William Temple Thomson Mason

William Temple Thomson Mason (July 24, 1782–1862) was a prominent Virginia farmer and businessman.

William Temple Thomson Mason was born on July 24, 1782 at Raspberry Plain. "Temple", as he was known by his family, was Thomson Mason's third child and youngest son with his second wife Elizabeth Westwood Wallace. He was named after his father’s cousin, Sir William Temple, in England. While still in his infancy, Temple's father died on February 26, 1785 and he was left in the care of his mother and older half-brothers.

At the age of 19, Temple was sent to the College of William and Mary to obtain a gentleman’s education. He spent two years at the college, graduating in 1803. Having reached the age of 21, Temple received a parcel of land in northern Loudoun County near Leesburg not far from Raspberry Plain, the house in which he grew up. According to Thomson Mason's last will and testament, recorded in Stafford County on September 26, 1784, he bequeathed to Temple, his brother Westwood Thomson Mason and their half-brother, Abram Barnes Thomson Mason, several hundred acres of land along the Potomac River. On November 29, 1803, at the Loudoun County Courthouse in Leesburg, the three brothers filed a document in which they partitioned the land, with Temple receiving 757 acres (3.06 km2).

Temple Mason built his home, Temple Hall, in the Federal style between 1810 and 1812. On June 16, 1812, Temple married Ann Eliza Carroll, daughter of Nicholas Maccubbin Carroll and Anne Jennings, in Annapolis, Maryland. Their first child, Temple Anna, was born at Temple Hall in 1813.

Temple Mason not only oversaw the management of his prosperous Temple Hall farm, but also became involved in the community life of Leesburg. He served as a vestryman at St. James Episcopal Church and oversaw the polls during elections in Loudoun County. As a mark of his increased social standing in the community, Temple's estate became a hub of Leesburg society and was visited by Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette during his grand tour of the United States on August 9, 1825. Lafayette was accompanied by President John Quincy Adams and former President James Monroe, who was then residing at his Oak Hill plantation in southern Loudoun County. The three gentlemen witnessed the baptism of Mason's two youngest daughters at Temple Hall with Lafayette serving as godfather for Mary Carroll, and Adams and Monroe serving as Maria Louisa's godfathers.

Mason served one term in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1830-1831.

On January 2, 1857, six years after the death of his wife, and at the age of 75, Temple sold Temple Hall to Henry A. Ball for the sum of $50,000 and retired to Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Temple Mason died in 1862 and was interred in the Old Episcopal Churchyard in Leesburg.

Temple and his wife Ann had at least eleven children:

• Temple Anna Mason (1813–June 5, 1849)
• Nicholas Carroll Mason (died May 3, 1873)
• Maria Louisa Mason
• Mary Carter Mason (died 1897)
• Charles Carroll Mason (died August 28, 1866)
• Euphan Mason
• Ann Elizabeth Carroll Thomson Mason Magill (1815–September 13, 1844)
• Westwood Thomson Mason (1819–1853)
• William Temple Thomson Mason, Jr. (1820–December 31, 1891)
• Thomas Henry Carroll Mason (c. 1822–January 28, 1838)
• John Thomson Mason (1827–June 2, 1891)

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William Temple Thomson Mason was a nephew of George Mason (1725–1792); son of Thomson Mason (1733–1785); half-brother of Stevens Thomson Mason (1760–1803) and John Thomson Mason (1765–1824); first cousin of George Mason V (1753–1796); first cousin once removed of Thomson Francis Mason (1785–1838), George Mason VI (1786–1834), Richard Barnes Mason (1797–1850), and James Murray Mason (1798–1871); uncle of Armistead Thomson Mason (1787–1819), John Thomson Mason (1787–1850), and John Thomson Mason, Jr. (1815–1873); and great uncle of Stevens Thomson Mason (1811–1843).