George Mason III

George Mason III (1690March 5, 1735) was an early American planter, businessman, and statesman. Mason was the father of George Mason IV, a Founding Father of the United States.

Early life
Mason was born in 1690 at Chopawamsic plantation in Stafford County, Virginia. He was the eldest son of George Mason II and his first wife Mary Fowke.

Planter and politician
At the time of his father's death in 1716, Mason was 27 and already a man of prominence in Stafford County. Like his father, Mason increased the family's property and social standing in Stafford County, and continued a tradition of leadership and public service. Also like his father, Mason served as a colonel in the Stafford County militia and represented Stafford in the House of Burgesses between 1715 and 1726. It was during his tenure as a burgess in Williamsburg that Mason met and married his wife Ann Stevens Thomson. He served as County Lieutenant of Stafford in 1719. Mason also served as sheriff of Stafford County.

Mason amassed enormous land holdings in Stafford, Fauquier, Prince William, and Fairfax counties in Virginia. Mason also increased his land holdings by acquiring large grants south of the Occoquan River, which were later named Woodbridge by his grandson Thomas Mason. Mason leased most of his properties out as smaller farms with their rent paid in tobacco yield. Other sources of Mason's income came from fisheries and a ferry service carrying King's Highway across the Occoquan River. Because Mason owned land on both sides of the Occoquan River, he enjoyed a monopoly on river crossings as well as on the fishing rights in Belmont Bay.

In 1716, Mason accompanied the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition" led by Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood across the Blue Ridge and into the Shenandoah Valley.

Marriage and children
Mason married Ann Stevens Thomson, daughter of Stevens Thomson and his wife Dorothea, in 1721. The couple had three children:

George Mason IV (11 December 1725–7 October 1792)
Mary Thomson Mason Selden (1731–5 January 1758)
Thomson Mason (14 August 1733–26 February 1785)

A few years after his marriage to Ann, Mason moved his family to Stump Neck plantation in Charles County, Maryland, relegating the Chopawamsic estate in Stafford County, Virginia, to a secondary residence.

Later life
Mason died in a ferry accident on 5 March 1735 on the Potomac River. Soon after his death, Mason's widow and children returned to Chopawamsic. At the time of his death, Mason owned  in Stafford County alone.

References

Category:1690 births
Category:1735 deaths
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American planters
Category:British North American Anglicans
Category:Businesspeople from Maryland
Category:Businesspeople from Virginia
Category:Deaths by drowning
Category:Deaths due to shipwreck
Category:George Mason
Category:House of Burgesses members
Category:People of colonial Maryland
Category:Mason family
Category:People from Stafford County, Virginia
Category:Virginia sheriffs