Person:Isaac Mason (13)

[pp 23-26 - The Family of Isaac and Parthena (Hall) Mason, By Major E. B. Mason., a Grandson - Transcript ]

... Isaac Mason was descended from an English family who settled in Delaware in 1720. He had one brother who settled in Virginia; they were left orphans while young. He was connected
with the well known family of Masons in Virginia. His cousin, Ann Mason was the mother of General Winfield Scott.

The subject of this sketch was bound to a tailor, where he completed his apprentice-ship, and for many years followed his trade. He was born January 31, 1753 and on November 24, 1774, he married Parthena, the eldest child of our ancestors. His wife was born and raised in Pennsylvania^* and was connected to a large and respectable family. She had two brothers, one of whom was named Rynear and the other Allen.

Isaac Mason and his wife were Episcopal Methodists, and lived in the days of John Wesley, Asberry, and McKindrew. During the revolutionary war, he was a soldier under Washington, Green and Lafayette. And was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, on the 19th of October, 1781. He was there discharged and returned to his family. The following year he moved to Sussex county, Virginia, and remained there until 1787. He then sold off his loose property and moved his family to Monongalia county, Virginia, in order to prepare a boat on which to move his family and household goods to French Lick, now Nashville.

On way to their new home, they were obliged to pass the falls of the Ohio river, which was then considered dangerous. He took all his family on shore, and hired an experienced hand to take his boat over. In the meantime, his family were in danger of being attacked by hostile Indians, for they were bitterly opposed to the wires advancing further west. The water was not at a very good stage for passing the falls, and a large number of movers having accumulated at that place, and fearing an attack from the Indians if they remained longer, a council was held by the interested parties, and it was resolved to attempt to pass the falls. They pledged to each other, if any one was so unfortunate as to lose his boat and cargo, that he would not be left behind; and out of sixteen boats and cargos, thirteen passed in safety. One of the boats lost belonged to Isaac Mason, and was the most valuable boat and cargo out of the sixteen boats. He was thus left without means, but his companions, true to their promise, proceeded to build a boat to accommodate him and his family, who had lost all. This work took but a little time, and they were soon on their way again, but had not gone more than twenty miles, when they were attacked by a large force of Indians, from the Ohio side, and in canoes. The whites were successful in the fight, killing a number of the enemy, and capturing their canoes. Several of the whites were badly wounded, among the number being a woman and her little

^* This is undoubtedly wrong, as the family were all together in Delaware

child. During the attack the women steered, while the men gave battle. One of the women proved herself a better axe-man than a steersman, for she ran the boat too near her enemies on the shore, and two of the savages tried to board the boat; but one lost his hand by a single blow of the axe, and the other lost his life, by having his head split open.

They were attacked again, as they begun to ascend the Cumberland river, but not in such numbers as before, and they were more easily dispersed. The gallant little company of boats had hard work in ascending the Cumberland river, with its strong current. They were met by several men, who had learned of their coming, who came to give them a helping hand. Thus, through much toil and danger, this heroic band of hardy adventurers landed at the mouth of Lick Branch, (now Nashville), on the 18th day of March, 1789, at which place there was a fort, known as "French Lick."

Isaac Mason was thirty-six years of age, and had a wife and six living children, when he arrived at his destination, and having lost all, had no means of support but his trade, for which there was little demand, on account of the scarcity of cloth. Necessity, however, caused the people to have their pants and hunting shirts made out of dressed deerskins; so, he and his wife who was an excellent seamstress, soon got as much work as they could do, and made enough to support their family. He was the first tailor at the place where Nashville now stands.

He did his duty in defending the little fort, for it was under rules of self protection; while some were at work, others had to stand guard, and all had to hold themselves in readiness to protect their friends and neighbors from the attacks of Indians; and nothing was more certain than to hear of depredations being committed about the full of the moon.

Isaac Mason remained at French Lick until the year 1793, and then settled four miles west of the fort, and would go with his family, at night, to Shooks Station, at which place the neighbors had built a fort for protection. Remaining there until 1798, he sold out and bought land in Williamson county, near the place were Nelsonville how stands.

At this time his family had increased to ten children, who are named as follows:

1. Mary, b. November 21, 1775.---Family 2.
2. Abram, b. Oct.22, 1778.---Family 3.

3. Isaac, b. April 16, 1782.---Family 4.

4. Jacob, b. March 3, 1784.---Family 5.

5. Catharine, b. Jan. 31, 1786.---Family 6.

6. Rebecca, b. Dec. 18, 1787; d. Aug 23, 1818, aged 30 years.

7. Joseph, b. Feb. 3, 1790.---Family 7.

8. Thomas, b. Feb.25, 1792.---Family 8.

9. Elizabeth, b. Feb. 11, 1794; d. Feb. 24, 1822, of consumption, aged 28.

10. Rynear Hall, do not know.---Family 9.

Isaac Mason died in Rutherford county, Tennessee, August 30, 1832, at the good old age of 80 years.
His wife died June 13, 1816, of consumption, at the age of 60 years. ...

[Vol 2, p 457 - ]
HALL - The remotest ancestor of this family, of whom anything definite is known, is Thomas Hall, who was descended from Scotch-Irish ancestors. There is a tradition in the family that this branch was started from a marriage between a Hall and a Spencer, one of whom was Scotch, the other Irish. Thomas Hall was born September 24, 1724, and he had two brothers, Moses, whose son Jesse was a soldier in the revolution, and David, an old sea captain. Early representatives of the Hall family settled at Snow Hill, Maryland, and in Delaware. Thomas Hall died at or near Duck Creek Cross Roads, Delaware, May 29, 1772. He married Rebecca Story, a woman of English birth, who long survived her honored husband, her death having occurred December 15, 1812.

After the death of Thomas Hall, in 1772, his widow remained with her children in Delaware until the close of the revolutionary war. In 1781, Isaac Mason, who had married the eldest child, and Jordan Hall, the third child, emigrated westward, and in the following year, 1782, the family followed to the forks of Cheat river, a few miles below Morgantown, West Virginia. Those who left Delaware, were Rebecca Hall, Asa Hall, with his wife and the latter's mother, Mrs. Margaret White, Nathan, Jordan, Rynear, Allen, and Rebecca. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hall : Parthena : Asa, mentioned below : Jordan, Rynear, Nathan, Allen, Rebecca.
-----
[Identifies Isaac as husband of Parthena Hall.]