George Mason II (1660–1716) was Virginian planter and officeholder who, although his father's only child, had many children and thus can be said to have established the Mason family as one of the First Families of Virginia. His grandson George Mason IV became the most distinguished member of the family, a Founding Father of the United States.
Contents
Early life
Mason was born in 1660 at his father's Accokeek plantation in Stafford County, Virginia. He was the only son of George Mason I and his first wife Mary French. He was the first of Virginia's Mason family to be born in British America.
Political career
Like his father, Mason led the Stafford County militia, with the rank of colonel. After his father's death, he won election many times as one of Stafford County's two part-time delegates in the House of Burgesses (then the only house of the Virginia General Assembly). This George Mason also served as the county's sheriff and justice of the peace between 1699 and 1700. During this tenure Mason secured funds from the county to build what was probably Stafford's first jail in 1690. Also between 1699 and 1700, Mason was county lieutenant of Stafford County, under General Nicholson, and defended white settlers of the Potomac region against Native Americans.