Armistead Thomson Mason

{{Short description|American politician (1787–1819)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Armistead Mason | image = Armistead Thompson Mason.jpg | jr/sr = United States Senator | state = Virginia | term_start = January 3, 1816 | term_end = March 3, 1817 | predecessor = William Giles | successor = John Eppes | birth_name = Armistead Thomson Mason | birth_date = {{birth date|1787|8|4}} | birth_place = Armisteads, Virginia, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1819|2|6|1787|8|4}} | death_place = Bladensburg, Maryland, U.S. | party = Democratic-Republican | spouse = Charlotte Taylor | children = 1 | relatives = Stevens Mason (father) | education = College of William & Mary (BA) }} '''Armistead Thomson Mason''' (August 4, 1787{{spaced ndash}}February 6, 1819)<ref name=GH>{{cite web | url=http://www.gunstonhall.org/library/masonweb/p7.htm#i350 | title=Armistead Thomson Mason | access-date=2015-10-27 | publisher=Gunston Hall | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151220181832/http://www.gunstonhall.org/library/masonweb/p7.htm#i350 | archive-date=2015-12-20 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=PG>{{cite web | url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10855.html | title=Mason family of Virginia | date= June 16, 2008| access-date=2009-03-07 | publisher=The Political Graveyard| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090321031659/http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/10855.html| archive-date= 21 March 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref> was a U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1816 to 1817. Mason was also the second-youngest person to ever serve in the US Senate, at the age of 28 and 5 months, even though the age requirement for the US Senate in the constitution is 30 years old.<ref name="youngest">{{cite web |title=Youngest Senator |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Youngest_Senator.htm |publisher=United States Senate}}</ref> He was the son of Stevens Thomson Mason.<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/>

==Early life and education== He was born at Armisteads in Louisa County, Virginia, graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1807 and engaged in agricultural pursuits until he became colonel of Virginia Volunteers in the War of 1812 and subsequently brigadier general of Virginia Militia.

==Political career== He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William Branch Giles, despite being constitutionally underage for the office. Mason served from January 3, 1816, to March 3, 1817. He then moved to Loudoun County, Virginia where he was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Fifteenth Congress (1817). It was a bitter campaign that gave rise to several duels: Mason himself was later killed in a duel with his second cousin, John Mason McCarty, at Bladensburg Duelling Field, Maryland, as a result of this campaign. He is buried in the churchyard of the Episcopal Church at Leesburg, Virginia.<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/>

==Marriage and children== Mason married on 1 May 1817 to Charlotte Eliza Taylor (died 1846) at Dr. Charles Cocke's in Albemarle County, Virginia.<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/> The couple had one son:<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/>

*Stevens Thomson Mason (1819–14 June 1847)<ref name=GH/>

==Relations== Armistead Thomson Mason was the grandnephew of George Mason (1725–1792);<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/> grandson of Thomson Mason (1733–1785);<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/> son of Mary Elizabeth "Polly" Armistead Mason (1760–1825) and Stevens Thomson Mason (1760–1803);<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/> nephew of John Thomson Mason (1765–1824);<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/> second cousin of Thomson Francis Mason (1785–1838) and James Murray Mason (1798–1871);<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/> brother-in-law of William Taylor Barry (1784–1835); brother of John Thomson Mason (1787–1850);<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/> uncle of Stevens Thomson Mason (1811–1843);<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/> and first cousin of John Thomson Mason, Jr. (1815–1873).<ref name=GH/><ref name=PG/>

==Ancestry== {{ahnentafel |collapsed=yes |align=center |boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc; |boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9; |boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc; |boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc; |1= 1. '''Armistead Thomson Mason''' |2= 2. Stevens Thomson Mason |3= 3. Mary Elizabeth Armistead |4= 4. Thomson Mason |5= 5. Mary King Barnes |6= 6. Robert Armistead |7= 7. Mary Westwood |8= 8. George Mason III |9= 9. Ann Stevens Thomson |10= 10. Abraham Barnes |11= 11. Mary King |12= 12. Robert Armistead |13= 13. Catherine Nutting |14= 14. William Westwood |15= 15. Mary Tabb }}

==References== {{CongBio|M000213}} {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== *[http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Mason&GSiman=1&GScid=1970955&GRid=7932199&/ Armistead Thomson Mason. Find a Grave.]

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{s-bef|before=William Giles}} {{s-ttl|title=U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Virginia|years=1816–1817|alongside=James Barbour}} {{s-aft|after=John Eppes}} |- {{s-new|office}} {{s-ttl|title=Chair of the Senate District of Columbia Committee|years=1816–1817}} {{s-aft|after=Robert Henry Goldsborough}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Armistead Thompson}} Category:1787 births Category:1819 deaths Category:People from Louisa County, Virginia Armistead Thomson Category:Episcopalians from Virginia Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Virginia Category:19th-century owners of plantations in the United States Category:United States senators who owned slaves Category:18th-century American Episcopalians Category:19th-century American Episcopalians Category:People from Loudoun County, Virginia Category:College of William & Mary alumni Category:American militiamen in the War of 1812 Category:People from Virginia in the War of 1812 Category:American politicians killed in duels Category:Deaths by firearm in Maryland Category:19th-century United States senators Category:Owners of plantations in Virginia