11 Facts About Thomson Mason

Thomson Mason was an American lawyer, planter and jurist.

Thomson Mason completed his education in England, at the Middle Temple in London.

Barnes of Leonardtown, Maryland across the Potomac River and a major local slave trader, Thomson Mason represented his father-in-law's interests in America during his frequent trips to England.

Stafford County voters then elected Thomson Mason to represent them along with John Alexander from 1766 until 1772, when he was replaced by Yelverton Peyton.

In 1760, Thomson Mason had purchased a plantation he would call Raspberry Plain in Loudoun County, Virginia, which he operated using enslaved labor.

Thomson Mason built the mansion at Raspberry Plain in 1771, moved there after his first wife's death, and gained a reputation as a good host.

Shortly before his death, Thomson Mason owned 47 slaves in Loudoun County.

However, Thomson Mason became the only delegate to oppose a nonimportation resolution, and decided to retire from public life, citing ill health.

Nonetheless, his firstborn son and heir, Stevens Thomson Mason, served with distinction in the Continental Army.

Thomson Mason married Mary King Barnes, the only daughter of Colonel Abraham Barnes and his wife Mary King, in 1758.

Part of the Raspberry Plain plantation survives today as part of the Catoctin Rural Historic District, although the house that Thomson Mason built and that his descendants altered, burned and was torn down in the early 20th century and replaced in 1910 by the current edifice in the Colonial Revival style.