George Mason V
| George Mason V | |
|---|---|
| Born |
George Mason V April 30, 1753 Virginia, US |
| Died |
December 5, 1796 (aged 43) Lexington, Fairfax County, Virginia |
| Resting place | Gunston Hall, Fairfax County, Virginia |
| Residence |
Gunston Hall, Fairfax County, Virginia Lexington, Fairfax County, Virginia |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | planter, businessperson, militia leader |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth "Betsey" Mary Ann Barnes Hooe |
| Children | 6, including George Mason VI and Richard Barnes Mason |
| Parent(s) |
George Mason IV Ann Eilbeck |
George Mason V of Lexington (30 April 1753 – 5 December 1796) was a planter, businessman, and militia leader. Mason was the eldest son of United States patriot, statesman, and delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention, George Mason IV and his wife Ann Eilbeck.[1] He received his early education from private tutors at Gunston Hall[1] and was given Lexington plantation on Mason's Neck by his father in 1774.[1] In 1775, he named his plantation to commemorate the Battle of Lexington in Massachusetts.[1]
Mason joined the Fairfax County Independent Militia in 1775 and was elected Ensign.[1] He developed a rheumatic disorder that plagued him for the remainder of his life.[1] In 1776, he commanded a militia company sent to Hampton, Virginia to protect the coast from Lord Dunmore's assaults, but was forced to quit the military on account of his increasingly poor health.[1] He travelled to France between 1779 and 1783 for business purposes and to improve his health.[1] At his father's request, George Washington wrote Mason letters of introduction to the marquis de Lafayette and Benjamin Franklin in Paris.[1] While in France, he settled in Nantes, where he became involved in the tobacco trade and occasionally arranged for shipments of goods to his father.[1]
Upon the death of his father in 1792, Mason inherited the entirety of Mason's Neck.[2] He died four years later at Lexington, on 5 December 1796, after suffering from chronic ill health for his entire adult life.[1] He was interred in the Mason family graveyard at Gunston Hall. In 1803, his widow Betsey married George Graham.[1]
His will divided Mason's Neck into two approximately equal tracts along a north-south axis from Causeway Point to Martin Cockburn's south boundary line.[2] His eldest son George Mason VI received the eastern tract with the ownership privilege of either Lexington or Gunston Hall, of which he chose the latter.[2] Another of his sons, William Eilbeck Mason, received the western half of the Neck.[2]
Family
Mason married Elizabeth "Betsey" Mary Ann Barnes Hooe, daughter of Gerard Hooe and Sarah Barnes of Barnesfield, King George County, on 22 April 1784.[1] They had six children:[1]
- Elizabeth Mary Ann Barnes Mason Hooe (9 March 1785–25 March 1827)[1]
- George Mason VI (11 August 1786–21 August 1834)[1]
- William Eilbeck Mason (3 February 1788–22 November 1820)[1]
- Ann Eilbeck Mason Grymes (1 April 1791–5 November 1864)[1]
- Sarah Barnes Hooe Mason Stith (27 May 1794–11 September 1877)[1]
- Richard Barnes Mason (16 January 1797–26 July 1850)[1]
He was a son of George Mason (1725–1792);[1] nephew of Thomson Mason (1733–1785);[1] first cousin of Stevens Thomson Mason (1760–1803), John Thomson Mason (1765–1824), and William Temple Thomson Mason (1782–1862);[1] father of George Mason VI (1786–1834) and Richard Barnes Mason (1797–1850);[1] uncle of Thomson Francis Mason (1785–1838) and James Murray Mason (1798–1871);[1] first cousin once removed of Armistead Thomson Mason (1787–1819), John Thomson Mason (1787–1850), and John Thomson Mason, Jr. (1815–1873);[1] and first cousin twice removed of Stevens Thomson Mason (1811–1843).[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Gunston Hall. "Family of George Mason of Gunston Hall: George Mason (V) of Lexington". Gunston Hall. Archived from the original on 2008-02-11. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- 1 2 3 4 Robert Morgan Moxham (1975). "FThe Colonial Plantations of George Mason". Gunston Hall. Archived from the original on February 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-15.
- Gunston Hall. "George Mason of Lexington (1753-1796): Will, 1796". Gunston Hall. Archived from the original on May 1, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-15.