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Arthur Mason[1]

Male Abt 1793 - 1879  (86 years)

Personal Information    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Arthur Mason  [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] 
    Birth Abt 1793  Leggygowan, Saintfield, Down, Ulster, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    _UID DBC1D96585BBF949BB180C1694435F068DA1 
    Death 25 Jun 1879  Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [9, 10] 
    Burial 27 Jun 1879  St-Patrice de Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location  [10, 11, 12] 
    Notes 
    • Per notes from RAB, Resident of Parish of St. Field, Towland (sic) of Legygoyne, County of Down, Ireland. Sailed Apr 1819 for Canada with wife and infant son Patrick on brig "Sarah of Belfast", arrived Quebec in May 1819. Travelled to Montréal in October 1819. In Oct 1821 settled on Land Grant Lot No. 22 on 8th Range, Township of Rawdon.

      1825 Census, Arthur Mason household of 5 - 2 children under 6, 1 over 6 and under 15, 1 mar. male 25-39, and 1 mar. fem. 14-44.

      1851 (1852) Canada census, occ farmer, age 60,

      Birth year calculated as "before 1784" based on census data, as about 1793 based on interment record.
    Person ID I241  broderick
    Last Modified 30 Jun 2018 

    Father Arthur Mason,   b. Bef 1760, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown 
    Mother Catherine Branny,   b. Bef 1762   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Family ID F70  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Elizabeth Smith,   b. Abt 1789, Hollymount, Loughan Island, Down, Ulster, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 16 Aug 1873, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 84 years) 
    Marriage Bef 1818  Ireland Find all individuals with events at this location  [13] 
    Children 
     1. Patrick Mason,   b. 5 Apr 1816, Leggygowan, Saintfield, Down, Ulster, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 9 May 1899, Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 83 years)
     2. John Mason,   b. 20 Nov 1822, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 Aug 1910, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 87 years)
     3. Joseph Arthur Mason,   b. 16 Mar 1824, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 6 Dec 1900, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 76 years)
     4. Catherine Ann Mason,   b. 7 May 1826, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     5. Thomas E. Mason,   b. Feb 1829, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 Jul 1855, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 26 years)
     6. William Mason,   b. 20 Dec 1830, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 27 Dec 1879, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 49 years)
     7. Elizabeth Mason,   b. Abt 17 Jan 1833, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 3 Apr 1880, St-Alphonse de Rodriguez, Joliette, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 47 years)
     8. James Edward Mason,   b. Abt Sep 1835, Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
    Family ID F68  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 6 Apr 2011 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - Abt 1793 - Leggygowan, Saintfield, Down, Ulster, Ireland Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - Bef 1818 - Ireland Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 25 Jun 1879 - Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 27 Jun 1879 - St-Patrice de Rawdon, Montcalm, Québec, Canada Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Sources 
    1. [S658] Ancestry.com, Canada, St. Lawrence Steamboat Company Passenger Lists, 1819-1838, (Source Information Ancestry.com. Canada, St. Lawrence Steamboat Company Passenger Lists, 1819-1838 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: St. Lawrence Steamboat Company Passenger Lists. Molson Coors Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originals are in Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University Library, Montreal, Quebec. About Canada, St. Lawrence Steamboat Company Passenger Lists, 1819-1838 Following the successful launch of his Canadian brewing company in the 1780s, John Molson and his sons expanded into the shipping industry with the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company, which transported passengers and freight along the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Québec. This collection includes passenger and freight lists from trips between 1819 and 1835. What You Can Find in the Records Typically you’ll find the name of the passenger, abbreviations for ports of embarkation and destination, fare, amount paid, and remarks. You can also see whether they were traveling in steerage or in a cabin, and the dates of travel. While passenger details can be sparse, you may also be able to spot clues by noting the names of fellow passengers. Where families are traveling together, you may find listings like this one: “Wm Gibbon & wife & 6 children - 12/3.” This indicates that he was traveling with his wife, and six children, and that three of the six were under twelve years of age. Children under twelve were allowed to travel at half-fare, so they were noted. Having this family structure can help you identify families. This collection also includes lists of freight shipped, along with the shipper (consignor) and recipient (consignee). These lists are not indexed, but if you have ancestors who may have been shipping or receiving goods, you can browse these records by year. In some cases, these entries will list residence or occupational details.).

    2. [S24] Patrick Mason, A Few Notes of My Past, (Online transcript is located at http://www.education.mcgill.ca/rawdon/masonotes.htm. Photocopy of the original in possesion of S. M. Broderick.) (Reliability: 3).
      Notes from Patrick Mason

      Marginal Note: This has been written in the Township of Rawdon from the lips of my Father and Mother, both present at the time.

      The following verbal information, I, Patrick Mason, son of Arthur Mason and Elizabeth Smythe of the Township of Rawdon but formerly of the County of Down Ireland, have received from them viz that I was born in the parish of St. Field, Townland of Legygoyne, county of Down, Ireland on April the fifth in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen and baptized by the Revd. Priest Green of St Field and my Godfather was my cousin William Mason and my Godmother's nane was Sarah Pake. My paternal Grandfather's name was Arthur Mason and paternal Grandmother's maiden name was Catherine Branny - and my maternal Grandmother's name was Catherine Felunah and maternal Grandfather's name was Philip Smythe of Hollymount, Loughan Island, County Down, Ireland.

      I have written the above in good faith and believing that their memory being unimpaired the whole of the above is reliable - But places often change names .
      Signed Patrick Mason

      I forgot to say that the above is copied from a scrap the I myself made some years ago as father and mother related it to me which scrap I have here attached to this page with glue of gumarabic at the head.

      *********************

      A few notes of my past life taken from my Father's and Mother's rehearsal and my own experience as far as memory do assist me - viz I was born and baptized in the parish of St Field, County of Down, Ireland on April the fifth in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen. Father and Mother taking me with them sailed from Belfast Lough on the fifth of April of the following year in the Brig Sarah of Belfast, commanded by Captain Clements, for Canada. - and arrived at Quebec on the following month of May - where they obtained lucrative employment for the summer. But removed to Montreal in the month of October, Father going to Western Canada to work in the shanties or lumber woods, leaving Mother and myself in Montreal, which he continued to do for the space of two years - coming to Quebec in the spring with the raft.

      But Father contracted a disease called Fever and ague from the water and his physician recommended him to a change of climate as a perfect cure. We therefore came to the township of Rawdon on the nineteenth day of the month of October (1821) one thousand eight hundred and twenty one. Land being obtainable by free grant to actual settlers, 100 acres to each and a further grant of 100 acres provided that the actual settler complied with certain regulations of the Crown land department - viz that the settler clear two acres deep across the whole front and open the two concessions one at each end within two years and my Father therefore got the double grant - and in a year or thereabout a few settlers came and took land near to us and settled thereon.

      But some may be desirous to learn the cause of my Father settling on Lot #22 on the 8th range of Rawdon at a time when the whole Township was vacant and all in forest. Well then his reason for sodoing was as follows - At that time all the land in Rawdon up to the 8th range had been granted to supposed intending settlers by what was called an Order in Council and a privilege of 4 years to become actual settlers and only two years of that time being expired at the year 1819 my Father considered a great risque to venture on any of such land lest the real grantee should come and claim his land in either of the two succeeding years, which some actually did. And those that did not, the land was sold by the Government four shillings an acre with time to pay at 6 per cent interest. My Father laboured hard and suffered many privations to make a living for us. But succeeded to make what was then considered a very good living. And after the lapse of a few years when his children began to be able to help to labour the land, gained a competence. It would be superfluous for me to state the manner and means used to make fertile fields of the mountain forest at that time. I leave that part to the imagination of the future reader. Suffice it to say that all the grain that could be produced on the land had to be carried in backburdens a distance of seven or eight miles through woods across mountains, marshes and rivers to be forded to get to a grist mill to have it made into flour as there was not one oatmeal mill at that time in Canada and in Rawdon no person had means to keep either horse or ox until several years later - the produce then was potatoes, beans for soup, and indian corn with some wheat in small quantities not general.

      We spent a very secluded and lonely life for a time, yet happy in our seclusion. But after a few years we had some neighbours to settle convenient to us and as well as I can remember one Charles Heney, an Irish man and married to one Jane Fisher of Long Point near Montreal came and settled on Lot #21 on the eighth range and Wm. Blair on Lot 23 on the same range and so on one Arthur Magee also an Irishman and unmarried came and settled on Lot 20 on the same range, and the following summer he went to Montreal and happening to meet an immigrant girl on the steamboat wharf just landing from Castleblany, Ireland, her name was Catherine Burgess, he immediately married her and came to live in Rawdon for good. Then came George Keo, a ship carpenter, and took lot #24 on the same range, and a blacksmith living in Montreal of the name of Samuel Cathers was located for lot #25 of the eighth range, but sold his rite to one Thomas Price for the small sum of five pounds £5. And after the lapse of ten or twelve years nearly all the land in the Township was taken or claimed by some person, and people began to feel happy and could to a certain extent make out a rough living and in general they went to work with a will and improved their properties. And some in a few years gained a competence if not riches. And amongst them I may mention Old George Copping, an old sawyer, who came here in great poverty from England not having one dollar. Him and his son George sawed boards for my father at one copper each foot to build a new house as we had no sawmills at that time. But as I was about to remark his family soon became what is considered to be well off. And many others also in general, these who happened to get on good land have done well.

      One bad feature of the new Settlement was that for twelve years no schools were established, and even then the first schools for many years were of a very inferior quality. And also the children who were grown up to be of some help to hoe, herd cows, or pick sticks were generally kept from school to nurse baby or some other work of like importance. The above may be relyed on as it was even my own case with many others as my brothers and sisters who were younger than myself and able to go to school, would be sent out of the way as the saying was. But I was not in the way so I was kept at home. But I must say here that it was hard against my will, but complaint was worse than useless. I do not blame my parents as they were in need of all the little assistance that I could be to them in their effort on a bush farm to support a numerous small family. But I must say that I was much grieved as I had the reputation of learning well at that time. But it is here necessary to state that I have been at school with thirtynine others and all had to be taught from four books, that is one Universal Spelling book, one Charity School Book, and two primers. So it is plain that in them days it was a difficulty to learn the art of reading and writing, saying nothing of the Classics, as no means was provided such as books, slates, paper or pens or pencils. My first week's writing, or attempt at writing, was on white birchbark as a substitute for paper and ink made from the bark of the soft maple tree. Be it known that some folks had turkeys and their quills were held in great esteem to make writing pens of.

      The above may hereafter look fabulous as there is a tendency to improvement at present but the above is no exaggeration. I write only a few real facts of that time.
      Re: Brig Sarah - landed at Port of Quebec under Captain Clement on 6 May, 1819.
      May 06 Brig Sarah James Clement 31 days Belfast 150 settlers McRoberts & McLean / in ballast. Arrivals were extracted from the Montreal Gazette 1819. The Montreal Gazette was a weekly publication. {See on-line database: http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/Arrivals/ships1819c.htm }


    3. [S44] Transcribed by Marian E. Aelick, rev. by Daniel Parkinson, 1825 Population Return for the Township of Rawdon, County of Leinster, Quebec, Canada, (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~qclanaud/rawdoncensus1825.htm?cj=1&o_xid=0001231185&o_lid=0001231185), Leinster, Rawdon, vol 3, p 1505, img 2. (Reliability: 3).
      Head of household Arthur Mason. Five individuals in family, all present, of which 2 were under 6 years of age, 1 aged 6 to 13 years, 1 married male aged 25 to 39 and 1 married female aged 14 to 45 years old.

    4. [S203] FamilySearch.org, Census of Lower Canada, 1831, (Database on line, 1831 Census of Lower Canada.), L'Assomption, Rawdon, img 5 & 6, sht 3, household 202. (Reliability: 3).
      Dwelling 202, inhabited, range 8, lot 22, Arthur Mason head of household, proprietor, occ. Farmer, 8 persons in the family, 2 persons aged 5 or older, 3 persons aged up to 4 years, 1 married male aged 30-60, 1 unmarried female aged 14-18, 1 married female aged 18-45, 8 persons in family who are Roman Catholic.
      200 acres land, 50 of which are cultivated, last years's harvest: 8 minots peas, 60 minots oats, 16 minots rye, 150 minots potatoes, 10 cows, no horses, 4 pigs.

    5. [S7] Ancestry.com, Québec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967., ([database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2008. Includes images of the actual copies of parish registers submitted to the central authorities.), Rawdon (St-Patrice), 1879, image 6. (Reliability: 3).
      Witnesses were Patrick Mason and John Mason.

    6. [S116] Ancestry.com, Census of Canada, 1851, (Database on line, 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Note - enumeration form numbers lines 23 and 24 as line 24 (repeated).), Image 53 of 93, indiv 47 (Reliability: 3).
      Farmer. Age 60, born Ireland.
      Residence a framed house.

    7. [S88] Ancestry.com, Census of Canada, 1861, (Database on line, 1861 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.), Quebec, Montcalm, ED7, St. Patrick parish, img 198, p 94, ln 40 (Reliability: 3).
      Arter Mason, farmer, born Ireland, age 69, married, does not read nor write,

    8. [S87] Ancestry.com, Census of Canada, 1871, (Database on line, 1871 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.), Quebec, Montcalm, St.Patrick of Rawdon, Ed101, img 29, p 57, ln 18 (Reliability: 3).
      Arthur Mason, age 81, born Ireland, ethnic Irish, occ. Farmer, married, cannot read nor write.
      Dwelling 177, household 177.

    9. [S25] Parroissioux de St-Patrice de Rawdon, Registres Parroissioux de St-Patrice de Rawdon, (FamilySearch.org. Québec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1900. Database online, with images of original parish registers.), Vol IV, pp 5v&6,S-13, Microfilm #1293145. (Reliability: 3).
      Included in index to parish records, but not the microfilmed pages which end in 1878. Email from Pat Wohler to SMB, 12 Mar 2004, he cites from Vol 2, S-217, dates of death and of burial. Age approximately 86 years.

    10. [S7] Ancestry.com, Québec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967., ([database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2008. Includes images of the actual copies of parish registers submitted to the central authorities.), Rawdon (St-Patrice), 1879, pp 5v&6, S-13, img 6 (Reliability: 3).
      Aged about 86 years. Witnesses were Patrick Mason and John Mason.

    11. [S25] Parroissioux de St-Patrice de Rawdon, Registres Parroissioux de St-Patrice de Rawdon, (FamilySearch.org. Québec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1900. Database online, with images of original parish registers.), Vol 2, p. S-217, Microfilm #1293145. (Reliability: 3).
      Cited by Pat Wohler, email to SMB, 12 Mar 2004, based on transcript of parish records.

    12. [S25] Parroissioux de St-Patrice de Rawdon, Registres Parroissioux de St-Patrice de Rawdon, (FamilySearch.org. Québec Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1900. Database online, with images of original parish registers.), Vol IV, pp 5v&6, S-13, Microfilm #1293145. (Reliability: 3).
      Witnesses Patrick Mason and John Mason.
      Aged about 86 years.

    13. [S24] Patrick Mason, A Few Notes of My Past, (Online transcript is located at http://www.education.mcgill.ca/rawdon/masonotes.htm. Photocopy of the original in possesion of S. M. Broderick.) (Reliability: 3).



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