Armistead Thomson Mason

Template:Short description Template:Infobox officeholder Armistead Thomson Mason (August 4, 1787Template:Spaced ndashFebruary 6, 1819)<ref name=GH>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=PG>Template:Cite web</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">Template:Cite web</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 4, 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/>

External links

• Armistead Thomson Mason. Find a Grave.

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