Mason was admitted to the Suffolk County bar in 1843 and began practicing in Boston.[1] Lacking family or personal wealth, Mason was left with only twenty-five cents after securing his office and purchasing office furniture and law books. He was eventually able to establish a successful practice.[2]
In 1848 he moved from Boston to Newton, Massachusetts, where he lived for the rest of his life.[1]
In 1860 Mason was appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Education. As a member of the board, Mason was influential in the establishment of the State Normal School at Framingham.[1]
From 1864 to 1870 Mason was a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers.[1] On December 22, 1870, he was appointed United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts by President Ulysses S. Grant.[2]
Mason died on May 29, 1873, at his home in Newton. The town of Newton named one of its grammar schools in his honor (now known as Mason-Rice Elementary School).[2][3]
Personal life
Mason married Sarah Wilson White on June 16, 1845.[4] They had five children:[4]
He was a distant relative of Rufus Osgood Mason, who also grew up in Sullivan, New Hampshire.[4]
References
^ abcdeJoshua Lawrence Chamberlain; John De Witt; John Howard Van Amringe (1899). William Roscoe Thayer; Charles Henry Smith; Jesse Lynch Williams; Albert Lee; Charles Edgar; Lewis Wingate; Henry Gallup Paine (eds.). "Mason, David Haven". Universities and Their Sons: History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities, with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees. 3. R. Herndon Company: 95–96. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
^ abcSeward, Josiah Lafayette (1921). "Family of John Mason". A History of the Town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777–1917. 2: 1128–1131. Retrieved October 13, 2011.