I am looking for all the information I can get on Nathaniel Mason. It is suggested that he may have been a son of George Mason but it has never been proven one way or another.

I have the following information about Nathaniel Mason.

"Daniel and Nathaniel Mason who were probably brothers, were the first of that name in Roane County. Their relationship to Col. George Mason has not been proven, but according to Goodspeed's History of East Tennessee "Daniel (1770?80??1839) came to Fort South West Point as a young man from the Potomac River in either VA or MD. Nathaniel Mason married (7?9?1901) Phoebe Brashears, daughter of Robert Samuel Brashears. Daniel Mason married (3?6?1797) Phoebe's sister, Mary "Polly" Brashears, who was the well?to?do young widow of Robert Gilliland who had bought in 1794 (Knox Book C, p.22) 640 acres on the north side of Clinch River from Reed and Swaggerty."

...and.....

Nathaniel Mason & Phoebe Brashear. Nathaniel b 1769 VA, he married Phoebe Brashear during 1801 in Knox Co, TN. Nathaniel in 1805 Early Tennessee Census Knox Co., 1811 perhaps in Lawrence Co, TN. 1830 lived in Shelby Co, TN. Son Jesse H Mason b 1802 m Polly Ruth; son Alexander abt 1810; daughter Margaret m George Speer; daughter Elizabeth m John Speer.

Again I am looking for any information about where Nathaniel Mason came from. Also looking for family of Nathaniel's children except for Jesse H. Mason.

Thanks, Chris

Nathaniel Mason was the son of Colonel David Mason of Sussex County, Virginia b. 27 Jan 1757. Contrary to popural belief and the story written about Daniel and Nathaniel Mason by Snyder Roberts in his "History of Roane County Tennessee" Daniel and Nathaniel Mason were 1st cousins. Nathaniel Mason was the son of Col. David Mason and Daniel Mason (Jr.)was the son of Daniel Mason Sr. who was the brother of Col. David Mason of Sussex County Virginia. Nathaniel being the elder of the two. Colonel David Mason of Sussex County and Daniel Mason, Sr. were the sons of Capt. John Mason b.1693, Virginia d. 1755 Albemarle Parish, Surrey County Virginia. Capt. John Mason was the son of Sir John Mason who came to the Virginia Coloney during the Migration of the Royalists (1651-1655).

Daniel and Nathaniel Mason also had a sister that we are aware of as well, her name was Jane Mason who had married Ol' James Jeffery, himself also from England. They married in 1789 at Alexandria Virginia and moved to Rutherford County North Carolina and were living there in 1790 where their fist child Jehoiada Jeffery was born. Shortly after the birth of their son Jehoiada, they moved to The Fort Southwest Point area (later Kingston, Tennessee) which eventually became Knoxville, Tennessee.

Daniel and Nathaniel Mason then soldiers at the fort that was originally built to help American settlers and eventually became an Indian Station for the Indian Agent that was sent to protect the Indians from encroaching white settlers.

Snyder Roberts did a fine job of showing Daniel and Nathaniel in the military there as they were serving in Capt. John Walker's Company at the time. The lists of soldiers of all of the companies at the fort also served as tax lists for the soldiers in 1802. The Snyder Roberts research, excellent as it was and remains, alluded to the statement that Daniel and Nathaniel Mason "Were PROBABLY brothers" and started his book by indicating that that the Mason Family was synonymous with George Mason of Gunston Hall but he went on to state (in the same paragraph in fact) that "This had not been proven yet". Which was true.

If you follow that particular vein of research by Snyder Roberts, that's up to you but looking to George Mason's family of Gunston Hall will lead you further and further away from your goal of finding Daniel and Nathaniel Mason.

You must realize, first of all, that there were, in the very early history of The Old Dominion Virginia Coloney, 5 to 7 different Mason Family Lines that came to the Coloney from England and they settled all up and down the eastern seaboard from Connecticut to Norfolk, Virginia and maybe even into South Carolina. Three of these Mason Family Branches became Rupublican in their Political views and joined the American Cause of Freedom during our Revolutionary War. The Norfolk Mason's: this was William Mason, brother to George Mason of Gunston Hall on the Dogue's Neck peninsula east of what would become Washington D.C. both George and William were sons of Francis Mason. The second Republican line are The Mason's of Boston, Massachutsetts (credited with the founding of New Hampshire)Also had a Capt. John Mason and a Lieutenent Col. David Mason who commanded the Springfield Armory in Massachutsetts in their line so don't get these same family names confused or crossed. Then the third was the Family of Sir John Mason, Father of the Capt. John Mason line, father of Col. David Mason of Sussex County Virginia (who was a famed Burgess to the House of Burgesses prior to and during the Rev. War from Sussex County and who also was given command of the 15th Virginia Regiment of Foot and served under His Excellency George Washington) and his brother, Daniel Mason Sr. These three Branches of the Mason Family are the ones you need to be researching if you care to find Daniel and Nathaniel Mason of Roane County Tennessee.

The other branches of the Mason Family remained somewhat Torie in their Political views and were somewhat staunch in their loyalty to the British crown during our War for Independence. If you wish to continue to study the family line of Sir John Mason, you will discover that two of his descendents, both great grand sons are Daniel and Nathaniel Mason, who were both at Fort Southwest Point in 1802, as Snyder Roberts great research indicates, enlisted in Capt. John Walker's company where both of these frontiersmen married into the Robert S. Brashears Family.

Good luck with your continued research. Now that you know the early history of some of the Mason Family lines in question, you will be able to understand allot more of the Mason Family History in America including the Brilliant George Mason of Gunston Hall and his contributions to our Nation which we all, to this very day, hold self evident. So much wonderful history awaits you. Good Luck.

Thany you for your good information re early Masons. I am currently searching for the roots of a Nathaniel Mason (age abt 50) found in 1850 Franklin County, Ohio census with wife, Mary. In that enumeration, he is listed as being born in "Pa" but in the 1860 Franklin County census, his place of birth is VA. We believe that the latter is correct. Lore specifies that this Nathaniel's initials were N. C. Mason, which led us to Nathaniel Cargill, but this appears to be inaccurate.
We have reason to believe that the wife, Mary, was Mary (Mincell) Minshall.
Do you have light you can shed on this matter? Thank you very much.
Wayne Smith, Kansas City, MO- cwsmith9@swbell.net

Is this the Man you are looking for?

5. JOHN RAINES (I)5 MASON (JOHN (IV)4, JOHN III (MAJOR)3, JOHN (CAPT.) II2, JOHN (SIR.) I1) was born 24 Apr 1770 in Sussex Co. Virginia, and died Dec 1826 in Oak Springs Sussex Co. Virginia. He married (1) LUCY MASSENBURG in (1). He married (2) SARAH HARRISON CARGILL 1799 in (2) Virginia, daughter of JOHN CARGILL and LUCY BINNS.

Notes for JOHN RAINES (I) MASON:
Sussex County, Va. Will Book “K” 432
To wife Sarah, Windsor plantation for life. To son Benjamin H. Mason; son, Albert G. Mason, son, Payton MASON, son, Charles B. Mason Windsor Plantation after his wife. To son John R. Mason until his son John (R. Mason III) attains the age of 21 years, the Plantation on the North Side of Joseph Swamp which I bought from Joseph MASON and whereon my Grandfather formerly lived. To Daughter-in-Law Catherine MASON, wife of son Nathaniel C. Mason, now in the western country. To son-in-law, Robert Downman etc.
Wife Sarah, Executrix 21 May 1826, Probated 4 January 1827.

Albemarle Parish Register Page 80: John Rains MASON, son of John MASON Jr. and wife Jane Parham; born April 24 c. July 15, 1770; God Parents, John MASON, William MASON, Eliza MASON.

Sussex County Register 1804 Will of mother, Jane Parham
Sussex County Register 1790, Will of Grandmother, Rebecca Parham.

Issue: Lucy MASSENBURG MASON married Robert P. Downman.

Children of JOHN MASON and LUCY MASSENBURG are:
30. i. JOHN RAINES (II)6 MASON.
ii. LUCY MASSENBURG MASON, m. ROBERT P. DOWNMAN; b. 1726.


Children of JOHN MASON and SARAH CARGILL are:
iii. BENJAMIN HARRISON6 MASON.
iv. ALBERT G. MASON.
v. PEYTON MASON.
vi. CHARLES B. MASON.
vii. NATHANIEL C. MASON, m. CATHERINE or Kesiah (don't know her last name.

This Nathaniel C. Mason (shown above), for some reason was held in very low esteme by his father and moved "To the Western Lands" but it sounds like I don't see any information about a wife named Mary but this Nathaniel C. Mason would have been born about 1800.

Now you are talking about a man named Nathaniel C. Mason in Ohio in 1850. If the man whose info above in Not your man I would suggest you look in the family of Mason's who lived in Boston, Massacutsetts during the Rev. War years. That MASON Family is attributed with the founding of the state of New Hampshire which isn't all that far from Ohio; just the other side of Pennsylvania as the crow flys. Personally I have not studied that MASON line very much however it seems likely you may find him descended from the Boston MASON Family and if that isn't the right family you should try the MASON Family who spread their generations west into Canada from New Foundland. Good Luck.

Hi Folks,
Around here and as well as many of this site, we are in our "Research" mode and I previously wrote an entry indicating that Daniel and Nathaniel Mason of Roane County were the sons (respectively) of Daniel Mason Sr. and Colonel David Mason of Sussex County, Virginia.

This information is NOT CORRECT. Sorry

Since I wrote those remarks we have come up with some of Nathaniel Mason's Documents indicating that Daniel, Nathaniel and Jane Mason were descended from the Family of Capt. John Mason of Pasquotank Precint of early North Carolina. Yes he is the father of Daniel Mason, Sr. and he is the father of Col. David Mason as well as his other sons and daughters of which there are many.

The "Original" documents we have found in Tennessee are Nathaniel Mason's of Roane County history of 1801 / 1802 and Fort Southwest Point in Kingston, Tennessee.

They are his bounty Land Documents he recived for his 7 acre homestead in western Tennessee. These are Original documents from 1814 and as torn and as tattered as they are, they are still readable. They had been handed down in this family ever since they purchased Nathaniel's Homestead.

Our research can prove that Daniel Mason of early Roane County History is the brother of Jane Mason and the father of Thomas Jefferson Mason of Loudon County, Tennessee. These new documents shed light on Nathaniel Mason being the brother of Jane Mason as well. Jane Mason and her families trek across Tennessee and into Kentucky beginning in 1802 was the key to indicating that Daniel and Nathaniel are indeed brothers, just as Snyder Roberts had indicated in his wonderful research of early Roane County History.

Does anyone remember seeing the document of a Knox County sheriff going out to locate Nathaniel Mason in about 1802? Well, this sheriff came back to say that Nathaniel Mason was no where in Knox County to be found. Well, he was right! Nathaniel Mason was on his way to Fort Blount over the Avery Trace with his sister Jane Mason and her husband James Jeffery of North Carolina. The Jeffery's were Pioneering their way to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. It was somewhat customary for people on the Pioneer trail to migrate from one military fort to the next for protection against Indians and bushwakers and thieves. Well, in 1802 James and Jane (Mason) Jeffery, who were in the Fort Southwest Point area of Knoxville start out on their Journey into the western Kentucky wilderness with all of their children. Nathaniel Mason was with them and that's why the sheriff of Knox County couldn't find him.

This research we have been conducting also indicates that the woman Nathaiel Married in Roane County was Phoebe Brashear but this Phoebe was NOT the daughter of Robert S. Brashear. The Phoebe Brashear that Nathaniel Mason married appears to be the daughter of Phillip Brashear NOT Robert S. Brashear as indicated in many places on the web and in the historical archives of Roane County. Robert S. Brashear's daughter Phoebe Brashear married Stephen Rice and stayed married to him as indicated by the will of Robert S. Brashear where she is refered to as Phoebe Rice some years "After" Nathaniel left the Knox / Roane County Area. To verify this anyone can look at the history of the son of Stephen and Phoebe (Brashear) Rice, John B. Rice. He ended his days of life in the Memphis area and left a family Bible behind (hint).

Daniel, Nathaniel and Jane were brothers and sister descended from the family of Capt. John Mason of Pasquotank Precinct.

Once again, I want to apologize to everyone for my prior mis-information which lead folks to Col. David Mason and Daniel Mason Sr. but we are in the right family with indicating their father's line.