Summary Information
John Mason Papers
1836-1865
U.S. Mss AQ
0.2 c.f. (1 archives box)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of John Mason, a Washington, D.C. lawyer, including correspondence, copies of legal papers, genealogies, and receipts. The collection concerns chiefly the disbursement of the estates of three men: A.S. Heilemann, Mason's cousin; Thomas Jennings, an Englishman; and Richard B. Mason, the first military and civil governor of California.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0000aq ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
It is the opinion of the processor that Richard B. Mason was a relative of John Mason, but no closer than a cousin. John Mason was John Mason Jr., according to the letters in the collection, and Richard B. Mason's father's name was George. John Mason did become the attorney for Richard Mason's wife, Margaret Hunter Mason, after Richard's death, but none of the legal papers mention any relationship. Also mentioned in the Heilemann legal papers is a Thomson F. Mason, who, the processor believes, might have been a relative of either the Stevens Thomson Mason who was a member of the Senate from Virginia, or the Stevens Thomson Mason who was the first governor of Michigan. Since Heilemann was a cousin of John Mason's (brought out in the letters), it might be that John and Thomson F. Mason were also related.
Scope and Content Note
The John Mason Papers is a collection of correspondence, copies of legal papers, and receipts collected by John Mason, a Washington, D.C., lawyer. Of Mason himself, the papers reveal very little, except that he was involved in the disbursements of estates after their owners had died. The three main estates mentioned in the papers are: 1) that of A.S. Heileman, Mr. Mason's cousin, concerning which the papers contain detailed listings of property and disbursements for the payments of debts; 2) that of Thomas Jennings, who apparently died intestate in England, and who had no English relatives; the papers contain many genealogies and sworn statements by U.S. residents named Jennings who were trying to prove their relationship with Thomas; and 3) that of Richard B. Mason, first military and civil governor of California, concerning which the papers contain copies of Mason's will and other legal papers.
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