Notes for Thomas Jefferson Mason

Notes for Thomas Jefferson Mason

!US Census 1850 (4 September) Tennessee, Roane Co., 20th Sub Division, page 349, lines 17-23: Thomas J. Mason (b. 1807 - 43 - in TN - Occ: Farming - Property Value $4000) married to Eliza (b. 1817 - 33 - in TN). Children listed (born in TN) are: Mary J. (dau b. 1846 - 4); Alexander D. (son b. 1848 - 2); Infant (dau b. April 1850 - 4/12). ALSO LISTED are: Eleanor Mason (b. 1816 - 34 - in TN); and Elbert (son b. 1845 - 5)

!US Census 1880 Loudon, Loudon, Tennessee; FHL Film 1255267; National Archives Film T9-1267; Page 351B: T. J. MASON (b. Abt 1807 - 73 - in TN - Occ: Farmer - Fa: VA and Mo: IRE) married to E. S. MASON (b. Abt 1817 - 63 - in TN - Fa: TN and Mo: TN). Children listed (born in TN) are: Mary M. PRESNELL (Dau b. Abt 1847 - 33 - WIDOW - Occ: Teaching); Bettie MASON (Dau b. Abt 1855 - 25); Mattie MASON (Dau b. Abt 1857 - 23); T. J. MASON (Son b. Abt 1864 - 16); J. B. MASON (Brother b. Abt 1804 - 76 - in TN - Fa: VA and Mo: SC); Albert KERR (Nephew b. Abt 1845 - 35 - in TN - Occ: Clerk Master - Fa: TN and Mo: TN). ALSO LISTED are: Alfred ROWAN (Other b. Abt 1825 - 55 - in KY - BLACK - Occ: Servant - Fa: KY and Mo: KY); Charlie DAVIS (Other b. Abt 1858 - 22 - in TN - BLACK - Occ: Servant - Fa: TN and Mo: TN); Vianna DAVIS (Other b. Abt 1860 - 20 - in TN - BLACK - Occ: House Keeper - Fa: TN and Mo: TN); Venises DAVIS (Other b. Abt Mar 1880 - 3/12 - in TN - BLACK - Fa: TN and Mo: TN); Robert KING (Other b. Abt 1855 - 25 - in TN - BLACK - Occ: Servant - Fa: TN and Mo: TN); and John SCHOOLER (Other b. Abt 1862 - 18 - in TN - BLACK - Occ: Servant - Fa: TN and Mo: TN)

!Information based upon "A Brashear(s) Family History, Vol. 3" by Charles Brashear, pg 85 : from GOODSPEED'S HISTORY OF EAST TENNESSEE, Thomas J. Mason, of Bradley Co (pp. 1085-6)
"Thomas Jefferson Mason, an old pioneer citizen of Loudon, was born in Roane Co., December 1, 1806. Daniel Mason, the father, came to a fort [Fort Southwest Point, at site of Kingston, in then Knox County] within the present limits of Roane County when a lad, from the Potomac River, in either Virginia or Maryland. He became the second husband of Mary Gillard [meant to be Gilliland], née Brashears. They followed agricultural pursuits within the present limits of Roane County until their death. He [Daniel Mason] was in the War of 1812, and died in 1840. His first wife, the mother of our subject, died in 1819 [Goodspeed sure has the dates scrambled!], and our subject's father, after married (Martha) Patsey Hicks, who outlived him, and was the mother of ten children.
"Our subject [Thomas J. Mason] is the only survivor of a family of six children, he being the youngest of three sons. The immediate subject of this sketch remained at home until about eighteen years of age, then began flat-boating on the Tenn. and Mississippi Rivers, which he continued for twenty-five years, part of the time for himself and part as a hired hand of other parties. During this time, he spent twenty months in the U.S. Army as second lieutenant, assisting in the removal of the Cherokee Indians.
"In 1845, he married Eliza S. Kerr, a native of Sullivan Co., and after quitting the river trade, in 1851, purchased in 1852 three tracts of land in present Loudon County from Rebecca Tunnell, Kaziah Huff and Daniel Tunnell (Roane Book L, p.421) on which he settled and has since resided.
(SER's addition: The building of a brick mansion was interrupted by Civil War actions. Federal troops occupied the Mason property and used 240,000 brick on the mansion site for the building of a fortification nearby. In 1865, Thomas J. Mason completed the building but used termite-defying heart-pine to construct "Mason Place." The homeplace has become a Loudon County landmark, and is presently [1981] the home of Edmund Preston McQueen II, a great?grandson of Thomas J. Mason.)

Thomas J. Mason was elected to the State Legislature in 1865 and served until 1869. In 1876, he was elected Trustee of Loudon Co., but resigned after about one year. He received a commission from Governor Hawkins to serve as a railroad tax assessor for the eastern division of TN. He served in that capacity for two years.