Samson Mason

Samson Mason (July 24, 1793 – February 1, 1869) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio and a prominent lawyer, jurist, and public official in that state during the first half of the nineteenth century. He was born in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, where he spent his early years before moving with his family within the state. He attended the common schools in Onondaga, New York, receiving the basic education typical of the period and preparing for professional study through self-directed reading and apprenticeship rather than formal collegiate training.

After completing his early education, Mason studied law, following the customary practice of reading law under established attorneys. He subsequently moved west to Ohio, part of the broader migration of New England and New York families into the Old Northwest. He settled in Springfield, in Clark County, Ohio, where he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law. His legal ability and growing reputation in the community soon led to positions of public trust at the county and state levels.

Mason’s public career began in local legal office. In 1822 he was appointed prosecuting attorney of Clark County, Ohio, a role in which he represented the state in criminal matters and helped to establish the rule of law in a rapidly developing region. Building on this experience, he entered state politics and served as a member of the Ohio State Senate from 1829 to 1831. His judicial responsibilities expanded when, in 1834, he was appointed president judge of the court of common pleas, presiding over a wide range of civil and criminal cases and contributing to the development of Ohio’s jurisprudence.

Mason advanced to national office in the mid-1830s. He was elected as an Anti-Jacksonian to the Twenty-fourth Congress and was subsequently reelected as a Whig to the three succeeding Congresses, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from March 4, 1835, to March 3, 1843. During his eight years in Congress, he was aligned with the opposition to President Andrew Jackson and later with the Whig Party, supporting policies favoring internal improvements, a national banking system, and a more active role for Congress in economic affairs. In the Twenty-fifth Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business, overseeing the disposition of pending legislative matters and the organization of the House’s ongoing work. After four consecutive terms, he was not a candidate for renomination in 1842 and returned to Ohio.

Following his congressional service, Mason remained active in state and national politics. In the presidential election of 1844 he served as a Presidential elector for the Whig ticket of Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen, reflecting his continued prominence in party affairs. He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives and served there in 1845 and 1846, participating in the legislative debates of a rapidly growing state. In 1850 he was chosen as a delegate to the Ohio constitutional convention, which undertook a major revision of the state’s fundamental law, addressing issues of representation, judicial organization, and the powers of state officers.

Mason also held significant federal and state legal offices in the later stages of his career. From 1850 to 1853 he served as United States Attorney for Ohio, representing the federal government in legal matters within the state and prosecuting cases in the federal courts. During the Civil War era he returned once more to the state legislature, serving again in the Ohio State Senate from 1862 to 1864, a period marked by wartime legislation, questions of civil liberties, and measures to support the Union cause. Parallel to his civil roles, he had a long association with the state militia, in which he served from the rank of captain up to that of major general, contributing to Ohio’s military organization and readiness in an era when state militias formed a key component of national defense.

Samson Mason spent his final years in Springfield, Ohio, where he had long been a leading figure in legal, political, and civic affairs. He died there on February 1, 1869. His remains were interred in Ferncliff Cemetery in Springfield, a burial place for many of the city’s notable citizens, marking the close of a career that spanned local, state, and national service during a formative period in Ohio and United States history.