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.
