John Thomson Mason (politician, 1787)

John Thomson Mason (born January 8, 1787 in Raspberry Plains, Loudoun County , Virginia , † May 3, 1850 in Galveston , Galveston County , Texas ) was an American politician, early realtor and revolutionary in Texas.

Career

Mason moved to Lexington , Kentucky in 1812 , where US President James Monroe appointed him US Marshal in 1817 . Thirteen years later, President Andrew Jackson named him Secretary of the Territory of Michigan and Indian Inspector , a position he resigned in 1831 to become the confidential agent of the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company . The company was created to acquire the property of industrialists Lorenzo de Zavala, David G. Burnet and Joseph Vehlein , which comprised an estimated twenty million acres . Mason, who was in Mexico City on behalf of the Company , found that a law of April 6, 1830 prevented the transfer of land to foreign companies. On his second trip to Mexico in 1833, he helped repeal the section of law that banned the United States from colonizing the country. He then resigned from his post in order to advance his individual estates.

Mason purchased 300 leagues of land originally intended for the army from the government , plus 100 leagues from individuals. He also employed John Charles Leplicher in New York City as his clerk in the land registry and Archibald Hotchkiss as his deputy. With the revocation of the large grants by the Texas Revolutionary Government, Mason's land business was nearly destroyed. Leplicher filed a lawsuit against Mason in Nacogdoches , Texas, on February 16, 1835 , for payment of his outstanding salary. From then until the end of the Texas Revolution, Mason usually stayed in Nacogdoches. The Committee of Vigilance and Safety made him in command of the Nacogdoches District on April 11, 1836 , a position from which he resigned twelve days later. He paid $ 1,000 for the Liberty ship , which was destined for the Texas Navy, and raised another $ 500 for the Brutus' expenses . Some time after the Revolution, Mason moved to New York, but returned to Texas several times during the 1840s. He made his last trip to Texas in 1849. At the beginning of his return trip, however, he died in 1850 at Tremont House in Galveston of cholera or malaria .

family

Mason was the second son of US Senator Stevens Thomson Mason (1760-1803) and Mary Elizabeth (Armistead) Mason (1760-1825), grandson of Thomson Mason , nephew of John Thomson Mason (1765-1824) and great-nephew of George Mason . He was also the first cousin of John Thomson Mason, Jr. and the second cousin of Thomson Francis Mason and James Murray Mason . He was married twice. His first marriage was with a certain Elizabeth Baker Moir (1789-1839). After her death, he married a certain Frances (Magruder) Romyn on June 29, 1845. He was the brother of Catherine Armistead Mason (* 1795), who was married to William Taylor Barry , Armistead Thomson Mason and Mary Thomson Mason (1791-1813), who was married to Benjamin Howard . He was also the father of Stevens Thomson Mason (1811-1843), the first governor of Michigan .

Web links

• John Thomson Mason at The Political Graveyard
• John Thomson Mason on The Handbook of Texas Online