Mason, Stephen T. Jr.

Stevens Thomson Mason Jr. of Raspberry Plain was born in 1789 to Stevens Thomson Mason and Mary Elizabeth Armistead. He had five siblings: John, Armistead, Mary, Emily, and Catherine. Stevens was only fourteen when his father died. 

Mason’s father’s will clearly intended to provide a proper education for his children, to “render them good and useful members of society according to their respective capacities.” Mason was probably educated by tutors at home with his brothers, as was traditional at the time. There is no evidence that he went on to college. 

Stevens’s brothers had illustrious careers. John was Secretary of the Territory of Michigan, and Armistead was a brigadier general of Virginia state militia and U.S. Senator (and was killed in 1819 in a duel with his cousin). There is no evidence that Stevens held any political office. It seems he was content farming his land, growing corn, flax, rye, and wheat. He also owned land in Leonardtown, Maryland, which he sold to Philip Key for $20,000 in 1813.  

Mason’s estate inventory reveals that he owned three enslaved people when he died in 1815. However, that belies the reality that the estate on which he lived with his widowed mother, Raspberry Plain, at that time held more than seventy people in bondage. Stevens Thomson Mason Sr. had left them to his wife and brother in a trust to benefit his children, expressing the wish that the enslaved people remain at Raspberry Plain. While Stevens Thomson Mason Jr. did not own these enslaved people outright, he and his siblings benefited from the profits they generated. 

Mason likely suffered from ill health for much of his life. In a letter dated 15 March 1803, his father wrote (shortly before his own death), “I have been the whole of this winter so tarrafied by the situation of my son and by my own indisposition as not to be able to attend to any kind of business.” Further, Mason’s will, dated 20 September 1815, stated he was “in bad health.” It seems he was too ill to sign his name, using “X” as his mark. As a subscriber to the Baltimore Patriot newspaper, he was clearly literate.  

In the final months of his life, Stevens Thomson Mason Jr. was under the care of several doctors. In July 1815, $20 was paid to Dr. Lacey for attending him, along with $5 for medicine and $3 for transporting the doctor. In August, Mason took a trip to Bedford County in southwestern Virginia with his brother Armistead. This area of southwestern Virginia was popular as a place to pursue both pleasure and health, and Bedford Springs was noted for its healing waters. Unfortunately, his health did not improve. Mason was clearly ailing by September, as $5 was sent “by Isac to Mrs. Taylor of Faquire, Doctress.” A further payment was made to Dr. Claggett.  

Stevens Thomson Mason Jr. never married. He left most of his personal property to his mother, bequeathed his share in Raspberry Plain to his brother Armistead, and divided the rest of his estate (including land he had inherited in Kentucky) among his siblings. He died on 17 November 1815 at Raspberry Plain. He was twenty-six years old. 

By Kate Shuster