Early Life and Education
Mason was born on April 4, 1766 at Mattawoman plantation, the estate of his maternal grandparents William Eilbeck and Sarah Edgar Eilbeck. He was eighth child and fifth-eldest son of George Mason IV and his wife Ann Eilbeck. Like his brothers, Mason was tutored at his father's estate, Gunston Hall, in Fairfax County, Virginia. His tutors were Scotsmen Mr. Davidson and Mr. Constable. After the American Revolutionary War, Mason, his brother Thomas, and a cousin, studied with Reverend Buchnan, rector of Aquia and Pohick churches, who resided on Passapatanzy Creek.
Mason completed his formal education in mathematics with another Scotsman, Mr. Hunter, in Calvert County, Maryland. He was then apprenticed to a Quaker merchant William Hartshorne of the firm of Harper & Hartshorne in Alexandria, Virginia. Mason accompanied his father George Mason to the Philadelphia Convention, but returned to continue his apprenticeship with Hartshorne before the Convention ended. Mason remained with Hartshorne until Spring 1788 when he then entered into a partnership with merchants James and Joseph Fenwick of Maryland.
Read more about this topic: John Mason (planter)
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