REVEREND WILLIAM MASON

Reverend William Mason (1764-1847) was born in Princeton, Massachusetts to Thomas and Mary Mason on November 19, 1764. After graduating from Harvard University, Mason joined the ministry. In 1798, he was invited to become the first pastor for the First Parish Church in Castine, Maine with 'a salary of three hundred and fifty dollars per anuum, for three years' (George Augustus Wheeler, History of Castine, Penobscot and Brooksville, Maine: including the ancient settlement of Pentagoet (Bangor, ME, 1875), p. 76). In his letter of acceptance to the position, he emphasized the importance of spending time with one’s friends, and insisted 'that a reasonable time annually be reserved for visiting my friends. I do not mention any particular time, because, on account of the passing being chiefly by water, it is uncertain what time would be necessary to pass and repass; probably, however, I should not wish, in general, to spend more than two Sabbaths with my friends.' (ibid., p. 122). In the present portrait, Mason is seated in a red-painted bowback Windsor chair at a desk with one hand laid upon an open Bible. Behind him are bookshelves framed by curtains and an elaborate Corinthian capital. He is likely pictured in his home in Castine, built in 1796 and now known as the Parson Mason House. In addition to his role as pastor, he also served as the town father, elected town treasurer, clerk and librarian, and served on the school committees. Family lore remembers Mason’s participation in the War of 1812. When British soldiers captured Castine in 1814, Mason presented the white flag of truce which was in fact his wife’s best linen tablecloth.