Mason, John 1610-
Founder of New Hampshire; born in Lynn Regis, Norfolk, England; commanded an expedition to subdue a rebellion in the Hebrides in 1610, and went to Newfoundland as governor in 1616. He surveyed the island, made a map of it (published in 1626), and wrote a description of it. In 1617 he explored the New England coasts, and obtained from the Council of Plymouth a tract of land there in 1622. With Fernando Gorges, he procured a patent for another tract (see Maine), and sent a colony there in 1623. In 1629 he obtained a patent for the domain which he called New Hampshire. In the same year he acquired, with Gorges, another tract, which embraced the country around Lake Champlain; and in 1631 Mason, Gorges, and others formed a company for trading with the natives of New England and to make settlements there. In 1633 Mason became a member of the council for New England and its vice-president. He was also judge of the courts of Hampshire, England, in 1665, and in October was appointed viceadmiral of New England. He died, in London, in December, 1635, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Mason's heirs sold his rights in the province of New Hampshire in 1691 to Samuel Allan.
Indian fighter; born in England in 1600; served as a soldier under Fairfax in the Netherlands, and was invited by that leader to join his standard in the civil war. He came to America in 1630, and was one of the first settlers of Dorchester. Captain Mason led the white and Indian troops against the Pequods near the Mystic in 1637 (see Pequod War), and was soon afterwards made major-general of the Connecticut forces, a post he held until his death in Norwich, Conn., in 1672. He was a magistrate from 1642 until 1668, and deputygovernor from 1660 to 1670. He went to Saybrook after the Pequod War at the request of the settlers, and in 1659 removed to Norwich.
