Thomas Mason
BIRTH
May 1, 1753
Fairfax County, Virginia
DEATH
September 18, 1800
Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia
FAMILY
FATHER:
George Mason
(1725-1792)
MOTHER:
Ann Eilbeck
(1734-1773)
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Mason, Thomas
(1753-1800)
Thomas Mason was a Virginia merchant, planter, bridge builder, and politician. The youngest son of George Mason IV and Ann Eilbeck, he inherited land along the Occoquan River, developed the Woodbridge plantation, replaced the family ferry with a wooden toll bridge, and represented Prince William County in the Virginia House of Delegates before his death in 1800.
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BROTHER
Thomson Mason
(1733-1785)
BROTHER
William Mason
(1786-1860)
BROTHER
John Mason
(?-1672)
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DIED:
Woodbridge, Prince William County, Virginia
Sep 18, 1800
Thomas Mason was born at Gunston Hall in Fairfax County, Virginia, on May 1, 1753, the youngest son of George Mason IV and his first wife, Ann Eilbeck. His mother died in 1756 following the birth of her youngest child, leaving Thomas and his siblings to grow up within a large plantation household overseen first by their father and elder sister Nancy and later by their stepmother, Sarah Brent. The Mason family’s wealth rested on extensive landholdings and enslaved labor, circumstances that shaped Thomas’s upbringing and the opportunities available to him.
Like his brothers, Thomas received the private education expected of a prosperous Virginia planter’s son. George Mason favored Scottish tutors, and David Constable of Aberdeen instructed the Mason children at Gunston Hall during the Revolutionary era. After Constable’s departure, Thomas and his brother John attended a school connected with the Reverend John Moncure or Reverend Buchanan in Stafford County. In 1788 Thomas continued his education at the newly established Fredericksburg Academy, whose trustees included members of the family’s wider political network.
Rather than preparing solely for plantation management, Thomas trained for commerce. He apprenticed in Alexandria under merchant William Hodgson, learning bookkeeping, credit, purchasing, and the Atlantic trading practices needed to operate a business. His father subsequently helped establish him in trade at Richmond, where his brother John was also active in mercantile affairs. This combination of private education, commercial training, inherited status, and close family connections prepared Thomas for the business and public responsibilities he later assumed in northern Virginia.
Thomas Mason began his adult career in commerce, working in Richmond with assistance from his father and his elder brother John. He appears to have handled family debts and conducted business as a merchant before George Mason’s death in 1792. Thomas and John then helped administer their father’s estate, a responsibility that placed them at the center of the family’s extensive property, financial obligations, and enslaved workforce.
Thomas inherited land on the south side of the Occoquan River, together with rights connected to the ferry opposite Colchester. He developed the property as Woodbridge plantation and operated a store in Prince William County. In 1795 he replaced the ferry with a wooden toll bridge carrying the principal north-south road across the Occoquan. The bridge became the defining feature of the estate and ultimately gave its name to the surrounding community. Mason petitioned Virginia authorities concerning tolls and the considerable expense of the project, showing how his private business interests intersected with public transportation and regional commerce.
By 1800 Mason controlled more than a thousand acres and a large enslaved labor force, and contemporary tax records indicate that he was among Prince William County’s wealthiest residents, though he also carried substantial debts. County voters elected him to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1799 and returned him for another term in 1800. His legislative career was cut short when he died on September 18, 1800, at Lexington plantation. He was succeeded in the assembly by Richard Brent. Mason’s plantation and bridge remained associated with his descendants for decades, while the name Woodbridge survived as the name of the modern Virginia community.