Jeremiah Mason (April 27, 1768 – October 14, 1848) was a

United States senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Early life

Mason was born in

Lebanon, Connecticut Lebanon is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 7,142 at the 2020 census. The town lies just to the northwest of Norwich, directly south of Willimantic, north of New London, and east of Hartford. The fa ...

on April 27, 1768. He was a son of Jeremiah Mason (1729/30–1813) and the former Elizabeth Fitch (1731–1809). He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

in 1788, studied law, moved to

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

, and was admitted to the

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in 1791.

Career

After several years in Vermont, he moved to New Hampshire where he continued to practice law. From 1802 to 1805, he served as the attorney general of New Hampshire. Mason was elected as a

Federalist The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...

to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy in the term beginning March 4, 1813, and served from June 10, 1813, until June 16, 1817, when he resigned. He was elected a member of the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society i ...

in 1815. He was a member of the

New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...

in 1820-1821 and 1824, and was president of the

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

branch of the United States Bank in 1828–1829. Mason exchanged letters with Nicholas Biddle, the president of the Bank of the United States. He moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in 1832 and retired from the practice of law in 1838, but continued as chamber counsel up to the time of his death in 1848.

Personal life

On November 6, 1799, Mason was married to Mary Means (1777–1858), daughter of Robert Means and Mary (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

McGregor) Means.Daniel F. Secomb, ''History of the Town of Amherst'' (1883), p. 689 Mary was a sister of Elizabeth Means, wife of Congregationalist minister

Jesse Appleton Jesse Appleton (November 17, 1772November 12, 1819) was the second president of Bowdoin College and the father of First Lady Jane Pierce. Early life Appleton was born on November 17, 1772 in New Ipswich, New Hampshire. He was the son of Francis ...

, parents of Jane Means Appleton (wife of the 14th U.S. President

Franklin Pierce Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...

). They were the parents of eight children, including: * George Means Mason (1800–1865) * Robert Means Mason (1810–1879), who married Sarah Ellen Francis (1819–1865), daughter of Ebenezer Francis and Elizabeth (née Thorndike) Francis, in 1843. * Charles Mason (1812–1862), the Rector of

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in Boston who married Susannah Lawrence (1817–1844), a daughter of the wealthy merchant

Amos Lawrence Amos Lawrence (April 22, 1786 – December 31, 1852) was an American merchant and philanthropist. Biography Amos Lawrence was born in Groton, Massachusetts. Lawrence attended elementary school in Groton and briefly attended the Groton Academy. ...

. After her death, he married Anna Huntington Lyman (1821–1883) in 1849. Anna's sister was married to agricultural writer Richard L. Allen. Mason died in Boston on October 14, 1848. He was interred in

Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge and Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, west of Boston. It is the burial site of many prominent Boston Brah ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

Descendants

Through his son Robert, he was a grandfather of Elizabeth Mason (1844–1924), who married Robert Charles Winthrop Jr. (son of U.S. Senator and former Speaker of the House of Representatives

Robert Charles Winthrop Robert Charles Winthrop (May 12, 1809 – November 16, 1894) was an American lawyer and philanthropist, who served as the speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a descendant of John Winthrop. Early life Robert Charles ...

) on June 1, 1869 (ancestors of U.S. Secretary of State

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

). He was also the grandfather of Ellen Francis Mason, Alfred Mason, Anna Frances Mason, Clara Thorndike Mason, and Ida Means Mason.

References

External links

*
The Ancestors of Senator John Forbes Kerry (b. 1943)Jeremiah Mason
at the Smithsonian {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Jeremiah 1768 births 1848 deaths People from Lebanon, Connecticut New Hampshire Attorneys General United States senators from New Hampshire Members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives Yale College alumni New Hampshire Federalists Federalist Party United States senators Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery Members of the American Antiquarian Society People of colonial Connecticut