Miscellaneous Mason

The policy of encouraging the Importation of free people & discouraging that of Slaves has never been duly considered in this Colony, or We shou'd not at this Day see one Half of our best Lands in most parts of the Country remain unsettled, & the other cultivated with Slaves; not to mention the ill Effect such a practice has upon the Morals and Manners of our people: one of the first Signs of the Decay, & perhaps the primary Cause of the Destruction of the most flourishing Government that ever existed was the Introduction of great Numbers of Slaves -- an Evil very pathetically described by the Roman Historians -- but 'tis not the present Intention to expose our Weakness by examining this Subject too freely.

List of Letters at the Post Office in Alexandria Including Colonel George Mason, (1766).

Mason v. Copithorn, Nov. 4, 1767, Published in Virginia Gazette, December 24, 1767 (Rind).

George Mason Commissioner of the Peace (1768).

George Mason's Last Will and Testament- (1773).

"I recommend it to my sons, from my own Experience in Life, to prefer the happiness of independance & a private Station to the troubles and Vexations of Public Business; but if either their own inclination or the Necessaty of the times shou'd engage them in Public Affairs, I charge them, on a Fathers Blessing, never to let the motives of private Interest or ambition to induce them to betray, nor the terrors of Poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger or of death deter them from Asserting the liberty of their Country, and endeavouring to transmit to their posterity those Sacred rights to which themselves were born."

George Mason Recounts An Affray In Which a Concealed Pistol was used in Self-defense. (March 19, 1783).

" Mr. Alexander, after refusing to accept a Challenge, and professing to act upon the defensive, added fresh Injurys to those he had already offered, and continued to insult & abuse Mr. Washington, in the grossest Manner: and when they afterwards met at a public Place, and walked out together, fired his Pistol first (at not more than a yard's Distance) with a manifest Intention to kill the other, before he knew whether it was Mr. Washington's Design to act offensively, or not. The Ball miss'd him, tho' so very close, that the Powder bu[r]n'd his Face. Mr. Washington instantly step'd back, and drawing a Pistol from his Belt, under his Great Coat, shot the other in the Body; which brought him to the Ground. This was done in the Sight of many People; and I think proves, that Mr. Washington, in firing his Pistol, acted upon the defensive."

Beall v. Cockburn, 4 Va. Call 162 (1790). Involves Martin Cockburn the Neighbor and Friend of Colonel George Mason as well as Letters from George Mason Jr. and the deposition of George Mason.

Wilson v. Mason, 5 U.S. 45 (1801). Supreme Court Precedent Setting Case (Involves George Mason's Lands )

George Mason to James Madison on the Legal Arguments in the Land Claims of George Wilson, (1792). Page 1. Page 2.

Davis v. Mason, 26 U.S. 503 (1828). (Involves George Mason's Lands )

Virginia Treasury Warrants (Kentucky) Searchable Database

The Bank of Alexandria v. Patton, (1843). Involves George Mason's Progeny and In-laws Including Robert Patton, George Patton.

George Mason's Progeny

John Mason: (1766-1849) - Son of George Mason

"My father being an active politician and decided in his opposition to the measures of the mother country, his house was frequented by the leading men of the State. Among the first things I can remember were discussions and conversations upon the high-handed, tyrannical conduct of the king towards his colonial subjects in this country ; for in those days the government was designated by the name of the king in all conversations. And so universal was the idea that it was treason and death to speak ill of the king that I even now remember a scene in the garden at Springfield [the Cockburn place] when my father's family were spending the day there on a certain Sunday when I must have been very small. Several of the children having collected in the garden, after hearing in the house among our elders many complaints and distressing forebodings as to this oppressive course towards our country, we were talking the matter over in our own way and I cursed the king, but immediately begged and obtained the promise of the others not to tell on me." - John Mason (Kate M. Rowland, 1 The Life of George Mason 1725-1792, 95-96. (1892)).

John Mason's Gift of GM's First Convention Draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights

Brigadier General : Appointed in 1802 by President Thomas Jefferson to be the first Commander of the District of Columbia Militia. A History of the National Capital

President of the Bank of Columbia. See Bank of Columbia v. Okely, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 235 (1819).

General Richard Barnes Mason: 1797- 1850. Grandson of George Mason

Starts the American Gold Rush of 1849

Richard was born at Fairfax Co., Va., on 16 January 1797. He was the son of George Mason V and Elizabeth Mary Ann Barnes Hooe. He married Elizabeth Margaret Hunter on 28 January 1836. Richard died on 26 July 1850 at St. Louis, Mo., at age 53. Richard Barnes Mason is the person who started the Gold Rush of 1849 with his report as a Colonel back to Washington that Gold had been found at Sutter's Mill.

August 17, 1848

"On the 8th July I returned to the lower mines, and eventually to Monterey, where I arrived on the 17th of July. Before leaving Sutter’s, I satisfied myself that gold existed in the bed of the Feather River, in the Yuba and Bear, and in many of the small streams that lie between the latter and the American fork; also, that it had been found in the Consumnes, to the south of the American fork. In each of these streams the gold is found in small scales, whereas in the intervening mountains it occurs in coarser lumps.....The discovery of these vast deposits of gold has entirely changed the character of Upper California. Its people, before engaged in cultivating their small patches of ground, and guarding their herds of cattle and horses, have all gone to the mines, or are on their way thither. Labourers of every trade have left their work-benches, and tradesmen their shops; sailors desert their ships as fast as they arrive on the coast; and several vessels have gone to sea with hardly enough hands to spread a sail. Two or three are now at anchor in San Francisco, with no crew on board. Many desertions, too, have taken place from the garrisons within the influence of these mines; twenty-six soldiers have deserted from the post of Sonoma, twenty-four from that of San Francisco, and twenty-four from Monterey. I have no hesitation now in saying, that there is more gold in the country drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers than will pay the cost of the present war with Mexico a hundred times over. No capital is required to obtain this gold, as the labouring man wants nothing but his pick and shovel and tin pan, with which to dig and wash the gravel, and many frequently pick gold out of the crevices of rocks with their knives, in pieces of from one to six ounces.

Gold is also believed to exist on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada; and, when at the mines, I was informed by an intelligent Mormon that it had been found near the Great Salt Lake by some of his fraternity. Nearly all the Mormons are leaving California to go to the Salt Lake; and this they surely would not do unless they were sure of finding gold there, in the same abundance as they now do on the Sacramento."

" R. B. MASON, Colonel 1st Dragoons, commanding.

Books/Media On-line

The Life of George Mason 1725-1795, Vol I. by Kate Mason Rowland

The Life of George Mason 1725-1795, Vol II. by Kate Mason Rowland

Consource Digital Edition of The Papers of George Mason

Gunston Hall Deed of Trust by The Hertle's (Last Private Owner's of Gunston Hall)

Louis Hertle allowed LIFE Magazine to Photograph Gunston Hall in 1941. This was LIFE magazine's Pearl Harbor issue of December 15, 1941 and also includes a section on How Not to Handle A Gun. Louis Hertle had spent a small fortune in the restoration of Gunston Hall. Here is a very interesting photograph of George Mason's Study Room from the Library of Congress Collection (better image than the one in LIFE Magazine of the same room) that contains an original copy of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in Mason's own hand that Mr. Hertle placed above the fireplace. The Document above the fireplace matches the one from the Library of Virginia's Original Copy of The Virginia Declaration of Rights. This document was an enclosure in a Letter to Mr Brent: Oct. 2, 1778.

George Mason's Draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in his Study Room