John Calvin MASON, Congress, KY (1802-1865)

1802-1865

MASON, John Calvin, a Representative from Kentucky; born near Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Ky., August 4, 1802; attended country and city schools in Montgomery County and Mount Sterling Law School in Lexington, Ky.; was graduated from Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., in 1823; was admitted to the bar and practiced in Mount Sterling; engaged extensively in the manufacture of iron; member of the State house of representatives in 1839, 1844, and 1848; served in the war with Mexico in 1846 and 1847 in Ben McCollough’s company of Texas Rangers, Worth’s division, under General Taylor; moved to Owingsville, Bath County, Ky., in 1847; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853); chairman, Committee on Accounts (Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination in 1852; elected to the Thirty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1859); chairman, Committee on Accounts (Thirty-fifth Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1858; delegate to the Democratic National Convention at Charleston, S.C., in 1860; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of Douglas and Johnson in 1860; during the Civil War served with Texas State troops from Brenham, Tex. in 1863; died in August 1865 near New Orleans on board a steamer on the Mississippi River; interment in the State Cemetery, Frankfort, Ky.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present