John Mason (c.1600-1672)
Encyclopedia
John Mason was an English Army
Major
who immigrated to New England
in 1632. Within five years he had joined those moving west from the Massachusetts Bay Colony
to the nascent settlements along the Connecticut River
that would become the Connecticut Colony
. Tensions there rose between the settlers and the dominant Indian tribe in the area, the Pequot
s, ultimately leading to bloodshed after the Manissean Indians on Block Island killed John Oldham, a Massachusetts Bay trade representative in 1636. Because the Manisseans were tributaries of the Pequot Nation, Massachusetts Bay sent an expedition, which included John Mason, to Block Island to kill the Manisseans. They were then to proceed to the Connecticut River to demand that the Pequot turn over Oldham's murders. When the Pequot refused, the English expedition burnt several of their wigwams and corn, thus inciting the Pequot War
, which ended in the Mystic Massacre
, which virtually destroyed the Pequot tribe. Years later, he recounted his experiences in the Pequot War in his narrative Major Mason's Brief History of the Pequot War, which wasn't published until 1736.
After the war, Mason became Deputy Governor of Connecticut. He and a number of others were instrumental in the founding of Norwich, Connecticut
, where he died in 1672.
about 1602. He became an officer in the English army and served as a lieutenant under Sir Thomas Fairfax.
In 1632 Mason immigrated to America and settled in Dorchester
, Massachusetts
, where he represented that village in the General Court. He was elected freeman March 4, 1634/5 (as "Captain John Mason" is shown in the October 9, 1681 list of Connecticut freemen in Norwich.
In his few years in Massachusetts John Mason was found very useful by town and colony. On July 2, 1633, an order is "given to the Treasurer to deliver to Lieutenant Mason £10 for his voyage to the eastward, when he went about the taking of Bull". On November 5, 1633, "Sergeant Stoughton is chosen ensign to Captain Mason". On September 3, 1634, "Captain Mason" was appointed to a committee to "find out the convenient places for situation, as also to lay out the several works for fortification at Castle Island, Charelton, and Dorchester". A rate was gathered for the support of Captain Mason on December 29, 1634.
In 1635 he moved to what would become Windsor
, Connecticut
, in company with the Reverend John Warham, Henry Wolcott, and others, prominent settlers of the town. He was elected an assistant or magistrate of the Connecticut Colony from Windsor in 1642. On September 3, 1635, "Captain Mason is authorized by the Court to press men and carts to help towards the finishing of the fort at Castle Island, and to return the same into the Court".
He married in July 1640, at Hingham, Massachusetts, Anne Peck. She was born on November 16, 1619 in Hingham, England and died on January 30, 1671/72 in Norwich, New London County, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Rev. Robert Peck, who was born at Beccles
, Suffolk
, England
, in 1580. He was graduated at Magdalene College
, Cambridge; the degree of A. B. was conferred upon him in 1599, and that of A. M., in 1603. He was a talented and influential clergyman and Puritan who had fled his Hingham, Norfolk
, England
, church after the crackdown by Archbishop Laud. She died shortly before her husband.
is vigorous and direct in his regular correspondence with the Winthrops and in his history of the Pequot War. His activities from the earliest days in New England give evidence of training as a military engineer
.
, on the Groton
side. During the attack, they killed virtually all of the inhabitants, about 600 men, women, and children. This event became known as the Mystic massacre
. The event is commemorated by a boulder monument that formerly was on Mystic Hill upon the pedestal of which is a life-size statue of Major Mason drawing his sword, representing the moment when he heard the war-whoop of "Owanux."
On 8 March 1637/8, in the aftermath of the Pequot War, the Connecticut General Court "ordered that Captain Mason shall be a public military officer of the plantations of Connecticut, and shall train the military men thereof in each plantation".
Please note that John Mason fought alongside two Native American tribes, namely the Mohegan and Narrangansetts.
John removed his family to Old Saybrook, Middlesex County, Connecticut in 1647. He was awarded land by the state of Connecticut where Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut was founded and in 1660 united with a number of distinguished families in the settlement of Norwich, New London County, Connecticut where he was Deputy/Lieutenant Governor (1660–1669), and Major General of the forces of Connecticut.
During the winter of 1647/8 Winthrop records that
Prior to the sitting of the court on 6 October 1651, Captain Mason had sent a letter to the court,
New Haven was at this time attempting to establish a daughter colony on the Delaware River.
By the sitting of the Court on 18 May 1654 he had been advanced from Captain to Major, the rank that he would hold for the remainder of his life. On 13 June 1654 he and Captain John Cullick were sent to Boston as agents of Connecticut, to discuss Cromwell's plans for fighting the Dutch at New Amsterdam. In April 1657 he received from the General Court an extensive commission, requiring him to go to Southampton and investigate the complaints of the inhabitants of that town (then under Connecticut jurisdiction) regarding depredations made by the Montauk Indians.
In the summer of 1669 residents of Easthampton, Southampton and Stonington addressed letters to Mason, warning him of an impending attack by several groups of Indians. Mason passed these letters on to the colony authorities in Hartford, and added his own strongly worded advice.
In the summer of 1670 John Mason acted as an intermediary between Roger Williams
and the Connecticut government regarding a boundary dispute between Rhode Island and Connecticut.
In the Windsor land inventory on 28 February 1640[/1] John Mason held seven parcels, six of which were granted to him: "a home lot with some additions to it", 10 acres (40,468.6 m²); "in the Palisado where his house stands and mead adjoining" 20.5 acres (82,960.6 m²); "in the first mead on the north side of the rivulet, for mead and addition in swamp" 8 acres (32,374.9 m²); "in the northwest field for upland" 8 acres (32,374.9 m²) "with some addition on the bank side"; "over the Great River in breadth by the river twenty-six rods more or less, and continues that breadth to the east side of the west marsh, and there it is but sixteen rods in breadth and so continues to the end of the three miles"; 9 acres (36,421.7 m²) "of land by Rocky Hill"; and "by a deed of exchange with Thomas Duy [Dewey] ... on the east side of the Great River in breadth eighteen rods more or less, in length three miles".
On 5 January 1641/2 Connecticut court ordered "that Captain Mason shall have 500 acres (2 km²) of ground, for him and his heirs, about Pequot Country, and the dispose of 500 more to such soldiers as joined with him in the service when they conquered the Indians there".
On 12 July 1644 John Mason of Windsor sold to William Hosford of Winds or 8 acres (32,374.9 m²) in a little meadow with addition of swamp. On 11 September 1651 "the island commonly called Chippachauge in Mistick Bay is given to Capt. John Mason, as also 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of upland and 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of meadow near Mistick, where he shall make choice".
On 14 March 1660/1 the "jurisdiction power over that land that Uncus and Wawequa have made over to Major Mason is by him surrendered to this Colony. Nevertheless for the laying out of those lands to farms or plantations the Court doth leave it in the hands of Major Mason. It is also ordered and provided with the consent of Major Mason, that Uncus & Wawequa and their Indians and successors shall be supplied with sufficient planting ground at all times as the Court sees cause out of that land. And the Major doth reserve for himself a competence of land sufficient to make a farm".
On 14 May 1663 the court granted "unto the Major, our worshipful Deputy Governor, 500 acres (2 km²) of land for a farm, where he shall choose it, if it may not be prejudicial to a plantation already set up or to set up, so there be not above 50 acres (202,343 m²) of meadow in it". On 13 October 1664, the "Major propounding to the Court to take up his former grant of a farm, at a place by the Indians called Pomakuck, near Norwich, the Court grants liberty to him to take up his former grant in that place, upon the same terms as it was granted to him by the Court".
On 20 May 1668 the "Major desiring this Court to grant him a farm" of about 300 acres (1.2 km²), for "one of his sons, his desire is hereby granted (provided there be not above 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) of meadow) and Lt. Griswold & Ensign Tracy are hereby desired to lay it out to him in some convenient place near that tract of land granted Jer[emiah] Adams, it being the place the Major hath pitched upon, the name of the place is Uncupsitt, provided it prejudice no plantation or former grant".
On 9 May 1672 "Ensign Tracy is appointed to join with Sergeant Tho[ma s] Leffingwell in laying out to the Major and Mr. Howkins their grants of land according to their grants".
The record of births of John Mason's children by his second wife was entered in Norwich vital records, even though none of the births had occurred there, with only the month and year of the birth given. The division of births between Windsor and Saybrook is based on the knowledge that Mason was in Saybrook by 1647, and on the accounting of Matthew Grant, discussed in the previous paragraph.
The statue remained there for 103 years. After studying the sensitivity and appropriateness of the statue's location near the historic massacre of Pequot people, a commission chartered by Groton, Connecticut
voted to have it relocated. The State in 1993 relocated the statue to its current setting. An article about the work of the committee can be found at http://archnet.asu.edu/archives/ethno/Courant/day5.htm.
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
who immigrated to New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
in 1632. Within five years he had joined those moving west from the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
to the nascent settlements along the Connecticut River
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the largest and longest river in New England, and also an American Heritage River. It flows roughly south, starting from the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. After flowing through the remaining Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis, it defines the border between the...
that would become the Connecticut Colony
Connecticut Colony
The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in British America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English...
. Tensions there rose between the settlers and the dominant Indian tribe in the area, the Pequot
Pequot
Pequot people are a tribe of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. They were of the Algonquian language family. The Pequot War and Mystic massacre reduced the Pequot's sociopolitical influence in southern New England...
s, ultimately leading to bloodshed after the Manissean Indians on Block Island killed John Oldham, a Massachusetts Bay trade representative in 1636. Because the Manisseans were tributaries of the Pequot Nation, Massachusetts Bay sent an expedition, which included John Mason, to Block Island to kill the Manisseans. They were then to proceed to the Connecticut River to demand that the Pequot turn over Oldham's murders. When the Pequot refused, the English expedition burnt several of their wigwams and corn, thus inciting the Pequot War
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict between 1634–1638 between the Pequot tribe against an alliance of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies who were aided by their Native American allies . Hundreds were killed; hundreds more were captured and sold into slavery to the West Indies. ...
, which ended in the Mystic Massacre
Mystic Massacre
The Mystic massacre took place on May 26, 1637, during the Pequot War, when English settlers under Captain John Mason, and Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to a fortified Pequot village near the Mystic River...
, which virtually destroyed the Pequot tribe. Years later, he recounted his experiences in the Pequot War in his narrative Major Mason's Brief History of the Pequot War, which wasn't published until 1736.
After the war, Mason became Deputy Governor of Connecticut. He and a number of others were instrumental in the founding of Norwich, Connecticut
Norwich, Connecticut
Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing...
, where he died in 1672.
Early life
Mason was born in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
about 1602. He became an officer in the English army and served as a lieutenant under Sir Thomas Fairfax.
In 1632 Mason immigrated to America and settled in Dorchester
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is named after the town of Dorchester in the English county of Dorset, from which Puritans emigrated and is today endearingly nicknamed "Dot" by its residents. Dorchester, including a large...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, where he represented that village in the General Court. He was elected freeman March 4, 1634/5 (as "Captain John Mason" is shown in the October 9, 1681 list of Connecticut freemen in Norwich.
In his few years in Massachusetts John Mason was found very useful by town and colony. On July 2, 1633, an order is "given to the Treasurer to deliver to Lieutenant Mason £10 for his voyage to the eastward, when he went about the taking of Bull". On November 5, 1633, "Sergeant Stoughton is chosen ensign to Captain Mason". On September 3, 1634, "Captain Mason" was appointed to a committee to "find out the convenient places for situation, as also to lay out the several works for fortification at Castle Island, Charelton, and Dorchester". A rate was gathered for the support of Captain Mason on December 29, 1634.
In 1635 he moved to what would become Windsor
Windsor, Connecticut
Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population was estimated at 28,778 in 2005....
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, in company with the Reverend John Warham, Henry Wolcott, and others, prominent settlers of the town. He was elected an assistant or magistrate of the Connecticut Colony from Windsor in 1642. On September 3, 1635, "Captain Mason is authorized by the Court to press men and carts to help towards the finishing of the fort at Castle Island, and to return the same into the Court".
He married in July 1640, at Hingham, Massachusetts, Anne Peck. She was born on November 16, 1619 in Hingham, England and died on January 30, 1671/72 in Norwich, New London County, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Rev. Robert Peck, who was born at Beccles
Beccles
Beccles is a market town and civil parish in the Waveney District of the English county of Suffolk. The town is shown on the milestone as from London via the A145 Blythburgh and A12 road, northeast of London as the crow flies, southeast of Norwich, and north northeast of the county town of...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in 1580. He was graduated at Magdalene College
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
, Cambridge; the degree of A. B. was conferred upon him in 1599, and that of A. M., in 1603. He was a talented and influential clergyman and Puritan who had fled his Hingham, Norfolk
Hingham, Norfolk
Hingham is a market town and civil parish in the Forehoe district in the heart of rural Norfolk, in England. The civil parish covers an area of and had a population of 2,078 in 944 households as of the 2001 census. Grand architecture surrounds the market place and village green...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, church after the crackdown by Archbishop Laud. She died shortly before her husband.
Education
His proseProse
Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...
is vigorous and direct in his regular correspondence with the Winthrops and in his history of the Pequot War. His activities from the earliest days in New England give evidence of training as a military engineer
Military engineer
In military science, engineering refers to the practice of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling military works, including offensive, defensive and logistical structures, to shape the physical operating environment in war...
.
Pequot War
On May 1, 1637, the Connecticut General Court raised a force of 90 men to be under the command of Captain John Mason for an offensive war against the Pequot. Mason commanded the successful expedition against the Pequot Indians, when he and his men immortalized themselves in overthrowing and destroying the prestige and power of the Pequots and their fort near Mystic RiverMystic River (Connecticut)
The Mystic River is a estuary in the southeast corner of the U. S. state of Connecticut. Its main tributary is Whitford Brook. It empties into Fishers Island Sound, dividing the village of Mystic between the towns of Groton and Stonington. Much of the river is tidal...
, on the Groton
Groton, Connecticut
Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,907 at the 2000 census....
side. During the attack, they killed virtually all of the inhabitants, about 600 men, women, and children. This event became known as the Mystic massacre
Mystic Massacre
The Mystic massacre took place on May 26, 1637, during the Pequot War, when English settlers under Captain John Mason, and Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to a fortified Pequot village near the Mystic River...
. The event is commemorated by a boulder monument that formerly was on Mystic Hill upon the pedestal of which is a life-size statue of Major Mason drawing his sword, representing the moment when he heard the war-whoop of "Owanux."
On 8 March 1637/8, in the aftermath of the Pequot War, the Connecticut General Court "ordered that Captain Mason shall be a public military officer of the plantations of Connecticut, and shall train the military men thereof in each plantation".
Please note that John Mason fought alongside two Native American tribes, namely the Mohegan and Narrangansetts.
Later career
John Mason was one of the most trusted men in Connecticut during his three and a half decades of residence there, in both civil and military matters. In his latter years the formal colony records referred to him simply as "the Major," without forename or surname. Only a sampling of his activities can be presented here.John removed his family to Old Saybrook, Middlesex County, Connecticut in 1647. He was awarded land by the state of Connecticut where Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut was founded and in 1660 united with a number of distinguished families in the settlement of Norwich, New London County, Connecticut where he was Deputy/Lieutenant Governor (1660–1669), and Major General of the forces of Connecticut.
From 1647 to 1657
On 2 June 1647 the court orderedDuring the winter of 1647/8 Winthrop records that
Prior to the sitting of the court on 6 October 1651, Captain Mason had sent a letter to the court,
New Haven was at this time attempting to establish a daughter colony on the Delaware River.
By the sitting of the Court on 18 May 1654 he had been advanced from Captain to Major, the rank that he would hold for the remainder of his life. On 13 June 1654 he and Captain John Cullick were sent to Boston as agents of Connecticut, to discuss Cromwell's plans for fighting the Dutch at New Amsterdam. In April 1657 he received from the General Court an extensive commission, requiring him to go to Southampton and investigate the complaints of the inhabitants of that town (then under Connecticut jurisdiction) regarding depredations made by the Montauk Indians.
From 1659 to 1670
On 15 June 1659 Mr. Willis wasIn the summer of 1669 residents of Easthampton, Southampton and Stonington addressed letters to Mason, warning him of an impending attack by several groups of Indians. Mason passed these letters on to the colony authorities in Hartford, and added his own strongly worded advice.
In the summer of 1670 John Mason acted as an intermediary between Roger Williams
Roger Williams (theologian)
Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...
and the Connecticut government regarding a boundary dispute between Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Estate
On 10 February 1634/5 "Captayne Mason" received a grant of 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) in Dorchester. He drew 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) of meadow beyond Naponset in lot #73.In the Windsor land inventory on 28 February 1640[/1] John Mason held seven parcels, six of which were granted to him: "a home lot with some additions to it", 10 acres (40,468.6 m²); "in the Palisado where his house stands and mead adjoining" 20.5 acres (82,960.6 m²); "in the first mead on the north side of the rivulet, for mead and addition in swamp" 8 acres (32,374.9 m²); "in the northwest field for upland" 8 acres (32,374.9 m²) "with some addition on the bank side"; "over the Great River in breadth by the river twenty-six rods more or less, and continues that breadth to the east side of the west marsh, and there it is but sixteen rods in breadth and so continues to the end of the three miles"; 9 acres (36,421.7 m²) "of land by Rocky Hill"; and "by a deed of exchange with Thomas Duy [Dewey] ... on the east side of the Great River in breadth eighteen rods more or less, in length three miles".
On 5 January 1641/2 Connecticut court ordered "that Captain Mason shall have 500 acres (2 km²) of ground, for him and his heirs, about Pequot Country, and the dispose of 500 more to such soldiers as joined with him in the service when they conquered the Indians there".
On 12 July 1644 John Mason of Windsor sold to William Hosford of Winds or 8 acres (32,374.9 m²) in a little meadow with addition of swamp. On 11 September 1651 "the island commonly called Chippachauge in Mistick Bay is given to Capt. John Mason, as also 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of upland and 10 acres (40,468.6 m²) of meadow near Mistick, where he shall make choice".
On 14 March 1660/1 the "jurisdiction power over that land that Uncus and Wawequa have made over to Major Mason is by him surrendered to this Colony. Nevertheless for the laying out of those lands to farms or plantations the Court doth leave it in the hands of Major Mason. It is also ordered and provided with the consent of Major Mason, that Uncus & Wawequa and their Indians and successors shall be supplied with sufficient planting ground at all times as the Court sees cause out of that land. And the Major doth reserve for himself a competence of land sufficient to make a farm".
On 14 May 1663 the court granted "unto the Major, our worshipful Deputy Governor, 500 acres (2 km²) of land for a farm, where he shall choose it, if it may not be prejudicial to a plantation already set up or to set up, so there be not above 50 acres (202,343 m²) of meadow in it". On 13 October 1664, the "Major propounding to the Court to take up his former grant of a farm, at a place by the Indians called Pomakuck, near Norwich, the Court grants liberty to him to take up his former grant in that place, upon the same terms as it was granted to him by the Court".
On 20 May 1668 the "Major desiring this Court to grant him a farm" of about 300 acres (1.2 km²), for "one of his sons, his desire is hereby granted (provided there be not above 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) of meadow) and Lt. Griswold & Ensign Tracy are hereby desired to lay it out to him in some convenient place near that tract of land granted Jer[emiah] Adams, it being the place the Major hath pitched upon, the name of the place is Uncupsitt, provided it prejudice no plantation or former grant".
On 9 May 1672 "Ensign Tracy is appointed to join with Sergeant Tho[ma s] Leffingwell in laying out to the Major and Mr. Howkins their grants of land according to their grants".
Offices
- Deputy for Dorchester to Massachusetts Bay General Court, 4 March 1634/5, 2 September 1635.
- Captain by 1637.
- Deputy for Windsor to Connecticut Court, November 1637, March 1638, April 1638, September 1639, February 1641, April 1641, September 1641.
- Assistant, 1642–1659, 1669-71 [CT Civil List 35].
- War committee for Saybrook, May 1653, October 1654.
- Major, June 1654 (but he was called Major at the General Court of 18 May 1654).
- Connecticut Deputy Governor, May 1660, May 1661, May 1662, October 1662, May 1663, May 1664, May 1665, May 1666, May 1667, May 1668.
- Commissioner for United Colonies, June 1654, May 1655, May 1656, May 1657, May 1660, May 1661.
- Patentee, Royal Charter, 1662.
- Militia Committee, May 1667 - June 1672.
Family
In his list of "some omitted in former records being gone yet had children born here", Matthew Grant included "Captain Masen" and credited him with four children born in Windsor, which are best accounted for as the daughter Ann who died in 1640, and Priscilla, Samuel and John.The record of births of John Mason's children by his second wife was entered in Norwich vital records, even though none of the births had occurred there, with only the month and year of the birth given. The division of births between Windsor and Saybrook is based on the knowledge that Mason was in Saybrook by 1647, and on the accounting of Matthew Grant, discussed in the previous paragraph.
Descendants
John Mason's descendants number in the thousands today. Some of his notable descendants include;- David Brewster (journalist)David Brewster (journalist)David Clark Brewster is an American journalist and the founder, editor and publisher of the Seattle Weekly and the online Northwest "newspaper" Crosscut.com...
is an American journalist. - Diane BrewsterDiane BrewsterDiane Brewster was an American television actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in US TV series of the 1950s and 60s: confidence trickster Samantha Crawford in Maverick; pretty young second-grade teacher Miss Canfield in Leave It to Beaver; and doomed wife Helen...
, was an American television actress. - Martha Wadsworth BrewsterMartha Wadsworth BrewsterMartha Wadsworth Brewster was an 18th-century American poet and writer. She is one of only four colonial women who published volumes of their verse before the American Revolution and was the first American-born woman to publish under her own name.-Early life:She was born on April 1, 1710 in...
, (1710 - c.1757) a poet and writer and one of the earliest American female literary figures. - Catherine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947), is an American historianHistorianA historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, college administrator, and the president of Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. - James Rudolph GarfieldJames Rudolph GarfieldJames Rudolph Garfield was an American politician, lawyer and son of President James Abram Garfield and First Lady Lucretia Garfield. He was Secretary of the Interior during Theodore Roosevelt's administration....
, (October 17, 1865 – March 24, 1950) was a U.S. politician, lawyer and son of President James Abram Garfield and First Lady Lucretia GarfieldLucretia GarfieldLucretia Rudolph Garfield , wife of James A. Garfield, was First Lady of the United States in 1881.-Early life:...
. - Harry Augustus GarfieldHarry Augustus GarfieldHarry Augustus "Hal" Garfield was an American lawyer, academic and public official. He was president of Williams College and supervised the Federal Fuel Administration during World War I.-Biography:He was the son of U.S. President James A...
, (October 11, 1863 – December 12, 1942) was an American lawyer and academic. He was the eighth president of his alma mater, Williams CollegeWilliams CollegeWilliams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
in Williamstown, MassachusettsWilliamstown, MassachusettsWilliamstown is a town in Berkshire County, in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. It shares a border with Vermont to the north and New York to the west. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,754 at the 2010 census...
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- John Mason Kemper, was the 11th headmaster at Phillips AcademyPhillips AcademyPhillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
- John Forbes Kerry, (born December 11, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
- George Trumbull LaddGeorge Trumbull LaddGeorge Trumbull Ladd was an American philosopher, educator and psychologist.-Early life and ancestors:...
, was an American philosopher and psychologist. - Brice LalondeBrice LalondeBrice Lalonde is a former green party leader in France, who ran for President of France in the Presidential elections, 1981. In 1988 he was named Minister of the Environment, and in 1990 founded the green party Ecology Generation...
, is a former socialist and green party leader in France, who ran for President of France in the Presidential elections, 1981French presidential election, 1981The French presidential election of 1981 took place on 10 May 1981, giving the presidency of France to François Mitterrand, the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic....
. In 1988 he was named Minister of the EnvironmentMinister of the Environment (France)The Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing is an agency of the government of France, centred around a cabinet member who is often referred to as the "Minister of Ecology". This position is occupied by Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet...
, and in 1990 founded the Green Party Génération EcologieGénération ÉcologieEcology Generation is, together with the Greens , the Independent Ecological Movement and Citizenship, Action, Participation for the 21st Century , one of the four "green" parties in France...
. - Jeremiah MasonJeremiah MasonJeremiah Mason was a United States Senator from New Hampshire. Born in Lebanon, Connecticut, son of Jeremiah Mason and wife Elizabeth Fitch , he graduated from Yale College in 1788, studied law, moved to Vermont, and was admitted to the bar in 1791...
, was a United States Senator from New HampshireNew HampshireNew Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. - John Sanford Mason, (August 21, 1824 – November 29, 1897) was a career officer in the United States Army who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
- Robert NoyceRobert NoyceRobert Norton Noyce , nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 and Intel in 1968...
, nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley", was the inventor of the integrated circuit or microchip. - Robert Charles WinthropRobert Charles WinthropRobert Charles Winthrop was an American lawyer and philanthropist and one time Speaker of the United States House of Representatives....
, was an American lawyer and philanthropist and one time Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesSpeaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
. - Patricia Dutcher-Walls, Presbyterian scholar and author, Professor at University of TorontoUniversity of TorontoThe University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and University of British ColumbiaUniversity of British ColumbiaThe University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
.
Memorials
- Mason's IslandMason's IslandMason's Island ; an inhabited island at the mouth of the Mystic River, in Stonington, Connecticut; part of the region of Mystic, Connecticut. The island was named after Major John Mason who was granted the island in recognition of his leadership of English troops and neighboring tribal nations in...
in Stonington, ConnecticutStonington, ConnecticutThe Town of Stonington is located in New London County, Connecticut, in the state's southeastern corner. It includes the borough of Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Lords Point, Wequetequock, the eastern halves of the villages of Mystic and Old Mystic...
, is named after John Mason.
- A statue of Major John Mason is on the Palisado Green in Windsor, ConnecticutWindsor, ConnecticutWindsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population was estimated at 28,778 in 2005....
. A map of the statue's location. The John Mason statue was originally placed at the intersection of Pequot Avenue and Clift Street in Mystic, Connecticut, near what was thought to be one of the original Pequot forts.
The statue remained there for 103 years. After studying the sensitivity and appropriateness of the statue's location near the historic massacre of Pequot people, a commission chartered by Groton, Connecticut
Groton, Connecticut
Groton is a town located on the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,907 at the 2000 census....
voted to have it relocated. The State in 1993 relocated the statue to its current setting. An article about the work of the committee can be found at http://archnet.asu.edu/archives/ethno/Courant/day5.htm.
Further reading
- Allyn, James H. "Major John Mason's GREAT ISLAND" (1976)
- Bradstreet, Howard. The Story of the War with the Pequots Re-Told (1933)
- Cave, Alfred A. The Pequot War (University of Massachusetts Press, 1996)
- Haynes, William. "Connecticut's own Major" (1955)
- Mason, John. A Brief History of the Pequot War (1736) (reprinted by J. Sabin & sons, 1869)
- Mason, John. A Brief History of the Pequot War (1736) (annotated online electronic text edition [pdf])
- Mason, L. B. The life and times of Major John Mason of Connecticut, 1600-1672 (Putnam, 1935).
- Dictionary of American Biography