Thomson Mason (1759–1820)

Thomson Mason (4 March 1759 – 11 March 1820) was a prominent entrepreneur, planter, civil servant, and justice. Mason was the son of George Mason, an American patriot, statesman, and delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention.

Early life and education
Mason was born on 4 March 1759 at Gunston Hall in Fairfax County, Virginia. Mason was the fifth child and fourth eldest son of George Mason and his wife Ann Eilbeck. During his early childhood and adolescence, Mason was tutored at Gunston Hall. In 1781, Mason served as a militiaman in the American Revolutionary War.

Marriage and children
Mason married Sarah McCarty Chichester of Newington in 1784. The couple had eight children:


 * Mary Thomson Mason Ball (died April 1837)
 * Thomson Francis Mason (1785–21 December 1838)
 * Ann Eilbeck Mason Dawson (1787–1845)
 * Elizabeth Thomson Mason (1789–2 September 1821)
 * George William Mason (4 May 1791–11 June 1855)
 * Sarah Chichester Mason (1792–1820)
 * Richard Chichester Mason (7 May 1793–22 July 1869)
 * John Mason (1797–26 October 1820)

Residences
Through deeds of gift in 1781 and 1786, Mason's father passed to him ownership of four tracts totaling 676 acre. Mason and his wife Sarah constructed their residence Hollin Hall there by 1788. Hollin Hall was destroyed by fire in 1824. In 1916, industrialist Harley Wilson built an elegant new Hollin Hall in its vicinity.

Later life
Mason died on 11 March 1820 in Fairfax County, Virginia at age 61.

Relations
Thomson Mason (1759–1820) was:
 * a son of George Mason (1725–1792)
 * father of Thomson Francis Mason (1785–1838)
 * nephew of Thomson Mason (1733–1785)
 * first cousin of Stevens Thomson Mason (1760–1803), John Thomson Mason (1765–1824), and William Temple Thomson Mason (1782–1862)
 * uncle of George Mason VI (1786–1834) and Richard Barnes Mason (1797–1850), and James Murray Mason (1798–1871)
 * first cousin once removed of Armistead Thomson Mason (1787–1819), John Thomson Mason (1787–1850), and John Thomson Mason, Jr. (1815–1873), and
 * first cousin twice removed of Stevens Thomson Mason (1811–1843).