mason II | |
Citizenship Kingdom of Great BritainUnited States Alma mater College of William and Mary Died February 26, 1785, Chopawamsic Children Stevens Thomson Mason, William Temple Thomson Mason, John Thomson Mason Grandchildren John Thomson Mason, John Thomson Mason, Jr., Armistead Thomson Mason | ||
Thomson Mason (14 August 1733 – 26 February 1785) was a prominent Virginia lawyer, jurist, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Mason was a younger brother of George Mason IV, United States patriot, statesman, and delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention, father of Stevens Thomson Mason, a Colonel in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a member of the Virginia state legislature, and a U.S. Senator from Virginia, and great-grandfather of Stevens T. Mason, first Governor of Michigan.
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Early life
Mason was born at Chopawamsic in Stafford County, Virginia on 14 August 1733. He was the third and youngest child of George Mason III and his wife Ann Stevens Thomson.
Career
Mason was educated at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia and then studied law at the Middle Temple in London. Afterwards, he returned to Virginia and was a burgess in the House of Burgesses representing Stafford and Loudoun counties from 1766 to 1775. In 1778, Mason was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia and served only briefly before serving as one of five judges in the General Court. From 1779 to 1783, Mason was elected a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and served as chairman of the Committee on Courts of Justice.
Raspberry Plain
In 1760, Mason purchased Raspberry Plain in Loudoun County, Virginia In 1771, Thomson built the mansion at Raspberry Plain. Upon Thomson's death, the Raspberry Plain estate was deeded to his eldest son Stevens Thomson Mason.
Marriages and children
Mason married Mary King Barnes, the only daughter of Colonel Abraham Barnes and his wife Mary King, in 1758. He and Mary had four children:
Mary died on 21 October 1771 in Prince William County, Virginia and was interred in the Mason family graveyard at Gunston Hall and later moved to Raspberry Plain. Six years later on 23 November 1777, Mason married for a second time to Elizabeth Westwood Wallace. He and Elizabeth had four children:
Later life
Mason died on 26 February 1785 at Chopawamsic at the age of 51.