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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the John Y. Mason Papers, #1546, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Additional Descriptive Resources

Original finding aid is filed in folder 1a.

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Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, February 2010

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Barksdale, Emily Mason.
• Barksdale, Robert Jones.
• Blunt, Simon Fraser.
• Cabinet officers--United States--History--19th century.
• California--Description and travel.
• China--Description and travel.
• Coahoma County (Miss.)--History.
• Day's Neck Plantation (Va.)
• Europe--Description and travel.
• Families--Virginia--Social life and customs.
• Fortsville Plantation (Va.)
• France. Armee--History--19th century.
• Hawaii--Description and travel.
• Mason family.
• Mason, John Y. (John Young), 1799-1859.
• Mason, John Young, fl. 1845-1851.
• Mason, Lewis E., fl. 1840.
• Mason, Mary Ann Fort.
• Mason, St. George Tucker.
• Plantations--Management.
• Plantations--Mississippi.
• Plantations--Virginia.
• San Francisco (Calif.)--Description and travel.
• United States--Politics and government--1841-1845.
• United States--Politics and government--1845-1849.
• United States. Navy Dept.--History--19th century.
• United States. Navy Dept.--Officials and employees--Selection and appointment--History--19th century.
• United States. Navy--Sea life--History--19th century.
• Voyages and travels--History--19th century.

John Young Mason, from Greensville County, Va., graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1816. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia, 1831-1837; served as secretary of the Navy, 1844-1845 and 1846-1849; was attorney general of the United States, March 1845-September 1846; and served as United States minister plenipotentiary to France, 1854-1859.

Personal and professional correspondence of John Young Mason and of members of his family. Original items are chiefly letters addressed to Mason, secretary of the Navy, 1844-1849, mostly about such matters as gaining government employment and routine naval operations. There are also letters about various political matters, and letters from managers of Virginia plantations that Mason owned, Day's Neck and Fortsville; from Simon Fraser Blunt describing San Francisco and other places in California; and to Mason's daughter Emily and her husband, Robert Jones Barksdale, about finances and family matters. Typed transcriptions on microfilm consist chiefly of family correspondence of Mason, his wife, Mary Ann Fort Mason, their children, members of the families of the spouses of their children, and cousins. These letters relate primarily to family news and activities on Mason's plantations. There also are scattered professional letters to Mason and letters from John Y. Mason Junior, a purser in the Navy, from China, Europe, California, and Hawaii, 1845-1851; from Lewis E. Mason, managing a plantation in Coahoma County, Miss., 1840s; and from St. George Tucker Mason, with the French Army after the Civil War. Also included is an undated volume of notes on world geography and English history from 827 to the reign of Elizabeth I, apparently written by Mary Ann Fort before her marriage to John Mason.

• Photograph (P-1546/1)
• Microfilm (Reel 1-2)